When Michael Quinn steps into a courtroom, juries listen. Over the past decade, the named partner at Decof, Mega & Quinn has secured nearly $250M for his clients – including the largest personal injury verdict in Rhode Island history, a staggering $62M in Sfameni v. Rhode Island Hospital. His name has become shorthand for high-stakes advocacy in catastrophic injury cases: multi-million-dollar recoveries for families shattered by trauma, life-changing settlements for those whose lives and futures were upended in an instant.
But behind the record verdicts lies something quieter – the discipline of a man whose childhood dream was to serve in the United States Army. “If you can’t serve in uniform, serve your country as a good citizen,” a general told him when childhood asthma closed the door on that mission. “Be a lawyer or a leader. We need citizens like you in leadership positions out here.” That advice, delivered when he was still a teenager, has reverberated through the hallways of his mind ever since, becoming Quinn’s true north.
Today, his practice reflects that same code: precision, duty, integrity. Like many plaintiffs’ attorneys, he began his career in defense before realizing his purpose was on the other side of the courtroom.
“I loved the work, but not the purpose,” says Quinn. “Saving an insurance company money never felt like a great day at the office. Helping real people, fixing what went wrong – that did.”
From complex medical-malpractice suits to catastrophic-injury cases involving criminal conduct, construction defects, defective products or motor vehicle crashes, Quinn channels empathy through courtroom mastery, fighting to bring justice to families who’ve endured unimaginable loss. His results – and his reputation – speak for themselves. Yet for Quinn, victory is measured not in numbers, but in impact.
“We can’t turn back the clock or undo what happened,” Quinn says. “But we can fight to make life easier for these families – to give them stability, dignity and the care they need. Money can’t fix everything, but it can change how a family lives day to day. And it can change behavior and societal norms for the better.”
A decade of record-setting results later, Quinn remains guided by the same code that first drew him to serve – integrity, compassion and an unwavering belief that justice is a duty. That conviction steadies his voice, sharpens his purpose and keeps juries leaning in when he speaks.
Lawdragon: Let's start with the military, what was the draw to go there?
Michael Quinn: I grew up in a really disciplined household. My dad, my uncle and my grandfather were all in law enforcement – Rhode Island state troopers. Around here, the state police are widely respected as ethical, dignified and serious about their sense of duty. It’s not the military, but it’s close. My parents ensured that my sister and I knew the rules of life and followed them. I was always drawn to a disciplined, regimented lifestyle; that's really all I knew. I made a decision early on that my personality was the right fit for the military lifestyle and that I wanted to lead. That meant becoming an officer. I applied to West Point, the military academy that feeds the Army, which seemed like the right fit for my personality. I’m more “boots on the ground” than pilot or sailor.
Eight out of ten medical malpractice trials end in defense verdicts. So if you win one, you’ve really done something. And if you keep winning them, you’re doing some special.
The process of becoming a candidate for any of the military academies is complicated – but I got in. Then as part of the final administrative paperwork, which was right before basic training, a history of childhood asthma came up. It was automatically disqualifying. I appealed, but two weeks before I was set to go, a general called to tell me the decision was final.
I was heartbroken, but he said something that stuck with me: “If you can’t serve in uniform, serve your country as a good citizen. Study history or political science. Be a lawyer or a political leader. We need people like you in leadership positions out here.”
That short conversation changed everything and is what ultimately led me to the law.
LD: Once you decided on the law, did you have a vision of what your career would look like? Because I know you weren’t always on the plaintiff side.
MQ: Originally, I thought I’d be a prosecutor. That’s what made sense to me – law enforcement background, public service, all of that. So between my second and third year of law school, when everyone’s trying to figure out what’s next, I applied for internships at the Manhattan DA’s Office and the Office of the Corporation Counsel, which handles New York City’s civil work.
Through a quirk of timing, I accepted an offer at the Corporation Counsel’s office and spent the 2005 summer in Manhattan, next to Ground Zero, doing civil work. I was surprised that I really liked doing it. It wasn’t what I expected. I thought that civil lawyers were just fighting over money. But I realized it was more complex than that. You were solving problems, helping the city, changing society, serving something bigger.
After graduation in 2006, I came back home to Rhode Island and found a job in a medical malpractice defense firm with one of the best trial lawyers in the state – Mike Sarli. He taught me about trying cases – how to talk to juries, how to stay composed in a courtroom, how to make hard things simple.
After five years, I realized I loved trying cases, but I didn’t love who I was doing it for. Defense work is of course important and the clients were too, but at the end of the day, I was representing insurance companies. My “good day” was saving them money.
So when I heard that the Decof firm was looking for an associate, I had to take it seriously. The rest is history.
LD: What are some extraordinary cases you’ve handled that stand out to you – either because of the results or what they meant?
MQ: The trials always stand out because they’re so intense – the preparation, the pressure, the stakes, the clients. You invest everything into them. And if you’re a plaintiff lawyer trying a medical malpractice case especially, you’re the underdog. The medical malpractice cases are always contested liability cases. That means that the defense believes, and their very sophisticated models have predicted, that the plaintiff will lose. Statistically, they’re correct most of the time. Eight out of ten medical malpractice trials end in defense verdicts. So if you win one, you’ve really done something. And if you keep winning them, you’re doing some special. So those cases will always stand out.
I’ve had many successful publicized trials over the past decade, and each one was the product of years of work – late nights away from my family, expert prep, countless hours with clients reliving the hardest moments of their lives. But honestly, some of the most meaningful cases were cases that no one knows about – confidential settlements involving disabled kids.
The cases that stick with me most are the birth-injury cases where a baby suffers severe brain damage because of a delay in delivery. The parents are often young and are just devastated. Their lives are turned upside down – their child will never walk, talk, or eat and will need 24-hour care for life. Through these settlements, the family can buy a wheelchair-accessible van, renovate their home and secure in-home nursing care. The settlement reduces extreme stress, gives them stability and offers their child dignity.
My wife and I have five kids. So when I sit with a parent who’s been dealt that kind of lifelong challenge, it hits different. You think about how fragile and precious life is, how everything can change in a heartbeat.
Every case is different – a new issue, a new set of facts, a new challenge. You’re constantly learning.
LD: What’s your mix of your practice like these days?
MQ: The firm handles exclusively severe injury and wrongful death cases. Every case is unique, but the subject matter is generally a mix of medical negligence, construction negligence, criminal conduct involving assault, battery, or sexual assault, defective and dangerous products, and motor vehicle injuries. Personally, my practice is closer to 70 percent catastrophic medical malpractice. That’s where my background is. I started in that world on the defense side, and I still find the medicine fascinating. Every case is different – a new issue, a new set of facts, a new challenge. You’re constantly learning. Medicine sits right at the intersection of science and human fallibility. And when something goes wrong there, the impact can be enormous. Helping families understand what happened, and giving them a voice in that system, that’s what keeps me doing it.
LD: What does it take to be a successful trial lawyer?
MQ: You know those posters that say, “Everything I need to know I learned in kindergarten?” There’s a lot of truth to that in my world. How you treat people and your ability to approach things practically with common sense – that's more than half of the battle in my opinion.
Being a good trial lawyer isn’t just about being smart or aggressive. It’s about being a decent human being. You must be able to talk to people in a way they understand, without talking down to them. You must be willing to listen, really listen. And you must have genuine empathy – not just for your clients, but for jurors, witnesses, even the other side. In a courtroom, you’re speaking to people who don’t know the law, the medicine or the science. You have to teach them. The way you do it – through patience, tone and honesty – is what earns their trust. You can’t fake that. Jurors see through everything.
There’s no shortcut to being good at this. It takes years to become competent, to develop good judgment, to know when to push and when to pull back. It’s not glamorous most days, but if it’s in you – if you love the preparation, the strategy, the fight – then it’s the best job in the world.
LD: Tell me about Decof, Mega & Quinn. What makes it the right place for you?
MQ: Our firm has a long history. It was the first plaintiffs’ firm in Rhode Island, founded in 1975 by my partner Mark’s dad, Leonard Decof. Leonard was famous for all the right reasons. He had real class. He believed in treating everyone with fairness, respect and kindness but prepared every case like it was going to trial. He lived an exciting life. He served in the Pacific Theatre during World War II as a Marine. He represented some very big names over the years, including celebrities and the PGA. He argued before the United States Supreme Court.
When I joined the firm, it felt like coming home. The firm’s culture lines up exactly with how I was raised – disciplined, ethical, service-oriented. We fight hard, but we do it the right way. That’s something I take a lot of pride in. I tell young lawyers: skill matters, but character matters more. If you work hard and do things the right way, the rest will take care of itself. That’s how Leonard built this firm, and that’s how we still do it today.
LD: What do you do with your time outside the office?
MQ: I spend time with my wife and our kids. That’s it. We have four boys and a little girl and they take up all of my not-working time. My wife and I went to high school together and we got married when we were young. Our four sons came one after the other, but my daughter arrived a little later. She was easily the best surprise of my life. Before she was born, the temperature in our house was hot. Four boys, always wrestling, fighting – always loud. Then she showed up, and everything changed. We didn’t even know my boys had that side of them. They’re so gentle with her – protective, patient. She changed the whole atmosphere in our home. I try to spend as much time with her, my wife, and the boys as I possibly can.
LD: It sounds like you still really love what you do. What keeps you going?
MQ: I do love it. I get to help people who really need help. That’s a rare thing in any profession – to directly make someone’s life better. It’s demanding, sure. You give a lot of yourself. But I honestly believe I’m doing what I was meant to do. I’m good at it, I care about it and it gives me purpose. I always joke that I don’t have hobbies – this is my hobby. Some golf in their free time. I’d rather go to the office.
