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The legal field, like politics and a lot of it's an old man's game. When you've been doing it for a lot of time, you garner the respect of your peers and judges and things like that. The young guy is never the one that gets that respect. Sure, it's earned. It's very much earned. And like I said, I like to win. So whatever time energy I have to put into making myself better, so I compete with those oaks, older people or more seasoned people. And that's what I did. That's exactly what I did. Kendall K. Ali is a resilient, strategic and justice driven attorney and the managing partner of Ali and Blankner. Drawing from his journey as a former state prosecutor, he helps individuals navigate complex legal challenges and fiercely protects their fundamental rights, creating a lasting legacy of steadfast advocacy, equitable justice and empowered representation. I've always, you know, argued with my parents, argued with my teacher. I, I, you know, always had that little chip on my shoulder. And because of that, everyone's always told me, you should be a lawyer, you should be a lawyer. And I, at some point in time it just set in and I decided that's what I'm going to be. I mean, that's what everyone says I should do. And I think I'd be pretty good at it. And it spans the globe like a
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super high cold Internet. Elvis, Brandon.
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A
Hi, Robert.
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B
Today Apple is going to reinforce event. It's not over until I win the Living your Legacy podcast for those who live to leave a legacy that's extraordinary. The impossible. Oh, that is sensational. Jordan Open Chicago. With the lead, Usain Paul is the
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A
fastest man on the planet.
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B
You can live your dream. Welcome back to another episode of the Living youg Legacy podcast. For Inside Success, I am Ray Gutierrez. We are moments away from filming Kendall Ali's Legacy Makers episode. Kendall, you've got an amazing suit. And folks that have an amazing suit are either two things. Burglars or lawyers. I just made that up. I'm assuming you're not a burglar. Leave the stripes to me.
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A
Absolutely. I'm a lawyer.
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B
Right on.
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A
Yeah. You know, I do criminal defense work, you know, personal injury. We fight for the rights of, you know, the common man.
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B
Back to being a lawyer in Orlando. How are things in Orlando?
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A
It's interesting. You know, Florida is Florida. And when it comes to certain things, Florida tends to lead the country in, you know, I like to call it being the Florida man. So I get to deal with a lot of that, a lot of problems, a lot of people Getting arrested for all kinds of different things. You know, the kind of stories. I've seen it. It's interesting.
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B
Gosh, Rudy's gonna get mad at me for saying this. I'd love to work with you because I. I'd love to figure out a way to grab all your stories and use it as a way to market what you do and get folks to go, what's this zany story? Who got him out of that noise? Holy moly. How to work with this guy. These crazy stories, especially as a Floridian.
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A
Yeah. And, you know. You know. You know, we once had a case where, you know, it's kind of. It's really sad, where, you know, kid kills his mother. Young kid, you know, 15 years old. Wow. But I didn't represent him. He had some mental health problems. I represented the friend that he called to help him cover it up.
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B
Oh, wow.
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A
Which, you know, that. That was, you know, just some interesting things going on with that. But we were able to help that kid out because he didn't really know what was going on. He's just a young friend trying to help out. A friend?
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B
Yeah. He wasn't an accomplice. He wasn't there. Where do you think a lot of these deranged ideas come from? Is it just really mental health or. I don't want to talk about, like, specifics, but I'm like, you hear a lot of crazy stories, and it goes beyond what's in the Florida water. It's a lot. What's happening on your phones, what you're being exposed to across all ages.
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A
Absolutely. I feel as though we've gotten, as a culture where, you know, everybody's stuck to these phones and they're just being, you know, downloading whatever they're downloading into their brains. And there's. I've found that a lot of people don't stop and think for themselves. Yeah. And, you know, when. When you're being told what to think by whatever facet you're getting it from, that becomes a problem. And that. I deal with a lot of that. And everyone's got their opinions, but they're not really. Their opinions.
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B
Sure.
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A
Someone else's opinion.
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B
You're absolutely right. They're really just kind of an exemplification of the amplification of that. So I gotta ask you, Kendall, how does. How does one become a lawyer? Like, where did your journey begin? Did you, like, start crawling and walking, then become a lawyer? Like, when did your journey start?
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A
You know, I've. I've always argued, debated, absolutely you know, from a young age, I've always, you know, argued with my parents, argued with my teacher. I, you know, always had that little chip on my shoulder. And because of that, everyone's always told me, you should be a lawyer. You should be a lawyer. And at some point in time, I just set in, and I decided that's what I'm going to be. I mean, that's what everyone says I should do. And I think I'd be pretty good at it. And, yeah, you know, I went to college, went to law school, lots of studying. I'm very competitive, so I like to be number one. I like to, you know, get where I'm going and win. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So that's why I ended up doing the type of law that I do, which is criminal, so that I can actually have those fights in a courtroom battle and, you know, come out on top.
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B
That's amazing. How much of what we see on television is really happening in courtrooms? Like, how much of it is really. Objection. And then the whole monologue breaks out.
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A
You know, I've. I've been told by several judges, when I first started, I thought I was Perry Mason. I thought I was, you know, the guys from Boston Legal. And, you know, I've never really lost that. Obviously, in practice, in real life, it's not really like that. It's a little bit more droning on, and it's very bland. But there are times where we get to bring out that theatrical personality and, you know, jury trials, things like that, opening and closing arguments. That's where we get to do it. I once had a jury tell me that this was so boring, this entire thing. And this was after a trial. And then when you got up there and started talking, we were like, oh, yeah, finally some action.
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B
That's awesome. Good for you for being the epitome of you, like, what I see on television. Oh, man. What is it like for folks that are, like, you know, that are criminal lawyers, not criminal lawyers? How much of it is natural guff and how much of it is trained? Facing yourself in the mirror, noting noticing your cadence in your voice that's stumbling on words. Icon. How much of it is theater?
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A
You know, that. That's an interesting. Everybody's got their strengths and weaknesses. There is a lot of preparation that goes into what we're saying and how you say it and how you say it. That's. That's either going to be natural for some people, and for a lot of people, it's practice. And, yeah, I like to think of myself as being natural. But at the same time, I also spend a lot of time practicing.
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B
Oh, yeah, I can tell.
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A
However good you are, you can always be better.
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B
It's funny because I always brag that I'm media trained, which. What does that really mean? It just really means, like, to be on camera, how to face, how to articulate, how to speak. But you take it beyond a different level. I gotta admit, I'm sure there was a party phase or some craze phase in your life where you kind of controlled it, found a frequency that you speak at and you understand yourself and folks listen to you understand more. How does one control their inner voice? For folks like me, oh, Lord,
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A
that came with experience, age, and, you know, forget the profession. It's a little bit of age adds a lot to that. Because I remember being younger, I thought I could say whatever I wanted and do this and do that. And no, you know, you get older, you get wiser, and you start controlling yourself a little bit more and how you present yourself and how you want to be perceived. And, you know, I. Younger Kendall was not always that.
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B
Yeah, yeah. How, how much did you stumble in your early years as a criminal lawyer? I'm sure it wasn't easy.
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A
No, it's not. Not easy at all. It's, you know, the legal field, like politics and a lot of it's an old man's game. You know, when. When you've been doing it for a lot of time, you garner the respect of your peers and judges and things like that. You know, the young, the young guy is never the one that gets that respect. It's earned. It's very much earned. And like I said, I like to win. So whatever time energy I have to put into making myself better so I can compete with those older people or more seasoned people. And that's what I did. That's exactly what I did.
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B
Awesome. Gosh, I got to ask. What's. What's your day to day like? And how often are you sitting in jail cells or, like, I don't know, in interrogation rooms, like, or, you know, by a pool? Like, what is life for you?
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A
Like, you know, I. There are lawyers out there that, that, you know, they work almost part time. They don't, they don't treat it like a full time job because unless you're in court, in trial or something like that, your schedule is your own schedule. You can make it as you want. I have a normal eight to whenever, because given what I do, I will work all night if I need to and so forth. But I put in the time and energy because that's what my clients want for sure. My clients deserve that. They deserve the best, and that's what I intend on giving everyone.
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B
Right on, dude. Oh, gosh. I feel like we go on here for hours. What is the legacy that you're thriving to build here? Because you are on the Legacy Maker show. We've casted you and here you are far. What do we, what will we learn about you in your episode? And what does being a legacy maker mean to you?
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A
My legacy that I want to leave is that I will fight. I'm a fighter. In any way you look at it, I'm a fighter. I want to win. And I want to fight for my clients, want to fight for the people that I represent. And that's not just something that I want to do for myself, but I, I want my business doing that. And, you know, I train my attorneys, everyone that works in my office. I don't care what the scenario is. We're going to find a way to win this. We are going to fight for our clients until there is nothing left to fight for. And that's, that's what I've always done, and that's what I'll always do. And that is what I want to leave behind. You know, even my kids, I tell my kids, like, I want you doing everything within your power to get the best result of whatever you do, you know, and that's what I impart to my employees, my staff and my family.
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B
Gosh, I'm curious to learn, what's your company culture like? How big is your staff, your employees, your tribe?
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A
You know, right now we've got three offices.
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B
Wow.
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A
We're growing. We've got five lawyers that kind of COVID the central Florida area. And we're about to move down into the west coast of Florida. Right on. We've got about 12 support staff, you know, around there right now. And our company culture is very client centric. Of course we care about our, the people that come in to have us represent them. So from our intake person all the way up to the lawyers, it's what does our client want? What will make our client happy? That's our first step. Like, we need to know what they actually want in order for us to attain it. And then it goes into, what can we do to make this happen? And that's something I don't like when people go into lawyers and the lawyer knows best. You don't need this, you don't need that. No. People come in with a very Specific problem. And every solution is different. Every problem is different. So we've got to think outside of the box and really, truly get us and get them to a place where they're happy and we're doing everything within our power to fight for them. A lot of these people, they're backed into a corner, you know, and everyone thinks that my commercials are a little cheesy.
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B
Oh, gosh, I can't wait to see this.
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A
They're a little cheesy where, you know, I'm wearing the boxing gloves and, you know, you need Ali in your corner. But it's true, you know, we live in a world where, you know, either the government's going to beat you down or law enforcement's coming at you. And, you know, not everybody is out there trying to do wrong. Not everyone in. Intends to do what they're doing. And a lot of people make mistakes or there's a level of ignorance. And those are the people that they can be trampled. They can be trampled over by the man. And that's what we're here for. We fight for those people.
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B
I'm gonna blow your mind, sir. We actually have a giant glove made out of money with Ollie on it in the other room, and we're gonna take photos of you next to it.
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A
Oh, wow.
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B
Oh, yeah.
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It's prime.
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B
You've come to the right place. And there's actually an old video of Rudy with punching gloves doing a boxing promo. Oh, man, you definitely.
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A
Oh, you definitely.
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B
Gotta show you one of the old. One of the old Rudy clips. When he was actually in Tampa, his headquarters was in Tampa. Now he's out here in Miami. Wherever you are. Rudy, Rudy, Rudy. But how can folks, actually, before I forget, because I've been wanting to ask a lawyer this, and it's actually a legitimate question because I'm an artist, and I don't know how to value my work and my time. And a lot of artists do this or transition to being an entrepreneur. Why are lawyers so expensive? That's obviously the funny question. But the real answer is how do you value and structure your time and equate it to a value because you are fully experienced, you did your time, you've got the certificates that equals a dollar amount. But how do you land on that dollar amount?
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A
Absolutely. 1. It comes with experience in our training. I mean, that. That right off the bat, kind of puts us at a, you know, higher, you know, threshold for money. But the other thing is how hard we work. You know, I always tell my staff, like, you know, these People, they. They may be giving us their last dollar. We need to make that count, because they're putting their faith and trust in us. So I do care about the money. Obviously, anyone that owns a business cares about the money, but I care more about my reputation. And I've told every single one of my clients that when you hire me, when you're hiring my firm, it's not just about us making a profit. It's about us living up to our reputation, for sure. In you. Because I don't really worry about getting business. And the reason for that is I fight so hard for my clients that most of my business comes in from them telling someone else about me. And, you know, whatever advertising we do, at least 70% of our business is still from other people telling other people about us.
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B
Yeah. That's amazing. It takes quite the motley crew to pull off a motley crew.
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A
Absolutely. Absolutely.
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B
Very cool. How can people find you? How can people learn more about you?
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A
Well, our website, Ali and Blankner. I'm all over social media. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn. You know, you just Google Kendall Ali, and I'm there. You know, that's. That's the easy way to find us. Obviously, we've got our phone numbers, and some people like this one. It's 855-O-M.G. popo.
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B
I love it. We're literally on a billboard right now.
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A
Yeah. You know that they. The guys at the sheriff's office in Orange County. Our billboard, which says exactly that. 855 OMG popo. They love it. They love it because it's right across the street from the jail, so they drive by it every day.
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Oh, man, it's great. We share a parking structure where the Miami beach police. Yeah, they're homies.
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It's funny, the officers all think it's hilarious when they see that.
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B
Oh, sure. Gosh, I wish we can spend another 20, 30 minutes just talking about that culture and the Gulf and just. Just a locker room talk with judges and all sorts of fun stuff. But for that, I'm sure there's a TV show for that, so.
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A
Oh, yeah.
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B
Cool, man. Well, thanks again for your energy, my friend. Mr. Ali himself reincarnated right here. Kendall, appreciate your time and energy. I'm looking forward to actually walking in, walking down this creepy building and filming your episode in studio one.
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A
Absolutely.
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B
Right on, brother. For that. That concludes another episode of the Living, your legacy podcast for inside success. I am Rigatier.