One Hour With Lemuel Srolovic - Character

The Lead Investigator for Acreage Brain Cancer Victims Speaks

Oct 31, 2009

Case winning attorney Lemuel Srolovic talks to suite101.com about the personal side of his work.

As the Lead Investigator for Weitz & Luxenberg, the firm mounting the research and potential lawsuit by residents of Royal Palm Beach, Loxahatchee and the Acreage in Palm Beach County, Florida, Lemuel "Lem" Srolovic wields great authority and power. This is the first part of an interview held on the morning of October 30th, 2009. Mr. Srolovic was kind enough to grant this audience in response to a request from citizens of the area. Weitz & Luxenberg is the firm with which Erin Brockovich is currently associated.

Human, Compassionate, and Objective

(Srolovic) Helping people is what I like most, and more specifically, I like helping people find a path forward after learning or experiencing setback in their lives and...helping people find redress for injuries for environmental harms they have been subjected to.

(Srolovic) Organizing papers and electronic files. No secretary. Amazing talented paralegals and legal assistants, but no secretary.

(Srolovic) ...Deeply saddens me, but moving beyond that, I think that their pain, and loss, and ability that they have to move past that and become motivated to make a difference, particularly for other people, and prevent that same kind of pain and loss for others I find amazing. I have respect for it. I find it kind of a source of motivation and power for staying at the task that I have.

(Srolovic) Aspects of it are yes, other aspects no, because one of the balances that I have to strike in this kind of work is kind of understanding the individuals' circumstances, their pain, emotions, harm, [and] damage while at the same time maintaining a level of objectivity regarding those difficult issues. I have to do that as a lawyer and an advocate for them. At one level it is personal and one level you always try to keep an objective perspective and look at the bigger picture.

The Perfect Man for the Job

(Srolovic) ...Graduated New York Law School 1988. I then worked for a summer at [an] environmental litigation firm in New York City called Sive, Paget & Riesel. Put together an environmental lawsuit, did that for about 3 months. Clerked for a US District Court Judge in Virginia, Robert G Dumar. Worked in his chambers for a year helping him with the duties of a district court in handling pretrial issues in cases of all kinds and then conducting trials. I got to see first hand Federal Court litigation of all kinds including environmental and torts. Spent a stint with him in the Appeals court of Virginia. Went back to Syde for 10 years handling a wide variety of cases on both defense and plaintiff and other kinds of disputes. Worked for the New York State Attorney General Office Section Chief environmental enforcement response investigating and fashioning environmental [issues] for 7 years. [I've been with] Wietz and Luxenberg 4 years.

(Srolovic) I wanted to leave the State of New York after 7 years due to wanting to put a more personal face on the job. Interest and love of the outdoors. In law school I specialized in International law and worked for an international law professor. [I] did writing at a law journal...New York University Law School Editor-In-Chief. I could practice law which I loved in the context of the environment which I loved. I was raised in Southern Georgia & Tennessee. Like other kids in the south, I fished, hunted, hiked, trapped animals, ran trout lines, cleaned catfish, went swimming, boulder hopping.

(Srolovic) What I do is, first I try to understand what the facts are in any given case, what kind of environmental factor or exposure or problem is driving cases of illnesses. I oversee the legal research to determine what is the legal merits of a potential claim for fixing a problem, for redress of a problem, [and] for past damages.

A Man With a Reason

(Srolovic) Love of the outdoors and people and I am inherently curious by nature. I like to get to the bottom of things.

(Srolovic) Sure it affects it, because everything about me affects my work. In a more specific and concrete way I guess I would say...in some ways I think it does, but in a very philosophical level and that is this: I don't believe that the earth is malevolent or kind. It has elements of both, nature has elements of both and man as part of that has elements of both. I think how that affects my work is that I approach things with an open mind and...that anything is possible, that things can happen for reasons we don't understand, and that things can happen because of natural forces and man's bad conduct. I try to approach without a lot of preconceived notions. I have been working on these kinds of things for many years so I have a lot of experience.... I think that world view makes me open to looking at the evidence critically and dispassionately and following where that leads.

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