By Madison Arnold (via law 360)
 

Even as Stuart J. Weissman waged a more than two-year battle against cancer, the Florida trial attorney consistently showed up for clients and colleagues alike.

Weissman showed that commitment as president of the Miami-Dade Bar and in his work at Ratzan Weissman & Boldt, where he handled catastrophic negligence, medical malpractice and wrongful death cases. Longtime friend and law partner Stuart Ratzan said Weissman took to heart the significance of their cases and the "opportunity to make things better."

"So whether that was when he was healthy or sick, both of those things, both of those times, that was true. In the last years, he just fought relentlessly against the disabling force of cancer, and did it so admirably and heroically," Ratzan said.

Weissman, who became Miami-Dade Bar president in July, died Jan. 8 at age 43 from Stage 4 gastroesophageal cancer, leaving behind a legacy as a "courageous" attorney who was passionate about his legal work and giving back to his community in South Florida.

Ratzan first met Weissman in the spring of 2008 when Weissman was a third-year law student. After Weissman graduated from Stetson University College of Law, Ratzan gave him a job at his firm, where Weissman would eventually work his way up to name partner.

"I just liked him. I thought he was courageous. I thought he was bright. He had a good sense of humor, showed commitment," Ratzan said.

Ratzan could see that Weissman cared "an awful lot" about the purpose of his work.

"He was passionate about the power of a personal injury trial lawyer to make a difference, not just in the lives of our clients but in the communities where they live. [They can] make things better and safer and more orderly," Ratzan said. "He just believed in making it better for everybody. He thought that the practice of law was a great way of doing that, if you did it right."

Weissman himself expressed that sentiment in a June interview with Law360 Pulse as he was embarking on his term as president of the Miami-Dade Bar. He said at the time that his quest to hold people accountable for their actions stems from being bullied growing up.

"We're always going up against Goliath, if you will — hospitals, corporations, businesses, massive entities — and we do our very, very best to hold them accountable for their wrongdoings. It's very rewarding, it's emotional, it's overwhelming at times, but very, very rewarding when you can see that you've done something to help out the little guy in the grand scheme of things," Weissman said in June.

Beau Blumberg of Deutsch Blumberg & Caballero PA, the current secretary of the Miami-Dade bar, is in the same practice area as Weissman, who he said always took his calls.

"He always would take my phone call if I had a question about an expert or what he thought about a case. He was always exceptionally kind and generous with his time," Blumberg said. "He always reminded me to be exceptionally kind, but make no mistake, kindness is not weakness, and to always go for a win. And he reminds me those are not mutually exclusive. And you can be kind, you can be professional, but still advocate to the best of your ability for your client."

Blumberg met Weissman through involvement with the Miami-Dade bar. Blumberg was rising through the ranks of its young lawyers section, and Weissman was a past president of the group.

Blumberg said Weissman helped mentor him on what it meant to be a young attorney doing voluntary bar work.

"His reputation preceded him in the best way possible. People really respected him and valued his opinion and time. He was YLS president a number of years before I became YLS president, but yet the impact of his presidency continues long after his presidency," Blumberg said.

Weissman had a passion for supporting young attorneys through his bar work; he said in June that he hoped to encourage young lawyer involvement and be a proponent of community service.

"I want to make sure we continue our commitment to giving back in a big, big way to our community here in South Florida through community service programming, and maybe not most important, but I want to make sure we also have a little bit of fun," Weissman said at the time.

Melissa V. Jordon, president-elect serving under Weissman at the Miami-Dade bar, said the bar is planning to do just that at their first event following Weissman's death: a family beach and picnic day on Jan. 24.

"There were specific goals in terms of increasing membership, increasing involvement of our young lawyers and our collaboration with other bar associations and being a force in the community, revving up our philanthropy, revving up some of the family engagements, all of those. But the general theme was just really bringing fun and passion into the areas that we're working [on] in the bar to bring that to the community," Jordon said.

Weissman's legacy at the bar will be his ability to bring everyone together, as well as being present and focused on fighting injustice, Jordon said, adding that he simply "nailed it."

"Something that I think is just really the key thing is, while he didn't get to spend that much time with his family, his friends, his life is way too short, that he really did live a rich life in that he figured it out early what many of us don't do, which is being present, being in the moment and putting yourself into everything that you do," Jordon said.

During Weissman's funeral Monday, Jordon said people remembered how he would call his colleagues at night. She added that he was always so in the moment and took time for everyone he had met.

"You never felt like you were taking too much of his time, but that's because of the way that he was with everyone — that he just gave everyone his full attention and wanted to do whatever he could to make the bar, our community a better place.," Jordon said.

That was no easy feat when faced with a major cancer diagnosis, all while practicing law and raising a family. Charise Morgan, immediate past president of the Miami-Dade bar, said Weissman did it all while being funny, genuine and working in the bar's best interest.

"Having served as president of the Miami-Dade bar, I not only have an incredible amount of respect for the pressure that Stu was under in wanting to be the best dad, the best partner at his firm and the best president ... but I also have an incredible amount of respect for his family, because his family knew how much he was sacrificing and still agreed to share him with all of us in Miami-Dade," Morgan said.

Despite not usually being one to attract attention, Weissman chose to reveal his cancer diagnosis during a gala on May 31. The event, which included his swearing-in ceremony as bar president, was attended by about 400 people.

Morgan said Weissman shared his diagnosis "very earnestly, honestly." And by doing so, he hoped to be a resource and "avenue of hope" for others.

"Everyone's going through something. It may not be perhaps as serious or as potentially catastrophic as what I'm going through, but we all have our own issues and concerns and problems, and if they can see an array of hope and commitment and dedication, I think that's a really, really good thing, Weissman said in June.

Ratzan said Weissman hoped his firm will continue to embody all the things that Weissman believed in, and that Ratzan plans to use that as motivation.

"People ask all the time, 'What can I do? What can I do?' There's not much you can do physically or tangibly. But I tell these other lawyers and other people that do the kind of work that we do representing injured people, people who've lost loved ones because some catastrophic negligent act or worse, that we can make a difference, and if we handle it right and we do it the right way, we can give meaning to the practice of law and that our communities better," Ratzan said.

--Editing by Alanna Weissman. Editing by Brian Baresch.