The first time I ever laid eyes on Joe Jamail was during a deposition of an eighteen-wheeler driver in Houston. Joe walked in twenty minutes late, sat down between the driver and his own lawyer, and interrupted to ask what kind of truck he’d been driving. It was a Mack truck. Jamail said, “Two most overrated things in the world: Mack trucks and teenage p*ssy.”
— Paul “Chip” Ferguson, a partner at Texas-based firm Provost Umphrey, describing what happened during one of his first encounters with Joe Jamail, the wealthiest practicing attorney in America. Ferguson’s story was recounted in an article about Jamail’s rise to renown and riches as the “King of Torts” in the January 2015 issue of Texas Monthly.
(If you’re wondering how Jamail succeeds so often at trial, he likes to “[s]tart with the defendant, f*ck him like a tied-up goat, then let the defense try to catch up.” Flip to the next page to see how Jamail rolls during depositions.)