FFP Podcast: Episode 1 – Interview with Jack Fine

Interviewer: You’re listening to the Fine, Farkash & Parlapiano Podcast. Today we have on Partner and Founder of Fine, Farkash & Parlapiano. Jack Fine. Jack, how are we doing?

Jack: We’re doing great today.

Interviewer: Give us a little introduction on the back story and how you got involved in doing law.

Jack: Sure. I actually came to Gainesville in 1974 to go to law school. Grew up in the northeast. Graduated. Was a public defender doing criminal defense in the Third Circuit, which is the Lake City area and counties north of Alachua County. I was hired in Alachua County where I interned when I was a law student as a public defender. Did criminal defense for three or four years and went into private practice. And after I went into private practice, I looked for the best attorneys I could find to join me. One was a former public defender that I worked with Tom Farkash.

The other was our boss, Alan Parlapiano who was actually a constitutional officer as public defender. He was a constitutional officer, the state of Florida. We convinced him to resign and join us in establishing the firm. We started doing criminal defense and moved to personal injury. And eventually, Tom and Alan retired. And my wife Cherie and my daughter Julie, along with Jonathan Ramsey, also known as “JR”, from the State Attorney’s office have all joined us in our office at this point.

Interviewer: A personal injury law firm, what types of cases do you guys take on, on a daily basis? Who’s the type of person that should be calling the law firm?

Jack: Well, it varies. But basically, it’s someone who’s been injured due to the negligence of another. A lot of our cases are auto accidents, car and truck crashes, whether it’s on the interstate or in the inner city or on rural roads. We do premises liability cases. They could be third party attacks due to negligent security. I represented some of the victims of Danny Rolling many years ago. They could be slip and fall type cases due to the negligence of a landlord, or property owner, or store proprietor. We don’t do a lot of malpractice cases, but we do some. If we can’t do a case, we will refer it to a specialist who can. Our goal is to provide the best representation for our clients in any given personal injury case.