315. ‘The Usain Bolt of Law School': 0-50 Staff in Record Time w/ Dennis Carrion

Summary

Personal Injury Mastermind Episode 315 Summary:

Episode Title: ‘The Usain Bolt of Law School': 0-50 Staff in Record Time w/ Dennis Carrion
Host: Chris Dreyer, Rankings.io
Guest: Dennis Carrion, Founder of [Firm Name]
Release Date: March 6, 2025

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1. Introduction to Dennis Carrion's Achievements

In this compelling episode of Personal Injury Mastermind, host Chris Dreyer welcomes Dennis Carrion, an attorney renowned for his rapid ascent in the legal field. Dennis earned the nickname "the Usain Bolt of law school" by completing his degree with a near-perfect GPA in just two years. His impressive start continued as he secured a $200,000 settlement within 30 days of launching his firm. Over five years, Dennis expanded his team to 50 members across multiple countries, achieving this milestone without prior experience working under another lawyer.

Notable Quote:

"We have a team approaching 50 people now. You know, you lose some, but a lot of times you find really loyal people very happy to be here and we make that environment."
— Dennis Carrion [00:50]

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2. Building a Rapidly Growing and Diverse Team

Dennis attributes his firm's explosive growth to strategic hiring and fostering a loyal, culturally cohesive team. Early on, he prioritized international hires, bringing in talented bilingual individuals fluent in both English and Spanish. This move not only diversified his team but also enhanced the firm’s ability to serve a broader client base effectively.

Notable Quote:

"We're a fully bilingual practice. Everybody speaks English and Spanish, including myself. They're lawyers and they're doctors most of the time in their home country."
— Dennis Carrion [01:28]

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3. Leveraging Technology for Effective Communication

Effective communication is paramount in Dennis’s multinational team. Surprisingly, instead of conventional tools like Slack, Dennis opts for Discord—a platform originally designed for gamers. He praises Discord for its live streaming capabilities and virtual office environment, which help maintain a strong, personable company culture.

Notable Quote:

"Discord does that. And it's free."
— Dennis Carrion [02:38]

Additional Insight: Dennis emphasizes the importance of seeing team members to maintain humanity and foster genuine connections, contrasting with the impersonal nature of some virtual meetings.

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4. Strategies for Client Communication and Retention

Client communication is a critical factor in Dennis's firm's success. His team ensures consistent contact with clients at least every two weeks, documenting each interaction to build trust and reduce attrition. By proactively reaching out, they reassure clients of ongoing efforts and availability, addressing the common issue of clients feeling neglected.

Notable Quote:

"The number one reason why lawyers lose clients is for communication. The client feels, nobody's getting back to me. Nobody cares about me."
— Dennis Carrion [03:26]

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5. Marketing Tactics and Client Acquisition

Dennis highlights the significance of a robust marketing mix in client acquisition. Starting with digital ads, he quickly landed lucrative cases with minimal initial investment. As his firm grew, Dennis expanded into major media channels, including radio and event sponsorships. He advocates for combining brand awareness efforts with lead capture strategies to create a synergistic effect.

Notable Quote:

"If you're not doing digital today, you are doing it wrong."
— Dennis Carrion [05:17]

Additional Insight: Dennis discusses the balance between large-scale sponsorships and cost management, advising firms to negotiate deals creatively to maximize social proof without overspending.

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6. Leadership Philosophy and Talent Acquisition

Leadership for Dennis centers around building a team of individuals who surpass his own abilities. He believes in surrounding himself with experts in various domains, allowing him to focus on steering the firm. Cultural fit is non-negotiable; Dennis ensures that every team member aligns with the firm's ethos and values through personal interactions and informal meetings.

Notable Quote:

"I need to hire people who are better than me. That's number one."
— Dennis Carrion [09:20]

Additional Insight: For attorney roles, Dennis prefers experienced hires who can operate independently, given the challenges of remote training. He values personal rapport, often deciding hires based on informal interactions like sharing a meal.

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7. Educational and Entrepreneurial Background

Dennis's educational journey is as unconventional as his professional path. He completed a unique two-year law program, leveraging the Pro Bono Scholars program in New York, which allowed him to expedite his law degree by integrating bar preparation concurrently. This accelerated path enabled him to transition swiftly from education to founding his law firm.

Notable Quote:

"I actually did zero to sworn in in two years before law school."
— Dennis Carrion [10:38]

Additional Insight: Prior to law, Dennis was deeply involved in the real estate and photo booth businesses, demonstrating his entrepreneurial spirit and sales acumen—traits he now applies to his legal practice.

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8. Strategic Focus on Key Markets

While Dennis holds licenses in multiple states, he strategically focuses on New York and New Jersey. This decision stems from the depth of work available in these regions and his team's in-depth knowledge of local courts. By concentrating marketing efforts and resources on these markets, Dennis ensures high-quality service and case management without overextending.

Notable Quote:

"We could run cases in all those states if we wanted to. However, my initial plan of having a Florida and New York firm I've pulled back on."
— Dennis Carrion [13:42]

Additional Insight: Dennis acknowledges the temptation to expand broadly but emphasizes the importance of depth over breadth to maintain quality and operational efficiency.

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9. Vision for Future Growth

Looking ahead, Dennis envisions expanding his firm's physical presence to all five boroughs of New York City. Each new office would operate semi-autonomously, managed by skilled attorneys who drive case volume and contribute to the firm's overarching success. His hiring strategy continues to prioritize top-tier talent, ensuring that only "rock stars" join the team.

Notable Quote:

"I want an office in every one of the five boroughs of New York."
— Dennis Carrion [14:56]

Additional Insight: Dennis leverages innovative hiring language, such as "rock stars only," to attract exceptional candidates who align with his firm's high standards and dynamic culture.

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Conclusion: Key Takeaways

Dennis Carrion's journey from an accelerated law school graduate to leading a 50-person international team exemplifies the power of strategic hiring, effective communication, and a strong marketing presence. His emphasis on culture, client communication, and focused market expansion provides valuable lessons for personal injury attorneys aiming to elevate their practices.

Final Quote:

"Dennis built a thriving practice by investing in remote talent, using Click Clever systems to streamline repetitive tasks and obsessing over culture and client communication. His story is a case study on how agility and focus can take your firm to the next level."
— Chris Dreyer [15:23]

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Transcript

[Dennis Carrion]

Foreign.

[Chris Dreyer]

Welcome to Personal Injury Mastermind. I'm Chris Dreyer, founder and CEO of Rankings IO. Each week we dive into the strategies behind the most successful PI law firms in the nation. Today I'm talking with Dennis Carrion, an attorney who earned the nickname the Usain Bolt of law school by completing his degree with a near perfect GPA in two years. But that was only the beginning of his sprint to success. Within 30 days of opening his firm, Dennis landed a $200,000 settlement. In just over five years, he's built a 50 person team spanning multiple countries, all without ever working for another lawyer. Right off the bat, Dennis reveals how his lightning fast approach to everything from client communication to hiring decisions has propelled his meteoric rise. Let's jump in. As he shares the unconventional methods behind his record breaking growth.

[Dennis Carrion]

We have A team approaching 50 people now. You know, not you lose some, but a lot of times you find really loyal people very happy to be here and we make that environment. My second hire was my first international hire because there's a lot of work that a lawyer. Now my lawyers who I have work for me don't need to do. It's a lot of work, paperwork and a lot of things that are repetitive. I'm going abroad, but I'm getting very talented, very bright individuals. These people are bilingual, which is huge for my practice. We're a fully bilingual practice. Everybody speaks English and Spanish, including myself. They're lawyers and they're doctors most of the time in their home country.

[Chris Dreyer]

Communication is key when you got individuals and different countries, different time zones. What are you using from like a tech perspective? Are you using Slack?

[Dennis Carrion]

The tool that we use the most is actually get this free and that is Discord for audience.

[Chris Dreyer]

It doesn't even know what Discord is. Just, just a brief overview of what it is.

[Dennis Carrion]

Discord is actually restarted for gamers, I believe. But all Discord is is a live streaming platform so we can all have our own little zooms right in our own rooms and it's all live streaming. My admins can actually drag and drop people into a room, right? So I can say, well, let me see what you work. Let me see it, Chris. And you can boom. In one click. You're sharing your screen and everyone's seeing it. It's very productive and it's the hub of, of the, of the firm. It's the closest thing that I found to a virtual office environment for the culture. For me, that's big. I don't want faceless people. I don't want just the Voice. I want to be able to see them. I want to be able to see them smile. See? Hey, are you. Are you all right today? You having a bad day? That's important. And Discord does that. And it's free.

[Chris Dreyer]

I love that the camera's on. It drives me nuts. I go in a zoom meeting, and it's like, are you here? I got to see the. The facial inflections. All those things ages everything.

[Dennis Carrion]

It's. We're human. We want to see that we're human.

[Chris Dreyer]

Yeah. Well, that's great, though. That's great. You're having fun. I can tell. You enjoy what you do.

[Dennis Carrion]

That's an environment that has to be bred. It has to be developed from the top down. That culture, I always tell my team, it's all about the culture. If somebody is a genius but doesn't fit my culture, they're out the door, they're gone. You have to fit the culture. And my culture is not very corporate. It's very. We run. We run a different type of shop.

[Chris Dreyer]

We all know client communication can make or break a PI firm. So how does Dennis's team keep clients feeling heard and supported when half the staff is remote?

[Dennis Carrion]

We have systems in my office to make sure we communicate with clients a minimum of every two weeks. And more importantly, we have a system that documents this, so we have a trail of that communication so we can prove out that communication. So when we have a client, you know, as you know, the number one reason why lawyers lose clients is for communication. The client feels, nobody's getting back to me. Nobody cares about me. No one's working on my case. All right? So by even touching the client to say nothing but, hey, what's up, Kris? How you doing? We're working hard still. Case isn't ready to go. Treatment's okay. Awesome. Talk to you in a little bit. If you need me, we're here. That will decrease your attrition rate or your substitution rate drastically.

[Chris Dreyer]

You try to meet the client where they are instead of making them come to you again at that convenience. Perspective, right? Like, who wants to drive in to when they can have someone come to them or meet at, you know, a spot that works for everyone. So talk to me about that decision. Does that help you on the intake side? Like. Like, look, we'll come to you. Like, who else is offering to do that?

[Dennis Carrion]

Speed is your best friend on the intake side of personal injury. So what they need is the attention, and they want to know, I have a problem and you're here to solve my Problem and start helping me right now because I'm lost, because I'm hurt, because my car's in the shop, My car's at the tow yard. I don't know how I'm going to get to work. My neck is killing me. I need help today. So speed is your friend. We're going to say, hey, do you want to come to one of our offices? We have three different locations they can come to, or would you like us to go to you?

[Chris Dreyer]

So within 30 days, you set, you land and settle a case for 200k. You know, it's kind of a pivotal moment for the new firm. How did you get the case? Tell me a little bit about that.

[Dennis Carrion]

So I was in Broward county, public defenders. I'm already admitted, right? In New York, but I'm still down here. So I start the firm and I'm like, all right, I did this to hang my own shingle. Let's get to work. I started with digital ads. I started spending some money online. I get this case in upstate New York in a town that I don't even know existed. She already had the surgery on her olecrolon, which I didn't know what it was. Turns out this is your electrolon right here. It's a pretty bad break. Required surgery, liability was clear. It was the end of her case. She's like, yeah, they're calling me, but I don't know if I should make a deal with them. So I said, I could help you make that deal. She wanted me to. She was very afraid to speak with the insurance company, as she would have been. She probably would have gotten $10. That's the way these insurance companies operate. And I got her 200 grand. Thirty days in, I spent about $5,000 in marketing. I got her case, plus some others, and I ended up making 66,000 in about 30 days. And that was the point. I said, dennis, my friend, you've made a good, good decision. That was it. It's definitely a marketing mix. And we've also grown big enough where now we're doing things like huge radio plays. Like, you know, I did the studio sponsorship for a huge Spanish language radio station in New York, which is a major market. I do big concert sponsorships, I do big festivals. So I do the big media. And you need the marketing mix. And if you're not doing digital today, you are doing it wrong. Whatever you're doing, if you're not doing digital, you're doing it wrong. You have to your SEO, if you're not coming up on Google, it's a problem. And then when you're ready, you make the big plays, you know, which are huge radio plays, huge out of home plays, you know, buses, billboards.

[Chris Dreyer]

I'm with you. Like the mix, they work better together, right? You've got the brand awareness and then you got the capture component. So they already know who you are. They already know and like you, right? They've heard you on the radio, the concerts, and sometimes I'll see in nil or a licensing play on like, you know, an NBA team or something. I'm like, whoa, that's, that's crazy. You get a little bit of social proof and like, hey, they must be legit because they're in X Stadium. But I'm like, I don't know the cost. You know, some of those costs, like how do you kind of measure when to do those?

[Dennis Carrion]

So I haven't done anything huge like that. Like, you know, official partner of the New York Knicks, right, In my market. I don't know what that would even look like, but you'd be surprised. I'm looking to do a deal right now with the New York Mets, who just signed up Juan Soto, right. And they're in Queens, which is like my home, right? That's, that's one of our main hubs. So we're working a deal. And it's actually not that expensive to be the injury partner, right, for the New York Met. You know, today's injury, injury report brought to you by 212 carrying your injury lawyers, right? And now you can use that little tidbit as for social proof, like you were just saying, and to increase your brand value, right, Your brand cachet. And it's actually not that expensive, but you have to be careful because you can get sucked in and sponsorships for events are going to try to hit you over the head every single time. They're going to ask you for a bajillion dollars and you take that number and divide by four and maybe make a deal. That's what you gotta, that's just the name of the game because they think you have all the money. They like everyone, personal injury, if you want to sell anything, you go sell it to a personal injury lawyer. And that's just. Am I wrong, though?

[Chris Dreyer]

You're right. You know, talk to me just briefly about leadership talent. Like, you know, we've had, I had Mike De Pasquale on and Anthony Lopez and they're like, hey, we, we like the fresh guys and gals out of law school, right, that have that Energy that have, you know, this drive. And they're hiring on values as opposed to maybe leading with experience, like, you know, differing points of views or, you know, you can be successful in a lot of ways. Like, like, how do you think about talent?

[Dennis Carrion]

I need to hire people who are better than me. That's number one. That's huge. Because you want to build those team members around you, that this person's great at this, this person's great at that, this. And at the end of the day, as the leader, as a steward of this ship, I'm standing behind my team. They're my shield. And each one of them is a badass at what they do. And if I build that, then I'm safe. And if I'm safe, I can steer the shit. That's how I think about it. Overall. Macro. Right? And now when I'm looking at attorney hires, I would hire experience. I have a lot of remote. In my, in my practice training is a little more difficult for that kind of, for that kind of role. Right. For an attorney role, that's difficult. You're not in an office to be trained. And it's. I think it's more difficult. Whereas if I have a more experienced person, they can pretty much run their own little pod. I'm saying here, work on this business. Business, go work. And I think that that works a lot better. But first and foremost, they have to fit the culture. If they're not my speed, they're not my flow. I always like to say, if I don't, if I don't want to go out and have a meal with you and have lunch and just hang out and shoot the shit, I probably wouldn't hire you. It's just how I, how I operate.

[Chris Dreyer]

So you got this nickname, the Usain Bolt of law school. So completing a degree, near perfect gpa, passing the bar, getting admitted in two years and then launching the firms, how is that possible?

[Dennis Carrion]

Two, it's two programs. It never existed prior and it's since I don't believe it can be done because the two year program has been removed. So you would go summer to summer to summer to summer. Right. That was the two year program super quick. You're doing summers, you're doing winters. Then New York has a special program, it's called the Pro Bono Scholars program. You have to apply for it. And instead of going to law school to class for your final semester, you forego that and you basically study, take the bar exam in February. So you finish fall semester, you're off, you're studying for the bar exam. You take it in February. I worked at the Broward County Public Defender's office. That's where I did my pro bono. So then when May came around, I already had my bar results back. So I actually did zero to sworn in in two years before law school.

[Chris Dreyer]

You were a business owner. You're in real estate. So talk to me about that. And then the transition to law.

[Dennis Carrion]

Yes. So I didn't start as a lawyer. I went to law school late. I've been practicing six years now, and I'm 43, so let's do that math. Right. So, yeah, I was in the business world. I was always entrepreneurial. I was always a very good salesperson, which I think is the number one attribute for a good attorney is going to be a good salesperson. Certainly for an owner of a firm, you must be a good salesperson. It's at the helm of everything. Last business I exited, I sold right at the end of law school, and I went to law school to own a law firm. Never worked for anyone. I hung my own shingle as soon as I got admitted. And here I am six, six years later.

[Chris Dreyer]

What was the first business that you sold? Just give me the brief overview on that one.

[Dennis Carrion]

I did mortgages and real estate combined for a while. I had my mortgage broker's license, my real estate broker's license. I did that for years.

[Chris Dreyer]

I'm in real estate. I'm. I'm like, 99 doors about to hit that hundredth door. I'm like, it's right around the corner. I'm pumped.

[Dennis Carrion]

That's. That's amazing. By the way, congratulations to you, my friend. That's a lot of doors. Then the whole real estate blow up happened, and I actually got into the photo booth business. Now that's crazy, right? That's crazy. I was getting married at the time. We were going to go rent the photo booth at the time for like 1500 bucks. And I look at my then fiance and I'm like, this is ridiculous. How much can that thing possibly cost? Four weeks later, I bought my first photo booth. I ended up owning like 8 or 9 at one point. Then I started manufacturing photo booths, selling them all over the world to other operators, controlling the software on a licensing plate. It was interesting. It was interesting.

[Chris Dreyer]

Now Dennis is licensed in multiple states, including New York and Florida. But he made a strategic choice to focus on New York and New Jersey. Here's why.

[Dennis Carrion]

So we could run cases in all those states if we wanted to. However, my initial plan of having a Florida and New York firm I've pulled back on. And while I take cases in Florida, very, very few. I got to really love that case. I'm not looking to run volume in Florida. Ad dollars can only go so far, and my focus can only run so deep. So I, as the head of my organization, have to really spearhead this, and I have to move my team where I need us to go. And there's so much work in New York, New Jersey, that I feel that that's home for us right now. And that's where we try cases. That's where we know all the courts, like, are the back of our hand. So we're staying there right now. New York, New Jersey, we'll take a case if it comes to us, and it's the right case in Pennsylvania, we'll take the case in Florida. But really, all of our marketing dollars and all of our efforts are targeted towards New York and New Jersey. But it's important to know when you shouldn't expand. And I had to. I wanted to be king of everything, right? And sometimes that's not the play.

[Chris Dreyer]

What's the next phase of growth like? If you're casting the vision out, what's it look like? What gets you excited?

[Dennis Carrion]

I want an office in every one of the five boroughs of New York. Each office will have its own attorney, kind of as its own manager, and just build out. Build out cases and volume. So trying to just scale and get bigger, man, that's my goal right now. And adding more of a team. Rock stars. Rock stars only. I actually put that on an Indeed app. My wife was like, really? You want to write that? I'm like, yes. Rock stars only.

[Chris Dreyer]

Dennis built a thriving practice by investing in remote talent, using Click Clever systems to streamline repetitive tasks and obsessing over culture and client communication. His story is a case study on how agility and focus can take your firm to the next level. I'm Chris Dreyer. Hit subscribe so you never miss an episode of Pimp.