JOE JAMAIL

We've got some well-run corporations by some well-intended people who do it right.

For me, being a lawyer means to help those in need.

I don't think I'm a good ol' boy. Honestly, the last thing I am is a redneck. I like silk sheets, fancy cars, beautiful women, good whiskey.

I think the average American has forgotten the great feel for liberty and accountability that the framers of the Constitution believed.

I don't want corporate America to think they can continue their duplicitous double-dealing.

I spent a year at Southwestern Louisiana Institute, then transferred back to the University of Texas, where I majored in English and history.

I love my wife. She had money when I didn't.

I'm a very egotistical person.

I didn't do too well until my second year, when I realized that there were no right or wrong answers and that my professors were interested only in how well I could develop an argument.

I happen to have a giant ego, an admission that will not shock my close friends or critics. I am not uncomfortable in saying that because the ego of a man often gets great things done.

We've got some real greedy hogs who own no interest in the company they're running, whose sole interest is in whatever it takes to be able to get to the point to fly out on their golden parachute and milk the shareholder and take risks that they shouldn't take.

The feeling of being accepted and acknowledgement and recognition and fame - I'm vain like everybody else. The feeling of achievement that I've helped the poor or somebody in need far outweighs the money.

Ever since I was a kid, I've known I could talk to people.

For every dollar we have given to athletics, we have given about 27 to higher education or medical research.

What did I know about lawyering? I just thought it was another way to stay in Austin for another three years.

We can still do good for others and do good for ourselves. I would wither and die, truthfully. I need to be somewhere where the light's on me.

I love the system. Let me tell you why. People love it... The people, by and large, have great respect for our law and our system... Why do you think they go to that courthouse instead of killing each other in the streets, taking the law into their own hands?

If you are not emotionally involved, your client is not getting your best effort.

Any good trial lawyer knows that if you've got one credible expert or scientific study, then you can let the jury decide.

Do you know what the root of mediation is? Mediocrity!

I think Wallace Hall is an imbecile.

It's a great feeling knowing you've helped someone. That's what I've spent my life doing and my practice.

I don't think the trial practice is dead. But it is very ill. There are some days you could throw a hand grenade down the hall of the Harris County Courthouse and not hit anybody.

There are more pompous, arrogant, self-centered, mediocre-type people running corporate America who should be sent out on some postal route delivering mail.

When I walk into a courtroom, I feel like I'm home.