327. Settle in 60 Days: How Jon Hollan Built Kentucky’s Fastest PI Firm

Summary

Podcast Summary: Personal Injury Mastermind Episode 327 – "Settle in 60 Days: How Jon Hollan Built Kentucky’s Fastest PI Firm"

---

Introduction

In Episode 327 of Personal Injury Mastermind, host Chris Dreyer delves into the strategies that have propelled Jon Hollan to establish Kentucky’s fastest-growing personal injury (PI) firm. Jon Hollan, the managing partner at Sam Aguiar Injury Lawyers, shares insights into achieving rapid case settlements, developing a strong brand presence, and transforming young attorneys into million-dollar litigators. This episode provides a comprehensive look into the operational and marketing tactics that have driven Jon’s firm to success.

---

Truck Talk and Media Exposure

One of the pivotal elements of Jon Hollan's strategy is his involvement in "Truck Talk," a weekly three-minute segment on WKYT, one of Kentucky’s largest media providers.

“Truck Talk, it is a three minute segment that we do once a week. It's not necessarily getting into case specific or, you know, really traditional marketing as much as it is a opportunity for me to just talk about the trucking industry safety principles...”
— Jon Hollan [00:56]

Through "Truck Talk," Jon educates the community about trucking safety, addressing issues that impact both Kentuckians and the trucking industry. This initiative not only positions his firm as a thought leader in trucking-related PI cases but also fosters trust and recognition within the community.

Jon explains how being featured on "Truck Talk" has garnered positive feedback from clients and peers alike:

“The outreach that even from current clients and just other attorneys that, that I know that see the show or see some of the segments or, or some of the sound bites from the show, it's mostly positive.”
— Jon Hollan [01:54]

---

Building a High-Performance Team

A cornerstone of Jon Hollan’s success is his innovative team structure. His firm employs a "pod" method, assigning a dedicated trio—comprising an attorney, a case manager, and a legal assistant—to each case. This ensures personalized attention and efficient case handling.

“Mine's even a Little bit different, Chris, because my case manager is my brother and my assistant is my soon to be brother in law. That's awesome.”
— Jon Hollan [12:55]

This familial approach fosters strong communication and dedication, enhancing client satisfaction and case outcomes. Jon emphasizes the importance of trust within his team:

“I'm not much of a micromanager, you know, I like to... have like full trust in the team I'm working with.”
— Jon Hollan [16:16]

---

Case Study: Mr. Walston's Pursuit Case

One of the most significant turning points for Jon Hollan was handling the Mr. Walston case, a high-stakes police pursuit accident in rural Bullock County, Kentucky. This case exemplifies the firm's capability to manage complex litigation against powerful defendants.

Jon recounts the challenges and eventual triumph:

“We had a jury trial and I was in love... But then things kind of turned around and then came Mr. Walston's case... we got a $1.2 million verdict on that case.”
— Jon Hollan [06:09]

This case not only solidified Jon’s passion for litigation but also demonstrated the firm's ability to leverage technology and expert testimony to secure favorable outcomes.

---

Specializing in Large Corporations' Cases

Jon’s firm specializes in handling cases against large corporations like Amazon and FedEx. He discusses the unique challenges these cases present, including the extensive resources and sophisticated legal strategies employed by such defendants.

“...companies like FedEx or Amazon have, you know, as far as shielding themselves from liability and just a different style and speed of litigation...”
— Jon Hollan [08:19]

To counter these challenges, Jon emphasizes the need for meticulous preparation, including the use of expert witnesses and comprehensive case management.

---

Operational Efficiency and Case Handling

Jon highlights the firm’s commitment to operational excellence, which allows them to settle cases within 30 to 60 days— a remarkable achievement in the PI field.

“Our time on desk has always been far less than anyone that I've ever looked at in the industry.”
— Jon Hollan [17:58]

The firm utilizes advanced case management software, Litify, to streamline processes and ensure timely case resolution. This structured approach, combined with the dedicated pod system, enables the firm to handle high volumes of cases without compromising quality.

Jon also discusses the importance of limiting caseloads to focus on high-value cases:

“I maybe work on, on only a handful of cases I'm getting in and I'm doing the things that I've got to have, you know, hours to do. And that's, that's what leads to the really really big outlier results.”
— Jon Hollan [14:58]

---

Client Communication and Company Culture

The firm’s client-centric approach is evident in their communication practices. Clients have direct access to their dedicated attorney and regular updates from their case manager, ensuring transparency and trust.

“You know, clients get a dedicated point of contact... If I want to talk to John, I get to talk to John.”
— Jon Hollan [12:55]

Jon underscores the importance of being in the "people business," prioritizing client relationships and exceptional service to differentiate the firm from competitors.

---

Key Takeaways and Insights

1. Media Presence: Leveraging media segments like "Truck Talk" can significantly enhance a firm's visibility and credibility within its niche.
2. Team Structure: Implementing a dedicated pod system ensures personalized client attention and efficient case management.
3. Operational Efficiency: Utilizing advanced case management tools and limiting caseloads to focus on high-value cases can lead to faster settlements and better outcomes.
4. Specialization: Focusing on specific types of cases, such as those against large corporations, allows firms to develop expertise and strategies tailored to complex litigation.
5. Client Communication: Maintaining transparent and consistent communication builds trust and improves client satisfaction.

---

Conclusion and Contact Information

Jon Hollan's journey illustrates the power of strategic media engagement, team dedication, and operational excellence in building a successful PI firm. By focusing on high-value cases, maintaining strong client relationships, and fostering a supportive team environment, Jon has transformed Sam Aguiar Injury Lawyers into a market leader in Kentucky.

For those interested in learning more about Jon Hollan and his firm's approach to personal injury litigation, you can reach out via email at jhollandylawoffice.com or connect through their website, Semi Justice.

---

Notable Quotes

• “Truck Talk, it is a three minute segment that we do once a week... opportunity for me to just talk about the trucking industry safety principles.” — Jon Hollan [00:56]
• “Our time on desk has always been far less than anyone that I've ever looked at in the industry.” — Jon Hollan [17:58]
• “We're turning those routinely into $700 million cases.” — Jon Hollan [05:54]

---

This episode of Personal Injury Mastermind offers invaluable insights for personal injury attorneys looking to scale their practices efficiently and effectively. Jon Hollan’s experiences and strategies provide a blueprint for transforming a local law firm into a high-performing, specialized practice.

Transcript

[A]

Our office gets auto cases settled within 30 to 60 days. It's unlike anything I've ever seen.

[B]

Welcome to Personal Injury Mastermind. Let's get into it. Settle cases in under 60 days, turn young attorneys into million dollar litigators and carve out a brand that owns the trucking niche. Today, John Holland explains all that and more. John is managing partner at Sam Aguiar Injury Lawyers, where speed is strategy. I'm Chris Dreyer, founder and CEO of Rankings IO. If we're ready to move faster and win bigger, this, this episode is for you.

[A]

Let's go.

[C]

So we just had Sam on. We had a great conversation. Loved hearing about your guys success. You got, you know, 10 plus attorneys, over 45 staff, you know, you're doing over a hundred cases a month. But now we're going to kind of get in the weeds and you're a little bit like a local celebrity, right? Our listeners in Kentucky might recognize you from the Truck Talk on wkyt. Tell us about what Truck Talk is and how you lined up this opportunity.

[A]

I guess we're going on a year now and man, you talk about uncomfortable. A podcast is pretty easy after you get used to being in a television studio in one of Kentucky's biggest media providers. But Truck Talk, it is a three minute segment that we do once a week. It's not necessarily getting into case specific or, you know, really traditional marketing as much as it is a opportunity for me to just talk about the trucking industry safety principles, issues that are affecting everyday Kentuckians who wonder about these cases or have been impacted by these cases or even truck drivers in the trucking community themselves. You know, we just talk about some of the things that we've learned about, you know, in the 10 plus years that we've been doing these cases and really advocate, you know, not only for the safety of Kentuckians, but also the safety of the trucking industry and with technology and some of the, you know, big shifts that we've had the past several years.

[C]

That's the big lesson I think a lot of PI attorneys miss is like, you know, if you're just a proponent of safety, you know, you still get the, the accident cases, you know. So what kind of reactions are you seeing from the community about the show?

[A]

You know, it's been really good. The outreach that even from current clients and just other attorneys that, that I know that see the show or see some of the segments or, or some of the sound bites from the show, it's mostly positive.

[C]

Put my marketing hat on, you know, how do you get, like, an opportunity like this? Is it, you know, transparently? Is it pay to play? Is it, you know, know you're invited because you're a member of the community? Like, how does this type of opportunity occur? How could other PI attorneys and maybe their state get an opportunity to come on a big show like this?

[A]

I had those same questions when it first started, so we were approached. It's wimt. They're the biggest news outlet in central Kentucky. They approached us for a meeting. They had had a prior attorney partner and that had ended, and they were interested in, you know, whether our office based on. We handle some cases that are pretty high profile at times, especially Sam with the Breonna Taylor case. So our firm is, you know, really well known throughout Kentucky. But we were approached. It's not free. You know, there is a small fee that we pay to get the opportunity to do it, but really, they've been really great. It's part of a program they have called Everyday Kentucky. So it airs, you know, once a week. And then they do a lot of different media buys, social spots, along with the content as well. But the thing that's been, I think, the most useful for us in a lot of ways is we get access to all the raw footage. So, you know, you're talking about each month, 10 to 15 minutes of studio quality raw footage without the noise that they add in, without some of the graphics. And we've been able to repurpose that for a lot of different ways for social platforms, you know, YouTube and a couple other different things that we've been trying with it.

[C]

Yeah, that's fantastic. I think, you know, the name of the game on social media at least, is, is video. You don't have video on your static posts.

[A]

It just.

[C]

It doesn't work anymore.

[A]

You know, I think a lot of things I've learned from you over the years and your different guests and your podcast, but just having that trust to really KN down. I'm blessed to have a lot of really good phone calls, whether it's, you know, serious car accidents or, you know, even serious premises cases. But, you know, getting to a point where I'm comfortable, you know, putting myself out there as. No, I'm a trucking attorney. You know, I handle truck crashes in Kentucky. And through the media platform that we're using, we also have a website that we've developed, semi justice.com which is solely for our trucking brand. But it's, you know, when it gets going really good and things are really high, I still have trouble, I think, trusting it at times. You know, how do I say no to some of these other cases that either people who are injured want me in or other attorneys want me? And it's just, it's a learning process.

[C]

Yeah, that's the big challenge. It's from a focus perspective. It's the shiny objects keep creeping in and it's just keep batting them away and it's hard to do. And I think everybody faces that, you know, in different aspects. You know, one of the things I want to talk about as your role as managing partner, tell me about your high value activities where you kind of live from the managing partner side.

[A]

The role that I have taken on the last several years has really been the litigator of, you know, the highest value cases, the media, some of the marketing things that I've gotten involved in the last few years. I mean, I do those as Sam needs me to and has wanted me to, to help certain areas that we're growing in. But really my level of comfort, where I want to be, you know, it's working cases. We have some really good young attorneys. I'm still pretty young myself, so I think people kind of look at me crazy when I say young attorney. But I've really enjoyed the last couple of years working with our younger attorneys on the best cases that they have, you know, and I think that they're starting to realize more that, you know, if we do things the right way that, you know, rather than what might be a 2 to a $300,000 case, you know, we're turning those routinely into $700 million cases. Same exact case. We're not really doing a lot different. A lot of it's just building the confidence in these young guys. And you know, we have a team right now that I tell Sam every day, you know, from the, I don't want to say back of the bench, but from the youngest person in our firm to the most senior person in our firm, we have. I'm really confident right now that anyone we have can go and get a million dollar result on a case. You know, they're proving that month in, month out.

[C]

And you teed me up there. So leaning into that, you know, your reputation as the youngest attorney in Kentucky to secure a seven figure verdict is pretty wild. So maybe we just. Just tell me that story about that case, what happened there. I think our audience would love to hear it.

[A]

Yeah, that one was really fun. And it came at an interesting time. We went into a trial about four or five months after I'd Been into the firm. We had a jury trial and I was in love. I mean, it was like a drug to me. I knew then and there I was like, this is what I'm going to spend my life doing. But, you know, that was a good outcome. Then the next five years, I think my first trial was one or two months after graduating law school. We lost that case, very hard case. We lost, went to the court of appeals, got reversed and ended up getting a nice result on it. But it was four, three or four years. I mean, we had lost four or five cases. And I just was really questioning, you know, the amount of money we're putting into this. Am I in the right field? You know, can Sam trust me to go and do this? Am I letting you know, our attorneys, our staff, our clients down. But then things kind of turned around and then came Mr. Walston's case. So it was actually a police pursuit case. Bullock County, Kentucky, which is a very rural area. This, that was in 2019. May of 2019. Sam, he's always been really cutting edge. So we used a lot of video footage in that case. We weren't really stagnant as far as the way we presented our evidence. And even though it was, you know, a conservative venue, the officer involved in that case had actually ran for sheriff. We were there at the courthouse and he knew everyone. He knew from the moment we walked in to the moment we walked out every day, this defendant knew everybody. So it didn't necessarily feel great, but we got a $1.2 million verdict on that case. And for me, you know, with that trial and then the wins that we had gotten just before and then since we got there after, it's really been pretty life changing as far as just how I view trials and really the opportunities it's given us in our practice.

[C]

Thank you for the transparency too. I think a lot of, I don't think, you know, many people want to talk about the, the licks, the early challenges and, you know, how you overcome them. The, the grit, the perseverance to continue and now become a top, you know.

[A]

Trial attorney and, and have a, you know, great litigating practice.

[C]

You know, I kind of wanted to lean into the, you know, these Amazon delivery and FedEx ground contractor accidents. How did you get in the space of specific Amazon delivery, FedEx type cases? You know, how are they different from say an 18 wheeler case?

[A]

It's not something I set out to do. I didn't just wake up one morning and think, oh, I want my cases to be against Amazon or FedEx. We just had a few cases come in. Really, really catastrophic. One came in and been see just before Christmas of 2016. And Chris, that's the one that really did it for me. I grew up in Eastern Kentucky, kind of in the coal mine area of hazard. This crash had happened in Rock Castle, Kentucky, where Interstate 75 goes through Kentucky, which is, you know, unfortunately, one of the roads that so many of our bad crashes have happened on. And one gentleman was killed, the other was horrifically injured. Stop traffic. A FedEx truck with two trailers plowed into stop traffic at 80 miles an hour. So, you know, obviously it was, it was a miracle that our client lived at the time. I would have been, I guess, probably 28, 29. I just gotten engaged. You know, life was really rapidly changing for me. And that case just took us to a different level of law. You know, Sam was beyond obsessed with the FedEx model we had. At one point on that case, I was at a hearing in Eastern Kentucky, and there were lawyers from Knoxville, Memphis, Pittsburgh and Louisville. And it's me and one other lawyer there, you know, so it's literally the proverbial David versus Goliath. So handling those cases, I got to see, you know, not only the resources that very powerful defendants are willing to put, you know, to fight against a single claim or a family that's been hurt really badly, but I also got to learn for the first time about the specific designs that companies like FedEx or Amazon have, you know, as far as shielding themselves from liability and just a different style and speed of litigation than I had ever encountered in my life. You know, I realized quickly, Sam and I both, that if you're going to take these cases, if you're going to win these cases, you're up against a different caliber of lawyer, and you've got to kind of bring out a different beast in yourself if you're going to go and beat those companies in high stakes litigation.

[C]

You know, and I can, I can tell just from, you know, our conversation just in this short time, it seems like you mentioned you kind of knew what was happening, right? You just got engaged. You just, you kind of have this picture in your head. So it speaks to, like, the obsession over the case and, and handling it and making sure it's covered and, you know, so does that mean, you know, more expert witnesses? Does that mean, you know, more mock trials? What goes into the preparation for a.

[A]

Big case like this?

[B]

Even up is excited to announce AI Drafts, the only drafting suite on the market. With AI built on the industry's largest and fastest growing personal injury data set. Giving you unmatched accuracy and speed when drafting any high quality document. Built on hundreds of thousands of personal injury cases, AI Drafts aligns with real world outcomes, not just templated legal language. It learns from your reviews and firm wide preferences. Every document reflects your tone, structure and legal strategy. No matter who's drafting with even up, you're drafting to win. Learn more [e-mail] that's evenuplaw.com I can.

[A]

Close my eyes and I feel like I'm back there again, you know, as part of that case and different moments in that case. But it really was all the above. You know, there were medical experts on the case. We had a doctor from Harvard Medical School. There was a trucking practices expert, I believe from Montana. There was an expert in Florida. You know, I was trying to add it up recently. Someone had asked me about that case. I think between Sam and I we went to pretty close to 10 different states while that case was pending. Thousands upon thousands of pages of documents. And if I would have, someone would have asked me at the beginning if we could handle that, you know, if our firm could handle that with our resources. You know, I would have said, I don't know. You know, it seems crazy to me. I don't know if I have those skills or if we have that kind of organization. But now, you know, I, looking back, it was life changing. It was career defining. And the attorney from Pittsburgh who was, who's the top dog, you know, he was the lead counsel, he just said, man, our client wants to talk about this. We can't keep at this the pace you guys are going. Wow. So it was, they were starting to wave the white flag. And then I was actually, as fate would have it, my wife and I were married on New Year's Eve 2017, the first or second day of our honeymoon in Buenos Aires. The case settled. So it's pretty cool. That's incredible.

[C]

What a moment in time.

[A]

Yeah, it was cool.

[C]

When I had Sam on, we talked about your guys structure like for case management, right, where you use a team of three people per case. A lawyer, case manager, a legal assistant. Know, how does this method of case handling take away any stigma associated with, you know, being an advertising firm?

[A]

That's kind of a hard question for me because it's, it's all I've ever known, you know, I think it's the right way, I think it's the only way because clients get a dedicated point of contact. Mine's even a Little bit different, Chris, because my case manager is my brother and my assistant is my soon to be brother in law. That's awesome. So, you know, it, it varies as much. A family affair. A lot of times when I get cases, other law firms have had them and it might be, you know, several other law firms or it might be a client that has had prior experiences with other law firms. And the thing that they tell me the most is the level of communication that they get from our office. You know, it's not calling into a switchboard. If I want to talk to John, I get to talk to John. You know, if I need to talk to Josh, that's my brother, the case manager. You know, I hear from him every other week on the dot. I don't have to worry about where things stand with my case. If anything, we might have clients that say, you know, hey, can you guys, we maybe do every three to four weeks, you know, every another one to two weeks. And it's, you know, Sam has been so big as far as running our firm from a customer service perspective. You know, we really are client first. I was a referee for years. I thought I wanted to do that before I became an attorney. So really, you know, managing people. My grandpa used to tell me that we're all in the people business. You know, I don't care how big you get or what you want to be, you're in the people business, so never forget that. And it's just so true. So I think that, that, you know, having that dedicated POD to each team and each case, I just think that's the biggest advantage that we get in it.

[C]

Yeah, let, let me ask some follow up questions on that. I would like to hear your thought process on this is, is like the caseload, right? And I'm asking this because, you know, we have the same situation from an agency perspective, it's like, well, how many account managers per client? And I'm like, well, there's bigger. You know, some firms are bigger, some are smaller and etc. So it kind of ebbs and flows. But on your side, I mean, you're, you're handling these large cases, so do you have a much smaller caseload? And then, you know, talk to me about, you know, the structure and like utilization and how you think about caseload.

[A]

You know, I maybe work on, on only a handful of cases I'm getting in and I'm doing the things that I've got to have, you know, hours to do. And that's, that's what leads to the really really big outlier results. So my level of comfort has really changed a lot over the years. I think the highest I was ever at was, you know, just under 150 maybe, you know, that was more pre litigation, you know, insurance claim driven versus litigation. And it was just way too many, you know, I could manage it, it's doable. But I think the work life balance at that point and some of the joy that I got from it, you know, at least it was a little rocky at times. And some attorneys, you know, live very comfortably with no desire to litigate. You know. And really in, in a volume shop I think you have to have the different skill sets and the attorneys willing to take cases really whatever direction they need to go. And just having different teams with different focuses really goes a long way in our office.

[C]

Love every bit of that. I was just wondering if you could just share briefly, just a couple other. I'm just interested in this structure. I think it's excellent. I love doing overall thought process of it. Maybe just the duties of the case manager, the legal assistant, you know, just overall how you kind of, you know, you're pod, you work cohesively, I'm sure you meet on an ongoing basis. But like, like how do you chop up the main duties between, you know, each of the roles?

[A]

As much as we like uniformity, that does differ some from team to team. Myself, I'm not much of a micromanager, you know, I like to, I'm really big on trust, you know, whether it's my own team or if I'm co counseling a case, I pretty much have to have like full trust in the team I'm working with. So we use, we work off of Litify and one of the things we've always been big on our office is case planning, you know, and that is the, we're going to have Litify or whatever, you know, software we're using at the time. We're going to have the checklist and the sort of built in case management task that you know, trigger based on the type of case and the caliber of case that it is. But now we have a case plan task item. So what that is is if you're the managing attorney on a file, before your team can really even work on that case, you have to manually go in, complete an initial audit of the case, give basically a general overview of the case and then give specific task items for the different members of your team. You know, if it's a trucking case, if it's an auto case, if it's A premises case, that initial investigation is really gonna be a lot different. So that's one of the biggest things and I think we're seeing a lot of huge benefit from it. Not only on some of the results that we're getting, but also just the speed with which we're getting some of those results. It's, you know, the frequency in which our office, you know, gets cases, auto cases settled within, you know, 30 to 60 days. It's unlike anything I've ever seen. Our time on desk has always been far less than anyone that I've ever looked at in the industry. And a lot of that is just built on, I think our pod method with our teams, the initial case planning and workup and really just the trust amongst the teams of, you know, A plus B gets their job done, you know, C is going to be really good. It goes along with them.

[C]

It's the kind of diagnosis, you know, the planning component so you can dial in and before you start executing wildly and throwing pain against the wall, it's like, here's the plan, let's execute on. It has these similarities to these other cases that we worked on. So I think that's incredible. You know, John, this has been, this has been awesome. This has been a lot of fun. You know, one final question. You know, where can people go to connect with you and learn more Semi justice.

[A]

That's you know, as far as our trucking practice and a lot of the things that we do for our trucking work, there's going to be a lot on. Happy to give out my email. It's jhollandylawoffice.com have a three year old at home. So I'm not as active as I once was on some of the travel circuits, but I still like to do, you know, at least in a good year, three to four of the national conferences each year and really love connecting and I'm kind of a nerd for all these things. So if anyone ever has questions or they want to learn more about me or our practice, feel free. Free to reach out.

[B]

That's it for this episode of personal Injury Mastermind. If you got value today, do me a favor, subscribe, leave a review and share it with someone who wants to dominate their market. I'm Chris Dreyer. See you next time.