START YOUR FREE CONSULTATION: CALL OR TEXT NOW (844) 629-3476
Browse Services:
Menu
robert may’s origin story
“no fault of my own"
your fAMILY IS OUR FAMILY
we take care of our family
She backed over her with our orange and white VW van. I watched it happen. I was horrified that my mom didn’t seem to know how to keep us safe. Fortunately, my sister made a full recovery. Anyhow, that was the first moment I remember that set me on a path to my profession. But that was only the beginning.
I’m the oldest of five kids from a small agricultural town, Santa Maria, CA. My dad was a concrete salesman, my mom a housewife. In addition to his day job, dad had a paper route he’d get up at 2 a.m. to do before his day job—a lot of hustle to make ends meet.
But money wasn’t my childhood issue. I didn’t feel safe as a kid.
Dad was a man of few words and very little involvement at home. Mom, suffering from her severe childhood wounds, had significant anxiety and was overwhelmed with the enormity of raising five kids. I felt like my brothers and sisters and I weren’t being watched over enough, and as the oldest, I took up the caretaker role for my siblings.
My primary thought became “I need to take charge of this place! I’m going to have to keep us kids safe.”
The worst was when I was 13. My baseball coach abused me. That made me a plaintiff in a personal injury case. (Talk about a setup for my future career.) There was a trial and a civil suit, and he went to jail.
Fast forward to when I was 23.
I’d just finished college and hadn’t found my profession yet. I had a job, but surfing was my life. (As a fun fact about myself, I’ve made surf trips to El Salvador, Indonesia, Peru, Mexico, the Outer Banks in North Carolina, Hawaii, and more).
When I wasn’t surfing or working, I was being the big brother who did all I could to keep my siblings on the right path. That and baking pies and bringing them to friends. (I have an obsessive personality, and pies became an obsession.)
One day I’m with my surf buddy Ryan, and he’s telling me about what he does. “I’m a personal injury attorney. We fight for people that are injured, and the better the client does financially, the better you do. It’s risky,” he says, “but you can make a good living doing real good for people.”
I had no doubt that I’d found the profession I was born for. I knew I’d be highly driven to do for others what I wished someone had done for me: provide protection.
Within two years, I had my law degree. That’s how determined I was to be a personal injury attorney.
Today we have offices in Santa Maria, Santa Barbara, Fresno, Bakersfield, Long Beach, and San Diego. It’s become a big enterprise, but we retain the personal connection we require for our clients.
Best of all, I’m getting a chance now to take care of my own kids. I have four children and a wonderful wife. I’m also close with all my siblings because we’ve always made an effort to be so. My mom and dad have kept evolving in their lives, and we’re closer than ever.
It was miserable going through the abuse from the coach, but to this day, one thing from that painful time puts a smile on my face. I remember being at a deposition and what I felt about my lawyer. Being around him made me feel safe because I could tell he was in charge of the situation. And I thought, “Wow, this is a cool guy. It’s cool that he does this. He’s fighting for people that got hurt.”
I feel honored and fortunate for my profession. I get to wake up every morning and fight for people who got hurt—by no fault of their own.
GET ANSWERS AND PEACE OF MIND NOW:
Tell us what happened (866) 619-6704
California Personal Injury Lawyers
WE SERVICE ALL OF CALIFORNIA