Chris Dreyer:
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 Dreyer, 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 advertising 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.
Laura Ramos James:
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.
Chris Dreyer:
You've had that empathy and can share from the injured victim's side because you've been there. So I guess when you went to law school, you knew exactly, "Hey, I'm going to be an injury attorney. I'm not going to do real estate law or criminal defense." It was just a clear path for you after this experience?
Laura Ramos James:
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 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 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 doesn't line up with my version of justice.
I did have one wake up moment of posing a widow, and 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 she wasn't seeing a counselor, et cetera, and she had moved past it, and that was not 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.
Chris Dreyer:
Now, you landed a multi-million 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.
Landing a Multi-Million Dollar Case Months After Opening Her Firm
Laura Ramos James:
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. 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 multi-million dollar case. Really it was a woman who was in the hospital, had been hit by a driver, and that's all I knew. And then it ended up evolving to what it became.
Chris Dreyer:
A lot of attorneys, I think if they would get that early big check, they would go blow it and maybe they get the car, the change to lifestyle. You decided, "Hey, I'm going to build something." You built an eight figure firm instead. So from receiving that, how did you think about what you were going to do from an investment, what you were going to do with this money, and then how did you build the firm from that?
Laura Ramos James:
Yeah. Well, at first, I think confirmed what I kind of knew in my heart. I felt I was ready for such a case and once we got that resolution, I'm like, "There's no reason to doubt myself any longer. 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.
Some people don't grow up with wealth or whatnot, and once they have it, they want it and they want all the flashy things. I didn't grow up that way, but that has never been my motivation or what I'm seeking or my ultimate goal. No criticism to whoever has that as a goal, it just wasn't my mine. Mine was I want more of these cases. I want to make life-changing impact on families. And to get those, I could handle that case. Maybe I could handle two three of those massive cases, but if I really wanted to make a difference, it would take a whole team.
Chris Dreyer:
I 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. How do you think about community?
Serving Underrepresented Communities While Scaling a Successful Practice
Laura Ramos James:
It has changed through the years for me. Initially, some of the groups that I ended up becoming involved with where Mexican women in Austin and I'm like, "Hey, we have this in common." There were some get togethers and I would just go because I truly was seeking... People would have recommendations of, my husband is a plumber or he does framing for construction, and they had all these recommendations. Just culturally, 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.
Why Authentic Marketing Beats Forced Networking Every Time
Laura Ramos James:
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 telling 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, they're saying that, "Oh, you should do authentic marketing." Actually, 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 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 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, either by speaking engagements or sponsorships or what have you, but I truly enjoy it because we have things in common. For example, some are lawyer groups, some are nonprofit organizations, or there's a group called MAMAs in Austin that's basically attorney moms. And I'm a mom, I'm an attorney, so it's easy, it's authentic, and it's genuine because it's true.
Chris Dreyer:
Yeah, I'd imagine too, it doesn't feel like work. It's who you are and your authenticity when you enjoy what you do and that Monday rolls around. People that don't, complain about Monday, but I'm like, "If it's a long weekend, I'm 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?
Leveraging Attorney Associations for Referrals and Growth
Laura Ramos James:
I initially became involved because you would get continuing legal education credit and whatnot, and very quickly I discovered the value is just so much more than that. I mean, you get to share your victories, your failures, you get inside information from people who have been in front of a judge that you maybe haven't been or someone who has discovered 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. "Oh, you don't want to spend too much time with plaintiff's lawyers, because they're your competition, so just go visit with other type of professionals, because obviously what are you doing there? 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 plaintiff's lawyers, 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 sent 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 the aspect of, "These are your competitors, why are you there?"
Chris Dreyer:
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?
Laura Ramos James:
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 really makes you happy. And once you do that, it just, I think ultimately leads to you being able to exploit that opportunity.
Chris Dreyer:
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.
