← Personal Injury Mastermind w/ Chris Dreyer
Personal Injury Mastermind w/ Chris Dreyer
397. Best PIMoments Replay: Local Events to Million-Dollar Cases: How She Built a PI Practice Without Ads w/ Laura Ramos James
00:14:13
Episode replay. Community Over Commercials: A PI Firm's Path to Landing Million-Dollar Cases
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- [00:03]
A
When a multimillion dollar case landed in Laura's lap just months after opening her firm, she could have coasted. Instead, she built a thriving practice by deepening the same community relationships that brought her that first big case. I'm Chris Stryer, founder and CEO of Rankings IO SEO agency of choice for PI firms. In this episode of Personal Injury Mastermind, Laura reveals how grassroots marketing can scale alongside your firm and why staying true to what energizes you, whether that's community engagement, traditional advert, or a mix of both, leads to sustainable growth. You've been a PI attorney for over 15 years now. You had a personal experience that really pushed you into this path. I was just wondering if you could share that story.
- [00:46]
B
Very early on, when I was three years old, I was attacked by a German shepherd. I suffered disfiguring injuries and had to get several medical procedures and counseling. And being wronged by someone and wanting to make it right has basically led me to become an injury attorney.
- [01:08]
A
You've had that empathy and can share from the, you know, the. The injured victim's side because you've been there, you know, so I guess when you went to law school, it was, you knew exactly like, hey, I'm going to be an injury attorney. I'm not going to do, you know, real estate law or criminal defense. What was that kind of the. It was just a clear path for you after this experience?
- [01:30]
B
It actually wasn't. I have had now time to look back and think. It's interesting that I ended up doing this because when I was little, I just wanted to be a lawyer. I just felt like I wanted a voice for others would, you know, defend them, kind of get justice for them, tell their story. And that's all I knew. I grew up in Mexico and I ended up deciding to go to law school. I knew I wanted to be a litigator or be in the courtroom, so I went to Baylor Law School, and they have this really excellent litigation program that prepares you to be in the courtroom. When I graduated, I got a job that was going to have me do a lot of depositions and a lot of courtroom appearances. And that was, you know, just a dream come true. And it was just an insurance defense lawyer. The people on the other side were injury victims. And my job was to prove they didn't have the damages they were saying they had. It gave me an immense amount of court exposure and trial exposure. But eventually I did have that moment of this is just not. Doesn't line up with my version of justice. I did have one kind of wake up moment of posing a widow. And, you know, my supervising attorney and my adjuster had very clear guidelines of I had to prove that she had moved on with her life and that, you know, she wasn't seeing a counselor, et cetera, and she had moved past it. And that was not the truth. The truth is she was a grieving widow who was suffering daily, who thought about her husband from the second she woke up to the second she went to bed. I decided that I belong next to someone like her. And that's when I decided to be a plaintiff's lawyer.
- [03:14]
A
Now, you landed a multimillion dollar case just months after opening. That's uncommon most of the time. So walk me through that. What was the case? How did you land it? Tell me about that experience.
- [03:26]
B
I actually got the call for that case in the middle of my bachelorette party. And I remember it wasn't a party, it was a trip. But I basically cultivated that from months and even years before, you know, the trust in the community for people to know that I was competent to handle their case or that they could trust me. And then it led to that call. I didn't wake up. And then all of a sudden I had this multimillion dollar case. Really, it was the woman who was in the hospital and had been hit by a driver. And that's all I knew. And then it ended up evolving to what it became.
- [04:00]
A
You know, a lot of attorneys, I think if they would get that early, you know, big check, they would go blow it, maybe they get the car, the change, the lifestyle. You decided, no, like, hey, I'm going to build something. You built an eight figure firm instead. So, you know, from receiving that, how did you think about, like, what you were going to do from an investment, like what you were going to do with this money? And then how did you build the firm from that?
- [04:28]
B
Yeah, well, it first, I think, confirmed what I kind of knew in my heart. Like I felt I was ready for such a case. And, you know, once we got that resolution, I'm like, there's no reason to doubt myself any longer. Like, I can do this, but do I want to do it alone? The intentional choice of I'm going to be a two or more attorney law firm rather than a solo practitioner is what led me to start putting together a plan. I think there are just so many factors, like some people don't grow up with wealth or whatnot. And once they have it, they want it. And they want, you know, all the flashy things. I didn't grow up that way. But that's never been my, you know, my motivation or what I'm seeking or my ultimate goal. No criticism to whoever that has that as a goal. It just wasn't my. Mine was I want more of these cases. I want to make life changing impact on families and to get those, you know, I could handle that case. Maybe I could handle, you know, two, three of those massive cases. But if I really wanted to make a difference, it would take a whole team.
- [05:39]
A
Pimcon is back.
- [05:41]
C
Pimcon, I feel like, is really taking approach that no other conference that I've been to does, which is you want a good law firm operationally, but how do you build it out and what is the long term vision for you in terms of when you hang up the end of the day and you're done practicing? Like, what is it that you want to look back on, on what you built? If you want to be a niche attorney or if you have a market you want, or if you had a type of case you're looking for. You have the playbook after being here. And it's really, really been great and very different, I think, than other conferences I've been to.
- [06:12]
A
Catch me Chris Dreyer in Arizona, along with some of the best in the industry. Get your ticket today@pimcon.org that's P I M C O N.org. I kind of want to transition because you said it like, hey, I landed this big case being a part of the community. I wanted to lean into that because a lot of times PI attorneys are trying to get awareness through TV or through radio or billboards. And an exceptional way to do that is through being a part of the community, but also trying to generate business for the firm. Like, how do you think about community?
- [06:51]
B
It has changed through the years. For me. Initially, some of the groups that I ended up becoming involved with were Mexican women in Austin. And I'm like, hey, you know, we have this in common. There were some get togethers and I would just go because I truly was seeking, you know, people would have recommendations of like, my husband's a plumber or you know, he does framing for construction. And they had all these recommendations. You know, just culturally we, we had so much in common. And initially that's one of the groups that I aligned with. And it turned out that some of my cases came from there. At the time I was married, I didn't have any kids. I'm now married with two kids. And I am now more aware that becoming involved with those groups Leads to you being able to sit down with people and tell them your story and telling your story. This is such a deep topic for me, so deep that I wrote a chapter in a book about it. But basically, what I feel like, you know, they're saying that, oh, you should be. Do authentic marketing. And there's actually, like, what is authentic marketing to me is telling your story and telling my story of being an injury victim, of being someone who came as an immigrant and, you know, did the best I could to get the best life I could possibly get and make the most of what my parents had given me was, you know, something that led to people trusting me with their cases, with their stories. And so now there are other groups that I am able to support in different ways, like, either by speaking engagements or sponsorships or. Or what have you. But, like, I truly enjoy it because we. We have things in common. For example, it's. Some are lawyer groups, some are nonprofit organizations, or there's a group called Mamas in Austin that's basically attorney moms. And, you know, I'm a mom. I'm an attorney. So it's easy, it's authentic, and it's genuine because it's true.
- [08:54]
A
Yeah, I'd imagine, too, it doesn't feel like work. You know, it's who you are and your. Your authenticity when you enjoy what you do and that Monday rolls around. The people that don't are complaining about Monday, but I'm like, if it's a long weekend, I'm, like, ready to get back in the office. You're part of multiple attorney associations. How are you leveraging those networks for cases? Talked about community and how you're being a part of the community and how you go about that. But what's your thoughts on the attorney associations?
- [09:20]
B
I initially became involved because you would get, like, continuing legal education credit and whatnot. And very quickly, I discover the value is just so much more than that. I mean, you get to share your, you know, your victories, your failures. You get, you know, inside information from people who have been in front of a judge that you maybe haven't been or someone who has discovered, you know, certain strategy. And so that's, of course, invaluable. But I think the other component, at the very beginning of my practice as a plaintiff's lawyer, someone criticized that, you know, oh, you know, you don't want to spend too much time with plaintiffs lawyers because, like, they're your competition. So just go visit with other type of professionals because obviously, like, what are you doing there? Like, they're trying to get business the same business you're trying to get. And the reality is that when I started the law firm the very first year, a lot of my cases came from other plaintiffs lawyers who, you know, big law firms who were too busy to handle certain cases. And those cases were peanuts to them, and they were my livelihood. And so I was very intentional about making those connections early on, making sure those law firms knew that if they send a case my way, the clients were going to be so happy, they were going to thank them for sending them my way and that they were going to get a referral check. Of course, that's an added value that I think some people miss by thinking or focusing on, you know, on the aspect of like, these are your competitors. Why are you there?
- [10:56]
A
What small change has had the biggest positive impact on your firm? And then where can people go to connect with you and learn more?
- [11:04]
B
So I would say something that anyone can implement today is at the beginning of the day, thinking, what makes me happy? I'm going to be very intentional about identifying today what is exciting to me, what makes me happy, what makes me giddy, what am I looking forward to that's happening today? What meeting, what gathering, what research project? And at the end of the day, revisit the question with your answer and you're going to start to narrow down little by little what it is that you know that really makes you happy. And once you do that, it just, I think, ultimately leads to you being able to exploit that, the opportunity.
- [11:47]
A
Whether you're just starting your firm or looking to scale, Laura's journey shows that staying true to what energizes you. In her case, deep community involvement can drive sustainable growth. From turning that first big case into a thriving practice to building a team aligned with your values. Success comes from knowing your why and letting it guide your path forward. For more strategies on authentic firm growth, visit Rankings IO or grab a copy of my book, Personal Injury Lawyer Marketing From Good to Goat. Thanks for listening to Personal Injury Mastermind. I'm Chris Dreyer, founder and CEO of Rankings IO.
- [12:18]
B
Sam.