Law Firms Adopt Safe Driving Policy at AAJ Convention

As trial lawyers, we represent people injured and families of those killed by distracted driving. But we can do more. We need to prevent these senseless crashes from happening in the first place, and we can do that by changing the culture of driving in our country.

The attorneys at Anapol Schwartz are working with the American Association for Justice (AAJ) to show trial lawyers from across the country that it is not enough to represent those injured in distracted driving crashes. We need to take the lead and show others that we are committed to making safe driving choices for ourselves and our employees, because we care about them.

End Distracted Driving (EndDD.org), Anapol Schwartz, AAJ, and Milestone Consulting recently partnered on a campaign to offer suggestions for a safe driving policy at the AAJ 2015 Winter Convention in Palm Springs, California. EndDD.org had a booth at the convention and asked lawyers to adopt the safe driving policy on the spot. About 70 law firms from the US and Canada have done so, and more are joining every day.

The policy presented to trial lawyers at the booth is modeled after the Anapol Schwartz Safe Driving Policy, developed in partnership with EndDD.org, which illustrates a commitment to promoting safe driving practices on a professional and personal basis. The policy provides ways the firm’s employees can be better drivers as well as ways to encourage the community to be safer at the same time.

In addition, employers who adopted the policy have agreed not to pressure employees into feeling they need to respond to calls immediately while driving.

Anapol Schwartz’s commitment extends beyond avoiding cell phone use while driving — it also includes reducing or eliminating other distractions such as eating, reading, and programming the GPS while driving.

As lawyers, we have a responsibility to model safe, distraction-free driving for the public and our employees — adopting policies to ensure that our employees are not driving while distracted just makes sense, and it is the right thing to do. Friends don’t let friends drive drunk, nor should they let friends drive distracted.

About Joel Feldman

Anapol Schwartz Partner Joel Feldman has been working hard to end distracted driving since his daughter Casey was killed by a distracted driver in 2009. Through his organization, End Distracted Driving (EndDD.org), he has developed science-based distracted driving presentations that have been seen by more than 250,000 teens across the country and Canada.