The
following is the eulogy given by Mr. Portner, in remembrance of our partner and
friend, Mr. Kevin Ruby:
I am Kevin’s law partner. I
hired him 19 years ago when our firm was in a very different place. We are now one of the more successful
personal injury firms in both Maryland and Virginia. Kevin Ruby, as the head of the litigation
department, had a lot to do with our success, as well as the respect we have
obtained with the defense law firms.
The letters and
calls our firm has received from our colleagues over the last several weeks
makes you feel a little better about humanity.
Lora kept a file folder of them from the different firms. They read like this: GEICO Staff Counsel -
I am very sorry to hear about Kevin, he was highly respected by all in our
office. He will be missed. Such a worthy adversary. State Farm Staff Counsel - He was
always a pleasure to work with and a great contribution to the legal community.
Co-Counsel for our D.C. Cases - Kevin was always a gentleman to work
with and an excellent litigator.
Finally, Allstate Staff Counsel sent a card - one attorney wrote,
Kevin was my scuba advisor anywhere in the world I wanted to dive, there was a
good chance he had already done it and knew all the secrets. He loved Cozumel. He introduced me to Bonaire. I always smiled when we had a case
together. Another attorney wrote, when I
started working for State Farm, the first trial I saw was between my co-worker
and Kevin. Everyone knew of him and the
firm of Portner & Shure. I was
impressed by their legal skills, even more so impressed with how both of them
were so professional throughout the trial, and could talk as friends outside of
the presence of the jury. Kevin was
always a gentleman. P.S. He won that trial.
Kevin didn’t start
out as a terrific litigator. He had only
a year of experience when I met him. I
was handling Circuit Court felony criminal cases and had civil jury trials
every 2 weeks. I told him all of this, told him I would train him, and it would
be trial by fire.
He answered that
all he ever wanted to do was be in court. Now when a young attorney tells you
that, you doubt he understands what that means.
I needed Kevin to take some of these cases, even though he was only 26
or 27 years old. Based on what he said,
I hired Kevin and another young litigator.
Those 2 became my young army and the 3 of us were in court constantly.
Our styles were different, but we played off each other. They advised on
strategy in the larger cases, and were taught the rules of the game. They
learned to be result oriented and at all times focus on making the Judge or
Jury cry.
Kevin loved to
deliberate about the pros and cons of all of our cases. Every stone was turned over in these
discussions. That’s how he was for the
past 19 years. He would walk through my
office, on purpose, under the guise of getting a drink from the fridge in the
conference room, always after lunch when he knew I would talk. Then I would routinely be asked what I
thought about this argument, or this legal position. When he did this, he had already run the
arguments through many people in every corner of the building. I told him long ago, I ran cases by the
office cleaning lady, my wife’s mom, my tennis partners, secretaries and
paralegals. Kevin, with his slow,
deliberate way of bringing in all of us, did the same. I am going to miss that.
During this process
we would invariably drift to conversations about ourselves, and our families. I
heard about dance recitals, driving lessons and of course the problems with
young girls with cell phones. I also
learned a little about shark cages, what it’s like to hike with your dad, the
streets of Cuba and the loyalty of Cleveland Browns fans. Recently, after we talked for awhile, he said
- you know there are side effects from what we do. He said our kids, friends, etc. say we talk
too much or are annoying. I said I get
that. My family even has a name for it. Then I said, and this was just a month
ago, something else that I had never told him before. It was that he needs to keep in mind that of
course there are side effects of what we do, but his results show that he is
one of the top litigators in the region, and in my eyes there could never be
another one like him.
He was brilliant,
he was respected inside the firm and out; he was humble, ethical and his
results closing 5 cases at over a million dollars, were statistically better
than 1% of all of USA injury attorneys.
Kevin, of course, was invited to join the elite group of attorneys in
The Million Dollar Advocacy Club. He refused because that required him to fill
out a 3 page application.
His habit of
marching to his own tune, working towards crazy vacations, and bucking
bureaucracy worked to my advantage.
Years ago, Piper and Marbury, currently one of the largest law firms in
the nation asked Kevin to join their D.C. office. I told him I’ve worked for a large firm, my
wife still was, and that it was a place for people who bill by the hour and
worry every month about making those hours — not people who are willing to bet
on themselves to knock out tremendous awards.
He stayed with me, and like me, bet on himself. We both benefitted.
You can’t pick the
family you are born into. Yet you can
pick the family you choose to work with.
Inside of a firm that has 50 people lives a small family. We play off each other. In that role, Kevin had independent
relationships with all of the family members.
He was our ethical advisor. What
Kevin said, I listened to. He was a
mediator and go to person with difficult clients. He was a teacher and a friend
to many.
Someone called me the other day and
said I’m sorry to hear about Kevin, he was like your little brother. That is
true. Fortunately, not long ago, I
learned that when someone is extremely close to you, you taught or they taught
you, befriended, respected and you battled with, that they are never really
gone. They are part of you. As I said, my job early on was to teach Kevin
how to make others cry. He learned that
and did a fine job of doing that to all of us here. But also, he made us smile, made us think,
made us deliberate and see more sides of different personal and case
issues. He changed me, he’s a part of
me, and I will continue to ask him, outside of other’s ear shot, what he thinks
about certain issues. And I believe he
will continue to give me answers.
