The Saltz Mongeluzzi Bendesky Show – Episode 13 – A “Sparking the Dream” Special
Joe Dougherty hosts Marni Berger, Kristen Gibbons Feden, and Doug DiSandro for The Saltz Mongeluzzi Bendesky Show on WWDB AM Talk 860.
Joe Daughtery
Alright ladies and gentlemen around the Delaware Valley. Welcome everyone to the Saltz Mongeluzzi Bendesky hour the Sparking the Dream special on WWDB talk 860. We’ve got a fantastic broadcast. We’ve got Saltz Mongeluzzi Bendesky, partner Marni Berger, Kristen Feden and Doug DiSandro on the broadcast. How is everyone?
Kristen Feden
We’re doing great.
Joe Daughtery
It’s great to have everybody. It’s a Zoom broadcast. So, you know, it’s you know, it’s thanks to modern technology and I’m really excited about this particular broadcast Marni, you and I have been talking about it for a while, and this is our Sparking the Dream special. And the purpose of the show is obviously always, you know, the monthly Saltz Mongeluzzi Bendesky hour and it showcases what I feel strongly about is Philadelphia’s premiere law firm personal injury law firm and attorneys as well as to create awareness for our groundbreaking and life impact and Sparking the Dream initiative. So it’s great to have everybody here.
Joe Daughtery
What I’d like to do is go around the horn. Marni if you would remind our listeners a little bit about yourself and your practice at the firm.
Marni Berger
My name is Marni Berger. I’m a partner here at Saltz Mongeluzzi and Bendesky and along with Kristen Feden, who you’ll hear from in a moment, we are the partners of the sexual abuse litigation and civil rights practice group at the firm. So we represent victims of crime on the civil side of things in various capacities. I’m also involved in the mentorship program for our Summer Clerks, which you’ll hear about a little bit today as well as our Cristo Rey partnership, which you’ll hear about as well.
Marni Berger
And outside of work. Well, all the time. I’m a mother of two, six year old boy, a three year old girl. And when I’m not busy, the office, I’m spending time with them.
Joe Daughtery
Awesome. Fantastic. Kristen if you would.
Kristen Feden
Sure. I, like Marni, am a proud mother of two, except for I have two stinky little angel boys. And so outside of work, which I’ll talk about in a second, I am the lovely mother of two boys and wonderful wife of Nicholas Feden.In the office I am a partner fighting crime with Marni Berger on a team with DiSandro, who you’ll hear from in just a moment.
Kristen Feden
But I always like to say, outside of work, Marni is my partner in crime. But at SMB she is my partner fighting crime. We run the sex abuse practice group. We go against large institutions and hold them responsible for putting children and sometimes adults in harm’s way, specifically by staff who are unfortunately sexual predators. We also go against institutions who have violated our client’s civil rights.
Kristen Feden
Marni and I have been attorneys for close to over a decade and in both of our cases, and we’ve really enjoyed the work we do.
Joe Daughtery
And we’re going to get, by the way, and I appreciate them. And we’ve had, you know, Kristen you and I and Marni, we’ve done shows together on that topic. We’re going to get into it. Let me segue to Doug. Doug, if you would, introduce yourself, tell our listeners a little bit about yourself and what you do at Saltz Mongeluzzi Bendesky.
Doug DiSandro
Absolutely. Thank you. And thanks for having us this afternoon. I spend my time trying to keep up with Marni and Krissy.
Joe Daughtery
Good luck.
Doug DiSandro
Two Incredibly impressive attorneys and people. I’m part of the Duffy team here as we call it at Saltz Mongeluzzi, my portion of the team that I work on, we handle primarily catastrophic workplace accident cases, product liability cases on behalf of individuals who essentially just try to go to work, earn, earn a good living for their families. And unfortunately, something tragic happens to them.
Doug DiSandro
So we have also a different way, but another way of fighting for the rights of those who are aggrieved essentially. Outside of the office I do have two young children at home. A little boy and a little girl don’t get to spend as much time as I’d like to with them. But that’s the struggle we all face, trying to make sure that we do everything in our power to represent our clients, but also take care of things at home as well.
Joe Daughtery
And, you know, seeking justice and both of your areas of law are, you know, touch me right in the heart and I’ll tell you. Well, you know, I’m kind of segue back and forth. But I’ll go to Doug first. Doug, obviously, it’s funny because Drew Duffy, we’ve done several shows with you, but you know, I have a construction background, okay?
Joe Daughtery
My father was a labor leader in the city. My father’s wife knows Drew incredibly well. The ironworkers union, as you well know, when unfortunately in our areas of construction, it’s high flying, big high rise buildings, bridges the whole deal and catastrophic injuries unfortunately, are a part of the a part of the job and I remember my father would always call Saltz Mongeluzzi Bendesky under all circumstances because, you know, I’m not saying no one had pulled muscle in their back or their neck, but you know exactly what I’m talking about, talk about the responsibility of, you know, representing clients in catastrophic injuries at that level and how complex it can be.
Doug DiSandro
Yeah, you’re absolutely right, Joe. It is a responsibility, but it’s also a privilege to have the opportunity to represent people who have been catastrophically injured. We understand that their lives, their lives literally depend on us, and we do not take that lightly. As you mentioned, it’s not a case where somebody gets a bump or a bruise. It’s somebody whose family depends on them, their children, their wives or husbands, whomever it may be to put food on the table and they go to work and they can’t after what happens at work.
Doug DiSandro
And in the vast majority of cases, the tragedy on top of the tragedy is that it’s preventable and should have been prevented. You’re absolutely right that that responsibility, privilege is not lost on us. We talk at the firm about, you know, wanting to be able to spend more time with our own families and outside of the office to be able to tend to those things.
Doug DiSandro
But at the same time, we realize the immense responsibility that we have to our clients to put in as much time as is necessary to go above and beyond to make sure that we are doing everything in our power to represent them and to ensure that they are fully protected. And it’s a tremendous compliment, I should say, to the firm that there is never a question even if we need something for a case to help our clients’ cause and to enhance the value of the case or to make it a stronger case, without question, we get it.
Doug DiSandro
There is never a question. Whatever we need, we get, and that’s tremendous.
Joe Daughtery
What’s interesting also about it is one of the things that this firm does. So change happens in the courtroom. And this is on both I mean lives when that phone rings. At Saltz Mongeluzzi Bendesky, it’s rarely good news. And at the level you get it. But you know, in many cases and I’m speaking with Doug right now, catastrophic injuries.
Joe Daughtery
Well, there could be a wrongful death. It could be. I mean, these are unbelievable. But you know, all of you are great family people and very responsible attorneys and driven and successful. But one of the things that really I admire the most about all of you, that does impact your children is change happens in the courtroom, okay.
Joe Daughtery
Someday all of our families are going to be walking in a building, you know, and that building is likely going to be or you’re going to hear the truck backing up when you hear the beep, beep, beep. That’s because justice was served in a courtroom. And now all of you know, we’re all safer for it. So what you guys do and Doug and you talk about I mean, I could go on forever in regards to the cases that Saltz Mongeluzzi represented in regards to the construction industry.
Joe Daughtery
But, you know, that’s a point I wanted to make because in a sense, you’re not only representing your clients, but you are making things safer for your own family. You know, as they go out into the world.
Doug DiSandro
Yeah, it’s a testament to our clients, too, in a lot of situations where they could say financial compensation is all they want. But many of our clients want more than that. They want change. They want policies or procedures to be implemented. And I know this comes up a lot in Marni and Krissy practice as well as legislation that can further advance the causes of the clients they represent. But it’s a testament to our clients, too, that they insist on more than just financial compensation, that real changes are made to prevent future tragedy.
Joe Daughtery
Absolutely. Let me segue to Kristen and Marni and we’re going to get into this before we introduce the sparking the dream initiative and see what you guys do on a daily basis. I’ve had a number of stories and talking about civil sexual assault, being a layman before I did the radio shows with everyone, I didn’t really understand that.
Joe Daughtery
I thought only, it was criminal law. So in other words, there was a sexual assault, you know, somebody goes to jail and that’s it. One of the things that I didn’t realize and I’ll save you the, you know, the burden to have to explain it. I’ll do it in layman’s terms, because I’ve learned it from the both of you, is that if somebody gets sexually assaulted in a parking lot where there’s no lights or where there’s, you know, in a nightclub or someplace where there’s no security and or in a institution where, you know, a number of these institutions, whether it be a college or a school or where they may have hired a sexual predator and didn’t do a background check, and as a result of those situations, somebody, you know, a sexual assault occurs. There’s a civil side to it. So not only the fact that somebody is obviously hopefully going to jail. Okay. But also there’s a civil side where a corporate entity may have permitted that scenario.
Joe Daughtery
Am I in the ballpark there? Kristen.
Kristen Feden
You are 100% in the ballpark hitting a home run.
Joe Daughtery
I was listening. And but, you know you talk about it. And again, it’s the same exact thing where, you know, like Doug said, it’s not just about justice and financial compensation. It’s also making sure that it doesn’t happen to people in the future. Talk about that.
Kristen Feden
Well, it’s interesting. I just got off a call with one of our clients. And in addition to making sure that the policies and procedures are changed or that the circumstances are changed, so that appropriate safeguards are in place, so that, you know, sexual abuse and other types of crimes are prevented, but also making sure that that offender, if, in fact, they are not criminally prosecuted, are taken out of that caretaking role or driving role or whatever role it was that they were in that gave them access to someone who happens to be, you know, and now a victim or survivor of sexual abuse based on the authoritative position that that entity gave that particular perpetrator. So those are some of the benefits of going forward. And as Doug pointed out, it really is a privilege to represent these clients, but it really does model it or be a testament to their bravery, their courageousness, their steadfastness, because civil litigation can take a really long time and just their overall willingness to change the future for our kids.
Joe Daughtery
Absolutely. Marni, jump in there.
Marni Berger
Yeah. And one thing to piggyback off of what Kristen said is when we meet a client, I’m sure this applies, I know this applies to Doug’s practice and all the attorneys on our team, team Duffy as well. We don’t, you know, we ask our clients during the intake process what their goals are for a particular case. And yes, financial compensation is a key component for many clients in most of our cases, fortunately.
Marni Berger
But it’s really important for us to know what the client’s ultimate goals are for the litigation, and we keep that in mind at every step of the case, and that might even change throughout the course of the litigation. If we take a deposition, for example, and certain policies and procedures are really illuminated that were violated that we didn’t even know about until someone was deposed, that really could change the client’s perspective on the case, how we view the value of the case ultimately, and what corrective measures the client is interested in obtaining.
Joe Daughtery
And ultimately speaking, you know, it’s, you know, it’s a life changing experience for those clients. And anybody obviously who’s listening, who is impacted by either of these types of situations, you’re looking at the best right there. So obviously, we want to thank Doug, Marnie and Kristen for, you know, giving us an insider’s look at that as we segue into one of the other reasons we’re on the broadcast.
Joe Daughtery
So this is our Sparking the Dream initiative. Okay. And this is our Saltz Mongeluzzi broadcast. And I’d like to go around the horn because this will go out to the public schools and Marni I’ll go to you first because we’ve talked about this many times, but if you would and talk about you know, just give it about a minute.
Joe Daughtery
Talk about a little bit about your pathway to success, your goals when you were young and who were some of the most influential people in your lives as mentors and role models on your road to where you are now? We don’t obviously, you know, it’s a long, long conversation. But if you could just abbreviate, give us a minute and a half on your path to success.
Marni Berger
Sure. So my very first time in the courtroom was when I was a young preteen. My mother was unfortunately a victim of sexual abuse and there was a criminal case. And the honorable Risa Ferman at the time was a young ADA recovering county. And I had the opportunity to have an impact on being in a criminal trial. But she, as we all know, so many folks, many listeners know who she is.
Marni Berger
She’s just the most poised, articulate individual in the courtroom. She commands a courtroom like very few lawyers. I’ve seen it in my day. So she was truly an inspiration to me. I was in junior high school at the time, I then had the opportunity to to work with her between my one L and two L year in law school as an intern for her.
Marni Berger
And now things have really come full circle because I’m handling sex abuse cases on the civil side. But she is still a mentor to me to this day. In fact, I was part of a program with Nancy Walsh in Montgomery County, the Leadership Academy, and she was coincidentally paired as my mentor through that program. So it just goes to show things can come full circle.
Marni Berger
But Risa Ferman is one example of a role model to me. Way before law school was even on my radar, someone who can stand up for what’s right and fight for victims of crime. So she’s the person that first and foremost, stands out in my mind when it comes to mentoring. And then additionally, when I graduated law school, it was a particularly tough market.
Marni Berger
And my first job coincidentally was in the insurance fraud insurance detection arena. And I did spend a large part of my career that I carry over here to my work at SMB with insurance litigation and insurance recovery. And that’s a component of my practice here, not only for cases on Team Duffy, but throughout the firm as a whole.
Marni Berger
And really just sometimes things fall into your lap, that you’re not necessarily thinking and it goes to show that your experiences can be shaped in a way that you don’t necessarily have planned out sometimes. So I think that’s important to show that it’s great for young people to have an open mind as they figure out what they want to do in their career.
Joe Daughtery
And if you’re looking in the right direction, you know, certainly things you may not expect will happen, and it will happen in the right way. Kirsten, if you would.
Kristen Feden
Yeah, sure. So I have a number of mentors. And because of the brevity of time, I will definitely miss some. But most importantly, is my mother and my father and my grandparents, because they showed me the importance of a strong work ethic and I had no lawyers in the family, in fact, we’re pretty doctor heavy. So which is kind of funny because from a personal injury perspective, doctors don’t like us, but it’s okay.
Kristen Feden
They all love me. But one of the things that was really great is I learned very early on the importance of work ethic and getting the grades that were necessary to go forward in your career and even apply to professional schools. But right after college, I had no interest in getting any additional schooling or going any professional ways, which, you know, was not as my parents didn’t really like that, but they were very confident that I would eventually, as you like to say, go full circle, which I did.
Kristen Feden
I ultimately went to law school and started my legal career with the Honorable Judge Page, who now sits on the bench with the Honorable Risa Ferman, who Marnie had mentioned and I served as his law clerk for several years, and he was just a tremendous mentor as well, showing me the ins and outs of civil litigation, criminal litigation, and the lawyer world in itself, because like I said, I didn’t really have any lawyers to turn to within my family.
Kristen Feden
And then fast forward, I went over to the district attorney’s office and the honorable judge, now judge then D.A. Risa Ferman hired me. I worked there and then I went over. I did sex abuse there and homicides, domestic violence. And that’s where I really began to love. I absolutely loved representing survivors of crime. I then went over to join Civil litigation around 2017 and then 2020 I joined Saltz Mongeluzzi to run their sex abuse practice group.
Joe Daughtery
Yeah, and the amazing thing when you listen to the theme of it is the amount of and starting with your parents having that foundation and the ability and the opportunity to take that and to kind of find your way and having the amount of individuals that were so impacting it. When you see what we’re doing here, a lot of those experiences go hand in hand, Doug, if you will.
Doug DiSandro
Absolutely. It’s an impossible task to try to think of all the different people I’ve been so fortunate to be inspired by, work with, work for, etc.. But to piggyback on what you just said, Joe, the immediate person that comes to mind is my father, who’s been a personal injury lawyer in the city for almost 40 years at this point.
Doug DiSandro
So I kind of grew up in this world a little bit. I even grew up hearing about Mongo, Bob Mongeluzzi at the dinner table because my dad has worked on cases with him representing clients. But I would say the most inspirational thing other than my my parents work ethic and instilling in me that it always do the right thing and a strong moral compass would be I’d be out with my dad and people who were strangers to me that I didn’t know from my life at that point would come up to him and talk to him and be so appreciative to him and say to me, a young kid, your dad’s a great man, I appreciate him,
Doug DiSandro
And I would learn over time that those were his clients. And I could see firsthand the direct impact that my dad could have on people’s lives representing them when they’ve been the victims of lawsuits, of accidents, injuries, whatever it may be. And that was really something powerful when thinking about, you know, how can I go out and get a job where I can make a difference and help people and make positive impacts in their lives? I would always go back to those experiences and how people were just so overwhelmingly appreciative and impacted by what he was able to do for them.
Joe Daughtery
You know, the conversations, there’s a common thread going through each of them and you know, we’re all fortunate, in my pathway, you know, in a sense also came through my father, you know, almost everything I do right now, the opportunities I took advantage of were opportunities that came about because of him and so even talk radio, for example.
Joe Daughtery
So let me kind of segue into those conversations exactly what we’re talking about. So let’s talk about Marni, you know, we’ve had this conversation, but let me introduce obviously Kristen and Doug, Marni, obviously, you’ve been a part of it for a while, but also our listeners. Let me introduce them to the Sparking the Dream Initiative. Let’s start with talk radio.
Joe Daughtery
Okay. Been doing talk radio for seven, eight years. It’s an incredible networking platform that has benefited so many professionals along the way. We started off doing the Labor show and all of a sudden people came up and wanted us to speak at their events and all. And I said to my brother, I’m like, “this is pretty amazing.” And then we started an injury program with the unions and we got into a lot of the personal, you know, the personal injury workers compensation, injured workers conversations and actually started a lawyer a lawyer network in the midst of getting the opportunity to spend time with folks like yourself, Kristen Marni, Doug, you know, almost everybody at your firm, it’s just that, you know, I never leave that firm without, you know, feeling better for it. And just the experience of doing a broadcast, you know, over the skyline of the city is such a beautiful thing. But in the midst of a broadcast, I guess, over the last year, you know, I realized that along with the attorneys and obviously myself, there are so many aspiring young people who would benefit from the priceless experience of being in that room.
Joe Daughtery
And that’s when to see the Sparking the Dream program was planned. We’ve had a nonprofit injured workers advocacy program since 2013, and we have a program where individuals still call us and we advocate on behalf of different unions. And however, we decided to expand that, you know, the nonprofit itself and expand it to advocacy united to expand our path.
Joe Daughtery
We still do the injured workers stuff, but this movement itself changed the game. So in essence, what the Sparking the Dream initiative is, is it’s in conjunction with our nonprofit Advocacy United. It’s a program that allows us to utilize the media platform of talk radio our lawyer to lawyer network, which is extensive, to provide aspiring students from underserved and under-resourced communities with the unprecedented opportunity to participate in our exclusive talk radio platform as part of what we call the ultimate career day experience.
Joe Daughtery
One of the things that young people and when I listen to your stories, I mean, there’s a common thread, across it. You know, your parents, your mentors have made such a big impact in your life. One of the issues with young people who are from under-resourced and underserved communities is they don’t have the connections they may never meet a Marni Berger, Kristen Feden and a Doug DiSandro. They may never get to sit down at the table and experience what the pathway of success is all about. And a lot of them, a lot of people, young people want it so bad they can taste it. They just have never had the opportunity. So we put together the Sparking the Dream program and it’s where.
Joe Daughtery
We’re starting off working with the Philadelphia School District, and our launch broadcast is next Tuesday, March 7th at Banks Law and we’re working with a woman named Melody Jackson who’s one of their executives, and they couldn’t be more excited about it. And let me tell you what the students get. They get to attend, see one of the things about talk radio is, like I said, it’s an incredible networking platform.
Joe Daughtery
So we put attorneys together and connect them. So today Larry Bendesky is going to go and do Sunny Banks’s show. And so Sunny is a workers compensation attorney. And obviously, Larry is a personal injury, what you guys do and what you are. And so it’s a great networking opportunity. It’s the same for everybody on the broadcast. So we bring the students in, they attend the broadcast, they participate, they appear on the broadcast.
Joe Daughtery
They get their 15 minutes of fame on the radio. They get to tell their stories, their hopes and their dreams. And they get to learn about the attorneys path to success as part of, you know, the attorneys segment. And by the way, as we know, not every you know, not by far not every attorney story is, you know, a simple one.
Joe Daughtery
And so there’s a lot of inspiration there. They get the opportunity to ask questions, to go to lunch to tour the law firm. And in a sense, for the first time in their lives, they literally have a seat at the table as part of what we say is the ultimate career day experience. And then at that point, you know, we’re working on some you know, we’re working on some follow up programs, the whole deal, but we feel like it’s important for individuals to be able to, who wouldn’t get that seat at the table, to sit down and face to face and actually be heard and to, you know, and to experience what success is. Marni if you would jump in, tell me your thoughts as we talk about this experience.
Marni Berger
Yes, the first phrase that comes to mind from the minute you mentioned this Sparking the Dream initiative is Lin-Manuel Miranda’s “I want to be in the room where it happens.” Right. That drive, that eagerness, that so many young people have that, like you said, just don’t have the benefit that Kristen, myself and Doug had necessarily growing up.
Marni Berger
This is really just such a tremendous opportunity for them and also for us on the other side to learn really what a lot of these students are looking to achieve, to get to know them and really kind of get in touch with reality as to what the dynamics are for students, what the challenges that they face are so that we can appreciate them in our everyday practice and keep those concerns in mind as well.
Joe Daughtery
Yeah, and part of the thing is, you know, and we’re, you know, listen, we want to provide exposure, but also in a sense, you know, the opportunity, you know, I think the attorneys are going to get as much out of this, like you said, as the students will, Kristen, if you will, your $0.02.
Kristen Feden
Yeah. I couldn’t agree more with Marni. And I think this is the type of skill building that our youth really need, because in addition to providing a mentor, showing a tour of the law offices and giving a perspective of what it means to be a lawyer, they’re also going to be able to hone in. Okay, what about interviewing?
Kristen Feden
How do I, what do I need to do to go to law school? What does law school really entail? You know, and stay in touch. It will also create that bridge to stay in touch. A lot of when I became a first year lawyer or a second year lawyer and a third year lawyer, during that time, I went back to my school and I provided the mentoring, the tutoring that a lot of the others really, really found useful.
Kristen Feden
And then I think that I would have found it useful if I had had that opportunity of providing that to them, allowing them to have that bridge that I didn’t have and allows them to have that step up that I didn’t have so that they can achieve more.
Joe Daughtery
Absolutely. Doug.
Doug DiSandro
I cannot agree more with what everybody said to me. The word is inspirational. I think that goes both ways. You know, our hope is that we can inspire a young man or woman to do something beyond their wildest expectations. But we can also be inspired by seeing their strength, their courage, their desire. And hopefully that impacts us in a positive way as well.
Joe Daughtery
You know, one of the things that we want to do as part of the program is give kids who, you know, don’t know what’s possible. I want them, so we have a diverse community of attorneys. Obviously, we have a diversity. We want to promote diversity in our program. We want young black girls.
Joe Daughtery
I want young African-American young men. I want individuals from, you know, broken homes. I want people from all walks of life to meet attorneys and professionals that look just like them, that can inspire them to understand that, yeah, this is absolutely possible. But let me say something funny about this in an interesting way. You know, Marni you had mentioned about the benefits of, you know, the attorneys will get.
Joe Daughtery
One of the funny things about it is, you know, we’re going to bring these kids in. They’re going to get the opportunity to tell their stories and host it live on air. And we’re only going to do one or two kids on a broadcast because it’s not really you bring kids in, you know, and you bring a group of kids in and it becomes, you know, not the same.
Joe Daughtery
You know, you want to really touch individuals. And we have, you know, a lot of opportunities to do that. But also, the kids are going to be promoting the shows to their communities and to their schools and to their parents. And so it’s also a great opportunity not for the attorneys, obviously, you know, to be a part of that.
Joe Daughtery
It’s a big deal, it’s going to be a big deal to the kids. So we’re working with the Philadelphia Public School System. We’re going to be working with different charter schools. And we’re certainly going to be, you know, diversifying in all communities and underserved and under-resourced. I’d like to go around the horn and ask each one of you, if you had advice for young people who are interested in pursuing a career but don’t know, you know, that it’s possible.
Joe Daughtery
They think they only see lawyers on TV’s. And certainly, you know, it seems like 10 million miles away. What advice and I’ll start with Marni. What advice would you and I mean, you know, the kids that we’re going to be bringing on the progress, by the way, will be likely high school level kids, you know, probably toward senior year, maybe some colleges.
Joe Daughtery
We’re talking about law schools, likely not grade schools right away. But one of the things that I personally would say to everybody, to young people, I coached high school football for nine years, is that it all counts and if you could say something to young people at a young age, whether they know it or like it, it matters. And that fork in the road sometimes, you know, if you’re if you’re trying to mess up you know, it’s almost a guarantee. Marni if you would, words of wisdom.
Marni Berger
Yes. In college, I had a mentor, a professor, Steven Roberts, and his wife is Cokie Roberts, the broadcaster. So they were like a power couple. And they gave such, such tremendous career advice that I’ve carried with me every step of way. And that was really to consider your skill set, consider what you enjoyed doing, and then figure out who you want to get to know.
Marni Berger
Find a common denominator with those individuals and just go on as many coffee dates as you can because so many people out there are willing to sit down for 20 minutes of you, reach out to them by email and just say, Hey, I’m so-and-so, we both have X in common that’ll automatically appeal to the recipient and very few out there are not willing to take 20 minutes of their day to help somebody.
Marni Berger
And I think when people have realized that the people are out and available and amenable to speaking with them, that’s really how you learn to forge connections, get to know what you’re interested in and build off of that. And that can open up doors and ideas and possibilities that the student might not initially have in mind. So really, just get out there and meet people. And I think things fall into play when you have that ambition and you take that proactive step.
Joe Daughtery
Kristen.
Kristen Feden
Piggybacking on what Marni said, I would agree- be proactive, but someone who has always struggled with being proactive. I want to kind of say that, you know, being proactive is important, but don’t don’t be hamstrung or handcuffed by your fears. One of the things my dad always told me, and it’s a quote from Martin Luther King, is faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase. And faith has nothing to do, at least in this context that I’m referring to with a religious affiliation. But just having faith in yourself and faith in your dream, even if you don’t see the whole staircase, go have that cup of coffee.
Kristen Feden
You know what to email 20 people for that cup of coffee. And so what if 19 don’t respond or say no, you still have that one person who is inevitably going to say, yes, I know. I would say yes, I know. Marni would say yes, I know. Doug would say yes. So if you want to at least get a chance of three people saying yes, go ahead and email any of us.
Kristen Feden
Our information’s online. But the important thing is to face your fears. Go out there, be proactive and it’s okay to be afraid. It is okay. I know myself, I have imposter syndrome, but I nevertheless forge forward. Just forge forward and be proactive the best that you can on your time.
Joe Daughtery
Absolutely. And that’s a point well made, I think. Listen, you talk about breaking barriers and If you’re not afraid, your comfort zone, expanding that comfort zone is so important and we all go through it. It’s definitely a lesson that young people, you know what, you know, getting out of their comfort zone and expanding your horizons, everybody fails and everybody’s afraid.
Joe Daughtery
The difference is just doing it, Doug, if you will.
Doug DiSandro
Yes. So I’ve been faced with that question a number of times over the years. I’ve done a lot of work with Cristo Rey, which is a school we’ll talk about, it’s a local Philadelphia charter school. They have these networking breakfasts where you sit down with high school students and I’ll have a freshman ask me, you know, I want to be a lawyer.
Doug DiSandro
Like, what do I need to do? What’s the best advice? And kind of in tune with what Kristen said. I always say one step at a time. Don’t think about, you know, after high school, after college, after law school, think about one step at a time and just go, you know, take it in small bites, do the best you can as a freshman.
Doug DiSandro
Do the best you can as a sophomore. As a junior and a senior. Don’t worry about the big picture. Just try to take care of those little steps. And if you excel in each of those little ways and do the best you can overall, when you step back and look at it after years, you’re going to be in great shape. But just one step at a time is my advice.
Joe Daughtery
Very interesting. And I’ll tell you. So this may surprise all three of you. I produce music, okay. For years. Right. And I mean, like 18 hours a day for years. And, you know, we had songs, charts and all that. And I had the long hair and all that. I wasn’t quite as thin as I am now.
Joe Daughtery
But the reason I say that is this, because what you’re talking about there, Doug is enjoying the process. So I sometimes, you know, when you record a song, there’s a lot of layers to that song. You have your drums, you have your bass, you have your keyboards, you have your vocals, your back and all those things, all the production.
Joe Daughtery
You got to enjoy the process. You can’t just think about, you know, the end result and the final mix. Okay. Sometimes, and it goes the same for what you’re talking about, try to focus on what’s in front of you and one step at a time. And if you enjoy that obviously, like you said, you’ll turn around and the body of work will be looking right at it, you know, square in the face.
Joe Daughtery
I have always listened, you know, it’s such an important point. You want kids to be inspired. And what about paying it forward? Kristen, you’ve had and all three of you have had great mentors. And talk about, you know, the joy of paying it forward and, you know, and almost gratitude for what you know,, what your mentors have done for you.
Kristen Feden
Yeah, I think one of the most important things to always recognize, no matter who you are, you didn’t get there on your own. And that’s something that has been highlighted throughout the entirety of my life. Someone has always assisted me in some way, shape or form, whether it be to study for me, pray for me, get me whatever I needed, maybe even I don’t know their name.
Kristen Feden
Someone help me in some way. And that recognition is what inspires and forces me to pay it forward. And like you mentioned, Joe, it is incredibly motivating to pay it forward and see the results of all the things that you’ve done. I can tell you, you know, my husband and I, back when we were in law school, we coached a mock trial team over in Strawberry Mansion, right in Philadelphia.
Kristen Feden
And to see those kids now, that was almost 15 years ago, seeing them now. And none of them are lawyers. So I’m not be giving a great example, but seeing this now is just so amazing, seeing the things that we were able to do just from a mentoring perspective, because when you mentor someone, you’re not just sticking just to the law, you’re teaching the women what it’s like to be a female professional and some of the obstacles they may face.
Kristen Feden
There are other aspects of mentoring that aren’t just career specific, and so to see that and going forward, I think is monumental.
Joe Daughtery
Absolutely. In that area. You know, my family was going through a difficult time eight years ago. I saw my high school football coach at a banquet. And I said to him, Coach, those 100 yard dashes that we ran are coming in handy about now. So what I meant by that was the lessons that we learned in life. Okay, you know, we’re not in the NFL, but man, oh, man.
Joe Daughtery
Those lessons that you taught those kids on the mock trials are things that they’ll use every day in their lives. And by the way, one of the things we’re really hoping for is to, for us it’s you know, it’s a daily thing walking in a room with, you know, on a broad- for me and, you know, broadcast and having the privilege of doing shows with special individuals like yourself, it’s awesome.
Joe Daughtery
But we do that a lot and sometimes you take it for granted. Imagine a young person walking in and leaving that broadcast and going, “What the heck was that all about?” You know what I mean? Like, there’s an opportunity. I know you want to talk about Cristo Rey. So, Doug, if you would, give us a little insight there.
Doug DiSandro
Yeah, I’ve been involved with Cristo Rey since shortly after I started practicing, so almost a decade at this point. It is the school that brands itself, the school that works so. It’s a charter school here in Philadelphia where the students all have to essentially subsidize their own education by working out in the field. And they have a job that they attend one day a week for a full workday, every single week of the year, every single year in high school.
Doug DiSandro
And it’s a really incredible program in that they then teach the school, teaches the students, not just the curriculum that a high school student would be expected to learn, but also real skills that they can take on and use later in life, in the workforce, to get jobs, to hold jobs, to excel at jobs, all while giving them an outstanding education and putting I think they have a 100% hopefully I’m not dismiss stating the statistics, but I’m pretty sure 100% of these students that graduate from Christopher are accepted into college for Philadelphia Charter School.
Doug DiSandro
That is unbelievable. I’ve been working with them for ten years. They’re absolutely inspirational. The students, the staff. And we’re proud to be the first plaintiffs firm that they’ve ever partnered with. They’ve partnered with a lot of defense firms over the years, but we’re the first plaintiffs firm, and we couldn’t be more excited to have their students with us.
Joe Daughtery
Well, Marni’s been talking about it for some time now. And we also see synergy. I’d love to have some of the students come to the broadcast and, you know, have that opportunity as well. You know, we’re certainly, you know, we’re working out the logistics, but it’s so good to hear when you hear a success rate like that, it shows you that anything and everything is possible more.
Joe Daughtery
Marni, you’ve been talking about Cristo Rey for some time. You’re equally as excited.
Marni Berger
I am. I’m ecstatic. I will be partnering with them officially starting in September for the 2023, 2024 school year. And we’ll have one freshman, one sophomore, one junior, one senior each respectively, assigned to work with us every week as Doug mentioned. So we’ll get to know four different individuals throughout the course of the school year. And that will just be a tremendous opportunity certainly for us.
Marni Berger
And I believe them as well. And so we have a job description that they’re, you know, that they’ll work under and really just they’ll be exposed to all facets of pretrial and trial litigation. So I think, you know, regardless of whether these students end up practicing in a field of law or outside of it, hopefully we’ll be able to help guide them with certain skill sets that they’ll be able to use regardless of what they end up doing.
Joe Daughtery
And, Doug, I’m interested in the interaction with the kids, how do they react to you, you know, during some of those conversations.
Doug DiSandro
I’d probably say 50 times. It’s not like what you see in the movies. I don’t know if they’re disappointed by that or if they’re inspired by that, but it is remarkable. There are criteria that the students have to meet to maintain their eligibility to stay in the school. And it’s a really strict educational curriculum to strict curriculum as far as the discipline of the students.
Doug DiSandro
They do not allow for any kind of, really violations of the disciplinary policy. So the student body that’s there is really, really inspirational. But it’s, yeah I hate to keep saying the same word, but inspirational is really the only word in interacting with these kids and seeing the energy that they have and their curiosity and the willingness to learn and to get into new fields.
Doug DiSandro
We do sometimes fall into that same routine if we’ve all been practicing for a decade or more. And as you said, you can kind of take some things for granted sometimes. And to be exposed to that energy and that vibrancy, it’s amazing. And the kids are really funny, too, with some of the stuff they say. So it really is cool to interact with them in many ways.
Joe Daughtery
Yeah. And I find that really, you know, I’m interested, I’m excited about, the kids’ reactions. Kristen Diversity is a priority. You know in the law, we’ve had such a great response to our program and all that. A lot of the kids we’re going to be dealing with, you know, we’re talking aspiring young students from underprivileged backgrounds, from all, you know, from all religions, all races, all breeds, but certainly there are challenges there.
Joe Daughtery
And, you know, people have not had, you know, opportunities to create relationships. What would you say to somebody who, you know, that may not realize that the world’s there for them and that there are opportunities and there are also forks in the road? Okay. They have to have their eyes open, but they’re there if they want to grab them.
Kristen Feden
One of the things I think is really important to convey to diverse attorneys that are coming up are a lot of the obstacles that I myself faced and not to have a pity party, but to show the obstacles so that potentially they can avoid them. You know, a lot of times, you know, as a diverse attorney, I would look for, you know, avenues that just weren’t there, and just were not going to be there.
Kristen Feden
And those were some unfortunate but realistic determinations and things that I had to accept. And so just being realistic is one of the things that I like to do as a diverse attorney who is also in a partnership level role. And I think the other important thing is to highlight the ties and associations. I think that diverse organizations are very important.
Kristen Feden
There needs to be safe spaces for diverse attorneys to gather. Marni and I actually started the Women’s Initiative here at Saltz Mongeluzzi, to give females a safe space to chat.
Joe Daughtery
Yeah, you know, it’s amazing because we’ve done a lot of shows on diversity and also whether it be minority women in law, you know, breaking the barriers, I don’t know, you know. Bernie Smalley.
Kristen Feden
Of course. Legend.
Joe Daughtery
Okay so by the way, Sunny Banks is a huge part of what we’re doing. Okay. As you know, Sunny is the exclusive African-American plaintiffs worker’s compensation attorney in Philadelphia, not on the defense side, but he’s also one of the premiere attorneys. And Bernie, Sunny asked me to do an interview for an honor that, you know, with Bernie and he talked about the barriers that he had to break, you know, moving forward.
Joe Daughtery
That is a conversation that is important for you. And that’s why the face to face thing is so important with young people to understand that there are challenges. And this is what you may face, but anything is possible. And so that’s a great discussion. And Ernie told us a story about, and we only have a couple minutes, but he told us a story about going to his guidance counselor and his father was next to him.
Joe Daughtery
And he is an A student in high school and the guidance counselor said to him, and he was an A student, you’re going to make a great auto mechanic. And his father was standing right there, and you’re all parents, and that’s a beautiful part about this conversation, so, you know, was there to catch him, you know, when his emotions and he stood up and he said, I’m sorry.
Joe Daughtery
And his father was a barber. He was a barber. He ran the neighborhood barber shops where everybody congregated. And he said, my son is going to be a lawyer. And they had that conversation, by the way, as a parent, you know, paying it forward to your kids and being there. Those moments are the most important things ever.
Kristen Feden
I fear that unfortunately, a story that is most way too common with black people, in fact, was told I was not suitable for college despite my 4.02 GPA at the time that I graduated.
Joe Daughtery
And so my point is, I want these young people to meet people, to bring forth. I don’t know what everybody’s home life is like, but I want them to have that opportunity and to set the platform for them. Let’s do this. We’re coming down to the nitty gritty. And so what I want to do, obviously, Saltz Mongeluzzi Bendesky is a big part of what I do as part of my lawyer to lawyer network.
Joe Daughtery
You guys are awesome and Marni, you’ve been phenomenal in regards to this on behalf of these students whose lives I know we’re going to impact, many who have never had a seat at the table or a role model like yourselves, I would like to respectfully request the support of Saltz Mongeluzzi Bendesky so we can make this happen. We’re putting a group together, a great group of firms.
Joe Daughtery
And obviously, you know, I think you guys would be phenomenal. And, you know, if you guys are interested, I can’t wait to make you guys a part of this initiative.
Marni Berger
Absolutely. It’s a privilege. And we’re honored to be considered and be a part of this. I’m part of the board of the first Sparking the Dream with you. And I’m thrilled to hold that role. And I know the firm as a whole. I’ve talked to Mongo, I’ve talked to Larry about this initiative. Everyone’s thrilled to support it and be a part of it.
Joe Daughtery
Awesome. Well, listen, I want to, I think we got a minute left contact information for everybody around the horn here in case anybody wants to. Incredible legal representation Marni Berger.
Marni Berger
Yes. 2155752998 is my phone number and my email address is mberger – B E R G E R at SMBB dot com.
Joe Daughtery
Kristen Feden.
Kristen Feden
Kristen Feden my email is kfeden in K F E D E N at SMBB dot com and my phone number is 2155752964.
Joe Daughtery
Doug DiSandro
Doug DiSandro
I am at 2155753997 and the email is D D I S A N D R O at SMBB dot com.
Joe Daughtery
All right. I want to thank everybody for joining us on the Saltz Mongeluzzi Bendesky hour theSparking the Dream special. Special thanks to Marni Berger, Kristen Feden, Doug DiSandro for being our guests. Want to thank everybody at Saltz Mongeluzzi for making it happen and want to thank P.J. back at the studio on behalf of everyone on the panel with everybody listening.
Joe Daugherty
I’m Joe Daugherty. Have a great day, everyone.