Adam Malone:

You can always prosecute criminal cases if you want to, and you can’t always have the opportunity to practice law with your father.

Chris Dreyer:

When you’re spending tons of dollars on advertising, you’re going to have to go through a lot of volume.

Adam Malone:

My advertising budget is pretty high if I look at the amount of referral or co-counsel fees. If I took that same amount of money and invested in marketing programs to originate my own cases without associating lawyers, what would that cost?

Chris Dreyer:

Welcome to Personal Injury Mastermind. I’m your host, Chris Dreyer, founder and CEO of Rankings.io, the no excuses, no BS legal marketing agency that works harder than the competition. Each week you get insights and wisdom from some of the best in the industry. Hit that follow button so that you never miss an episode. All right, let’s dive in. How does an attorney build a successful specialized practice without relying on inbound marketing? Today’s guest renowned personal injury lawyer, Adam Malone, shares insights from his 24 years handling complex cases. Adam has won over $500 million for his clients, including record setting jury verdicts. One was a $24 million verdict in Albany, Georgia. His work even changed Georgia law. Thanks to Adam. There’s no longer a cap on damages awarded by a jury. While his Atlanta firm brings in five to seven calls daily from reputation alone, Malone keeps his caseload selective. This allows for deep focus on each client. Adam shares how he carved out a niche early on why all firms have a marketing cost even without ads, and why there’s no one right way to build a firm’s book of business. Here’s Adam Malone, partner at Malone Law.

Adam Malone:

A local lawyer from our small community where I grew up in Albany, Georgia, which is in the southwest corner of the state. Came to speak to our first grade class. He then started by asking the class, does anybody here know what lawyers do? And I’m told that there was a young blonde-headed boy in the back of the class that was just trying to jump out of his seat to answer the question. And that boy happened to be me. And I’m told that the answer I gave was, “I know. I know what lawyers do, they sue bad doctors.” The lawyer in the class said, what’s your name, son? And I said, it’s Adam Malone de chuckled because my father was either the first or he was one of only two lawyers that were willing to take on medical malpractice cases back in the late sixties and early seventies.

Chris Dreyer:

Before law you waited tables, you worked on farms and in construction. What did you learn from those positions that you still carry with you today?

Adam Malone:

Having access to funds to be able to have financial freedom is something I’ve obviously carried with me from the very beginning. The skills I learned were showing up on time, being consistent, having integrity so that people would trust you to take care of the yard or take care of the food or take care of their building needs. I also worked in law offices and I ran errands and things like that. So in the law I have done everything there is to do. I think waiting tables was unknown to me at the time, but probably the most valuable thing that I did in terms of gaining experience, because I had to keep people happy. My last waiting job, we weren’t allowed to write orders down, so I had to pay attention. And I had to remember, we also had to come in early to meet with the chef so he could describe what the feature of the day would be and we could taste it. And then I had to learn how to sell it. So all of those skills are extremely important I think, to being a trial lawyer.

Chris Dreyer:

I have three years bartending and being a waiter, and my wife does as well. It’s a difficult job because you’re constantly busy. You got to deal with people that are happy, unhappy. You got to time the meals, you got to sell the different courses and deal with people. A lot of people.

Adam Malone:

A lot of people with a lot of personalities and a lot of special needs.

Chris Dreyer:

Absolutely. Your firm handles complex personal injury cases in areas like trucking, aviation, traumatic brain injury, because there’s a lot of ways to grow a firm, right? You could grow the firm through the productization, the rear end collisions and just kind of a volume practice. And you’ve taken a different approach and been very successful and decided to focus on these complex cases that are different. They’re truly unique in a lot of aspects. How did you make that decision?

Adam Malone:

Not only did I want to be a lawyer, I wanted to be a trial lawyer. So out of school I prosecuted for a year. And as you gathered from my opening story, my father was a lawyer and his father before him was also a lawyer that became a judge in our small town in southwest Georgia. It’s what I wanted to do it while prosecuting. I did not know at that time whether I would go back to a more rural area of the state and be a general practitioner. I knew that there was no subject in the law that I didn’t enjoy in law school, but I loved the courtroom most. I also had had a lifelong dream, and I think my father did too, that we would one day practice law together. I had a fear that if I came too early, then I might not ever for myself know whether or not I had what it took.

And I also wanted to feel like that I had somet hing to offer when I joined my father, who was very well established and very well known throughout the state and maybe in the country. So he had a practice that was established already and was we went to breakfast one morning. I told him I was ready to make a move and I really thought that I might go do civil defense if anybody on that side would hire a Malone to do insurance defense or I would open my own practice. And he said, well, why don’t you just come on and join me and my practice? And I’ll tell you that was I didn’t have an instant answer to his invitation, and I’m happy to tell you what I did next. I became a catastrophic personal injury. And in the early days, most of our cases, and still to this day, most of our cases come by way of offers of association from other lawyers, which is the ultimate, I think, compliment.

But they were tractor trailer commercial vehicle cases, some product really no auto product, but other types of product. The last product case I did was a defective horse trailer where a wheel came off and went across the interstate, became airborne and came down like a missile into the driver’s side window of our client’s car. And it was a traumatic brain injury case. Aviation cases because licensed private multi-engine instrument rated pilot and have been so since I was 18 years old. So I knew something about that area, understand the federal aviation regulations. But as I mentioned in the very beginning, this firm was a pioneer in the field of medical malpractice law in Georgia and really at that time, I think in the country. And so I’m now 50 years old. I’ve been around that all my life and I think I’m mostly known today as a medical malpractice lawyer.

Chris Dreyer:

Coming into your father’s practice and doing that. Was there a little bit of tension? He was like, “Hey, go for it,” because he had this reputation for med mal and you’re kind of going against the grain, but you had the confidence, you had the experience, you got some reps in before you joined your father’s practice. What was that like? That decision?

Adam Malone:

I can remember he would say, it’s amazing how much I’ve learned in such a short period of time, and he would say that jokingly, but I came here fresh out of law school, so being close to the books. I think he perceived me and the way I would communicate back then as maybe being a know-it-all as it related to the law and that I felt like maybe he had forgotten a lot of what that he had learned in law school about the law law. So he tolerated me. I’ll tell you the real quick version of the struggle I had about whether to come here and where I went. So I was in the Clayton County DA’s office at the time. The smartest person I knew in that office was the senior assistant DA. And he was always seemed to be able to see his way through a morass and just get right to the point.

And I really respected him. So his name was Todd, and I came into his office and said, “Todd, you got a minute. I’m really struggling with a difficult question.” “What is it?” I said, “Well, I really love it here. I’m getting great trial experience.” I like the office, the people, everything, and I feel like if y’all have me, I could stay here and for as long as I wanted to, but there’s been a dream that I would one day practice law with my father. I said, so he’s offered and I don’t know what to do. And he started laughing and that offended me because I was really struggling, struggling with this question. And I said, it’s not funny. What are you laughing about? He goes, well, the answer’s really simple, Adam. And I said, well, that’s why I came in here. So smart. So what is the answer since it’s so simple?

He said, “Adam, you should go practice law with your father.” I said, “Well, how do you know that that’s the right thing for me to do at this time?” He said, “Because you can always prosecute criminal cases if you want to, and you can’t always have the opportunity to practice law with your father.” And I said, “Wow, you’re right.” So I knew then it was time to come, and that started my journey of learning, I think from one of the greatest masters of trial lawyer that this country has ever known. Now I’m biased. He was a true pioneer in a legend.

Chris Dreyer:

How did you carve out and find your first tractor trailer accident or some of these complex litigation, the aviation that weren’t maybe under that med mal umbrella?

Adam Malone:

We’ve never had a real marketing program. Chris, my father and I had a discussion about this when, I mean, it was around 2000 or 2001. You have to remember the internet was still in its infancy. It’s certainly in the legal world in those years. And I came back from a meeting and I said, “Dad, we got to do something because we don’t have any advertising program whatsoever, and I know you’re not as concerned about it. You don’t have as long of a road ahead of you as perhaps I do. So can we talk about our marketing program?” He said, “Well, Adam, as soon as you get caught up and I get caught up, we’ll sit down and talk about it,” and we’ve never gotten caught up. I guess that’s the blessing of doing good work and having a good reputation, which I think is the most valuable asset that any lawyer or law firm can possibly have. And I truly believe that the greatest marketing tool is doing good work, trying cases and getting verdicts in the courtroom, or certainly getting resolutions through settlement that gets some publicity.

Chris Dreyer:

A solid reputation plants a flag. It establish you and your firm as the go-to in that niche. Lawyers will send you cases because of your reputation, even if you don’t buy ads, consider referral fees as part of what you spend to get clients.

Adam Malone:

I think about that all the time. I think you’re right. My advertising budget, if we wanted to label it, that is pretty high if I look at the amount of referral or co-counsel fees that go out of this office. And so I guess the question is, if I took that same amount of money and invested in marketing programs to originate my own cases without associating lawyers, what would that cost? At the end of the day, here’s what I know, Chris. I know how to try cases and I know how to put them together for trial. I am not a marketing expert when it comes to billboards, TV, internet, but I will tell you this, something has happened. I’ve been practicing for 24 years. And in the early days, as I pointed out, most all our cases came from other lawyers. That’s not entirely true anymore.

My father retired in 2016. By that time he and I had separate practices, but still practiced together and we still tried some cases together. But he tried his, I tried mine early two thousands. I remember that super lawyers came along and we were recognized. And then somewhere in the 2010 era, I was listed in the top 100 in Georgia. And then I think since 2017, I’ve been in the top 10 and in the last three to five years, I’ll tell you this, for the last three years I’ve been in the top three. And this year they honored me with being the number one super lawyer in Georgia. Now, why am I talking about that? Because that is advertising. That is marketing. I don’t know whether it’s because of the length of time we’ve had our Malone law.com website or that and a combination of super lawyers and the publicity that comes from that. But for some reason, I get a lot of direct in calls that we didn’t used to get before the development of this super lawyer, best lawyer type of advertising.

Chris Dreyer:

When you’re spending tons of dollars on advertising, you’re going to have to go through a lot of volume and it just changes the dynamic of your intake. Where you got to go through the volume, whether it’s a third party or you build it in-house and it’s a lot more bodies, a lot more headcount, versus you get the referral and have to pay that. It’s a great case with a lot of value. And then like you said, through the reputation of doing this exceptional work, getting these massive wins, then you get these great awards and then they can start to bring it. Then you don’t have the fee.

Adam Malone:

A lot of pros and cons. I mean, I don’t want to eliminate my availability to be able to work on and co-counsel cases. I love that. I absolutely love it. And at the end of the day, it’s always about taking care of the client. Did we make a difference in the quality of life of this client? Will it change their life for the better? And if I have to split a fee with another lawyer, that’s fine, but if the case comes directly to me, that’s fine too. And I’m constantly thinking about this. I’m working on, we’re doing something with our website right now, and there’s a lot of people out there who tell you that they’ve got the magic bullet for how to get you the cases that you want through internet marketing. The challenge that I have, Chris, that is I’m a boutique law firm.

I am blessed that we probably get, on average it’s five to seven calls a day, and that works out to somewhere between 1500, 2000 calls a year. And I’ll tell you, I have 12 cases in suit all medical malpractice cases. I really want to have less than 10, but it hovers between 10 and 20 at any given moment in time. So we get a lot of calls and we try and I don’t want the marketing program that gives me 5,000 calls a year because I’m just not set up that way. And I’m 50 and I’m not ready to change to be set up that way. Now, there might be somebody that comes along and wants to be a partner that will take over that side and groom and foster a volume sort of practice, but I’m a boutique firm who gets a volume of calls and then I try to help all those people that I can’t personally help get to the right place.

Chris Dreyer:

I love that answer. And about really putting the client first too, right, where you give them complete and your utter devotion and attention to them. Thanks to your work, Georgia ended their cap for on non-economic damage, which was ruled unconstitutional. It was capped at $350,000. Today, non-economic damages can be awarded by the jury. It’s a total game changer. So with that, are there particular strategies that you use to fully prove non-economic damages like pain and suffering in both settlement negotiations and at trial?

Adam Malone:

Absolutely. What you were referring to as a part of a big tort reform package that passed here in Georgia in 2005, and as part of that only in medical malpractice cases, the law had capped non-economic damages at $350,000 in 2010. The Supreme Court here unanimously found that that provision of the tort reform package violated our state constitutional guarantee of a in violet right to trial by jury. That was my case. Still, if you Google Nestle Hutt Malone, it’s a nine-minute video you can watch about it. And then there’s a whole backstory. There were a lot of people who claimed to be medical malpractice specialists prior to 2005 when the tort reform bill was passed, those people vanished. The folks that felt they had a calling to help patients who were grievously injured by a medical error stayed around. We were one of those.

Since 2010 a lot of folks have reemerged in this. I have a lot more competition today than I did when we had a cap. But what do you do to connect with the jury and help them understand the human losses? In the case, everybody gets that if you get hurt and you can’t go back to work, you’re going to lose income. If you get hurt and somebody calls you to have to go to the doctor and get medical treatment, that costs money you wouldn’t have had to spend. And you can blackboard those numbers, just tell the jury if this was all that this case was about or that human pain or suffering were about, quite frankly, we can take out a calculator and the other side can check our math. But what the case is really about is what did it do to this life, this person’s life, and how’s the money going to help to make up for it?

And so I do that by spending a lot of time with my clients in their own environments. Getting to know what their life was like before, but also really focusing on not so much that which was taken away, but what they spend their time doing to try and do the best they can despite the tragedy that has visited them through no fault of their own. And I think by focusing on their heroic effort, really to put their lives back together and just make the best of it inspires people, total strangers, to want to help them get there, and people value that so we can translate it into a measuring stick. And when the law provides the measuring stick only in dollars, then most jurors don’t have, in my experience, don’t have trouble in using that sort of measuring stick.

Chris Dreyer:

You focusing on the 10 to 20 or the act of 12, you have the ability to go deep to get to know these people on a very personal level and their lives and how it’s impacting. I’m sure that story comes just through so easily, so clear to the jury, what’s next for you and your firm? And then how can people connect with you?

Adam Malone:

Well, you can connect with me by reaching out to me on email at adam@malonelaw.com. The website is of course malonelaw.com. I’m on Facebook, Adam Malone, Instagram, I think Adam Malone, and those are the ways you can find me. What’s next for Malone Law? I’ve got a brain-damaged baby case that I’m in the midst of preparing for trial on right now. That’ll be tried in a very conservative venue here in South Georgia. And my office is located in Atlanta, but I handle cases throughout the entire state.

So that’s very next on my agenda. And we are growing. I’m looking for good, talented lawyers. I’m 50 years old. I got a lot of years left to continue this practice, but I’m at the place where I want to start sharing what was given to me through my training and then lessons I’ve learned over the years. And hopefully there will be somebody else who feels they have the same burning desire and calling to continue trying to improve the quality of medical care and commercial care throughout this state in the country when I’m long and gone, Malone Law or in some form with some name will continue to be here. So that’s what’s next.

Chris Dreyer:

Thanks so much to Adam for sharing his wisdom today. Let’s hit the takeaways. Time for the pinpoints. Be the obvious first choice. Build a reputation as the expert in one niche. If you’re looking to build a boutique practice, hone in on one practice area, the Malone Firm was able to sidestep traditional marketing because they established themselves early on in the 1960s as one of the only firms to take on med mal cases.

Adam Malone:

And in the early days, most of our cases, and still to this day, most of our cases come by way of offers of association from other lawyers, which is the ultimate compliment.

Chris Dreyer:

Every firm has a marketing cost. Even boutique firms that don’t have a dedicated marketing budget. Referral fees paid out to co-counsel cases are marketing investments accounted accordingly.

Adam Malone:

My advertising budget is pretty high. If I look at the amount of referral or co-counsel fees that go out of this office.

Chris Dreyer:

There’s no wrong way to build a firm. If your goal is to have 10 cases a year, then a referral model may be best for you. If you’d like to go the route of productization and have a higher volume of cases, that’s all right too. Whatever you want. Make sure you understand how much revenue is going in to secure a case and how it affects your bottom line.

Adam Malone:

And at the end of the day, it’s always about taking care of the client. Did we make a difference in the quality of life of this client? Will it change their life for the better? And if I have to split a fee with another lawyer, that’s fine, but if the case comes directly to me, that’s fine too.

Chris Dreyer:

For more information about Adam at the Malone Firm, check out the show notes while you’re there. Please hit that follow button so you never miss an episode. A Personal Injury mastermind with me, Chris Dreyer, founder and CEO of Rankings.io. All right everybody, thanks for hanging out. See you next time. I’m out.