Doug Passon

I have a personal connection to this because I have a son who's on the autism spectrum. I think I got the issues more than most. And here's the big problem. There are very few lawyers who really understand that they can even recognize the issue when they have a case, let alone understand what to do with it, how to develop it, how to present it, and why it's mitigating, why it matters to the story.

I have a personal connection to this because I have a son who's on the autism spectrum. I think I got the issues more than most. And here's the big problem. There are very few lawyers who really understand that they can even recognize the issue when they have a case, let alone understand what to do with it, how to develop it, how to present it, and why it's mitigating, why it matters to the story.

I'm so grateful to come on your podcast because I'm really on a mission to educate lawyers first and foremost. You don't have to know everything about autism. It's okay. Just know enough to see it, to see the signs, and then dig around and make sure you've developed this part of it. Because we miss it all the time. What are the CDC statistics right now? I think it's one in 36.

I'm so grateful to come on your podcast because I'm really on a mission to educate lawyers first and foremost. You don't have to know everything about autism. It's okay. Just know enough to see it, to see the signs, and then dig around and make sure you've developed this part of it. Because we miss it all the time. What are the CDC statistics right now? I think it's one in 36.

I'm so grateful to come on your podcast because I'm really on a mission to educate lawyers first and foremost. You don't have to know everything about autism. It's okay. Just know enough to see it, to see the signs, and then dig around and make sure you've developed this part of it. Because we miss it all the time. What are the CDC statistics right now? I think it's one in 36.

Let's extrapolate the numbers because I think I've handled about a thousand cases in my 30 years. which means how many of those clients were on the spectrum and I knew nothing about it for the first 20 years of my practice because we as a society still know relatively little about it.

Let's extrapolate the numbers because I think I've handled about a thousand cases in my 30 years. which means how many of those clients were on the spectrum and I knew nothing about it for the first 20 years of my practice because we as a society still know relatively little about it.

Let's extrapolate the numbers because I think I've handled about a thousand cases in my 30 years. which means how many of those clients were on the spectrum and I knew nothing about it for the first 20 years of my practice because we as a society still know relatively little about it.

So how many of those did I miss and how much detriment, you know, how much damage resulted because I didn't know what I didn't know. And it's not a criticism of lawyers. You can't be expected to know everything, but we have to start opening our eyes to this issue. It's so crucial.

So how many of those did I miss and how much detriment, you know, how much damage resulted because I didn't know what I didn't know. And it's not a criticism of lawyers. You can't be expected to know everything, but we have to start opening our eyes to this issue. It's so crucial.

So how many of those did I miss and how much detriment, you know, how much damage resulted because I didn't know what I didn't know. And it's not a criticism of lawyers. You can't be expected to know everything, but we have to start opening our eyes to this issue. It's so crucial.

Yeah, that's the $64,000 question because we're a strange breed. I don't know if it's the personality that's drawn to the legal practice. It's highly competitive. We've gone through years of school. Most of us have practiced for decades. We like to think we just know everything. It's the difference between a growth mindset and a fixed mindset.

Yeah, that's the $64,000 question because we're a strange breed. I don't know if it's the personality that's drawn to the legal practice. It's highly competitive. We've gone through years of school. Most of us have practiced for decades. We like to think we just know everything. It's the difference between a growth mindset and a fixed mindset.

Yeah, that's the $64,000 question because we're a strange breed. I don't know if it's the personality that's drawn to the legal practice. It's highly competitive. We've gone through years of school. Most of us have practiced for decades. We like to think we just know everything. It's the difference between a growth mindset and a fixed mindset.

It's really interesting because when you talk about some of the hallmarks of autism, what is one of the major problems or obstacles? Rigid thinking. I would love to do a cross-sectional study of lawyers because I have a feeling that many of us are probably on the spectrum, especially the older lawyers have been doing this their whole career. This is how I do it. I know what I'm doing.

It's really interesting because when you talk about some of the hallmarks of autism, what is one of the major problems or obstacles? Rigid thinking. I would love to do a cross-sectional study of lawyers because I have a feeling that many of us are probably on the spectrum, especially the older lawyers have been doing this their whole career. This is how I do it. I know what I'm doing.

It's really interesting because when you talk about some of the hallmarks of autism, what is one of the major problems or obstacles? Rigid thinking. I would love to do a cross-sectional study of lawyers because I have a feeling that many of us are probably on the spectrum, especially the older lawyers have been doing this their whole career. This is how I do it. I know what I'm doing.

I don't need you to tell me.

I don't need you to tell me.

I don't need you to tell me.