Thomas Albert “Tad” Delegal III is an independent attorney with an office on Monroe Street. He has one associate attorney working with him.
HOW LONG HAs he
BEEN PRACTICING?
Since 1991
WHAT IS YOUR AREA OF THE LAW?
“I specialize in labor and employment law. Fifty percent of my practice is representing the Fraternal Order of Police. I’ve been wearing a beeper for the last nine years. Any time there’s a police shooting, they call me and I go to the scene. For the FOP, I defend them in civil suits — false arrest, police brutality. I also represent police and correctional officers in disciplinary matters, promotional issues and benefit issues.”
WHAT COMPRISES THE REST OF YOUR PRACTICE?
“I represent plaintiffs in employment cases such as discrimination, whistle-blowers, overtime cases and professional licenser.”
HOW DID YOU LAND
THE FOP WORK?
“I started at the State Attorney’s as a prosecutor. I was hired by the FOP to serve as their general counsel, an in-house position. I got into labor and employment through that work. When I started my own practice six years ago, I continued to represent them.”
HAVE YOU CONSIDERED TAKING ON A PARTNER?
“We’re always flexible with those kind of things. There’s no shortage of employment law cases. My long-term goal is to establish my practice sufficiently so I’m able to have other attorneys involved in the practice and I can continue to practice, at a reduced rate, until late in life.” A year after opening his doors, Delegal did add a partner, John Merritt, but he recently returned to the State Attorney’s Office.
HOW BIG IS THE OFFICE?
Darold Goodwin is the associate attorney. Delegal’s staff includes a paralegal/secretary, a receptionist/office administrator and a file clerk. “Employment work is very complex litigation. It’s difficult for a small firm to engage in complex litigation. In order to do so, we have to be very technologically savvy. We do a lot of scanning for instance and use a lot of case management software to keep track of what’s going on.”
WHAT’S THE SECRET TO
YOUR SUCCESS?
“The key is being able to evaluate cases because there are a lot of cases that do not have merit that come across your desk. We have to work hard at screening cases. That’s our biggest challenge. There is a substantial amount of work in these cases and, of course, you don’t get paid unless you’re successful. That amount of work requires you to be very confident of your case before filing it. I think these cases are tougher than personal injury law because legal standards change very quickly in this field. You have to keep up with the changes and be aware of the standards and evaluate the cases very carefully. I tried a case in front of Judge [Harvey] Schlesinger and I was checking Lexus every morning just to see if the standards for some of the issues had changed from the night before.”
WHY ARE MANY CASES
WITHOUT MERIT?
“Florida is a right-to-work state. Most things that are wrong in the workplace cannot be addressed in the legal system. So, for instance, if you were fired because the boss wanted to bring in his son-in-law or you’re fired because the owner doesn’t like your political preference or you’re fired because you have a personality dispute with the manager, those things cannot be addressed in the legal system. A lot of workplace problems are really attributable to personal likes or dislikes and do not rise to the level of unlawful employment action. For those matters, you feel may be attributable to unlawful action by the employer, you have to make sure you have proof of the employer’s unlawful motive. That’s often times difficult to establish. You hope to establish those things through deposition and discovery but you can’t count on doing that. You have to have sufficient evidence at the outset.”
WHAT’S MOST REWARDING ABOUT HAVING YOUR OWN PRACTICE?
“I suppose what’s most rewarding is being able to make the decisions you want to regarding the cases that you take and being able to choose some cases for the sole purpose of helping people even though they may not be as lucrative.”
HOMETOWN
Jacksonville.
EDUCATION
University of Florida.
WHY BECOME A LAWYER?
“I felt I wanted to get into a profession that was intellectually challenging to keep me mentally sharp, and I think the law does that.”
FAMILY
Delegal and his wife Julie live on the Southside. They have three children, Thomas Albert IV, Carter and Maia.
GOOD SAMARITAN
Delegal and his wife are advocates for children with disabilities. Many of his pro bono cases relate to these causes and he is chair of the Jericho School for children with autism. “That school has been great in providing resources to these children and their parents in the community. We have individuals that come to us and we try to help them out with better service in public school classrooms. Especially with children with autism, it’s a very specialized type of teaching process. We do a lot of work in trying to educate the educators as to what’s out there. Unless you bring pressure on school officials, they don’t explore what their resources are to help teach a child.”
HOBBIES
Delegal enjoys reading classic literature, collecting vintage postcards of Jacksonville and participating in Cub Scouts with his son.
— by Monica Chamness