Attorneys

J.P. Pape

Even as a kid, I loved motorcycles and cars. When I was 10 years old, I started riding mini bikes that my uncle built with lawnmower engines in fields around my neighborhood in suburban Detroit, Michigan. My friends and I would ride our mini bikes from dawn until dusk during the summer. That love of riding carried over to my adult life too. I purchased my first Harley during my law school years with money that I earned working as a summer intern at a large Miami law firm. Since then, I've owned and ridden several different bikes from cruisers to sport bikes. Currently, my partner and I own several bikes together, and we ride them as often as possible.

I've been practicing law since 1993. I earned my legal degree from the University of Miami School of Law in May of 1993, and I graduated with highest honors. While at the University of Miami School of Law, I was a member of the University's Law Review, which was an honor available only to law students in the top 7 percent of the entire class. Upon graduation, I accepted a job offer from one of Florida's most prestigious law firms, Greenberg Traurig. After working at Greenberg Traurig for a few months, I realized that the huge, corporate, button-down law firm life was not for me, so I left the firm and started my own personal injury law practice with a law school buddy.

From the time that I left Greenberg Traurig in late 1993, I have been practicing solely personal injury law. The only clients that I will represent are people who have been injured in accidents. There is an incredible amount of satisfaction every day in working with one of my two best friends, Marc Chandler, and in knowing that we have built this law firm from the ground up with our own ability and hard work.

Marc Chandler

I graduated from Boston College, Summa Cum Laude, in 1988 with a degree in accounting and finance, and from the University if Miami School of Law in 1993. After graduation from law school I began my career in Boston in the field of compensation and benefits, and spent most of my time drafting and amending 401k and pension plans.

After graduation from law school, I also kept in touch with some of my friends from law school including my law partner, John Pape. In addition to discussing our mutual interests such as sports, John and I discussed his move from corporate law to representing people who had been injured in accidents. The more John told me about his personal injury practice, the more intrigued I became. Not only did I like the idea of spending time in court and arguing before a jury, but I liked the idea of representing people because you could actually see the product of your labor.

Finally, in 1995, I decided to follow in John's footsteps. I opened a law office in North Miami Beach and began to represent people who had been injured in accidents. At the beginning of my career as a personal injury attorney, whenever I had a question and I needed competent advice, I called John to discuss the matter. It became clear that John's skills and my skills were complimentary. Some time thereafter, John and I decided to combine our skills and formed the law firm of Pape & Chandler.

Like John, I had always had an interest in motorcycles, but unlike John I didn't ride a motorcycle until 1999; once I began riding I was hooked. Before I began riding we represented a couple of people who had been injured in motorcycle accidents, but I didn't really understand why a person rides. Once I began riding, it was clear why people ride, and I acquired a much better understanding of our clients who rode motorcycles. While riding a motorcycle is not a prerequisite to representing people who have been injured on a motorcycle, it certainly helps in understanding the client, and the dynamics of a motorcycle accident.