The Simon Law Group

Step foot into the office of the Simon Law Group in Hermosa Beach and the last thing it feels like is a place where lawyers work. There's a statue of the Incredible Hulk lurching over visitors in the waiting area, a collection of guitars, references to comic books and other items that seem more at home in a man-cave than a professional work setting. The office is a direct reflection of the youth-oriented culture at the office, where everyone is under 40 years old.

"I think we're conscious looking for that," said Robert T. Simon. "It is not based off of scholastic performance, but that insatiable appetite to be intangible. All of them came from nothing or very humble beginnings."

The firm is also very much a family affair. Lead trial lawyer Robert Simon runs the firm along with his twin brother Brad M. Simon, with assistance from younger brother Brandon J. Simon. Their father, Robert "Big Bob" Simon, moved out to the West Coast to handle billing for the firm. Their mother, Linda Simon, runs the firm's Orange County office. The parents are divorced but are committed to helping the business.

Together, Robert Simon said, they get joy out of helping others. The injury of a relative at the hands of a drunk driver showed them how attorneys could change the lives of victims.

He said it is not strange to be working with family. "It's the best. My brothers all think exactly alike," Robert Simon said. "We're all addicted to work and the fight. We talk about our cases."

Since 2009, the firm has been making litigating personal injury cases its mission statement. Recent court victories include a Riverside jury awarding $10.7 million in a vehicular accident, $3.6 million for a plaintiff who was hit while fixing a flat tire, and $3.5 million to a person who fell out of a window.

The firm is currently representing the family of a woman allegedly murdered by her aspiring Hollywood screenwriter boyfriend.

Firm attorney Thomas Conroy, who has known Robert Simon since he was 17 when they both began attending George Washington University, said the firm has a sort of professional aggression akin to a high-tempo football offense. Jokes are thrown around but the pressure to succeed is there. "Because of that it's definitely fun. It's certainly a different dynamic," said Conroy, who came from the defense side of the law when joining the firm.

The law firm operates in a decentralized manner. Robert and Brad act as the founding partners, but "everyone pretty much has equal billing for the most part. I don't think of it as a totem pole," Conroy said.

The firm has added six attorneys over the past two years and has plans to expand into Northern California and Arizona.

"I'm super happy where it is now, but at the same time I know it is going to grow," said Robert Simon. "My vision is to continue to train young trial lawyers."

-- Justin Kloczko