Lawrence LeBrocq has achieved more than he ever imagined possible. As a boy growing up in poverty in New Jersey, he recalls believing that a $10,000 lottery win would make his family rich enough to retire. The son of a construction worker who also worked construction in his younger years, he never dreamed of becoming a lawyer, let alone the CEO and Managing Partner of Garces, Grabler & LeBrocq (GGL), one of the state’s most recognized personal injury law firms. Through sheer tenacity and an impeccable work ethic, Lawrence rose from hardship to become a trusted advocate for accident victims and families seeking compensation after serious injuries.
Not many children who grow up hungry, with one pair of shoes, one pair of pants, two shirts, and a jacket, go on to become the managing partner and CEO of a leading law firm. “I tell the people at our firm,” Lawrence says, “if I can do it, anybody can do it.” He succeeded because he never quit, and that persistence now shapes how he serves injured clients across New Jersey.
“When other people quit, I never did. Even when I got knocked down, I kept going. Half the time, I didn’t know if I was up or down. Even then, I kept going.” — Lawrence LeBrocq, CEO and Managing Partner, Garces, Grabler & LeBrocq.
The 10-Speed Bike He Never Got and the Drive It Created
At the age of 14, while his friends were going on summer vacations, Lawrence was rising at 6 a.m. to report to construction sites. Every summer break, fall break, and winter break, he worked.
Before his tenth birthday, his parents asked if there was anything he really wanted. He had never asked for anything. This time, he wanted a 10-speed bicycle. On his birthday, his parents gave him a card with a picture of that bicycle. They could not afford the real thing.
“I saw the hurt in their eyes,” he says, “and I never asked for the bike again. And I never, was given a 10 speed bike.”
That moment changed him permanently. He became motivated never to be in a position where he had to say no because he could not afford something. It also quietly planted the seed of an advocate. Someone who would one day fight so that other people would not have to absorb devastating losses alone.
“The law gave me an opportunity to better myself financially,” he adds. For the thousands of New Jersey personal injury clients GGL has since represented, it gave them something more: a fighter who understood what it meant to lose everything.
From Baseball Scholarship to New Jersey Personal Injury Law
No one in Lawrence’s family had ever attended college. Being able to hit a 90-mile-per-hour fastball changed that. A baseball scholarship made him the first in his family to earn a degree. He majored in history, minored in political science, and earned a degree in secondary education, with no intention of practicing law.
A guidance counselor saw something else. “With your grades,” he told Lawrence, “I think I can get you a scholarship to law school.” Lawrence enrolled at Mississippi College School of Law, where he discovered a passion for international law. After graduating, however, a pivotal one-year stint at a New Jersey personal injury law firm set the trajectory of his career. He was referred by the father of a teammate to a local Personal Injury Firm.
“I worked for that personal injury law firm for one year to make some money,” Lawrence says, “so I could get my LL.M., a master’s degree in law.” He subsequently earned a degree in international business finance from King’s College London and spent years working internationally before returning home to New Jersey.
Back in New Jersey, he opened his own personal injury law practice. His career took off from there.
His son recently told him, “Dad, you can say no.” Lawrence responded: “Son, the reason we live the lifestyle we do is because I never said no to an opportunity. If a door opens to better my life or my family’s, I will always take it.”
The Immense Challenges of Building a Personal Injury Law Practice
If Lawrence had known how difficult it would be to run a New Jersey personal injury law firm, he might never have opened one. “The challenges were immense,” he says.
Personal injury litigation is expensive by nature. Each case can demand thousands of dollars for medical records, physician testimony, and expert witnesses, with cases routinely taking two to four years to reach resolution. As a young lawyer with no financial backing, Lawrence worked two jobs simultaneously while running his firm. He slept five hours a night for several years to fund his caseload and build a practice capable of handling car accidents, slip-and-fall cases, workers’ compensation, wrongful death, and medical malpractice claims in New Jersey.
His persistence paid off. Lawrence became what colleagues call an “excellent litigator.” He was a personal injury trial attorney sought out by major firms, including Jacoby and Meyers, which regularly referred cases to him. He won an unusually high percentage of his cases.
“If I knew why,” he jokes, “I would bottle it, sell it, and become a billionaire.”
His secret, he believes, was the breadth of his life experience. Growing up in poverty gave him an authentic language for connecting with working class and low-income clients. His years at King’s College, London, and at a prestigious international law firm overseas gave him credibility with educated clients. And his teaching certificate gave him the ability to meet a jury where they are.
“Instead of speaking over their heads, I would talk to them, explain, and teach them the medicine as well as the law,” he says. Judges took notice: “Juries believe Mr. LeBrocq. You do not want to try a case against Mr. LeBrocq.”
Joining Garces and Grabler: Transforming a Niche Firm into One of New Jersey’s Largest
Three major verdicts in a single summer put Lawrence’s name on the map. William J. Garces, founder of Garces and Grabler, came calling. After negotiations, Lawrence joined the firm. At the time, it was a niche practice primarily representing low-income Hispanic clients in personal injury and workers’ compensation cases across New Jersey.
Over the following two decades, he helped transform the firm into one of the largest and most diverse personal injury law firms in New Jersey, representing clients across the state in matters involving motor vehicle accidents, slip and fall injuries, workers’ compensation, wrongful death, and medical malpractice. Today, the firm serves clients throughout New Jersey from multiple office locations, making experienced legal help easier to access statewide.
Today, Garces, Grabler & LeBrocq carries more than 8,000 open and active files. “We’ve grown from a niche firm to one of the largest law firms in New Jersey,” Lawrence says.
Approximately four years ago, Lawrence was appointed CEO. He made that transition in his 50s, moving from elite litigator to executive leader. He attacked the learning curve with characteristic tenacity, traveling the country to learn from top law firm CEOs about growth strategy, operations, and treating a law practice like the business it is.
Today GGL operates offices across New Jersey, including locations in Trenton, Newark, New Brunswick, Jersey City, Edison, Union, Freehold, Hackensack, Dover, Perth Amboy, and Plainfield, as well as an office in the Philadelphia area. Lawrence’s goal is to grow GGL from one of the top personal injury law firms in the region into a national brand while remaining accessible to the communities it serves.
Fighting for New Jersey Injury Victims: From Catastrophic Injuries to Life Changing Verdicts
For Lawrence, the most satisfying moments in personal injury law are not the verdicts themselves. They are the moments when he watches clients overcome tragedy.
He hosted a podcast titled Victim to Victory: “Triumph Over Tragedy,” which is also the title of his forthcoming second book. His first book, Victim to Victory: “The Personal Injury Playbook,” is a resource for injury victims navigating the legal process in New Jersey and beyond.
“I’ve had several clients who have been severely injured but have battled back,” Lawrence says. “They fought through injuries, catastrophic injuries in some cases, to become pillars of society. They just didn’t let those injuries ruin their lives.”
One case stays with him: a 19-year-old client who had lost her face. There was a hole from her nose to her jaw. Everything had to be replaced and reconstructed. Despite it all, she refused to miss class. Her mother pushed her to college in a wheelchair, despite her healing fractures, while she studied.
“These are the kind of incredible people that you will fight tooth and nail for,” Lawrence says, “because they’re fighting for themselves. It just motivates you to work that much harder for them.” It is a philosophy that defines how GGL approaches every catastrophic injury, car accident, truck accident, workplace injury, slip-and-fall, and wrongful death case in New Jersey.
Leading GGL: Operations, Culture, and The GGL Way
As both Managing Partner and CEO, Lawrence balances litigation leadership with firm-wide executive responsibilities. Each day, he reviews between 50-70 active cases, checking that every file is properly prepared, every deadline met, and every client served with the diligence GGL is known for.
Every two weeks, he teaches a two-hour internal session called The GGL Way, covering litigation techniques, file preparation, and client management. His mission is to develop every attorney and staff member to become an elite personal injury trial lawyer.
On the executive side, Lawrence oversees marketing, operations, HR, hiring, and firm culture. He travels nationally to attend legal industry conferences, stays current on emerging litigation technology, and brings those insights back to GGL, then teaches the team how to implement them.
“Success, for me, is developing the team,” he says, speaking with visible pride about young attorneys trying cases. “I want to develop everyone and bring them up to be excellent trial lawyers.”
Message to Aspiring Attorneys and Leaders
“If you want to be successful in the business world,” Lawrence says, “outwork everybody.” Be the first one in the office. Be the last one to leave. People are watching, even in a virtual environment.
“Some people are talented, but if you’re talented and lazy, you’re never going to be successful. I know brilliant people, people who are smarter than I am, who have not achieved what I’ve achieved because they weren’t willing to put in the time.”
Lawrence is up at 5:30 every morning reading emails. He may not always be first through the door, but he is never off the clock.
The Legacy Lawrence LeBrocq Is Building
“I would like the people who work with me to say: ‘He was a hard-working guy who gave us the tools and coached us to be successful.’ I want people to say, ‘He was a good man who gave back to his town and the people he knew.’”
For tens of thousands of New Jersey residents injured through no fault of their own, Lawrence LeBrocq and Garces, Grabler & LeBrocq represent something important: an experienced legal team built to pursue meaningful results with compassion, preparation, and relentless advocacy.
About Garces, Grabler & LeBrocq
Garces, Grabler & LeBrocq, P.C. (GGL) is a New Jersey law firm with offices across the state, including Trenton, Newark, New Brunswick, Jersey City, Edison, Union, Freehold, Hackensack, Dover, Perth Amboy, and Plainfield, plus the Philadelphia area. The firm represents clients in a wide range of injury matters and workers’ compensation cases. Learn more at www.gglwins.com.
