Travis A. Gold, Esquire
A Generalist by Design: Practical, Thorough, and Ready for Any Case
“Mr. Research.” “Case Nerd.” “GP who actually knows what he’s doing.” These are the labels I’ve gathered over twelve years of practice from colleagues and adversaries, past and present. I wear them with pride.
Many attorneys pick one specialty and stick with it: Tort actions. Insurance coverage disputes. Family law. Commercial litigation. Real estate transactions. Business transactions. Just one thing. And then they spend entire careers learning to do that one thing well, day in and day out. I work closely with many of these people. I respect many of them.
But I will never be them. Because in case after case, I’ve learned that the law doesn’t break apart into neat little columns. And most problems benefit from knowing how to do more than that one thing.
When I negotiate the sale of property or business assets or stock, I look out for how certain contract language could risk later litigation, and how my client will be advantaged or disadvantaged if litigation should occur. For me, these issues are not theoretical; I’ve litigated them before, and I’ve learned what to look out for before the shoe drops.
When I represent an insured in a coverage dispute, I come armed with more than how to read an insurance policy, recite “reasonable expectations of the insured,” and plead breach of contract. I’ve handled declaratory judgement actions, enforced insurance appraisal awards, and even litigated and settled the occasional bad faith action. These remedies all have their time and place and pursuing them all has made me more versatile and more useful to my clients than I would be otherwise.
In divorce, there is usually more at stake than getting my client free of their unhappy marriage. Getting a fair, equitable distribution or support award (through agreement or decision) requires reasonable discovery. Depending on the marriage and depending on the finances, this can be straightforward, or it can involve pouring over thousands of pages of material to find the critical data within. Years of non-family litigation experience, plus the occasional assist from a decent OCR reader, have taught how to get through these document dumps efficiently, turning morass into clarity.
In child custody, I come knowing the statutes, the case law, and the rules of evidence. “The child told me so” is usually not an admissible statement, and I don’t let my opponents pretend otherwise. More than that, I don’t leave my moral code at the door. I like decent people. I like people who work to improve. I don’t like bullies. And I don’t like playing games with children. When I sense something is wrong, I call it out. My job is to leave a family better than I found it. And I take that job seriously.
When I am not in “lawyer-mode,” you will find me out and about with my wife and dog, Appa, visiting friends and locations near and far, and waiting for Patrick Rothfuss to finally release Doors of Stone.