307. Don Worley: How Monthly Case Updates Turned 2,000 Cases into 40,000 Without Traditional Marketing

Summary

Podcast Summary: Personal Injury Mastermind Episode 307

Title: Don Worley: How Monthly Case Updates Turned 2,000 Cases into 40,000 Without Traditional Marketing
Host: Chris Dreyer, Rankings.io
Guest: Don Worley, Personal Injury Attorney
Release Date: January 9, 2025

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Introduction

In Episode 307 of Personal Injury Mastermind, host Chris Dreyer welcomes Don Worley, a formidable presence in the courtroom with over 40,000 cases handled through a robust nationwide network of law firms. Unlike many peers, Don has eschewed traditional marketing avenues such as TV commercials and social media, instead opting for a unique strategy centered around relationship building and transparency. This episode delves into Don's unconventional methods that have significantly scaled his firm without reliance on conventional marketing tactics.

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Bridging the Gap Between Trial Lawyers and Marketers

Don Worley opens the discussion by highlighting a prevalent issue in the legal industry: the divide between exceptional trial lawyers and proficient marketers. As he states:

“You’ve got the marketing lawyers that are really good at marketing and self-promotion and social media and television, but they’re not necessarily trial lawyers. And then you have the trial lawyers that aren’t so great at getting their name out there.”
— Don Worley (00:13)

This gap often leaves highly skilled trial lawyers underrecognized outside their immediate locales. Don emphasizes the importance of bridging this divide to increase visibility and case inflow without resorting to traditional marketing channels.

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Don Worley's Unique Marketing Strategy

Relationship Building

Don attributes his firm's exponential growth to strategic relationship building rather than conventional advertising. He recounts his approach to networking at industry conferences:

“I would throw the opening party and it would be pretty crazy with little people and go-go dancers and models. And we have a theme. So it would be fun, basically.”
— Don Worley (01:20)

By creating engaging and memorable events, Don fostered meaningful connections with other lawyers, which organically led to increased referrals.

Transparency Through Monthly Case Updates

A cornerstone of Don's strategy is maintaining transparency with referral partners through regular case updates. He explains:

“I would give a monthly update... What really helped me grow was being transparent. And I would give a monthly update.”
— Don Worley (02:19)

These updates, sent via email and accompanied by video messages, provide detailed statuses of referred cases, fostering trust and accountability. This practice not only keeps partners informed but also encourages proactive collaboration to address any case-related issues promptly.

“There’s no one size fits all approach to raising your profile in the legal community. Don explains how letting go, having fun, and being transparent has doubled his caseload.”
— Chris Dreyer (01:20)

By being open about case progress, Don ensures that all parties are aligned and can contribute effectively to each case's success.

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The Role of Background in Acting and Comedy

Don shares how his early career in acting and stand-up comedy has been instrumental in his legal practice:

“I learn how to adapt and change, and that's important even for being a lawyer.”
— Don Worley (05:47)

His experience in performance taught him adaptability and engaging communication—skills that are invaluable in both the courtroom and client interactions. This background also facilitated his ability to create enjoyable and memorable networking events, further enhancing his firm's reputation.

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The Impact of Mass Torts Funding and Shifts

The conversation transitions to the dynamics of mass torts funding, with Don shedding light on the financial challenges that have reshaped marketing strategies in the personal injury sector:

“They would spend millions and millions of dollars on advertising... But the money dried up because they weren’t getting the return on their money that they expected.”
— Don Worley (10:08)

As Wall Street investors reduced funding due to elongated timelines for returns, Don pivoted from mass torts back to personal injury cases. This strategic shift underscored the importance of sustainability and adaptability in legal practice management.

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Strategies for Case Selection and Diversification

Don offers insights into selecting cases and diversifying his firm's portfolio to mitigate risks:

“The only way you can truly lose all your money is if the case does not survive.”
— Don Worley (12:34)

He advises waiting until a case category, such as Delbert-approved torts, has established scientific backing to ensure a higher likelihood of success and return on investment. Additionally, Don discusses the importance of volume in case selection, opting to engage only when there's a substantial influx to support team expansion.

“Deciding to do what no other lawyer was doing... and giving monthly updates to lawyers is what really made my firm go from 2,000 cases to 40,000 cases.”
— Don Worley (16:25)

By focusing on high-volume, vetted cases and maintaining transparent communication, Don effectively scales his operations while maintaining quality and reliability.

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Conclusion and Key Takeaways

Don Worley's journey from a stand-up comedian to a top-tier personal injury attorney underscores the power of authentic relationship building and transparency over traditional marketing methods. Key takeaways from the episode include:

1. Relationship Over Advertising: Building strong, genuine relationships with referral partners can yield significant case inflow without the need for expensive marketing campaigns.

2. Transparency as a Trust Builder: Regular, transparent updates foster trust and accountability, encouraging partners to continue referring cases.

3. Adaptability is Crucial: Leveraging diverse backgrounds and adapting to industry shifts are vital for sustained growth and success.

4. Strategic Case Selection: Focusing on high-volume, well-supported cases ensures a better return on investment and mitigates financial risks.

Don concludes with a powerful statement on differentiation:

“There’s no one size fits all approach... Letting go, having fun, and being transparent has doubled his caseload.”
— Don Worley (16:25)

This episode serves as an invaluable resource for personal injury attorneys seeking to scale their firms through innovative, relationship-driven strategies rather than relying solely on traditional marketing avenues.

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For more insights and strategies on legal marketing, visit Rankings.io Podcast and explore additional resources to transform your personal injury practice.

Transcript

[Chris Dreyer]

As a trial lawyer, you're unstoppable. You're at home in the courtroom and secure six and seven figure verdicts for your clients. But does anyone outside your county know about it? There's a hard truth in our industry.

[Don Worley]

You've got the marketing lawyers that are really good at marketing and self promotion and social media and television, but they're not necessarily trial lawyers. And then you have the trial lawyers that aren't so great at getting their name out there.

[Chris Dreyer]

What if you could bridge the gap and sidestep conventional marketing? Because here's the thing, when you stay quiet about your successes, you limit the number of lawyers who can call you after you're investing your resources and working up cases, building better referral. Partnership matters more than billboards or social media campaigns.

[Don Worley]

There's a lot of great trial lawyers that, you know, not everyone in the nation knows about in the region. They know about it because they hear about verdicts, et cetera, because they're not marketers. They don't even know how to market themselves to other lawyers.

[Chris Dreyer]

I'm Chris Dreyer, founder and CEO of Rankings IO, and that was Don Worley. He is a beast in the courtroom. His firm has tackled over 40,000 cases. Nearly every case comes from his nationwide network of law firms. He secured over 400 referral partners without ever buying a TV commercial or dancing on TikTok. In this episode of Personal Injury Mastermind, Don reveals that there's no one size fits all approach to raising your profile in the legal community. Don explains how letting go, having fun, and being transparent has doubled his caseload.

[Don Worley]

Just relationship building is what worked for me. We, I would go to conferences. There's a big. For mass torts, there's a conference called Mass Torts Meet Perfect. And I would throw the opening party and it would be pretty crazy with little people and go go dancers and models. And we have a theme. So it would be fun, basically. And most lawyer parties are, let's be honest, not fun. Sipping wine, talking about the case you had that no one cares about. So it's just a fun party with a DJ spinning. And it was. And so I would entertain people, I would meet them and, and then also just take them out to nightclubs or dinners. What really helped me grow, I mean, that helped me get some cases, but it helped me grow was being transparent. And I would give a monthly update.

[Unknown]

By email to lawyers that send me.

[Don Worley]

Cases that say, here are the cases you sent me and here's the status of them. You know, most lawyers don't want to do that because they don't want to show they haven't done anything on the case. But it actually helps me because if a lawyer says, hey, Don, you've had this case for two months.

[Unknown]

You don't have the medical records yet.

[Don Worley]

Why not? Well, then I can turn in my medical records team and say, hey, we don't. We've had this case two months, we don't have the medical records. What's going on? The reason I started being a mass tort lawyer myself is because a young PI lawyer, I referred cases out, never heard anything. They wouldn't return my calls or my emails. And then I hear about them settling. So I said, you know what? I'm going to be, I'm going to change the industry. And really, it was just simple. It wasn't just marketing, it was also customer service.

[Unknown]

Are you API, you know, your CRM to your partners? Are you doing things like that? Or is it just like, hey, no, we're just, we're doing an email and it's, here's the details.

[Don Worley]

Well, no, they get feedback instantly because on their report. And I say, I do a little video that also goes out with the email every month. The video is basically what we need their help with, but also just an update on mass torch in general, what's going on. But I say, hey, look, if you see on your report, client non responsive, we need your help. That means they're not responding to us. So you either need to try to call them or whatever call center you use to sign up this client, maybe they need to get them on the phone. If you paid somebody to market for these clients, to sign them up, you need to go back to them and say, hey, this person's not responding. You need to either get them on the phone or get me somebody different. Because sometimes the client, they call, you know, off a TV ad, call Lexis Law at 1-800-da-da. They call and sign up. Well, they don't know who McDonald really is when we start calling them, even though the retainer, they don't read retainers when they sign them.

[Unknown]

You've been in the PI game for over 20 years, and you kind of got this, this interesting start, right? So you spent some time doing some comedies, some entertainment. You're still doing some Take Me to the Standup Days. How did that help you out being a lawyer and just talk me through that?

[Don Worley]

I actually was an actor and a comedian before law school, undergraduate degrees in acting and theater, and I was doing standup comedy, but I, I went to Law school, you know, just because I thought, well, how can I use my talents as an actor or comedian and make a good living and help people? And I thought from television that lawyers went to court every day. So I was like, well, I could.

[Unknown]

Use my skills every day.

[Don Worley]

So I went to law school and discovered quickly that lawyers don't go to court very often, except when you go to trial. Or civil lawyers, anyway. Personal injury lawyers don't go to trial very often. But even while I was still a lawyer, I would still continue to do standup on weekends in different places and made my 600 bucks a weekend. And all you can drink. It taught me a lot about, you know, changing things because in the middle of a trial, sometimes you just feel things are not working or the other side makes it not work, and you have to adapt. And there's some moments, you know, I remember doing a show in either north or South Carolina, a little comedy zone, and it shared the parking lot, you know, kind of a rodeo bar. My style was sort of dry, pseudo intellectual storytelling. The opener guy was a local guy.

[Unknown]

He opened every time.

[Don Worley]

You know, he's very high energy and his jokes were like, you know, calling in sick is different than calling in effed up, right?

[Unknown]

Both shows Friday night, I ate it.

[Don Worley]

You know, it's a did horrible. No one was. Laughter liked it. I decided to change it up and all the only change I made is, you know, when I walked down on.

[Unknown]

Stage after he introduced me, I said, hey, he's a great comedian, right?

[Don Worley]

It's good kisser too. And then I changed my stories. And it was the same stories from.

[Unknown]

The night before, except it was him.

[Don Worley]

That was with me, the opener guy, and I killed it. Both shows just murdered both shows. And all I did is change the character in the story to the guy they knew as opposed to third parties they didn't know. So it, you know, it teaches you. You learn how to adapt and change, and that's important even for being a lawyer. When you're trying a case, you have.

[Unknown]

This film component too, that, that you're applying to the practice. Do you have consumers asking about it? Do you find it, you know, helps from the. The marketing, the legion side.

[Don Worley]

Most of what I've ever done is more branding than it is direct marketing. I've never been one that could get on TV because I just don't come across as believable and natural. You know, it looks like I'm faking it.

[Unknown]

And the TV show was just more.

[Don Worley]

Of a branding thing. I can't say that Someone ever called my office and said, I just saw your show on, you know, Amazon prime or Tubi or. It was on Discovery Channel, and I want to hire you. It's more of a branding, like lawyers know about it. And I. Almost all of my cases have come from referrals from other lawyers. We have about 400 law firms across.

[Unknown]

The country that send us cases.

I really wanted to lean into that because your firm is, it's, you know, 400 plus firms across the nation sending you referrals. And there's kind of these two camps, right? It's like referrals are, are bad because you gotta pay the referral fee. But then referrals are good because they don't maybe overload the intake.

[Don Worley]

I just don't think you could, you can successfully do both. I mean, I know that Morgan, and Morgan does, you know, a lot of advertising, obviously, and then they handle some cases in house, but they also refer out some cases.

[Unknown]

And I've. I'm fortunate enough to receive some cases.

[Don Worley]

In certain states from them as well, to work with them and partner with them, and I send them cases back as well. But I think it's really hard to be both an advertising firm and a handling firm. And I personally would not have 40,000 cases if I were paying for advertising for those cases. Even let's say they're mass torts and say that it costs you 2,500 to get. Well, whatever the math is of 40,000 by 2,500, there's just no way. And then also pay for the prosecution of those cases, the filing fees, the medical records, it's really, I think you kind of.

[Unknown]

It's better to choose one or the other.

[Don Worley]

And there's a lot of good advertising.

[Unknown]

Firms that refer out to cases.

[Don Worley]

And to me, that's the.

[Unknown]

If you're starting out, that's the best.

[Don Worley]

Way to do it. Because if you send a case to.

[Unknown]

Me, you get 50% on mass torch.

[Don Worley]

And all you did is sign the client up. So that's a good way to build a business. Whereas, you know, on our side, we, we work it up and pay for the case. And yes, I could get a case for 2,500, and maybe I'm paying 20,000 for it because at the end I split my fee.

[Unknown]

And if it settled for a hundred.

[Don Worley]

And the fee's 40 and I give the other lawyer 20, then I paid 20,000 for a case I could have acquired for 2500 a client. But. But then again, I pay that at.

[Unknown]

The end out of the settlement.

[Don Worley]

Funds and post it up front.

[Unknown]

The interesting thing too is I feel like it's constantly shifting. Like right now you've got the Legion companies and the pay per lead and it's kind of, it's basically causing an increase on the cost to acquire the case. So you gotta be like a really good advertiser and at the same time like, I agree it's hard to be both. You said you've been heavily involved in torts. You know, that, that space, it seems like, you know, I got a lot of clients that, that haven't been successful. Right. For a number of reasons. I, I just, you know, whether they picked the wrong mass tort or maybe they didn't, you know, stay connected to and they had a bunch of drop offs or dual rep scenarios. You know what comes to mind just in this space? Being successful.

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[Don Worley]

There was a moment of time when Wall street fell in love with mass torts and the returns. And so they were backing advertisers to go out and spend millions and millions of dollars on advertising. And then they would, you know, either loan money to those lawyers and get, you know, their loan paid back out of the referral fee or through. There's a couple of states where you can actually be a non lawyer and participate in fees. D.C. and Arizona are two that come to mind. There's more, but those are the two that I know about because I'm licensed.

[Unknown]

In both of those states.

[Don Worley]

But what happened is it started taking seven years to get your money back because there were so many mass torts. I mean with 3M earplug there were, at one point there were 350,000 cases. How's 3M gonna pay a hundred thousand a case on 350,000 or not? So the money dried up because they weren't getting the turn on their money and the return on their money that they expected. So there's basically just not as much money in the space to fund the advertising anymore. And we've diversified too. I went back to my point personal injury routes and we're doing a lot of personal injury now. The biggest concentration right now is, you know, Arizona and Texas and New York. But we get, we're taking cases all over the country, but those are the main offices that are staffed and working and have the most PI cases.

[Unknown]

Other firms, you know, when they're borrowing a bunch of money, you know, if it's a short term thing where if it's like a three years maybe no big deal, but seven years, those points start to add up and before you know it, you know, you're just paying off the interest.

[Don Worley]

They get upside down and all their work and effort goes to a lender on Wall street instead of them. Now gotcha.

[Unknown]

You know the other thing too, just on this torch and then we'll, I'll flip over, back over to a single event and dicar. There's all different strategies that come to mind. Some people are like, hey, get in really early, get as many as you can. They don't work out. At least your cost acquire was low. And then you got others. It's like wait until the science is established and you know, and, and then get in at the lab. The final hour. What, what's your thoughts on just selection if someone maybe, maybe they're wanting to diversify and put 20% or something in this field. Like, like what's that look like?

[Don Worley]

Well, all your marketers that listen to your podcast are not going to like my answer.

[Unknown]

But the only way you can truly.

[Don Worley]

Lose all your money is if the.

[Unknown]

Case does not survive.

[Don Worley]

Dalbert or Dalbert, it's pronounced two different ways. That's the only way you can lose all your money because once it passes Dalbert, they're going to pay something. I mean even in Geralto it passed Albert and Xarelto, we lost every trial, five of them. We won one, but we lost on appeal. So we basically lost all five cases. But they still paid around 35,000 a case. So you got some money back. But the way I've lost all my money is when they got dismissed. I there's a couple different cases. One was nxivm, the bone density loss. And at the mdl it lost the Dalbera Heron and the MDL was dismissed totally. And I lost about a million bucks in that. And then there was another one that was gadolinium and it was this dye and for MRIs that stayed in your body. And I lost several hundred thousand in that because it was didn't pass Dalbera. The judge didn't buy the science and the experts. So they dismissed the consolidated action in California. So I say, you know, just wait until it passes Del Bear. And okay, so you pay 1500 a case instead of a thousand. But at least you didn't lose a thousand dollars case. I mean I would say the approach is unless you're going to be the firm that's the, you know, the head of the snake on a case, go out and get some cheap early. If you want to be one of the ones that files first and trying to get in leadership in the MDL or trying to get a trial first and trying to run the show or be part of the show, go get em early. But if you just wanna be an.

[Unknown]

Investor and buy the cases and refer em to me or someone else, I.

[Don Worley]

Would wait until it survives Del Bear. And it doesn't matter if it's a little bit more, at least you're gonna get a return and not get poured out.

[Unknown]

You got Suboxone. I don't know much about that. Only the, the quality of the person filing might not be the best, they might not be the best record keeper. And then you got Depo Provera. It's another big one. I think it was talked about at mtmp unpacking your brain. What do you think on each of those?

[Don Worley]

We pick what to do by volume of something.

[Unknown]

If some someone sends me five cases.

[Don Worley]

Of something it's not.

[Unknown]

We just can't get involved with the.

[Don Worley]

Case because that's not enough to support ramping up a team. So we're not in those yet.

[Unknown]

We may later someone sends us a.

[Don Worley]

Thousand cases or something but not right now. We're not in them. But again those are early stages. So you know, my colleagues think they're good and I mean there is one early stage one that's a Bard powerport and a lawyer in my office gave.

[Unknown]

Assad is on the science committee in.

[Don Worley]

That and on leadership and they say the science is really strong in that case. So we are involved in that case just because you know, Gabe's in the plaintiff steering committee. But that's a good early stage. But it's still. Dalbera is still probably a year or so away.

[Unknown]

And then on the single event, the auto space, everybody's going after auto. They're good cases. You know you can get the commercial vehicle policies and you know, but I guess depending on the state and jurisdiction, you know what's your thoughts on some of these other types of injury related cases, whether it's birth injury or nursing neglect or or even some of the premises stuff, maybe negligent security, you know, or is it still like hey, you know, auto's there. It's predictable. You can get the data, the cash flow. Like what's your thoughts on the single event side?

[Don Worley]

I think it's just whatever you end up, you know, having a preference to and becoming more of an expert in. But eventually you're going to have to go down to the courthouse if you want to keep getting paid on cases because insurance company keeps that on a lawyer. And if you can lose four cases and still get paid more on the.

[Unknown]

Fifth case than if you settled everything.

[Don Worley]

So if they know that you're going to take them down to the courthouse and make them try a case, they're.

[Unknown]

Going to pay you real value.

[Don Worley]

So every once in a while you're going to have to try case to keep your value is up even on car wrecks.

[Unknown]

What small change has had the biggest positive impact you think on your firm?

[Don Worley]

I think it was just deciding to do what no other lawyer was doing. And giving monthly updates to lawyers is what really made my firm go from, you know, 2,000 cases to 40,000 cases.

[Unknown]

Global MDL settlement.

[Don Worley]

Everyone's going to get saved, paid the same. So why not send your cases to someone you actually like and you're going to have fun with and it's going to be transparent. And to you, what's going on.

[Chris Dreyer]

Don Worley's journey from stand up comedian to managing 40,000 plus cases shows that being yourself is your biggest differentiator. And his monthly case updates to referral partners, that simple commitment to transparency helped him scale from 2000 to 40,000 cases. Want more insights on building authentic relationships in the legal industry? Head on over to Rankings IO Podcast for all our episodes and resources. While you're there, you can grab a copy of my latest book, Personal Injury Lawyer Marketing from Good to Go. Thanks for listening to Personal Injury Mastermind. I'm Chris Dreyer. Remember, your best marketing tool is the one that works for.