Law Have Mercy!

Stairs Versus Elevator: What Chaz Learned About Grit, and Entrepreneurship. And Better Call Saul Q&A

• Chaz Roberts • Season 4 • Episode 76

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What does it really take to build a personal injury practice that lasts—without selling your soul to billboards and hype? We unpack the hard, unglamorous truth: show up where people live, serve before you sell, and grow at a pace your systems and team can actually support. Inspired by a Better Call Saul rewatch, we go past TV drama into the realities of community-based marketing, case selection, and client communication that sets a high bar and keeps clients for life.

We talk about the power of grassroots outreach—talking to seniors about wills at church, sharing practical insurance advice, handing out magnets as a reminder instead of shouting hire me on a highway. That service-first approach trades quick wins for durable trust. We contrast it with heavy advertising strategies that do work, but often force firms to “feed the beast,” taking marginal cases to cover spend and risking burnout or client neglect. The alternative is deliberate: fewer, better cases; ruthless honesty when a matter isn’t viable; and a relentless commitment to process excellence, down to when and how medical records get pulled.

Style and identity matter here, but not in the old way. Suits aren’t the only signal of seriousness; smart casual and authenticity are. What counts is respect for the role and results that match the promise. We share the hardest leadership lesson—letting go of perfectionism and adopting a 10-80-10 approach to delegation—so a founder can be both trial lawyer and CEO without drowning. And we lay out red flags clients should watch for: never meeting their attorney, long gaps in communication, and case manager-only access. Our antidote is simple and rare: lawyer-initiated monthly check-ins plus a culture of grace; people have lives, and so do we, but accountability still wins.

If you care about legal outcomes and how they’re earned—through systems, service, and steady hands—you’ll find a playbook here. Subscribe, share with a friend who’s lawyer-shopping, and leave a review with your biggest takeaway or question so we can tackle it next time.

You can watch most full episodes of Law Have Mercy on YouTube!

For more FREE legal tips, check out our social channels:
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If you are in need of legal guidance, visit our website: https://www.chazrobertslaw.com/

This show is co-produced by Carter Simoneaux of AcadianaCasts Network, Chaz H. Roberts of Chaz Roberts Law and Kayli Guidry Bonin of Beau The Agency, and Laith Alferahin.

SPEAKER_02:

Welcome back to another episode of Law Have Mercy. On today's episode, I bring back Lathe, my former assistant who left me high and dry, and he's pursuing his real estate dreams. What's up, Lathe? What's up? How are you doing? Oh man, I miss you so much, bro. I miss you as well. I miss the whole team. You just got back from a big trip? Yes. Couple big trips, right? Couple big trips.

SPEAKER_01:

That's why you left, just to travel. And I'm coming right back afterwards. All right, good. And you went to Europe, Fuket? Yes, I went to Paris and then I went to Thailand with my father and my brother. Yeah, how was that? It was wonderful. It was great. We had a stopover in Saudi Arabia, which was quite interesting. Um, speaking to the people there, they're uh they're different. They're different. Good trip. Very great, very great. Uh ups and downs. It's quite a lot of travel. So uh I was very tired uh sleeping and getting sick in between, but everything went well. How's Paris nowadays? Oh um clean, dirty. It was okay. Violent. Okay. It was okay. I only saw one protest this time uh compared to like last time I went. There was protests every block that I went to. Um so it was it was not bad. It was it was quite cool. It wasn't freezing, um, but it was chilly. It was great. Awesome.

SPEAKER_02:

Well, we're gonna um do some QA. So Lathe is gonna have some questions. I think I know about one or two questions that he may ask. He he's he was bringing in right like a couple minutes before we started filming. He's like, hey, what about this? Something about Better Call Saul. I don't know if you're gonna ask me anything about Better Call Saul. Yes. I just started saying, Hey, I don't want to know. I want it to be spontaneous on the podcast. So uh without further ado, Lathe, hit me with a question.

SPEAKER_01:

All right. So I've been watching Better Call Saul, re-watching it now, and I'm on the second season almost finishing it up. And as I was watching it, I thought about some things that I felt like you could answer and uh tell us the truth about. Uh, so I'll get right into it now. One of the first things you end up seeing is on the show, Jimmy goes to the nursing home and connects with people directly. In real life personal injury work, is this considered sleazy? Is this real grassroots groundwork that big firms don't want to do or don't want people to know about? What is the modern version of these kinds of grassroots hustles?

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, is Jimmy um trying to sign people up for like a class action?

SPEAKER_01:

Yes. He well, he was doing bingo, I think trying to get some estate work going with his elder law, but it ended up covering a massive class action where people were uh these these sandpiper crossings community homes were uh overcharging for toiletries and et cetera. So he ended up cap capturing that case.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, I can't knock Jimmy's hustle, man. He was um he was a solo practitioner, and then he had a trouble getting his license, and he was an older lawyer, and yeah, he just had a rough patch.

SPEAKER_01:

He started late, went, took the bar three times, finally passed. And uh hearing about the bar exam from you and Kevin, I know that it's not easy. It's not easy.

SPEAKER_02:

So look, I think that as a lawyer, you should be with the people. You need to be with potential clients. Um, I remember getting a phone call, and and I was asked to actually give a presentation at our church out in Sicilia where I was gonna be speaking to a bunch of seniors, even though I don't do senior work, right? I didn't do wills and stuff like that. I I made it, I didn't want to talk about just car wrecks and car accidents. I did tell them a little bit about insurance, um, what type of insurance they should have, and that was informational for them. But I spent time talking about how to do an holographic will where they don't have to hire a lawyer. Uh, what should they look for in wills? If you actually need a will, what happens in the absence of a will, stuff like that. And that added a lot of value to them. Um, I did it out of the kindness of my heart. From a, this is a way I can give my legal knowledge to my community. But by the way, here is some magnets to put on your fridge. And if somebody gets in a car wreck, send them my way. I don't think it's a bad thing, man, getting out in the community. What would you rather? Um, just mail it in and get a billboard for$1,500 a month and and plaster the highways and the interstates and the commercial airwaves, or actually going out in the community, meeting people, meeting them where they are, and giving some time to get to know them, they get to know you, and actually giving some legal information and help. Wow. So um, I respect Jimmy's hustle on that case because I could relate. I do it. Yes. I'm always I uh I just did sprouted episode on the CLE about grassroots marketing. You were here. Absolutely, and I said so many lawyers want to spend time at cocktail parties wearing a suit feeling important with other lawyers with with other lawyers. And look, there's definitely something to collaborating with other lawyers and meeting your defense lawyers and judges and that kind of thing, and that's important, but uh, my strategy uh or philosophy, I should say, has always been be where the people are. I'd much rather put some blue jeans on, a t-shirt on, and be with the people. I'm more comfortable there, that's who I am, and in my heart and my soul, and those are my potential clients who could actually hire me. Yes, right. And then once if my clients can't hire me, I don't need to know the judge. I don't need to know the defense lawyers because I ain't got no business. Right. Right? Yes. So I always wanted to spend the majority of my time with normal people, civilians in their element, whether that's a high school football game, whether that's uh the bingo hall, yes, or whether that's at a coffee shop or wherever.

SPEAKER_01:

Absolutely. I see. So so you would say that billboards do not serve people directly. Um, it's almost just like another business card on the road. Um it's a business card. It's a hey, hire me.

SPEAKER_02:

It's it's a it's an ask. What value do they receive? They don't they don't receive any value. Remember Gary V always says jab jab right hook, right? He was always like give, give, give, give, give, give, then ask. A billboard is just an ask. That's it. Come on, hire me. Hire me. 337, you've been hurt, hire me. And I don't do that. I have a hard time doing it. I'd be a lot more successful if I knew how to ask people to hire me. Wow. And I've heard those stories before. I I I never asked people to hire me.

SPEAKER_01:

Where did you gain this philosophy? Like, did was there something specific that made you learn that you shouldn't go that route?

SPEAKER_02:

I think I am I think I have a lot of humility. They say that it you you cannot say, you can't be humble and say you have humility, but I'm just saying, like being from Sicilia, coming from where I do, my background, my family, the way my family firmly keeps me planted in the dirt. In the mud. Hey, you've hung around them, right? Trust me, I'm not Mr. Chaz, Mr. Fancy Lawyer. I'm just Chaz. Oh, yeah, the son Chaz.

SPEAKER_01:

Kinley, yeah, right? Yeah, Bubba. And you just got that new uh recap uh during Thanksgiving. So I'm sure back to the ground.

SPEAKER_02:

Pink, pink, pink, pink, like knocking me back in. Um, don't be one of those people. Don't be one of those guys. Don't be one of those cheesy guys. Don't be one of those cheesy lawyers who got your plat name plastered all over. And the P that's a turn off for people. That's a turn off to go that far. Now, look, there's a lot of people that have that opposite mindset and say, hey, baby, that's what makes us money. I don't care about what people's opinions are of me. They don't pay my bills. I'm gonna do what what I do, and you're just gonna have to live with it. And in a way, I respect that. Absolutely, right? Don't worry about people. I wish I didn't care about people's opinions, right? They're doing what they're doing to make money, and they're making a shit ton of money. If we're honest, like you think Gordon McKernan's not making money? Yeah, of course he is. You don't think Morris Barr's making money? Yeah, of course he is. Mike, uh um Morgan and Morgan, John Morgan, he's a billionaire. He's a literal billionaire, so it works. And he would say, Chaz, you hey man, just buy a ticket to my conference and just shut up, right? So it is what it is, it works. There's just something in me that doesn't want to go full send. Yes. When it comes to that. It's just something in me that doesn't want to go full send. I mean, this thing, this podcast thing and the social media and all that, that's hard enough. That's full sin in my thing. It is full sin in a way, but I'm but I'm but I'm being very sincere and authentic from my heart because I know I'm educating people and helping people in some way.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, you're not watering yourself down, duplicating yourself across town. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

I'm not asking, hey, hire me, hire me, hire me. That's all I'm interested in. Hire me, hire, and then I'm on to the next guy and the next guy and the next guy. That's not what I'm trying to do. And I'm trying to say this is the stuff that I'm seeing, and y'all need to be prepared. And if it does happen to you, I'd love to take the case, but hopefully it never happens to you.

SPEAKER_01:

And being as authentic as you are, I think you've seen over the last 15 years your business compound and grow and grow. And and maybe it really started growing maybe year seven, year 10, you started to see things really start to compound. And um, does that like keep you continuously motivated to keep doing the same thing? Do you ever feel like you need to reenvision anything, reinvent the wheel?

SPEAKER_02:

Uh constantly. I feel I constantly need feel the need to tweak and and make better. Um, I'm never satisfied. I always want to be better. I mean, if I told you the 45-minute conversation I had on the phone yesterday about the most minute detail of gathering medical records after a 60-day mark to check on it to where it pinged us so we didn't have to remember to pull it. Like, it's that in depth of how I am trying to perfect what we do. Wow. And so, and I'm very passionate about it, like always constant improvement. But I am not looking for a full-scale reinvention, you know. Uh I do I want to change the name of the firm from Chaz Roberts Law. No, yeah, well, do I uh if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Like it's working, and I've grown organically, and so as I've grown, I've always been able to um take care of the growth. It hasn't been overwhelming, it's never been overwhelming.

SPEAKER_01:

If you put a hundred billboards out there today, the the support there would be so difficult to uh it happens all the time.

SPEAKER_02:

It happens all the time. A law firm hits a big lick, million dollar case, two million or three million dollars, gets a lot of money. They go full sin and spend it into marketing, commercials and billboards. Well, guess what? They work. The phone calls start. You have to have people that can service those phone calls, and you have to have lawyers and staff that can service those cases. Well, rarely can you get it all perfect. Rarely. Yeah, right? You gotta have the people who can manage it and service it. And so something's gonna give. And I've seen in 15, 16 years, I'm I don't want to name names, but I've seen lawyers come from nowhere, jump high, start marketing, push, push, push, and then you're like, whoa, they're killing it, and then just disappear.

SPEAKER_01:

Disappear right after. Disappear.

SPEAKER_02:

Burnout, alcohol, drugs, uh, bankruptcy, something. Yeah, debt. Just something debt, something. Lawyers start leaving, they can't keep lawyers in their office, they can't keep staff in their office, because they don't know what they're doing. Is I I've seen that. I'm not interested in that. I'm a I am I'm like the dude on the prices ride. Oly only, like climbing the mountain, right? That's it. Just keep going. But not not an elevator straight to the top. Uh-huh. Because you don't know how you got there. Not interested in that. Yes. I've seen other lawyers ascend that quickly. And you and I have talked about some that I've seen on social media, which we we don't know if we can always believe social media, but I am concerned with that type of immediate growth.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. And and as a client, I think I would be as well. Uh, if I was just trying to hype uh hop on the hype train, um, I don't think I would really get any benefit out of that other than the clout that someone might think they have. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

Um well you wouldn't know as a client, you just clicked on a Google ad or a commercial. Would have never known any.

SPEAKER_01:

Right. Even if the Google reviews look great, uh, who knows how they acquired all of them.

SPEAKER_02:

Um, Mike, uh Michael Mogul from Crisp says it best. He says the the best cases don't go to the best lawyers, the best cases go to the best advertisers or the best marketers. That is very true. And so um you gotta watch out for that. I understand. You gotta watch out for that.

SPEAKER_01:

Uh going back to Better Call Saul, one thing he struggled with was identity. Does a lawyer have to look a certain way to win? Does image really matter today?

SPEAKER_02:

Um, it's becoming less and less um important. I'm wearing a nice sweater and nice um corduroy pants right now and moccasins.

SPEAKER_01:

I think you're the best person to ask because you come in with uh, you know, gym shorts and some slides.

SPEAKER_02:

I try not to do the gym shorts and slides anymore. I had a few clients that have said, you know, I've had clients that told me they love my casual style, and I had a few clients that didn't like it. And so now I try to dress like smart casual. I like it instead of gym shorts because they want to ride the ride. They want they want the Disney effect, they want to get the smells and the popcorn and everything else. And and I think if you go full gym, gym full gym shorts, it's like um they're not getting they know you're smart and great and fantastic and casual and and comfortable and you're gonna knock it out of the park and they know you're gonna look like a million bucks in court, but they kind of want to see that when they come see you. Yeah. I I rarely met new clients in gym shorts. I rarely met any clients in gym shorts, but sometimes if people pop in and I wasn't expecting anyone, I'd have some gym shorts on. Right. But to to answer your question is becoming less and less um, I've seen through the social media age, lawyers are becoming less and less formal. Uh some of the things we say, some of the things we do, but I do have a super high respect and regard for the position and the profession as a whole. That's why I've always tried to make the profession look good in my social media stuff. Yes. Giving back to the profession has been so good to me of how we are as lawyers, actually amazing people that help people. Yeah. You don't want to diminish that. Not just we want to make money or whatever. Um, we're not just a billboard commercial lawyer, commercial lawyer. But um I think to give proper homage to the profession, the seriousness of the profession, I think is good to look. I think it's it's it's good to look good. Good to look the part. It's good to look the part. Sorry. Thank you. Thank you for finding the words. It's good to look the part, but the part might just look a little different than it did. We don't always wear suits. We don't always have to wear suits. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

But maybe 20 years ago it was almost frowned upon to ever catch another attorney, even at the restaurant, looking uh, you know, even with just a polo shirt. Maybe they had to be with a suit and tie.

SPEAKER_02:

Yep. When what I what I have done is I realized that I couldn't play the same game as the old suits. Because the old suits, by the way, lawyers never retire. Never retire. There's I can tell you like five lawyers right now. I can name five lawyers in Lafayette that when I saw them 15 years ago, I said one or two years max. They're still riding around. Oh my god. They're still riding around, still in court.

SPEAKER_01:

How?

SPEAKER_02:

Lawyers don't retire. They just keep working. They just keep working, bro. Wow. Why? Because well, we can we can debate on that. The money is good, it's easy. Uh when you have a good staff and got other lawyers working for you, it's it's it's the easiest it's ever gonna be in your in your career. It's gotten as easy as easy. Yeah. I didn't mean it's easy. I mean it's the easiest it's ever been in your career because you have other people working for you. Right. They figured out all the gears. It's not a physical job. Yeah. Um you've seen all the fact patterns, you've seen all the pat you know.

SPEAKER_01:

Do you think that maybe this is just uh certain attorneys, but um the larger majority, would you think that they they stick with the law and until they maybe pass away because they don't know anything else? Like they don't even know how to live their life. It's not a good thing. They've never had the balance.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, it it all those things. All those things. A variation of all those things. Wow. It could be it could be they're they're an empty nester, their kids are out of the house. It could be they didn't have a good relationship with their wife because they were workaholics, could be they were workaholics, and so that's all they know. It could be they have a healthy balance. Like I'm trying to strike, and and and I'm trying to build something to where I could do for the rest of my life. Correct. And and and that's why I'm trying to run the marathon of this and not the sprint. And so they could actually be, it's not a it's not a sprint, it's a marathon, and you want to do and build it to where you could do it for the rest of your life. It's not a it's not as so arduous that you dread and come into the office. So they could actually it could actually be a sign of like ultimate health and uh beauty, yeah, not not service and drudgery and desperation. I see. But my but the original point they were making is I saw all these lawyers stay in the business, and I was like, man, if I'm gonna I'm at the bottom of the totem pole. And so if I'm dressing like them, if I'm looking like them, if I'm talking like them, if I'm walking like them, why would you hire me?

SPEAKER_01:

You're at the lowest percentage.

SPEAKER_02:

I'm at the lowest, I'm at the lowest, I'm you know, all those nuts have to fall down to the bottom for me to get a scrap. And so I gotta start doing something different. Yes. And that's when social media came around, that's when I started looking different, so I started dressing different, being myself instead of trying to be something someone It's almost like you're at the grocery store and you see all these items on the shelf, and they all look the same.

SPEAKER_01:

Some of them have maybe different ingredients, some of them are organic, some of them are not. But what really separated you was, you know, I'm not even on this shelf, I'm on the other aisle. Yeah. I I don't even need to be.

SPEAKER_02:

I'm the bag of kale uh that you know some local person put in the bag, you know. That's right. That I'm I'm not this conglomerate corporation. I'm not the conglomerate corporation. I'm the bag of kale in the see-through bag that somebody lovingly put a sticker on the front and and hand wrote uh a thank you. Right. You separated yourself. That's what I am, and it's worked. It's worked, it's worked. Um, I've been able to hire a lot of people, I've been able to make a tremendous difference in a lot of people's lives, thousands of people's lives. Uh, I've been able to set up a good life for my family. Um, I've been able to hire my family.

SPEAKER_00:

Yes.

SPEAKER_02:

Um, no regrets, bro. That's amazing. No regrets. And and look, in many ways, I feel like we're just getting started.

unknown:

Wow.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. That's great. That's great. Yeah. One of Better Call Saul's biggest themes is taking shortcuts, filing sloppy paperwork, uh, taking so many low value cases. is to just churn and burn, take those quick fees and get out. What do you see shortcuts in in in the PI world? Do you see other lawyers taking?

SPEAKER_02:

Man, um they have pressure that I don't have. A lot of firms have pressure to pay the bills to feed the beast because they're putting in thousands and thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars of marketing. And so they have that's that that's kind of the thing that I was talking about earlier is that they got to feed the beast. They got to pay for the marketing which then goes into the staff to to feed the market. So man, there's a firm in town that I know of that I heard from random people calling me for advice like five terrible cases that they took that I would never touch with a 10 foot pole.

SPEAKER_01:

But they're pressure to take.

SPEAKER_02:

I think they and I asked Kevin and Kevin worked for a for a big firm he's like man is the pressure to take those cases. And if you can make a couple grand off of it as a nuisance uh case or something like that, it it helps pay the bills and feed the beasts.

SPEAKER_01:

Uh and and normally in these larger firms it's an associate that may have to take on the case and he's not a partner where he actually has uh leverage or authority lawyers are not required to be paid hourly and so if a lawyer makes something out of it they can make something out of it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

And everybody wins. If not you didn't even pay them. You didn't even pay them. So um yeah there are shortcuts that that people take. I I don't know if it's shortcuts but it's it's some things that I don't do. Yeah I would say they almost are and and then they're very selective on my cases because we have a small staff still to this day we have a small staff only three lawyers and we work the heck out of every single case. Yeah. And so if we can't I mean we treat every single case the same whether it's a$30,000 case or a three million dollar case we are all working on it. We got to set up the file the same way. And so when we sit at the conference room table when you call us like if that's not a case that that we want we're not gonna take it.

SPEAKER_01:

And one thing I you had mentioned was like you guys put in just as much work on one case as the other and I have seen that um I've seen you guys put in way more time on a$15,000 case.

SPEAKER_02:

I got one that's$7,000 right now. I guarantee I worked more on that case than a$100,000 case. One question talking about your growth over the last 15 years 16 years now what is the hardest lesson you've learned about entrepreneurship and growth the hardest lesson um I could probably write a book on this but I would say learning to let go learning to let go of perfectionism learning to let go of I gotta be the guy that does everything learning to let go of I can't delegate learning to let go of I can't call that client immediately at 10 p.m because they had something that struck their mind and they're gonna hate me if I don't call them immediately at 10 p.m on a Saturday when when I'm when I'm with my family. I mean that's the that's the life that's the life I lived you got to understand for probably 12, 13 14 years whenever I was on vacation in Destin or Orange Beach or whatever, I might have had my toes in the sand but my brain was on the business. Your brain's in the my heart was on the business my wife was delivering our children and now labor is longer than you think right labor is not a 10 minute deal labor labor's like an all day situation. But my wife was technically in labor and I was checking my phone and might have even stepped out and made client calls.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah because that's what it took that's what it took in my mind at least someone reached out to you you had an obligation a duty to respond I had to to close the circle I had to and that's what led me to where I am today nobody wants to talk about that.

SPEAKER_02:

That's what led me to where I am today and now I had a friend that came see me yesterday at the coffee shop he said man you look so content you look so uh peaceful I said it takes a lot of work to be peaceful takes a lot of work no he said relaxed I said it takes a lot of work to look relaxed. That's internal work mindset knowing that it's gonna be okay knowing that the sun's gonna rise tomorrow knowing that you're not a piece of crap if you don't call this client back within 10 minutes of them calling etc etc and external work hiring and hiring unbelievable people teaching people training setting up systems setting up software that puts the chain together building a uh a dial pad database deal things that you've helped me with absolutely redundancies yes a system a business not a chaz it took all those things to where I can be oh chaz you look relaxed uh so it wasn't relaxation the whole way it took way it takes a lot of work to be relaxed uh huh right and I still have my crazy moments on a Saturday where I still get on my computer and start looking up oh do we do this this and I try to keep that internal and not bug anyone else the people that you've trained and ended up the people that I've trained yes I do I mean I I do sometimes I spin I call it spin zone the spin zone spin zone yeah yeah but that's it's it's good but you know I tell Kevin I said you know we can feel sorry for ourselves that we work all the time and we we put a lot of love into this and thought and when you know when we're preparing for a trial you stop everything and and come in the cave and all this stuff but I was like hey man a lot of people work hard a lot of people go go offshore for two weeks during Christmas a lot of people work in chemical plants and have to leave at three o'clock in the morning and don't get off till 10 p.m right a lot of people my buddy Angel who I I I love dearly he's gone for two weeks to handle some business out of town. Wow run a crew because that's what it takes. That's what it takes.

SPEAKER_01:

That's what it takes and so um this is just part of the deal. So initially in your business you hadn't let go you were a perfectionist and you wanted to make sure everything was taken care of everything. And now it's you trying to let off and let go and give that give chaz to your employees your attorneys to where they can then well I realize now that I don't have to do everything.

SPEAKER_02:

So Bradley and Kevin the the two main attorneys they know how I think because Bradley has been with me for 15 years. Kevin has been a friend of mine for 10 years. He's been with me we spent I don't know how many thousand hours together in the last year and a half they know how I think and I'm supervising them. So it's actually scaling right and so I'm jumping in to help where I need to and I'm supervising and we're going over these cases once a week but I don't have to be the everything in every case.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah right I think I've heard you say you put one hour of work with another team member and you get four hours of productivity out of it.

SPEAKER_02:

It's like an investment so I'm shaking hands with a client I'm I'm devising the the the way the path forward and then um I'm stepping in in the negotiation it goes to trial I'm trying the case I'm I'm I'm I'm very much part of it but I don't have to do everything along the way.

SPEAKER_01:

Yes so letting go Dan Martell calls it a 1080 10 10 up front 80 and then the last 10 that's I love it. I love it. So so letting go doesn't just mean putting your putting your feet up on a table and kicking it at the beach. I work harder now than I ever have.

unknown:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

You're paving a path you're you're you're hedging the trail for everyone to follow.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah I mean what's what's easier handling you know 20 cases by yourself or handling 150 cases in their firm right and where you're you're managing. Right. Right. And so um and then I have things like this to work on when I have a minute right is getting the word out getting being with people.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah it's not just about a working on the cases as well it's uh procuring more having more people know about you or developing systems.

SPEAKER_02:

Developing system Hey I'd much rather just get on the phone and start yelling at adjusters to send me money than figuring out a better way of obtaining emergency room medical records. Yeah trigger point SOP trigger points SOP I would much rather just get on the phone and do what I do and yell at adjusters to pay me. Okay? I'm much better at that but or you prefer it more I prefer because you're you're great at both I don't know about it but but I would prefer that because that's easy that's being a lawyer that's what I'm accustomed to yeah not being uh the CEO and the the visionary and and that kind of thing.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah yeah and and was there any specific moment that made you kind of kick you into the realization that you had to become the CEO of your own firm was it a certain amount of employees that you got where you're like okay I need to step into a different role or have my feet in both roles still as an attorney still as a manager CEO Wow what a great question.

SPEAKER_02:

Okay so the external force is what pulled me to this first we there's a lot of bad lawyers and there's a lot of needy people that need what I offer okay that was the first that's the first indication there's a lot more people that need me right yes and then and then I said okay well I can't do it myself so I need to develop some talent and some help to service that and then I started going to conferences and I hired a consultant like Kelly and and and talked to some other people and they're like hey man you're gonna have to kill the lawyer you got to kill the lawyer to be the businessman and I was like well I don't want to kill all the law I don't want to kill the whole lawyer. Not all of me not all of me and I look my friend Mike Alder he's he's the freaking trial lawyer and runs the firm so you have people who are the the trial lawyers the actual practicing lawyers that can still run the firm and you got some guys like Gordon McKern who are like more of a marketing lawyer and runs the firm. So you you can really you can go either path.

SPEAKER_01:

It almost seems like you're all three the marketing the trial and the CEO yeah but you're doing it in a and dad and coach and and husband oh my God we didn't even talk about the second business and marathon running and you know yeah we used to joke when you booked the trip to St.

SPEAKER_02:

Lucia for us and you came and you you you had the the epiphany when you came stay with the boys that oh Chaz is running a second business at home.

SPEAKER_01:

It's an entirely different business you get home at four o'clock 3 30 four o'clock five o'clock is game on bro you better say a prayer to yourself and the and the Bronco before you get out before you get out of the hat Kali Saloon is your break that's it that's it oh and what a break that is a wide knuckle break yeah wow wow I've got one more question for you um I think this one should maybe help give some of these potential clients a North Star to know what are some red flags that clients should be aware of when having an attorney when hiring an attorney what red flags should they be looking for?

SPEAKER_02:

If you've never met your attorney that's a red flag. Now we handle some cases where we sign up digitally they can't come in right and so we sign up digitally so we can get started on the case but make no mistake we're doing that as a convenience for you if you call the next day and say I want hey I'm coming to Lafayette I want to meet my attorney we're gonna open the open the doors for you all at the red carpet. So some people have gone months and months and months without meeting their attorney when they actually wanted to meet them. Sometimes our business we don't meet the client till the end but because everything's running so damn smooth and good they don't need to meet us. They don't want to meet us uh but they're talking to us it's almost upon their preference if you don't meet an attorney but if you don't talk to your attorney I hear horror stories from people that reach out to me they call they call they call they don't get their lawyer within a reasonable time right and what's a reasonable time 24 48 hours if you call in on a Friday at 4 p.m you're being an asshole right you're just expecting a and don't cut don't count the weekend as the 48 hours right because some people like to test you like that right they call you at three four o'clock on a Friday it's like bro we we work 40 hours why you call we're right we're wrapping up the extension cord what are you doing um but if you don't if your lawyer doesn't call you back with a reasonable time and some some people they only talk to paralegals or case managers that's not a lawyer you need to talk to your lawyer.

SPEAKER_01:

How often we always make ourselves available I was going to say I think you had incorporated something early on whenever I had joined uh where you made sure that everyone was contacting their clients I make sure that no matter what happens our lawyers reach out to the client once a month.

SPEAKER_02:

That's great. And that's coming from their end. So this is aside from any communication it's aside from from our staff. Yeah and Sasha Chloe and you sound once a month that doesn't sound like a lot well yeah you talk to us you don't talk to your doctor once a month yeah I'm saying like in a normal setting correct you don't talk to your accountant once a month like no your lawyer is caught calling you once a month on our own yeah not not you don't call up we are initiating a call once a month we have to show each other grace okay we are really good at what we do but we understand that clients are normal people they have jobs they have likes and hopes and dreams and kids and financial insecurity and uh a hole in the roof and AC goes out like we are dealing with people and we have to show each other grace. And so just like when you can't send us the document that we asked you for if Chaz and Kevin are in trial and can't get back to you till tomorrow then you gotta understand you know we're busy we're busy guys we don't stop and so we we have to show each other grace. Now I have the the the bar has been set so high in our organization when it comes to communication and meeting and accessibility when people call me and tell me I haven't talked to my lawyer in three months or six months or never I'm like what the hell is going on? What the hell is going on?

SPEAKER_01:

I'm not looking for any excuses but what do you think is is happening on the other side with these attorneys I think lawyers are human beings and some of them are good.

SPEAKER_02:

They got good football players bad football players they got good priests bad priests good teachers bad teachers good lawyers bad lawyers you know and things could have come up they could have been on vacation they could have been in trial they could there there are good reasons for them not calling back there are bad reasons for not calling back but I know that when it comes to like six months it's it's a problem somebody's on a long three right it was three months somebody's on a problem and sometimes clients lie like I've had clients that call me oh my lawyer's not worth the they don't call me back they don't do anything and I call and I call the lawyer give them a heads up because that's the right thing to do you call the lawyer I'll call the lawyer and reach out and it says I have no idea what they're talking about. I talked to them yesterday and the day before and three days before that what are they talking about?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah because it's just people I mean people so we this is where we actually have to have grace again and they're just people you know people are people they lie wow people lie and it's all for the greater good when they walk through those doors we're here to help them and fight against a billion dollar insurance company and that's amazing.

SPEAKER_02:

And it's and it is the ultimate thrill and rush and not only the journey of fighting against them but winning and then giving that check to the client is the ultimate rush. And it's short lived because I got 26 others on my desk that I got to tend to but I try to take the moment and experience it with the client sit down give them some information give them some advice of what they should maybe do for the money make myself available for any questions. You're still there for though I I believe that every client is a friend for life. Wow I believe that every client and then look you wouldn't believe how many people stop me on the streets at a football game whatever hug it out and I usually remember their names.

SPEAKER_01:

I usually remember their names that's amazing I'm sure you close your eyes sometimes and you relive the moment of handing someone a check maybe in that dire need it's probably lathe I don't know man it's probably what is that omen pro nine figures pushing nine figures by now man my goodness of a of an impact that is unreal unspeechless right yeah Chaz Roberts is boosting the economy in Lafayette Louisiana thank him for it all this has been a lot of fun man absolutely I hope we can do it again very soon I enjoy it.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah brother thank you man

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Chaz Roberts

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