00:02 [Music]
00:14 welcome everybody to the auto accident
00:17 attorneys podcast I'm your host attorney
00:19 Ali I'm the managing partner of the auto
00:22 accident attorneys group and today I am
00:24 joined by my partner Jamie selimi or on
00:28 social media you can find her at
00:29 attorney Jamie
00:31 Jamie why don't you tell them what the
00:32 podcast is about so this podcast is
00:35 about taking a deep dive into the
00:38 stories the experiences and the insights
00:41 um into the world of accidents injury
00:43 and law so whether you're here for
00:46 inspiration information or just some
00:49 good conversation you're in the right
00:50 place and this is our inaugural episode
00:53 for us to introduce ourselves to you and
00:56 hopefully we do provide both inspiration
00:59 information and add it will be
01:01 conversational in nature I didn't really
01:04 know how to start a an episode one of a
01:08 podcast most importantly I think we
01:09 should get started with why it started
01:12 and why it exists so I'll start with my
01:15 background I was not always an accident
01:17 lawyer I started out in the corporate
01:20 world as a corporate um Securities and
01:23 transactional
01:24 attorney um I most of my clients were
01:27 public companies or private companies
01:30 trying to become public so we did a lot
01:32 of transactional work mergers and
01:34 Acquisitions financings going public
01:37 transactions so basically I was working
01:39 for clients who had a lot of money or
01:42 who were about to come into a lot of
01:43 money and I did that for maybe like six
01:47 years went in-house to a tech company
01:49 doing some transactional work with
01:51 commercial
01:52 contracts and somehow I ended up in this
01:56 world why let's not jump the shark let
01:58 me give my background get there your
02:01 turn and then I'll I'll I'll let them
02:02 know what my sales pitch was but so I'm
02:05 attorney Ali before the auto accident
02:08 attorney's group Jaime's cousin actually
02:11 had me working in criminal defense um
02:15 Richard Kim was a veteran of the Los
02:17 Angeles County defenders office he went
02:21 out into private practice and
02:24 immediately pulled me on board and said
02:26 hey I've got more work than I can handle
02:29 you're a fresh attorney you're not
02:30 practicing law come and let me teach you
02:34 Richard passed actually that might be
02:36 too much personal information but uh it
02:39 is critical to the story I think because
02:42 that led me into hanging up my own
02:44 shingle uh right around the same time
02:47 that Instagram was starting and I didn't
02:49 know how Instagram worked or hashtags
02:51 but I would see all the young kids using
02:53 it so my idea was to in order to get
02:57 clients I was going to advertise only on
02:59 Instagram organically I didn't know the
03:01 term organic at the time but uh I had
03:03 set up even dismissed. comom I thought
03:05 it was catchy because that's how
03:07 hashtags were at that time or at least
03:08 that's how I thought hashtags worked did
03:10 that for a few years and Maddie came
03:13 along yeah and it seemed like I was
03:17 going to need to generate thousands of
03:20 clients that I couldn't do doing
03:22 criminal defense on my own so I had the
03:25 brilliant idea of a space that seemed
03:29 like had a l of upside and didn't have
03:32 the best reputation as a matter of fact
03:34 the the reputation of the industry was
03:36 such that when I approached Jamie about
03:39 opening a personal injury firm your
03:41 thoughts were
03:45 you billboard attorney yeah ambulance
03:50 Chasers no we are not ambulance Chasers
03:53 no we're not and actually we're not
03:55 billboard attorneys either technically
03:58 yeah even the advertisements that we do
04:01 have we try and keep it um to the
04:03 aesthetic of the community yeah right
04:05 like I said what Jamie felt is what I I
04:08 think many people feel about the
04:10 industry in general and as much as I
04:12 like to defend the personal injury space
04:15 I I see things within the industry and I
04:18 I don't think that it's undeserved uh I
04:20 do think that just like any other
04:22 industry there are some bad apples and
04:26 we can always do better as a whole so
04:29 somehow I convinced Jamie that we should
04:32 give up the world of La La Land
04:37 yeah and so you have the idea for other
04:42 reasons let's maybe consider the Atlanta
04:45 area and if you can believe it if you're
04:47 in Atlanta then you know personal injury
04:51 lawyers are everywhere Billboards
04:54 commercials the backs of trucks they're
04:57 just everywhere it wasn't this saturated
05:00 though when we first moved here that's
05:02 right let's be honest it was so it
05:03 wasn't just a practice change for both
05:06 of us it was a change in geography and I
05:11 think this area was ripe at that time
05:13 for us to enter at that time because the
05:16 market was not as saturated as it is now
05:19 um coming from La it was Uber saturated
05:23 with personal injury lawyers um you had
05:26 started to get into that space after
05:27 criminal defense and it was just so hard
05:30 but you know we looked at making a
05:32 change in where we were and Atlanta just
05:36 seemed like an excellent choice and then
05:39 you had already started thinking about
05:41 personal injury
05:42 anyway um and bringing me on board um
05:46 the market change was a huge factor that
05:50 sometimes i' i' Overlook I don't know if
05:52 it's purposeful that I I try not to
05:54 think about it because I want to seem
05:55 like I knew what I was doing and it was
05:58 we'll just say you did
05:60 but it was I remember it was great
06:01 timing it was let's just say I would
06:04 hate to be starting out right now you
06:07 can't start out now they the Billboards
06:09 are everywhere the the personal injury
06:11 lawyers are everywhere yeah and it's
06:13 weird to think we are not that new batch
06:16 always looking for how to grow more try
06:20 new things like this podcast like this
06:22 podcast which brings me back to uh how
06:26 we
06:27 chose where what Market to go into yeah
06:31 and it was actually believe it or not it
06:34 was based on family I grew up in this
06:37 community um our office is in East cob
06:41 uh we're literally on the corner of
06:42 Johnson fair and Roswell if you're not a
06:45 Metro or North Atlanta native that means
06:47 nothing to you but just know that it is
06:49 what can we compare it to back in
06:51 California Turtle Rock yeah it's like
06:54 Irvine without the beach close by yeah
06:57 well let's be gentle with EAS it's a
07:00 great place to live it's a bedroom
07:02 community yeah it's a great Community
07:03 for families it was important for me to
07:06 not only enter a market where I thought
07:09 we could make a change and make a
07:10 difference but also change the community
07:14 when we moved here the building that
07:16 we're sitting in was a dilapidated empty
07:20 former Wells Fargo Bank we're doing
07:23 events for the community all to say that
07:27 it it is important to both of us that we
07:29 don't just have a business in this
07:31 community we live in this community so
07:32 it's important for us that our business
07:35 gives back to the community and adds
07:37 something of value right um we were
07:39 talking about the Billboards earlier we
07:41 don't take the Billboards but um there
07:43 are a lot of bus stops that are actually
07:46 unused I think the bus stops are just
07:47 used for advertising purposes I mean so
07:50 many of them were just sitting there
07:51 with super old ads color faded or an
07:56 advertisement to advertise there who
07:59 wants to see that you know when you're
08:01 driving your kids to school in the
08:03 morning or going from activity to
08:05 activity it doesn't look pretty right
08:07 you don't want that in your community so
08:10 we made a conscious decision to take all
08:12 of the empty Billboards yeah advertise
08:15 us but the main advertisement is
08:17 actually East cob nobody's removing the
08:21 structures they're going to be there
08:22 anyway and as well do something better
08:24 with them right so if you you're such a
08:26 good
08:27 person well I'm glad you said that on
08:29 care
08:30 we just circled all the way back to that
08:32 didn't
08:33 we the why yeah so we saw a lot of
08:36 upside we for formed the auto accd an
08:38 attorneys group and one of the first
08:40 things we did was think about the why to
08:43 lead us to our tagline which is we take
08:48 care of you and that was the best way
08:51 that we could collaboratively come up
08:53 with expressing what it is that our firm
08:56 does speaking about attorney advertising
08:58 and the Billboards and the bus stop ads
08:59 one of the first things that we had
09:01 implemented the car seat replacement
09:03 program mhm and uh our are donating we
09:06 still have it yeah yep we so if you're
09:10 in an accident and you've got a child
09:13 safety seat in your vehicle and it's an
09:15 the nhtsa says that if there's any
09:18 property damage and somebody inside the
09:20 vehicle is injured that car seat needs
09:22 to be replaced that's the standard
09:24 people that are even at fault so nobody
09:25 else is going to pay for it so that's
09:27 our that was one of the ways that we
09:28 were cuz why not I mean we have the
09:30 means we have you know the structure set
09:32 up for that it's not a lot off our backs
09:35 and we don't want a compromise car seat
09:38 in anyone's vehicle great idea thanks I
09:42 don't remember if that was me or you it
09:43 was most likely you I'm the ideas you
09:46 have all the ideas that's one that
09:48 actually came into fruition and we we
09:51 yeah we implemented it that was good uh
09:53 I'm the idea guy you're the brains
09:56 behind the operation thanks I'm like hey
09:58 we should do this and you figure out how
09:60 to do it okay that's I think that's all
10:02 thanks for the credit on his birthday
10:04 today is his birthday it is my birthday
10:07 yes happy birthday Ali thank you thank
10:09 you attorney Jamie attorney Jamie do you
10:12 have any is it just one word at attorney
10:15 Jamie I think so mine I couldn't get ad
10:18 attorney Ali it doesn't seem like anyone
10:19 else has it uhuh but on Instagram I had
10:22 to do now I might get them backwards one
10:24 of them is attorney. Ali and the other
10:27 one is attorney for Ali okay if anyone
10:32 besides my mother is watching this you
10:34 just search at attorney Ali so let me
10:36 see what uh what comes up I wanted to
10:39 talk about our a okay which is one of my
10:42 favorite things about our firm if you
10:44 know anything about attorney Ali you
10:47 know that he doesn't Rock
10:51 Nike so we're not getting any Nike
10:53 sponsorships also another episode but
10:55 okay I rock one brand and one brand only
10:59 it's the three stripes it's the Adidas
11:02 and when we were coming up with the auto
11:04 ax and an attorney's Group trade name I
11:08 wanted somehow to implement the three
11:11 stripes and I told Larry oh Larry on
11:16 Luke Larry
11:18 on Larry Larry on is also a brilliant
11:22 mind but he's not a designer and one of
11:25 my favorite people in the world but okay
11:26 Larry on and Larry Luke are definitely
11:29 two of my my most favorite people Larry
11:31 Luke amazing designer amazing designer
11:34 um hopefully Larry Luke if you happen to
11:38 watch this I'm going to formally invite
11:40 you on to the podcast I would love to
11:42 talk about the design elements talking
11:44 about our our wall um the RV project
11:48 that you that you did uh brilliant I
11:51 know you're on bigger and better things
11:53 but it makes our firm look even better
11:57 and that's why I'm not going to mention
11:59 what he's working on right now just in
12:00 case he's
12:01 embarrassed that he he did these
12:05 projects but he shouldn't be because
12:06 it's a beautiful thing and everyone all
12:07 climbing is perfect is always important
12:10 because we asked Larry to do this stuff
12:13 for us back then yeah there's no way we
12:16 could get him now if anyone in the
12:18 Atlanta area Knows Mr 404 you know that
12:22 right now if I asked them for a project
12:23 he probably he's nice enough of a
12:26 gentleman to text me back but the text
12:28 would be I have time for you right he
12:31 would refer someone ohol well and then
12:34 uh Larry an is a great human being too
12:36 but he's mostly in government contracts
12:38 right nothing to do with accidents
12:41 injury or law look with the auto
12:43 accident attorneys group we see auto
12:45 accidents day in day out uh by this I
12:48 don't know if you've we've reached tens
12:50 of thousands of cases quite yet but
12:52 thousands of auto accidents we've seen
12:54 it all if you've got any questions you
12:58 just on a day basis you get hit up on
13:01 message boards in Facebook or at least
13:03 you get tagged right yeah and and so use
13:07 us as a resource it doesn't cost
13:10 anything we were talking about the
13:11 billboard saying no fees it's truly no
13:14 fees because we're contingency fee based
13:16 firm it's just a portion of the
13:19 settlement that um you're awarded at the
13:22 end of your case we take a percentage of
13:24 that and so and if they lose and if they
13:27 lose you don't owe anything because you
13:29 weren't able to get anything what what
13:32 if we spend like typ yeah typically we
13:34 will have costs that we have you know
13:36 paid um on the front end um and if we
13:40 don't get reimbursed for those hopefully
13:42 we'll benefit in some other way with
13:44 Karma Goodwill some other way down the
13:47 line but we can't expect you to come out
13:49 of pocket because ultimately we want to
13:52 take care of you um we're not going to
13:54 hurt you so there there's no risk for
13:56 them no at all so use us is a resource
14:00 even if it's property damage only I ask
14:02 that you be conscious of our time
14:04 because we're not making money off of it
14:06 don't expect that you're going to get
14:08 three weeks of uninterrupted phone calls
14:11 with Jamie directly to get a rental
14:15 vehicle but we'll give you all the tips
14:17 actually if you go to our website yeah
14:20 we have that video for property damage
14:22 and the rental vehicle help yep yep and
14:25 um any help for demands we've got
14:28 templates for you yep they're under free
14:30 resources the website is
14:33 www.th group.com that's th H alphaalpha
14:37 Alpha G
14:39 ru.com thanks for helping out with the
14:42 inaugural episode especially on my
14:44 birthday I got a hot planned that's my
14:46 gift yeah I appreciate it uh listeners
14:50 please tune in what it's going to be
14:52 like in the future is the life
14:54 experiences industry experiences uh
14:57 stories questions that we we are faced
14:60 with on a daily basis over and over and
15:02 over again where we're giving the same
15:04 advice and counsel we'll just have a
15:06 repository here so that hopefully the
15:09 knowledge that we have up here in
15:11 between our ears is scalable and people
15:14 can refer to it often and hopefully
15:18 before you even need it so thank you for
15:22 tuning in I appreciate your time Mom I
15:25 know if you're not the only listener
15:27 you're going to be my first listener so
15:29 thank you I'll teach you how to
15:31 subscribe everyone subscribe to the
15:33 channel like leave a comment if you're a
15:35 client that sees this and you'd like to
15:36 be on the episode we would love to have
15:38 you um just call the number 866
15:44 22049 and we will schedule you in the
15:47 office all right everybody take care
15:49 take care bye