Richard M. Breen

Richard M. Breen is a fifth-generation Louisvillian. He was 13 years old when he decided he wanted to be a lawyer. Several years later, as a freshman at Louisville’s Saint Xavier High School, Breen bought a Saint Xavier jersey with the number 79, he says, “because that was the year that I would graduate from law school.”

Mr. Breen joined Louisville’s oldest plaintiff’s personal injury law firm. “I used to cut the partner’s grass when I was a kid,” says Breen. “I had always admired him and looked up to him. He was my mentor.” Then himself a Partner in the firm, Breen honed his personal injury law skills. “I always wanted to try damage cases in front of juries,” he says.

In 1993 after 13 years with the firm, he decided to set up his own practice. He opened Richard Breen Law Offices P.S.C. The firm is engaged almost exclusively in representing plaintiffs in personal injury cases. “The office is not too big, we all get along well with each other, and work really hard for our clients.” He says 90 to 95 percent of his cases are settled before trial, “because most of my clients are reasonable, good-hearted people who will usually take a fair offer. If a fair offer doesn’t come, then we represent them on their day in court.”

Still, Breen says he never forgets some advice from his mentor: “If you prepare a case for trial, a settlement can happen any time along the way. So I’ve always tried to get a case ready for trial from the get-go,” Breen says. Breen believes his strongest suit as a litigator is case preparation. He’s not afraid of hard work, and he tries to be creative. He moved to a suburban office for the convenience of his clients, some of whom “don’t like the hassles of going downtown.”