David Pivnick
speaker
231 appearances
7 recordings
1 series
first heard Feb 2025
last heard Jun 2025
David Pivnick’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
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Appearances
cases in every one in four one in five cases and they're recovering you know almost always north of 80 percent and usually north of 90 percent um there's one year in the last you know decade that was a notable exception where there was about 70 percent uh and that was largely because there happened to be a a healthily into the nine digits settlement in a non-intervene case which is
very much the exception, not the rule. But by and large, the government's recovering the heavy majority of its dollars from the small minority of cases in which it has decided to intervene. And then from an industry standpoint, it fluctuates year to year, but healthcare is almost always the source of the majority of
of cases, it's usually in 50% to 70% of the filings, as well as the dollars, are in the healthcare space. And that includes healthcare services, managed care, life sciences, et cetera. And then the next two industries that get covered in a meaningful way are defense contracting and the mortgage industry.
Thank you for having me, Scott.
Sure. I mean, the two things that come to mind, it's a weird question, and I appreciate you having me on and following kind words about me after talking about your 7 million impressions and all your other accolades, which outshine all. But usually people, as you said, ask about what's great advice, what advice would you pass on.
It was a little bit of a challenge when you said you might be asking me about the worst advice. But two things come to mind, and one of them is pretty well-trod advice that people dispense all the time, but I think it's not great, which is good things come to those who wait.
And then the second thing that came to mind, which is probably less given, but I've certainly heard a variety of times over the years, and maybe I hear it more than the average, is just try and fit in. Don't stand out. And I think those are just both generally bad pieces of advice in some ways for the same reasons. But, you know, the notion of good things come to those who wait.
I mean, first of all, I think that is an inherent excuse. And the people offering that advice are often offering it because they're about to tell you no, just something that you're looking to accomplish or somewhere you're trying to go. And so right off the bat, I think it's a bit of a,
huge piece of advice where it's usually being offered by someone who has a vested interest in the recipients of that advice waiting.
Yeah, no, and I hit the head on that example, and that is an unfortunate one. But I think it's also just generally, if you have things in mind, if you've got targets and goals, You need to be realistic about it. You can't just decide I'm going to accomplish, I'm going to make a billion dollars and then be disappointed the next day.
There's not a shortcut here, but the general notion of sitting around idle or waiting and just maintaining the status quo and hoping things develop, I just think is poor advice. In a career context, taking initiative, showing confidence, that you can be a leader, that you can take on meaningful tasks, that you can continue to progress is going to help you then progress.
I think there's a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy in either direction there. If you keep waiting, you're going to just keep waiting. And if you try and take action, I think you're much more likely to accomplish those goals. And I think the second part of the other advice that I mentioned, bad advice, is the case would be in terms of just just try and blend in. You don't want to stand out.
I think people hear that kind of advice at a corporate setting all the time. I've only worked at one of the law firms, but I felt that law firm, certainly in the office of the department I was in at that point, which was two decades ago now, so I'm sure it's much different, but I felt like they expected a cookie-cutter associate. And that's not me. That's never been me in anything I've done.
And I think it really put a ceiling for me on what I would be able to accomplish there. Because I was so focused on trying to look like everybody else. And I'm not like everybody else. And so coming to McGuire Woods, and frankly, working with you and Jeff Clark and others, who basically said, you know, we've got to work, but let you go run it, do it as you see fitting and trusted me
to navigate client relationships, navigate opposing counsel, navigate matters, allowed me to figure out how to do things well my own way, how to manage clients, how to interact with people, with judges, with opposing counsel, et cetera. But if I was just spending half my time trying to figure out how to be like everybody else, I would never have figured out how to be great at who I am.
And it's a whole hell of a lot easier To be yourself and to be true to yourself every day.
And so I really think that unlocks a lot in my career and my potential, frankly, as an attorney, but also in terms of developing business and building a practice when I was able to recognize I can succeed based on my merit and by being me rather than just trying to shoehorn myself into what other people are looking for.
Not that sort of global in application. I know several years ago, someone advised you, you could beat me in a race. I think that was poor advice and landed badly for you, but that's not necessarily applicable to most of the listeners. So it's less of a global comment than a specific example.
I completely agree with that. And as we're already, and it seems incredibly early to me, but we're already starting the interview process for next year's, the 2026 summer associate class. And I think your point about resumes applies just as well to law students and to folks interviewing for jobs in a professional setting where
having six different associations or clubs or activities or eight different or 10 different on a resume, but where it just says, you know, member of is going to be far less impressive to me than one or two where you were the president of X society and were able to speak about what you actually did in that role and how you helped grow the organization versus just I signed my name up or wrote a $50 check.
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