Rachel Montes: Making the Human Connection

Written by Dan Baldwin
Photographed by Ken Hatley

Making human connections is a core principle, perhaps the core principle, of how Rachel Montes lives her life and represents her clients. As the daughter of a high-ranking military officer, Montes became accustomed to moving around the world throughout her childhood, and as part of that, experiencing other cultures. She learned the value of true human connection early, and often. Living and traveling overseas among other cultures and people, Montes developed an interest in the human experience across countries and customs, and that interest sparked her fire and passion for justice and giving voice to those in need.

That path led naturally to the practice of law, a calling at which she has been excelling for the last 25 years. Rachel Montes is the founder of Montes Law Group, P.C.

“We need to remind ourselves of the beauty of human connection and pull ourselves out of our devices for a moment to appreciate what it is just to be connected to one another.”

In between trying cases throughout Texas and New Mexico with her namesake law firm (which has been recognized by several state and national organizations as one of the best in the nation for personal injury law), she and her 14-year-old son travel the world together, so she can immerse her son in a multi-cultural perspective.

“The best way to learn about and appreciate people and cultures, along with their challenges, is to make that kind of deep human connection that is the purpose and the result of a meaningful life, because that is what inspires the most amazing acts of love, generosity, and humanity.

“The law is not done properly without emersion in the human experience and the human connection,” she continues. “Any lawyer can walk into any courtroom and argue any case. It takes a lawyer who is willing to find those uniquely human stories – stories of love and of loss – and make those deeply personal connections with the little things that matter, so that jurors experience those connections with the clients as well.”

That philosophy is not only the core principle of her law practice, but it has also generated multi-millions of dollars in successful verdicts, settlements and judgments for her clients and their families.

“If you’re thorough about the business of getting justice, you leave no stone unturned. It’s about personal relationships and it’s about connecting with your clients, their families, and their stories. Ultimately, it’s not about the business side of things, it’s about the human side,” she says.

We need to remind ourselves of the beauty of human connection and pull ourselves out of our devices for a moment to appreciate what it is just to be connected to one another.

Hitting the Ground Running

Montes, a board-certified personal injury specialist, gained real courtroom experience as a law student, working as a full-time law clerk for one of the largest personal injury firms in Texas. By her second year in law school, she was fortunate enough to be gaining valuable experience sitting second chair, representing people and families who were often facing their greatest physical and emotional challenges.

“Through that work I found my passion, helping people who found themselves amidst an often life changing injury or loss of a loved one, with no other place to turn and no other voice. These people were experiencing limitations that affected their ability to work, their ability to support their families, through no fault of their own,” Montes says.

This broad range of real-world experience allowed her to “hit the ground running” when she started her own law firm, just one year out of law school.

“I’ve been blessed to make many life-long connections in my clients and their families, many of whom I still consider family to this day.”

A Quest for the Human Side of Things

“I have a never-ending quest for, and commitment to, the human connection through my work representing people and families. I’ve worked hard to be the best advocate and voice I can be for the people I represent who are in such great need, which requires a deep understanding of their unique circumstance and stories.”

It is through this commitment to her craft and to her clients that has blessed her with such success in her field. “If you’re making an impact, you’re going to move people – judges and juries, for example – in the right direction so they are motivated to help right a wrong.”

Early on in her career, Montes was motivated by a strong desire to have the autonomy to represent her clients in a way she felt would bring them the most justice, and the most positive social change to benefit everyone. With a $5,000 bonus she received, she started her own law firm, and never looked back. Her clients and their families have reaped the benefit of this commitment for more than two decades.

Making the human connection has been at the center of her success as an attorney from the beginning. She says attorneys learn how to be their client’s voice best when they break bread with them, visit their homes, look though the photo albums and pictures hanging on the walls – to see clients as real people in their real lives.

“It’s about the connection. I think so many lawyers lose track of that, lose sight that you’re representing real people, with families, people who depend on them. Exploring that is such a powerful tool in being able to walk into a courtroom and speak for them and speak for their losses and their harms and their grief, so that juries understand and can help,” Montes says.

‘Old School’ Meets Cutting Edge

Montes’ family instilled in her the value of hard work, which is exemplified in what she calls her “old school” approach to the law, the legal system, and her clients. She also uses cutting edge tools and resources in trial, and to keep up with the way jurors learn and assimilate information in the age of social media and online communication.

“When you walk with a client through their home and you realize that they’ve had to construct a makeshift ramp because their injury has made it challenging to navigate even a two-inch stair in their own living room, you gain a perspective that is valuable for a jury to hear and see. We work hard on creating demonstrative aids and exhibits for trial that really show those challenges, rather than just telling them. When you discover that a father calls his daughter’s cell phone several times a day just to hear the voice mail message on her phone because he’ll never see her again, you realize that it’s the little things that can have the greatest impact on juries when you give voice to the victims,” she says.

Montes believes presenting a case is a more than just going in and arguing the law. It’s about communicating human losses to a judge or a jury in a way that makes impact, and her approach maximizes that impact, as many of her verdicts and judgments have confirmed. Montes counts as her best accomplishments those cases that provide lifetime support for her clients who need it most.

“So often, you just don’t make time for the real human connection,” Montes says. “It’s a challenge, always a challenge. I know what I do is righteous and is for the greater good and for the good of the person and family I’m representing.”

Rachel Montes

Montes Law Group, P.C.

1121 Kinwest Parkway, Suite 100
Irving, TX 75863
214-522- 9401
monteslawgroup.com

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