Vegas Circle

Legal Powerhouse: David Menocal’s $9M Victory and the Journey to Success.

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Can you imagine transforming from a college football player to a successful lawyer with a thriving law firm? Join us as we sit down with David Menocal, founder of Menocal Law Group, to explore his incredible journey. David's transition from Furman University athlete to a legal professional in Las Vegas is nothing short of inspiring. He opens up about the invaluable experiences he gained at two law firms before launching his own practice, and how he and his wife built their burgeoning firm through authentic client relationships and word-of-mouth referrals, achieving a remarkable 250 clients in just their first year.

David also sheds light on the complex yet fascinating world of personal injury law in Las Vegas, where auto accidents, dog bites, and slip and fall cases are common. Through a personal story about being rear-ended by a drunk driver, David provides actionable advice for accident victims, emphasizing the importance of adequate insurance coverage and being prepared for the unexpected. This conversation is packed with practical insights on navigating personal injury incidents, making it a must-listen for anyone looking to understand the intricacies of this legal field.

Ever wondered what it takes to grow a law firm authentically? David shares his philosophy on maintaining a classy and modern brand, far removed from flashy advertisements. Discover his strategies for fostering meaningful client connections, offering direct attorney-client interactions, and providing extra services like Ubers and car rentals to help clients stay on track. We also discuss the importance of balancing work with family life and the profound impact of having a supportive spouse. From strategies for firm growth to personal anecdotes, this episode provides a comprehensive look at the world of personal injury law and the keys to both professional and personal success.

Speaker 1:

Welcome to Vegas Circle Podcast with your hosts, paki and Chris. We are people who are passionate about business, success and culture. This is our platform to showcase people in our city who make it happen. On today's podcast, we're going to be exploring personal injury and criminal defense and how to better prepare yourself when a situation arises, either with yourself or maybe even a loved one. Welcome our guest to a circle. Founder of Minicow Law Group, mr David Minicow. So welcome to the circle, brother.

Speaker 2:

Thanks for having me.

Speaker 1:

Thanks, Chris, Thanks Baki. Shout out to our mutual friend that connected us and got us on the phone together Ace Pachenko, great dude, Been a guest of the podcast too, but let's jump right in, man. So why'd you jump into law? What made you get into that field of work?

Speaker 2:

So I'm originally from Georgia and I graduated undergrad, played football at a school in South Carolina, furman University, and I graduated in 08.

Speaker 1:

And I was like right country was rock bottom. Yeah, for real, I moved in 07. So then next year? Yeah, yeah, you already know.

Speaker 2:

So I was originally thinking about doing sales. I didn't really want to go to graduate school. I did well in undergrad but I was like, nah, I want to do something different, let's go into sales, did like the whole cold calling thing for three, four months and I'm like, nah, this ain't for me. So I always thought that, yeah, maybe I'll do law school. But after that experience with the outside sales I was like, all right, this is like a sign I'm doing law school. So I went to law school at Georgia State in Atlanta.

Speaker 2:

I'm originally from a little small town called Gainesville, which is like an hour north of Atlanta. And then I lived in Atlanta for four years, went to law school there and I was coming out to Vegas a lot and I ended up deciding, hey, I want to practice law here. I mean, I was in my mid-20s, you know loving life right. And then my last semester in law school I did something called a visiting semester at UNLV, and that was a blessing because I got to be here like another five, six months. I wasn't here, only like a couple of weeks. I could really get my feet wet, sure, and get used to, you know, the the city is for a mid-20 year old bro it's like coming from the south too.

Speaker 2:

It's uh yeah, it's definitely a different scene, but um no, I'm super glad I did law because the thing with law is it's so diverse. I mean you could do any type of law you want, like my one of my best friends in town, tony. He's a commercial litigator, does contracts business, completely different than what I do in personal injury, and you know we balance things off each other. He'll refer me cases, I'll try to refer him stuff too, but it's like night and day what he does and I do so with a law degree you can just do like so much.

Speaker 2:

You can do entertainment law Like you won't be you know, pigeonholed and just doing one thing so sure, yeah, kind of moving through.

Speaker 3:

Like you know, graduating law school, getting your degree, obviously it's a big challenge, right? You know you come out and you have a lot of responsibilities, or backlogged a little bit, you know, do you have an obligation to go and practice law for a certain amount of time before you can open up a firm, or can you jump right and open a firm right from day one?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, you can jump, jump in and open up a firm right from day one. But I mean it's smart to get that experience first Most people won't jump in right away. I mean, it's very risky for a couple of reasons, Like one how are you going to get the clientele? No one knows you and in my world like personal injury world.

Speaker 2:

It's so competitive, you know, people do some crazy stuff to get clients, even illegally, as you can imagine, right, but so you're competing with that, and then you're competing with people that are doing it the right way too, so it's just a lot of risk involved. So you know when I not to fast forward too much, but I worked for two firms, you know, prior to open up my own law firm a year and a half ago, and I'm glad that I didn't go out on my own after that first firm, even though I worked there for six years, because the second firm I worked at for three and a half years. I got even more experience there and they really taught me how to run my own thing. So my wifey and I you know I was- telling you that my wife is very integral and our whole firm.

Speaker 2:

I mean she helps run it with me. I mean we'll be up till 1, 2 am cutting checks.

Speaker 2:

I mean she does all the bookkeeping, client disbursement, all the merch that I showed you and brought right Like she's in charge of all that. So I mean she's the backbone, you know. But we were averaging a couple clients a week, just word of mouth, organically, no advertising or anything. Because I was working for a firm at the time, sure, and we were averaging two word of mouth referrals a week. At my last firm, you know, I was 36, 37. Two word of mouth referrals a week at my last firm, I was 36, 37 at the time. Our son just turned four now, so he was like two then and we're like, why not? This is the time right. So we're like, if we can just do two a week, that's 100 clients a year, no overhead with marketing, billboards, commercials, any of that. And we were just hoping to get that and we ended up signing 250 clients in the first year and with no, just all word of mouth, so like that's big in that space, right, yeah, yeah, and the thing is too.

Speaker 2:

is like the quality of cases, too Like that's what I wanted to get into.

Speaker 1:

I'm so happy you mentioned it, yeah.

Speaker 2:

You can. You could sign up a hundred cases that are like some are good, some are bad, but then you could sign up 50 cases that are like really good quality, that are going to be the equivalent of those hundred other cases. Right, and that's what we're real, real big on there's. You know there's firms in town that'll just sign up everything that walks through the door, and then they'll just want the velocity. Yeah, they want the volume, and then they drop the client.

Speaker 2:

I've never been a big fan of that and I'll tell the client straight up like, look, I don't want to do this to you because this is what's likely going to happen. But I'll give you this advice and maybe you want to get a second opinion go to these other firms and I've had that happen before. They do that, they go to another firm and they get dropped and I'm like, yeah, I'm really sorry that happened to you. So we've been blessed with some really good, good quality cases and our biggest settlement is confidential, but we can disclose a number we just got two weeks ago and it was $9 million, which, for a firm of our size, it's me and my two case managers, intake specialists and then my wife, so there's five of us, but for any firm that's a big deal.

Speaker 1:

That's huge, not bragging, but I'm proud of what we accomplished, 100%.

Speaker 2:

You should be proud, though, to be honest with you. Yeah, yeah, no, we really are, but it's just crazy how we even got that client, because during covid, like you guys might remember, like traffic tickets were on hold, they were on limbo sure no one was really getting them fixed right.

Speaker 2:

but I had a, you know, a plug at the court would help me out, and you know she, uh, she was awesome. So I was just going to court one day it was back in 2019 just to show some love and give her a gift card, and I happened to be in her office or whatever. And then there was another judge that happened to be walking by and not the same judge that she clerked for and we just started chopping it up and she ended up referring me the same case we're talking about. Wow, and had I not have been there that day? And not like patting myself on the back, like, oh, I'm giving her a gift card, but you know what I mean like had I not have been there that day.

Speaker 3:

Being proactive, just show some love.

Speaker 2:

I never would have got there because that I hadn't seen that judge in a few years, you know, and she's just like, oh, are you working at this firm? Now? It was before I opened up my own firm, so it was just like, uh, that one was a big one for us and, um, yeah, I couldn't be prouder and you guys have been in business for you said about a year and a half, two years.

Speaker 2:

A year and a half, yes, february of last year, so it's just um, but I always had that kind of mindset, though, with the uh like, with the traffic tickets, so like my main hustle when I moved here and I moved here in 2012 I didn't know a lot of people. I lived on the strip at sky las vegas for like four years and I was like know what? I got to do something different, because I didn't grow up here.

Speaker 1:

I don't have that advantage.

Speaker 2:

So, like my hustle, I got my own business cards made because my one firm did not have the best business card. So I got my own cards made, like you know, credit card style business cards, and I really just hit the nightlife scene, you know we go out all the time.

Speaker 2:

Excess like seen you know would go out all the time excess, like everywhere, right, and it was tell all the people in the industry hey, I'll do your traffic tickets for free, small claims for free, you get a dui, like I'll help you out with that. And I just kept doing that over the years and that's how I like. Organically, we're getting a lot of word of mouth and you know, as all the word of mouth are building up, then it just it kept going and going.

Speaker 2:

But uh, awesome and it comes with a lot of stress yeah because, I mean, our big sell is too that you know we're one-on-one.

Speaker 3:

It's a personalized experience okay you're the one who's essentially on every one of these cases. Right, you're trying to mccore, you're doing all the stuff.

Speaker 2:

Obviously you have people assisting you on paperwork things but you're the one actually having to go to the court for it yeah, and that and that's the thing, because the a lot of firms in town like anyone that's gonna get anyone that gets an accident and they're looking for a personal injury attorney.

Speaker 2:

I'll always say take a billboard yeah, do your research you know I'm saying like talk to people, because the average law firm here it's a non-attorney handling it, meaning like you know case managers and don't be wrong, they're amazing. I'd be nothing without my case managers. I know that more than anyone. But you got to have attorneys negotiating with the insurance adjusters and stuff like that. So there's a lot of non-attorneys handling the whole case from A to Z. Most of the attorneys especially the ones on these billboards and stuff, without hating, they don't even know the client's names.

Speaker 1:

So that's really our big sell when you hire us, I'm the main point of contact.

Speaker 2:

And I'm the one really quarterbacking the case me and my case manager together. But I'm the one quarterbacking it, negotiating and all that. And normally when the attorney is more involved then you get better results. But I take a lot of pride in that and it feels good when a client really is like man, you weren't lying.

Speaker 1:

I want to step back a little bit. So how do you choose who you want to work with as a client? Is that? Is there something specific, like you were saying, like you know, like 50 cases versus 100 cases or 250 cases? Is there something that you're specifically looking for or? For me to sign up a client for to sign up a client and choose to work with them yes, I mean usually has to fit like a criteria.

Speaker 2:

I mean, okay, I do all kinds. I mean I exclusively do personal injury. Now, like the plan when we opened a year and a half ago was like we'll do some criminal just to help with overhead. Sure, but we just hit the ground running so fast on personal injury we're like I got to cut out the criminal. Yeah, so I just refer it to a friend of mine in town. But I do auto accidents, dog bite cases, slip and falls, all kind of personal injury, but probably more than 90% of it's auto accidents Cause.

Speaker 2:

let's be honest, like it's Vegas right, I mean before I lose my train of thought. I mean me and wifey.

Speaker 2:

We got rear-ended by a drunk driver last year and yeah, I know, I mean we're, uh, I'm done with treatment, but she just had her second injection. So that's actually I look at it as a blessing in a way, because now when I talk to clients you've actually went hey look, I'm going through the same thing you are. We had a, we had a nice, you know, brand new car is still not fixed this was june of last year because the parts are on back order and stuff. So it's like, you know, because a lot of people when they get an accident.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, yeah, because it was like a year and a half literally, yeah, yeah yeah, a little over.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, A little over a year or so, Like you know, because the clients a lot of times they're more worried about their car than they are their injuries, you know they got to get to work.

Speaker 2:

How are they going to help with that? So I try to make it as easy on them as possible, like I'll order their lifts for them and everything, like I don't care, like my to take be taken care of. And yeah, it does get stressful at times trying to do too much, but it's just like it's in my nature. So I just I don't really know another way, you know. So I'm trying to learn to delegate a little bit more, you know, but uh, but no, I can tell them, hey, I'm going through the same thing you are. So uh, normally, though, for, like, auto accident, you want to see that, hey, it's clear liability, like we actually are going to win that argument that it was the other person's fault and then you need to have some insurance there. So, luckily, in our case, it was a 19-year-old kid that hit us. It was the night they had the VGK parade.

Speaker 1:

Oh, when they won the Stanley Cup.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. So we happened to be at the Westgate for some Latin American Chambers party that had an event. And we're going back on the Sahara and we're about to get onto the 15 on-ramp and there's a yield sign right there and so many accidents happen right there and this kid just plowed us and we get out, we're stunned and I'm like nah, no, my clients are there. And there's like 10 or 15 kids deep in this old pickup truck. They're taking out beer cases and cans and all this stuff Picking out beer cases and cans and all this stuff.

Speaker 2:

Luckily the kid, the driver, everyone left him, but he stayed on the scene and in Vegas, like most of the time they know you're going to get arrested. They're deuces. But he stayed on the scene. He was cool. He was like, hey, are you? Okay? Cops came and everything, but he only had the state minimum insurance, which is what most people have. Right, if they don't have significant assets, they're like.

Speaker 2:

I'm just going to get the bare minimum because that's all the state requires. So it's really important that you load up on your own insurance and that's what we have on ours, so we're actually able to make also a claim against our own insurance company. But most people don't know that. I'm glad you're bringing that up.

Speaker 1:

I'm going to look at both of y'all's policies. Yeah, for sure, I'm going to read that up.

Speaker 2:

You're going to look at both of y'all's policies and be like all right, we're going to get y'all right Because it's dangerous.

Speaker 1:

You might not even be all right. Yeah, because it's super dangerous in Vegas. You see it all the time, like you were saying, drunk accident, drunk car accidents.

Speaker 2:

I or a dog bite right.

Speaker 1:

What would you recommend just kind of the cliff notes of what they should do?

Speaker 3:

And kind of on that too, because right now they don't, because I noticed that being an accident like please don't even show up anymore.

Speaker 1:

That was another piece. Yeah, that was another piece.

Speaker 3:

So kind of back down to that like hide that and play a part in that.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, great point. So since they don't, I mean when I moved here in 2012, I mean some kid did a hit and run on me then or whatever, but I didn't nearly see as many accidents as there are now. So because of that you've got to do even better cop work, because they're not showing up most of the time right, unless there's like a DUI or something like that involved. So first thing was you know you get out of the car. You need to take pictures, mainly of their license plate, because even if they decide to bounce, at least you got some. We can run the plates through the dmv. We'll find the last four of the vin, we'll put the plates and last for the vin in the dmv website and it'll tell us who the insurance is so legal has the ability to do that.

Speaker 3:

I didn't know that yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2:

As long as I have that the license plate, I can find out the last four of the vin and then go on dmv website and find who they're insured with oh cool.

Speaker 2:

So so the first thing I would get is the license plate and then after that I would try to get their driver's license. Um, if it's like a rear ender, like typically that's not like a big fight like by the other insurance company, but if it's like I tell clients to do this all the time, uh, if they and like I'll have my phone on me too, they'll have people call me at the scene 10 pm, 11 pm, like I'm we're literally 24-7.

Speaker 1:

Oh, wow.

Speaker 2:

And I tell people don't feel bad. Like my wife knows, we work hard in our family. Like you can call me whenever, I don't care, I'll pick up, but yeah, I'll tell them. So if it's like a side swipe situation and it's like you know, a lot of times people, people, will lie right. The other person will oh, they went to my lane to say their insurance and I'll have clients tell me yeah, but they said that they were going to tell their insurance company. I'm like do not believe them.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, they're gonna protect themselves video them without them noticing, because that's legal. You can tape record someone in person without their permission. So just video record them without them noticing, like have the phone, like so they don't notice, and like be like, hey, like you know what were you thinking there? Get them. Then they admit it and then you have that, just in case they go tell their insurance something different, something different. Then we're like, boom, we got them, you know.

Speaker 2:

So I would say, uh for sure, license plate, get their driver's license insurance card, if they have it on them. And then, if it's a, if it could be like a wishy-washy on the liability, like get a. I mean I would get a video of them regardless, even if it was a rear-ender, um, because you're going to be there for a minute, you know. I mean, generally people are going to like if you say, hey, we called the cops, if you're waiting on the cops and you, and if they try to leave at that point, well now it's a hit and run, and if we have the license plate, it's even more.

Speaker 2:

We got them now, as an attorney, I'm gonna say all there's punitive damages. Now they did a hit and run. So now the insurance carrier is going to have to pay even more money because their driver did a hit and run on you.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, yeah. So those are kind of like it's crazy times, man. It's crazy times Because I've had all of that happen. I've got hit by a drunk driver, luckily not here in Vegas. Yeah yeah, same, good call. I lost my train of thought. We were talking about when they don't have insurance, right? So you were mentioning like because you find people all the time, a lot of times they're doing hit and run, either because they legal, whatever legal situation is or they don't, just don't have insurance, so they're just out. What do you recommend?

Speaker 2:

You said mentioning getting higher insurances to cover yourself for the liability side, right, yeah, so there's something called uninsured motorists, correct, and then underinsured motorists. So in Nevada, if you have one, you have the other. You can't have only one, you have to have both so uninsured is that situation.

Speaker 2:

They bounce and let's say we got the license plate but online it shows that they just terminated their insurance, like a couple months ago. So if we confirm with that, we'll still open up a claim with that insurance and if that insurance that person confirms there's no coverage coverage, then we're hoping our client has uninsured motorists. Underinsured is what me and my wife and I are going through right now. The kid had insurance but it wasn't enough to cover our whole treatment god.

Speaker 1:

So we'll ask everything the total bill, the whole nine, yeah, pain and suffering everything.

Speaker 2:

So we'll ask his insurance to pony up their max coverage, and then we'll ask our state farm to chip in as well yeah, yeah.

Speaker 3:

And if no insurance, can you go after like, so say, I get injured and they don't have insurance? What does it look like from a damages standpoint? Do I have any authority to be able to get anything out of that, or I'm really so that that's a very hard thing.

Speaker 2:

so if the person doesn't have insurance, I always tell people like I just had actually someone ask me this today and I was like if they don't have enough money to pay their monthly premium, they're likely not going to have enough assets to satisfy any kind of judgment if we were to go to trial kind of thing. But there are some exceptions. I was telling the potential client today it wasn't a hit and run, he got hit, the kid didn't have insurance and then the potential client was talking to who didn't have uninsured voters. But it was a criminal, like it was an intentional.

Speaker 2:

um, it was like assault with a debt, like a battery with a car, like he hit him on purpose yeah, it was terrible, so I was like hey, man, there's actually something called the victims of crime, that the state has a fund that you can apply for, and they'll cover up to a certain amount, uh, for your medical treatment, everything. And then the best way, though, would be through the criminal case. If it's like a criminal matter, you just tell the da hey, here's my medical bills. It's called restitution. Make that defendant pay restitution if they want any kind of good plea deal, so that I mean that's why it's a blessing that I did criminal defense for a couple years, because sometimes there's some crossovers there.

Speaker 2:

But if it's a non-criminal matter, like I said, generally it's going to be very tough because we could go to trial and get a huge jury verdict. But it's like, how are we going to collect on that money? And then I'll get a lot of people that tell me what about the house? They own a house, but there's homestead law in Nevada so you're not even going to be able to lean up their house anyway. I didn't know that.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, A lot of people set their companies up, set LLCs up and protect their assets and the whole nine. Oh yeah. Yeah, it could be a little funky man. Yeah, no, for sure.

Speaker 3:

It's kind of like digging into the business aspect of it, so building your own law firm. You're in here a little over some time now. You're kind of getting your bearings under. You would, um, going into personal injury law in vegas especially. It seems like you say there's billboard every corner. It seems like it's pretty hard and I know word of mouth is definitely helpful, but you know, where do you see? How do you continue to grow that business?

Speaker 2:

you know that you're learning some of those lessons uh, we've talked about going that route at some point. But we just, at this point, like we're signing up a lot of word of mouth, sure, and it's just like I know people that might get one billboard, two billboards, but it's just like if we're gonna do it, we're gonna do it the right way, right way and like we're actually noticeable, get some real estate. You know, I'm saying like where people notice, it's not just like one billboard on 215 or whatever, not like hating on that model, but it's just I would rather put that money, you know, somewhere else. Um, because billboards I would rather put in a commercial, honestly, instead of a billboard. Because I don't know, I like to consider myself like more people's person, like I like talking to people, being on a billboard, like yeah, you put your face up there, but like they're not hearing what you're about. You know, that's why I love the opportunity to come here with you guys, because I feel like you know, I don't know.

Speaker 3:

You can tell the story more.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I don't know, I just like settings like this more. So I think in a commercial people can generally tell, like you know, hey, is this person authentic or not? So I just with our brand. We wanted to be, you know, have a sharp brand, more modern, but just classy. That was like our whole thing, because that's just how we are. We don't like to floss, like that's another thing too. Like with a lot of these attorneys. Like how is posting your cars and a plane and all that like 100%, yeah, what is that doing? Like how does that help your client at all? Don't get me wrong. Is that doing like what is? How does that help your client at all? Like knowing you're wrong. Like with our nine million dollar settlement best, believe me, we're gonna put on the flyer, yeah, and like but we're not gonna like post in front of a car or something.

Speaker 2:

I mean it's just like it's just, you know, classless and I don't know, it's just shallow. But uh yeah, so we're just. We just have a very different mindset in that regard. We like to be low-key, you know. People know about us, but not from a flashy standpoint, that's just my wife and I are on the same same page, you know because a lot of times I see it.

Speaker 3:

You know, for some reason I always thought why this personal injury law like a lot of times. But I see it seems so cheeky, it seems very kind of like a salesman-y less about you know, you're there.

Speaker 2:

For me it's very song oriented, not like you know, and I always wondered why that was, and I don't know like, because when I moved here in 2012, it wasn't like that as much like you had some of the attorneys that would have the jingles and all that, but it was still. It was still different, you know, I think, more classy than it is nowadays, and it's just like how much of your personal possessions can you really post? And it has nothing to do with the law yeah, correct, but Correct but hey, you know, to each his own right.

Speaker 1:

I love the fact like that's like when we first talked over the phone remember we were kind of like he was sizing me up, some sizing you up and trying to figure it out. But I love the fact that it's one-on-one right.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. So I love that you're going that route, building it the right way, yeah, and that's like that's really our, our main model. And I get a lot of uh people, a lot of clients that will fire their current law firms, and a lot of people don't know this. But like, if you have a lawyer and you're not happy with them and you're free to leave, you don't have to pay two attorney fees, you just pay one to me and I just have to square up with that other law firm. And a lot of people don't know that.

Speaker 1:

I never knew that.

Speaker 2:

Well, one, they think they can't get out of the contract, and then two, they think if they can they're still going to have to pay two lawyer fees. So they don't want to do it.

Speaker 1:

Is there some type of term? There's got to be like a termination fee or something right.

Speaker 2:

No, just, and they don't have to let the attorney know. They will let them that attorney know for them and then we just will pay and, like I said, square off the prior law firm once we settle the case. We'll just pay a portion. It's called an attorney lien to just get rid of it, to just do good business. Yeah, yeah, and they're entitled, you know, to it and they're entitled to like a reasonable, you know, attorney lien.

Speaker 2:

But I've had clients be with a law firm like two of our bigger settlements prior to this one. They were with these law firms for like a year, a year and a half, and then they came with me. But anytime I get a potential client like that, the first question I always ask them let me guess you never talked to the attorney 100% of the time it's always. How did you know? It's just like because you're talking to me right now, but you know, but you know what. I played that up to our benefit.

Speaker 2:

You know, like if the, if the non-attorneys doing all the work on the case and everything, and we can come in and offer them the opposite. I mean, they, you know, they love that and then they can go tell their friends like not and a lot of people don't, can't even believe it. They're like there's no way. And then we sign them up and they see it, but it just I don't know. It comes more natural for me like I don't try to be cliche and say, oh, I love helping people, but like my whole mindset was even back in the day when my hustle with the traffic tickets and all that I always said like, look, try to refer me someone, but if you don't, all good. Like I wish I knew someone like me before I was an attorney that would just handle this traffic ticket for free and not expect anything in return.

Speaker 2:

And you know, I know, I feel like it'll come back to you eventually, somehow.

Speaker 3:

For sure, being a lawyer is all about trust. From what I've, you know we've all been at some point, I'm assuming if you've been a lawyer, you've gotten nickel-dimed a little bit, You've had some of these situations occur.

Speaker 3:

So when you develop that trust. It goes a long way. And kind of on that, a couple of questions. You know, like how you talk about the. The process you went through that went for a year or two years. What is like the average litigation timeline that you're running through these procedures? Are they fairly quick? And personal injury are there longer ones?

Speaker 2:

so it yeah, um. So I would say our average uh case time is like six months okay, sometimes okay sometimes cases settle sooner than that. But the bigger cases, like the, the nine million dollar one, I mean, that was like five years and plus. It was during covid and all the courts got like the deadlines and everything got backed up during that time. So that's why it?

Speaker 2:

took you probably a little bit longer, um, but yeah, I mean, but I prepare clients for that, you know, and I'll tell them, because the thing you have to break through to is misconceptions when you, when these clients sign up, so I like to my initial call with them. I like it to be usually 30 to 45 minutes. That way, as the case goes along, they're not asking me these same questions over time.

Speaker 1:

Oh yeah, I already you know I remember that.

Speaker 2:

So like some of the common things would be like, well, hey, like I thought I was gonna get x amount of money because this billboard says, you know about check, getting check or whatever you know. But it really all depends on to like what kind of insurance you're dealing with. You know. So like for a big case, you need all the stars to align, you need, you know, clear liability, you need huge insurance limits, like a company, commercial, something like that. And then you need like big injuries, like surgery.

Speaker 2:

So I tell clients like, look, it's a catch-22, you might get a huge settlement, but then you're like jacked up and you know you don't want that for that either right, so I mean yeah, I mean, I had back surgery four years ago, not related to an accident, but like and I'm 38, you know so like to be able to give that kind of personal experience to the clients helps you know a lot of these lawyers like they've never even gone to a chiropractor before and they're trying to tell you what kind of treatment you know that they're going to you know, set you up with and stuff.

Speaker 3:

And does the client have to pay for that whole process for that five year term or is it all kind of on the settlement amount?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so, uh, it's on a what they call a medical lien generally. Um, so basically everything just gets pushed to the end. So my fees are on a contingency right, so I charge a percentage and then the medical bills will be deferred till the end too, once the case settles. So the idea is like through the settlement is how we pay our fees and costs, the doctor's bills, and then whatever's left over is the client's portion. But we have a rule in our firm that we never take more money than the client. It's not like a. There's no law in Nevada that says that, but the better firms have that policy, just because you know it's the right thing.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, treat people the right way. Yeah, I want to stop you for one second. So, like you're going through, like a medical situation, right People, because you always hear people, the medicals hit their bills and bill when they're going through you know, litigation, I guess, is what you would say until the end of it.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, Cause it's all. It's called a medical lien.

Speaker 1:

Ah, that's what you're talking about. That's the protection. That's the protection, yeah.

Speaker 2:

Basically, the doctors are like they'll treat you and they, you know they'll wait until the end of the case and they get paid Got it Okay, um, but it's not on health insurance. So the only time a client would have to front any money, like during the middle of the case or before the end of it, is if they use their health insurance. So let's just say they go to the ER the day of the accident and have like a $100K ER bill. They might have a copay.

Speaker 1:

I was going to say they got something.

Speaker 2:

This is a conversation usually that the attorneys don't have with the client, and the non-attorneys forget to mention to them too, or maybe they don't know, and so they might have a couple grand copay, I was getting that okay, thank you. Thank you for being out yeah, that's exactly what I was getting at. Yeah, the client's gonna assume well, that's what's gonna be part of the case. I don't have to pay it.

Speaker 2:

They don't say anything now they're in collections, okay yeah, so like I remember that the first conversation when I have with the client when I'm signing them up is like hey, you went to the ER today, Pay your co-pay. You're going to get a co-pay from potentially four different ER providers if you went in an ambulance?

Speaker 2:

You could have four different ER co-pays, so you need to. Anytime you get a bill in the mail, text it to me. I'll tell you the exact way to do it. But by and large, this conversation is not being held with the client and then they end up in collections Now their credit's messed up, like you said.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, okay, so pay to copay listeners. Yeah, yeah, yeah, pay to copay. That's crazy, do you have?

Speaker 3:

to fight for that medical lien? Or is that just like automatic, because I've never heard that before.

Speaker 2:

I've never heard that was even part of it. Yeah, so with the doctors. Okay so that's what we tell them. Hey, we got a relationship with a network. You know we have a network of doctors in town. Great relationships with them over the years Got it. A lot of the clients that I will set you know, or a lot of the doctors I'll set my clients up with, are the same doctors that my wife and I treated with for our accident.

Speaker 2:

So that's so. We set them up with them, and then, yeah, the doctors will get paid at the end of the case and they know that it's basically a contract, right, but it still benefits the client a lot because now they're not having to pay for anything.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, especially going for four or five years, and you're racking up those bills, paying those minimum payments.

Speaker 2:

High yeah the car situation is a crazy one too, because, like, let's just say you're a total loss, the car is not drivable, yep. And then the insurance company is only trying to give a rental for a very limited amount of time. You know, so it's. Yeah, that's another big thing we'll do, too is most firms don't help with the property damage claim. They only help with the injury claim.

Speaker 2:

Oh, so you hit property, commercial, whatever it is, residential, whatever yeah so like let's just say, you know your car's, you know not a total, it's repairable or whatever. But most law firms will not assist at all with that claim. So there's two claims there's an injury claim and the property damage claim Got it. So most firms don't help with the property damage.

Speaker 1:

You guys do.

Speaker 2:

But we help with the property damage and we don't charge a fee for it Smart.

Speaker 2:

So it's just like you know basically extra, you know extra assistance. And, like I said earlier, normally the client's main concern a lot of times is their car, Because it's like, how am I going to get to work? So that's why we offer the Ubers. We work with what they call car rental lien companies, so companies that actually have a fleet of cars that they'll rent out. And just like a medical provider is on a lien, the car rental will be on a lien too.

Speaker 3:

So we offer that as, too.

Speaker 1:

I'm so happy to talk. I'm learning. I'm learning as you're talking, man. You know what I was really curious about? Just briefly, dog bites. Right, I didn't realize how many dog bites happen on probably a daily basis in Vegas, but what do you suggest for people, especially with kids and things like that Dog parks opening up everywhere in Vegas, what do you suggest for them on how to handle that If it happens up everywhere in Vegas? What do you suggest for?

Speaker 2:

them on how to handle that and what do they do? Yeah, you need to find out. So that would go through homeowner's insurance. Okay, yeah, so you would need to find out where the dog owner lives, got it and if regardless if you're at home or not.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, so if you're at the dog park, yep.

Speaker 2:

Okay, the homeowners? Yeah, it's a great question. Homeowner's insurance still extends and then it's really based on what the homeowner's policy says, because some breeds of dogs might be excluded on there. So, like a pit bull, it might say hey, if you have a pit bull and it bites somebody, we're not paying, doesn't?

Speaker 1:

cover yeah.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and then a lot of times it's very different than a car accident, where you don't know the address of the homeowner but you don't know what insurance they have. You can't look that up online. So then I'll hire an investigator to do a homeowner search and then they'll tell us who the insurance carrier is. Oh, you're smooth, david, you're smooth.

Speaker 1:

You figured all the loopholes.

Speaker 2:

I'll hang out with.

Speaker 3:

Ace. That's hilarious.

Speaker 1:

How do you maintain your pipeline? Is it more on the tech side?

Speaker 2:

or how do you? How do you continue? To keep managing that and maintaining your, your client pipeline? Um, just in terms of like getting the steady flow of clients.

Speaker 3:

Yes, it's hard.

Speaker 1:

It's hard to do cases like 200 cases a year? Yeah, how?

Speaker 3:

do you keep all that like?

Speaker 1:

everything together.

Speaker 2:

Yeah Well my wife helps out a lot, but I do have a strong team. I mean the two case managers I intake specialists that I have. The third employee we just hired, intake specialist Anna. She's amazing. She's helping me out a lot signing up the new clients, because I was doing that too. The point I was making earlier is I was just doing too much and so she's really been a game changer. And then my two case managers amazing the one I brought with me from my last firm. I mean she's like day one for me. You know she's, she's the best. And then the second case manager was hired in January. She worked with me at the first firm I worked at.

Speaker 2:

So it's like all these girls that have a like got a relationship with you know and uh, and you know I try to be like I'd like to think I'm a pretty cool boss. I never play the whole attorney card thing. Some of these guys and girls get little big heads and stuff. That's not me. I started when I was 18 years old working for an attorney in my little small town in Georgia fetching waters. So I always kept that mindset like, don't ever get too big. My dad instilled that in me as well. He'd take me to work on the weekends with him. My dad's from into me as well. He took me to work, you know, on the weekends with him. My dad's from cuba and he took me from work to work on the weekends and he was like a manager of 500 people in this um factory and he would um take me into the factory and I'm like what we're doing today. He's like the first thing we're gonna go do is tell these people thanks for working on a weekend.

Speaker 2:

You know so like that always stuck with me. Yeah, just uh always treat people no matter who it is like just the right way.

Speaker 3:

Especially as you continue to grow and you're going to keep growing and growing and growing, and it gets harder.

Speaker 1:

And did I read that correct? Speaking of Cuba, did I read that correctly? So was your uncle like the third president of Cuba? Yeah, that's a fact. Yeah, research. Yeah, mario garcia menocal. Yeah, that's awesome.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, he was a third president from 1913 to 1921 so it's pretty cool back in the day the cubans would actually go to school here in the states a lot of them and then go back to cuba to be successful. So he actually graduated from cornell university new york yep. And then he went back. He fought in the spanish-american war with, uh, teddy roosevelt and rough riders. He fought with the us because the us helped spain, or helped cuba liberate from spain, sure, and then they?

Speaker 1:

then he became the third president so like I'm very my dad's from havana his senior year in high school. You got your roots here.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah, okay like, and that was like that uncle was just like one of them, like there's other, like I got a cousin that's buried in arlington cemetery, even though he's he's cuban. He's buried in Arlington Cemetery, even though he's Cuban. He's buried in Arlington Cemetery. He was actually one of the original co-authors of the Panama Canal. At one point the Washington Monument got uneven and they hired him to correct it. Yeah, so it's like we have a lot of family history there. Y'all put a movie out.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, put a movie on y'all's family man. That's pretty powerful, it was cool, and that's the thing growing up.

Speaker 2:

We didn't, I didn't speak spanish um, because my mom is, uh, from the us, and she didn't speak spanish, and so she's polish. So, um, I didn't speak spanish. And then, when I got to middle school, I started taking spanish classes, but really the driving factor was my, my grandmother, mi abuelita. She only only spoke Spanish. And so between her, my aunt and my dad. Like you know, I've been speaking, obviously the last 20-something years and now you're white.

Speaker 1:

I was going to say yeah, so our son, you know, he just turned four.

Speaker 2:

That's his first language.

Speaker 1:

That's awesome. So in Columbia right now he's a straight-up white boy speaking perfect Spanish.

Speaker 2:

So he's going to be trouble.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, that's awesome man. Yeah, he's the man. That's good stuff, man, that's a good history. When I read that I was like damn, I got to ask him about that.

Speaker 2:

So that's pretty cool man.

Speaker 1:

With us being a bigger circle, mentorship is extremely important to me.

Speaker 2:

Who has been speaking in your life and who do you kind of bounce things off the backboard to make sure, even on your personal life or your business life, you know things are solid and going the right direction.

Speaker 1:

So I got a very close relationship with both my parents have been married uh 50, going on 53 years.

Speaker 2:

Yeah man, yeah, so uh you know they're, uh, they're my rock. You know they, uh, they're the ones that really pushed me with law school too, cause I wasn't doing well on the practice, practice exams. They're like no, no. So they really, you know, drove me in that regard. I got two older brothers. Both are integral in my life. My middle brother. He's actually a baseball agent.

Speaker 2:

He has some pretty prominent clients. And then my oldest brother is in marketing and he's been working for Siemens, a big uh uh automotive company and out of Germany, and that's where my dad worked for over 40 years.

Speaker 1:

I think some tips from your parents are doing it right.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, good kid.

Speaker 2:

I always tell them I'm like, but they they raised us you know, but it was never like a thing where I don't know like they always kept our, our values and principles. You know I'm saying like we're real faithful to religious and that that helps keep me grounded. You know my faith. You know in god, um. But then my wife has been like the biggest uh difference with me too, because before I met her.

Speaker 2:

I had the grind and hustle you know, doing all the tragedies and all, but really she helped me put it all together. She elevated me. That's awesome Because a lot of people think, oh, she was a cocktail waitress in the industry, she married a lawyer. Blah, blah, blah, I'll be the first one to say. When I met her, she had more money than me.

Speaker 1:

That's powerful. You hear her smiling over there. I see her in the same boat.

Speaker 2:

I'm with you, man, yeah and uh you know, but she saw the potential and she really, you know, helped me put it all together. Yeah, um, so, yeah, that wife is the biggest blessing I've had and, um, that's good stuff, man.

Speaker 1:

Powerful man out of that man. Family values man, that's awesome. Man. What would you share? You know, just for business advice? You know just a gem. I mean you work and I hear a lot about this man.

Speaker 1:

Like we were talking about Chris recently, a couple of weeks ago we interviewed a guy and and I'm hearing it more and more is people are buying small businesses from you know some of the baby boomers. Right, they want to just, I mean, that's all their asset, they can sell their company out, right, but I've been hearing a lot about people that maybe, if they want to go buy that business, maybe go work for the business similar to yourself, right, go work for the law firm for a year and a half and learn whatever it is, and then maybe you buy 48% or 49% of the company. But maybe in that period you're really getting the real value of what the company is all about. Right, and hands-on learning is all about right and hands-on learning. But what would you share to somebody that maybe they're thinking about starting their own business or maybe starting their own law firm? Because we all need different eyes and competitiveness brings everybody up, right? So what would you suggest on that side?

Speaker 2:

I would say. I mean, in my industry I can kind of speak on more experience. Sure, you got to be prepared to either market a lot, so you better have some like financial backing, either some, maybe some money stashed away, family money, whatever it is to hit the ground running with all these billboards and commercials and everything because to compete with these top top, you know marketers in town like you gotta go, ham right, what their bills like.

Speaker 3:

I was wondering that what their marketing goes. Yeah, you got to go, ham right, I wonder what their bill is like. I was wondering that what their marketing bill is.

Speaker 1:

It's got to be seven business a month.

Speaker 2:

Man, yeah, jeez, yeah, they killing it and the thing is is like think of how many cases you need to like average that out, and it's just like I don't know.

Speaker 2:

I'm not the big volume type of guy Once again. Either that or you better be like a hustler and be able to get clients, and it's hard. You've got to do something different. So I remember I used to be with I mean, I'd have coworkers and stuff and they'd be like why are you giving out your cell phone number to clients? Are you crazy, dude? They're going to be calling them. I'm like why not? You think they're going to call you or somebody else when they have an accident, right, or uh, another thing dude, why are you doing that traffic ticket for people? Like dude, like that's gonna take so much of your time? Yeah, it is, man, but you know what. That's why you're not getting cases right.

Speaker 1:

You know I'm so happy. You said I don't know if you know colin fukunaka is on spookaburger oh, yeah, yeah oh, colin.

Speaker 2:

Colin said the same thing.

Speaker 1:

Remember he was saying I mean he was like look, I give my phone around to everybody and that's why he's successful. He leads the stadium.

Speaker 2:

Honestly that. Tamago egg is like that's my go-to. I just had it a couple nights ago.

Speaker 1:

But shout out to Colin because he did something similar to yourself. He gives his phone number out because he wants to hear whether it's the reviews or any of his businesses do bad or good, or how he can help or how he can change it.

Speaker 3:

People who do that always have a better relationship with their customer 100%, everybody they see with him and I'm sure you have the same type of dynamic. That just always happens?

Speaker 1:

Yeah for sure. Well, I applaud you, man. That's good stuff, man. So marketing is what I got out of that too, man, which is awesome. You got to market the right way and have some capital to be able to do it the right way. Favorite restaurant we always ask everybody about restaurants in Vegas. Man, I know you eat a lot too, so that's good man Foodie, but what's your favorite restaurant in Vegas?

Speaker 2:

It's hard to narrow it down to one. I would probably say so.

Speaker 1:

I live in Summerlin, okay you knew me, so Harlow, I love Harlow. Yeah, shout out to Harlow. I stayed there last night Okay. Rib-eye, all of it. To be honest with you, man, I like all of it. I like harlow, to be honest with you, I think. Uh, a last person, I think, said it was nick dosa, I think nick brought up harlow.

Speaker 2:

But I like harlow, it's legit, it's low-key, you know like you get the quality of food you get on the strip, but sure you don't have to drive all the way there. So I say that lpm it's mediterranean and, uh, I think asian and mediterranean?

Speaker 1:

I have not.

Speaker 2:

I don't think I've been there, yet they have them all over. It's a chain, okay, but it's replacing. I can't remember the spot at Cosmo Right next to STK. Okay, what did you call it again? Oh, it used to be Milos. They replaced Milos.

Speaker 1:

What's it called again?

Speaker 2:

LPM, lpm.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I highly recommend that.

Speaker 2:

Okay, that's awesome man, but Carbone. Shout out to Carbone. Yeah, carbone was good. Spicy vodka, rigatoni yeah.

Speaker 1:

Shout out to Carbone. I've heard I think it was New York City the hardest reservation to get Period In the United States.

Speaker 3:

They tracked it.

Speaker 2:

We got an N. Yeah, and Ace too. Ace said he got the connection because he worked at Carbone. Yeah, I've been to Carbone before and I actually really like it.

Speaker 1:

Where's that? I said I've been to Carbone before and I really like it.

Speaker 2:

You feel like you're in Goodfellas or something. Yeah, it's good stuff, very good service.

Speaker 3:

Sign in. I've never been Check that out. Check that out for sure, man. I've been a couple times.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, it's awesome. What else that you want to leave us out on?

Speaker 2:

I would probably, I'd like to touch maybe on like family life too, sure, you know, like balancing that with work Because you know. I can be very obsessive with work and it's good to have my wife check me and it's like my son. I mean we have one kid, you know, and it was nice to have a boy on the first one and he's my world, like I wasn't sure if I was ever going to have kids or anything, but he's like a little mini me you know, and they're in.

Speaker 2:

Columbia right now, and Veronica was. Like Vicente knew it was the weekend he was like he was just. He knows it's y'all's time. He's like he knows during the week it's harder, but it was the weekend, he knows it's y'all's time. So I mean all these personal you know and professional successes and everything you know, the big settlements and all that. They would mean nothing if I didn't have my family.

Speaker 2:

If I didn't have them to share it with, because then I'd be sharing it with people maybe that don't care that much about me, right, and it's like not that genuine, authentic realness that you'll have with your family. So you know, shout out to my wife and Vicente in Columbia and Veronica, to my wife and Vicente and Columbia, and, um, not Veronica, I mean she's uh, I mean once again, our firm I always tell people would not be half of what it is without her, you know, because she just handles so much and not, I mean she, she's old Colombian, so like, come in. Women are known to take care of their men and everything.

Speaker 2:

So I mean it's whether it's cooking for us. She cooks, you know, for my son everything from scratch, his kids having grass-fed lamb chops yeah, so she's like don't worry, I'm gonna make some for you too, but uh, I mean, she handles she handles everything from a to z, so she's got that traditional colombian, you know culture. But then, um, you know she's helping out so much of the firm.

Speaker 3:

I mean originally when we started it was looking like it was gonna be like a part-time thing yeah because we didn't think we're gonna be so busy, but it's like full-time, that's beautiful right now, right so, um, because you have, you know, your wife, it works with you yeah, that's what I tell her all the time.

Speaker 2:

I'm like look we're around each other 24 7 and we're still married, you know. So that's uh, that's a success in and of itself best friend yeah, but she was smart, like with her money, like because she was in queens 10 years and she was there like when, uh, like clubs like uptown and stuff like that in the latin scene really good, like fat joe, all these guys you know going and she worked at tau okay, in new york yeah, okay, yeah, in new york.

Speaker 2:

So she lived in queenstown years. Then she moved out here in 2016. But she was smart, like I was saying when we met, like she stacked up, that's awesome. And she was like smart. She had like four or five rental properties here.

Speaker 3:

No, they do.

Speaker 2:

It's just like you, save it right and she, she saved her money and like I mean she legit, I mean I'll go to her for advice all the time on stuff like when it comes to like economics. Like she studied that in school in columbia, like she's she's super sharp. Like you're not going to get much past her, you know yeah, it's funny.

Speaker 1:

Your wife definitely needs to be more.

Speaker 2:

That's why she was smiling earlier because your situation is very similar.

Speaker 1:

As you know, my wife had same thing house the whole nine when I first met her background uh, philippines, oh yeah, philippines.

Speaker 2:

So there's a lot of spanish. Yeah, spain, yeah, for sure so what's your social handles? People who can reach out to you on so it's uh at david menichel, okay, and then uh, menichel logger okay, yeah, well, check this man out, man.

Speaker 1:

Follow what he's doing. You gave some great tips that I wasn't aware of at all, man, so we appreciate, uh, learning from you and being able to pick your brain a little bit, but check them out. Check us out at thevegasurgecom and subscribe with us, man. We appreciate your time, man.

Speaker 2:

Thank you very much. Thanks guys.