Seventh Edition Marquis Who’s Who INSIGHT 5 RONNIE BERKE Partner Berke, Berke & Berke Chattanooga, TN www.berkeattys.com/firm-overview/ronald-j-berke/ How have you navigated disruptions in your industry to remain a top professional? Tennessee has continually limited the rights of people in favor of businesses, corporations and insurance companies. The people don’t have lobbyists in the legislature, so we have to be creative and navigate around any limitations, if possible. What is the most important issue/challenge you are dealing with in your industry? It takes a lot to overcome the prejudice in the public’s eye about people who file lawsuits. Frequently, I get clients who come in that have been injured, and they say they are not the suing type. That’s true until they are injured, and then they understand the necessity of filing a lawsuit. Insurance companies are getting more conservative in their offers, so we have to try more and more cases. How do you feel your industry has changed/evolved? It’s much more contentious. We used to be able to meet with both adjusters and defense attorneys and negotiate in good faith. It seems now that they have taken on a very aggressive and negative attitude and don’t really cooperate in reaching a just result. They want to litigate everything or force clients to take a very low settlement. What innovations or technologies do you feel will shape the future of your industry? Technologies are helping to develop evidence to present to juries — things that will offer a proper perspective, like finding key documents for large commercial cases and class actions, which sometimes involve hundreds of thousands of pages. RICHARD DOUGLAS CAMERON Major General (Retired) United States Army Fort Smith, AR https://marquismillennium.com/12th_Ed/richard-cameron/ What is the most important issue/challenge you are dealing with in your industry? One major challenge I faced as I got my first job in the Army was going to Vietnam. I was really primed in psychiatry during my residency, but I was one of two commanders of a neuropsychiatric unit. Although I knew psychiatry, I knew little about being a commander. You go in, and you have 85 people under your command, three trucks, two Jeeps, gas masks, and all kinds of equipment you're responsible for. I was even responsible for a water tower. I probably learned more from my senior Non-Commissioned Officer Sergeants (NCOS) about the Army than I learned from the Command General Staff School. I learned early on how important the enlisted structure was. How do you feel your industry has changed/evolved? The Army came out of World War II and learned about mental illness and stress. We had medical centers in the Army then because there weren't enough capabilities in the civilian sector in the country to handle it. As administrations change, the emphasis is on different things. After the Vietnam War, the Army reorganized the whole command structure. After that, it was at its best in terms of being the instrument to protect the American people. That lasted up until about President Reagan, and then that thing somehow went downhill. The Army and the Navy also had a shortage of enlistments, which really weakened the military.
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