DeCiccio & Johnson

Some of the greatest American documents, the Declaration of Independence (Jefferson), the United States Constitution (Madison) and the Emancipation Proclamation (Lincoln) were penned by lawyers. My thinking was who would not want to be part of that proud tradition.  I chose to be a lawyer. As a lawyer, one could make a difference, help people; history proved that to be true.

 

I was born and raised in North Providence, Rhode Island, was graduated from the University of Rhode Island and obtained a law degree at the New England School of Law  in Boston, Massachusetts.  Having passed the state bar examinations of Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Florida, I married Sheila, and we moved to Central Florida in 1982 where I have been practicing law ever since.

 

Over the last 40 years my law practice has focused mainly on the prosecution and defense of civil matters in the area of traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injury, motor vehicle accident and state and federal workers' compensation. I received board certification in workers’ compensation law in 1989. Our practice now focuses on only representing injured people.

 

Early on in my law practice I represented a man who suffered a serious workers' compensation spinal cord injury and obtained a good and fair recovery for him. In handling his case I befriended an expert, Mike, who was actually hired by the other side in the case. Mike was a quadriplegic and owned a rehabilitation company that catered to spinal cord patients like him and my client. Spending time with Mike at his home and in his specially equipped van exposed me to what a catastrophic injury does to a person and how an injury changes a person's life. As a side note, Mike had been a Navy SEAL before his injury so Mike's journey was itself a very difficult one.

 

Mike became one of my closest friends, and he introduced me firsthand to the challenges faced by brain injured and spinal cord clients. Mike and clients that share catastrophic injuries are, in my way of thinking, heroes; every day just the little things we take for granted, like getting out of bed or eating, are performed by such folks (or for them) with a great deal of effort and difficulty and without complaint, praise or reward.

 

Ever since then, fighting for spinal cord and brain injured clients has been the most rewarding part of my law practice. These folks are the most seriously injured and need the hands of an experienced lawyer to guide them through a legal system that would otherwise present insurmountable obstacles.