September 19, 2024 • 17 mins
Michael S. Lamonsoff, Founder & CEO of The Law Offices of Michael S. Lamonsoff | CEOs You Should Know
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi everyone, This is Steve Dallas and thank you guys
for tuning into this week's edition of CEOs. You should
know I'm thrilled and excited to be joined by Michael Lamonsof,
the CEO and founder of the Offices of Michael s.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Lamonsof. Michael, thanks for coming.
Speaker 3 (00:12):
In, well, thanks for having me Steve.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
We're excited to have you here today.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
I think one of the questions I get asked most
about you, what is Michael the bull?
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Right? Where did the where did you get known? Asked
the bull?
Speaker 3 (00:24):
Well, I have a tail horns. When I was a kid,
you know, I would protect other kids that were being
bullied by other kids, and they started calling me the bull.
Be say anytime there was a problem, I would step
in and I would help them, you know, in my
own Yeah. As time passed and I became a lawyer,
(00:45):
my clients would also say, hey, you're like a bull
in the courtroom, and so I started getting all these
wooden bulls. I have bulls from every part of the
world in my office.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
Yep, when you walk in your office, you see the
giant balls. Right, that's right, that's right, that's awesome. Yeah,
So tell us a little bit about how are you
born and raised?
Speaker 3 (01:03):
So I was born in East Flatbush and I was
raised there till early teens, maybe or before that. My father,
who was in the army, he was an officer, didn't
really have much money, but made enough money finally to
move us out to Long Island, into a small town where,
you know, into a small house where you could reach
(01:25):
out a window and touch the house next next to us.
So it wasn't a palace, but for us it was.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
Yeah, that's awesome, Michael, tell us about what you were
like growing up.
Speaker 3 (01:36):
I was a badass.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
I don't doubt that.
Speaker 3 (01:38):
Yes, I was. I was always in trouble. My father
taught me two things. If you told me anything, you
taught me one loyalty is the most important thing to
people and you're in your relationships with people. And the
other thing what he taught me was how to try
to stay out of jail as I got into a
lot of trouble. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
I mean, those are two great qualities for your death teacher,
especially the loyalty factor.
Speaker 3 (02:01):
Right.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
I think in today's world, self made CEOs are rare. Michael,
I know you're self made. How did you support yourself
all those years.
Speaker 3 (02:08):
Oh boy, it was. It was difficult. You know. There
was no job that was too dirty, there was no
job that was too hard. I started out at thirteen
years old working in a factory. You know. I was
a garbage man. I was a bouncer. I was a bartender.
I was a farm hand. You name the work, you know,
and I did it. But what was interesting was also
(02:30):
a porter. I just realized I got about that. I
think I actually poorted in this building. Wow, a long
time ago. So, you know, there was nothing that I
wouldn't do to make money, including boxing. I was a
boxer and I was I'd fight professionals, and they would
give me one hundred dollars to fight a professional. You
know what professionals do is gonna do to an amateur, right, Yeah,
(02:53):
he wants to beat the head guy to his four
one hundred dollars. I had the crop beaten out of it.
But it got me through, and it also made it
allowed me to pay for my education throughout. You know,
it's a little bit difficult, you know, having full time
jobs and also you know, doing things that that really retiring.
(03:14):
But it got me through and it got me through college.
I paid for college. I paid for law school, I
paid for graduate school. Everything was paid for by me.
So everything was paid for by my hard work. And
I'm proud of that. And also it makes me more
relatable to, you know, people who come in to my
(03:35):
office and have jobs that are difficult, you know, and
that you know, no matter how difficult that job is, is
I say, okay, you were this, but hey, I did this.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
So you know, those are the lessons and hard work
that you can't learn in the classroom.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
So it's definitely inspiring to hear that.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
Correct, Well, what kind of hard work did it take
to get you to where you are today?
Speaker 2 (03:55):
And what kind of sacrifices did you make along the way?
Speaker 3 (03:58):
A lot, I mean a lot. I can from really nothing,
and so you know, the first day I opened up
my office, it was about the size of I don't know,
six by ten with no windows, you know, and I
had not a penny in my pocket. Yet you know,
I had to work really really hard because without money,
(04:18):
you know, coming from mommy and daddy, you know, I
didn't have that. I'd work really really hard. Sometimes as
I was growing, I would work almost through the night,
almost every single night, you know, through the night fall
asleep in my chair and get up again and go
back to work. So it was a very difficult thing.
(04:38):
I don't even know or remember the late nineteen nineties,
in the early two thousands.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
Yeah, I mean, all the hard work thankfully paid off there.
Speaker 3 (04:46):
It took twenty years. It was working my butt off yep, okay,
and obviously it paid off. So it was it was.
It was difficult, but you know, I was very very
single minded. I knew what I wanted. I had this
dream of a law firm that I wanted to build,
and I would let nothing interrupt into fear with that dream.
(05:09):
And so I knew that in order to do that,
I would have to really work my butt off. Yeah
I did, and I ended up browing from one person
be a solo practice to over one hundred people.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
It's awesome.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
Yeah, that's inspiring because you hear about obviously your true
testament to hard work pays off, right, all those years
that you put in. It's amazing to see the law
firm you built today. So that's something definitely gonna be
proud of and very inspiring for everybody that's tuning in.
Speaker 3 (05:35):
I am proud. I'm most proud of my people. I've
got some great, great people.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
That's awesome.
Speaker 1 (05:40):
That's great to have to Speaking of success, Michael, I
know you've won some of the highest multi million awards
for your clients. You have a whole section on your
website called the Bulls Millionaire's Club. What drives you to
get results like that?
Speaker 3 (05:52):
The same thing that drove me to beat up to
bullies when I was a kid. A lot of these
people who are really badly injured, they're getting shafted by
these big multinational insurance companies. I love fighting them, and
I love winning for my clients period. Okay, And most
fun thing about this whole thing is giving that check
to that client who's been injured. Okay, And you know
(06:16):
that there is no way that that check, no matter
how many millions of dollars it is, will make up
for the injuries that they had and what happened to
them in the past. But it's some form of justice
that they get. And I really enjoy I enjoy the fight.
I enjoy also winning for the clients, and you know what,
I enjoy making millions for myself as well.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
So absolutely well, they're lucky to have you, and I'm
sure that's a really rewarding feeling, getting the hand that
check over to them too.
Speaker 3 (06:43):
Oh, there's nothing better. There's there's just nothing better. You know.
Of course, it doesn't replace what they've lost, but you know,
the smile on their face and the confidence and knowing
that the rest of their life they can take care
of their family, they can do whatever they want to
do with their lives and is amazing thing.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
That's awesome, and it's thanks to you. So they're very
lucky that they found you to be able to help
them with that fight too. I understand you two masters
in psychology. How has that benefited you being an attorney?
Speaker 3 (07:12):
Oh? In many many ways. Okay, first of all with
my clients. You know, I can understand their plight. I
can understand how they feel, their feelings. You know, we
have many different practice areas I'm just giving you. For example, Sure, okay,
we have a practiceric hold sexual assault, sexual abuse, and
it's people men and women, boys and girls who have
(07:35):
been sexually abused by another, by somebody older and maybe
even the institution that that person works for, the perpetrator
that did this to this child or adult. Okay, we
hold them responsible. So on intake, you know, Sure, you
have to be very, very very careful when you speak
(07:57):
to somebody who suffered from some kind of sexual abuse.
I can read them, I can understand for their body language.
You know, when I was I was a social worker
before became an attorney, and so I would counsel victims,
survivors really of sexual assault, and that carried into my
(08:18):
training as an attorney. You know, now when I have
cases of sexual assaults or sexual abuse, I know exactly
how to how to talk to that survivor. I know
when to slow down when things get a little too
hard on them. You know, some of them really emote,
they have PTSD, they have all kinds of problems, mental
(08:42):
health issues as a result of the trauma. So I
know how to do an intake with them. I know
how to make them feel empowered because a lot of
them really are seeking empowerment because power was taken away
from them when they were sexually abused. That power that
was taken away from them is the ultimate power. You know,
(09:03):
to have somebody do something like that to a person
and that person feels that. So I also in the
courtroom and preparing the cases, I know how people will
respond sure to situations like this. Juries, for example, judges
and so forth. So I know how to pull at
their heartstrings. When I say that, I don't mean a
(09:25):
bad way. I mean some of them, some judges and
some juries, and they become a little bit insensitive because
they don't really understand the topic. So I do know
the topic very well. I do know how to make
them empathize with my clients. I do know, because they
don't know sometimes and it's a very very hard thing.
(09:45):
And some jurors and judges and so forth, you know,
have been survivors themselves. Yeah, and it's very very difficult
for them. I've had that happen too, you know, people
on juries and so forth. It becomes a very very
sensitive issue. For sure.
Speaker 1 (09:59):
It's a great quest to have, and I'm sure you
give the clients the confidence and reassurance having you in
their corner. Two, by having those skills, that's a great quality.
Speaker 3 (10:07):
One. It's extremely important that they you know, if they
trust you, there's always gonna be trust issues. And I
get past that awesome.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
Well, what's your biggest pet feed when it comes to
running a major law firm, especially here in New York.
Speaker 3 (10:20):
There's many, but I'll just name a few. Sure, there's
a few people. I won't call them competitors because I
don't think there there possibly can be competitors to me.
I feel like I dominate personal injury. But there's there's
a there's a few. One guy from Florida, you know,
with a wacky Southern accent, who you know, who started
(10:40):
firms up here so to make a money grab. There's
another guy from Philadelphia who shouts at you on his
social media, but it doesn't make sense, doesn't make sense.
He's got a wacky name. So they're not New Yorkers.
They don't know the laws in New York. And these
(11:01):
outsiders what they do is these they open these firms here. Sure,
and the facade is these lawyers that they hire by
the hundreds, right, But they're not good because they don't
really care about who they are because they're not here
in New York hiring them. And it becomes a problem
because whenever we fire them, we take a look at
(11:23):
the files and we're like, oh my god, what kind
of work is this. They don't know what they're doing.
So pep Peeve is that these guys that are out
of state, really they don't know they're outsiders. They don't
know New York. I'm a born and bred New Yorkers.
I know New York. Now, what I would tell your
radio audience is, want to give you a radio audience,
(11:44):
you know, some advice. You know, if you are naive
enough not to come to me, okay, and you've been
injured in an accident, don't go to one of these
firms that the owners are from some other state. They
were just advertising here. And the way to find that
out is just cup the owner of the firm where
he lives, where he's from. You'll find some deceitful information.
(12:07):
For example, they'll list all these awards they've had, but
they're in other states. They're not here. All you have
to do is look at the Bulls Millionaires Club and
compare those those awards and those settlements, okay, to their
settlements and awards here in New York. And they're not
going to do anything close to what we're doing. Yeah,
New Yorkers wanted New Yorker fighting for them, That's right.
(12:28):
I couldn't agree more.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
In New York.
Speaker 3 (12:29):
You want a New York hot though, right, You don't
want one from Florida, right, want one from Philadelphia. No,
you want a cheese steak from Philadelphia.
Speaker 2 (12:37):
Right, that's right.
Speaker 1 (12:38):
So we talked about this a little bit about social media.
How does how does it feel being a lawyer in
the age of social media and influence their culture.
Speaker 3 (12:46):
Well, I love it. I do love it. I actually
have my social media manager here in this office who's extraordinary.
And the reason I love it is because I'm able
to I'm able to educate people, educate people on what
to do and what not to do in case they're
injured in an accident, and also what to look for
(13:08):
so that they don't get into an accident. Sure, people
don't need to be hurt unnecessarily. So if you watch
some of my social media stuff, what you can to
see is you know what not to do, what to
look out for, don't get injured, there's no reason for it.
And where can people follow you on social and may
sell I legal?
Speaker 2 (13:27):
Great? I love following you guys. You have great content.
Speaker 1 (13:29):
I think the other great thing is people actually get
to see you, and they get to see the authent
took Michael and feel that confidence.
Speaker 2 (13:35):
Having you represents.
Speaker 3 (13:36):
Why bark a lot.
Speaker 1 (13:37):
I do bark a lot, but it shows them your
It shows them your drive, what are three qualities that
you found out about you that helped you become a
successful CEO.
Speaker 3 (13:45):
Easy drive, tenacity, and George Washington.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
Why George Washington.
Speaker 3 (13:51):
Well, George Washington was one of the greatest leaders, one
of the greatest generals of not just our time obviously,
but of all time. And people think that George Washington
was so special because he handed his sword back to
Congress and not and was not Napoleonic like, okay, trying
to take over the world and so forth. George Washington
(14:14):
was beloved by everybody. That's not what made him a
great leader. What made him a great leader was the
fact that he would listen to his generals. So he
had some extremely able generals and officers like Alexander Hamilton,
for example, and he would listen to them, and yes,
he would get advice, and he would either take them
(14:35):
the advice or he wouldn't. And he was not so arrogant.
They would say, uh, we're going this, We're gonna we're
gonna go back and we're gonna attack, and we're gonna
get Manhattan back. Now they went. They went back down
to Virginia, down south and obviously won the war. There.
He listened to the French advice, but he also carried
(14:58):
the Beatle power. He was not a pushover. He just
wanted to know enough information to make a really good
decision that was good for the country back then.
Speaker 2 (15:08):
I love that. I love that motto.
Speaker 1 (15:10):
So for those that are tuning in, what advice would
you have for young aspiring lawyers.
Speaker 3 (15:14):
Well, we have a lot of them because we take
on interns and we hire some young lawyers too, But
I always tell them the same thing. Trust yourself, but
don't trust everybody else. Verify from other people, paralegals that
doing work for you. Whoever's doing work for you, trust them,
but verify their work. Don't ever put it out any
(15:36):
work that's not actually looked at by you and verified
by you or else your name is on the line.
Speaker 2 (15:43):
That's great advice. Yes, So what's next with the book?
Speaker 3 (15:46):
I made a reference before about you know that I
don't think I really do have competitors. Okay, in New York, Well,
there are people that try to compete, let's let's put
it that way, but I don't want them even having
the ability to try to step up. I want to
dominate New York. In other words, I mentioned before that
(16:06):
there are some people, some attorneys out there that think
they're competing with me, but really not. But I know
how good we are. I know how good I am,
and I don't want people to get the show down
to the stick. I see that when I fire other attorneys,
they're really being underserved. So I want to dominate New York.
I want to bring in the best attorneys. We already
(16:28):
have amazing, amazing attorneys, but I want to bring in more.
And we're growing, and we're growing, and we're growing. Sexual
assault is a huge, huge field for US practice area.
I know that we can really help people out there.
Speaker 1 (16:41):
Well, Michael, thank you so much for coming in today
and sharing with our audience your story, your journey. We
always love having you come in and iHeart I think
it's a true testament of when you put in the
hard work what you could get. And I think it's
even more inspiring to see your fight and your drive
and your passion for your clients, especially for those New Yorkers.
Love it so Michael, thank you, Thank you so much
for us today. Thank you guys for tuning in. Please
(17:02):
tune in next week for next week's edition of CEOs.
Speaker 2 (17:04):
You should know
Hi everyone, This is Steve Dallas and thank you guys
for tuning into this week's edition of CEOs. You should
know I'm thrilled and excited to be joined by Michael Lamonsof,
the CEO and founder of the Offices of Michael s.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Lamonsof. Michael, thanks for coming.
Speaker 3 (00:12):
In, well, thanks for having me Steve.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
We're excited to have you here today.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
I think one of the questions I get asked most
about you, what is Michael the bull?
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Right? Where did the where did you get known? Asked
the bull?
Speaker 3 (00:24):
Well, I have a tail horns. When I was a kid,
you know, I would protect other kids that were being
bullied by other kids, and they started calling me the bull.
Be say anytime there was a problem, I would step
in and I would help them, you know, in my
own Yeah. As time passed and I became a lawyer,
(00:45):
my clients would also say, hey, you're like a bull
in the courtroom, and so I started getting all these
wooden bulls. I have bulls from every part of the
world in my office.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
Yep, when you walk in your office, you see the
giant balls. Right, that's right, that's right, that's awesome. Yeah,
So tell us a little bit about how are you
born and raised?
Speaker 3 (01:03):
So I was born in East Flatbush and I was
raised there till early teens, maybe or before that. My father,
who was in the army, he was an officer, didn't
really have much money, but made enough money finally to
move us out to Long Island, into a small town where,
you know, into a small house where you could reach
(01:25):
out a window and touch the house next next to us.
So it wasn't a palace, but for us it was.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
Yeah, that's awesome, Michael, tell us about what you were
like growing up.
Speaker 3 (01:36):
I was a badass.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
I don't doubt that.
Speaker 3 (01:38):
Yes, I was. I was always in trouble. My father
taught me two things. If you told me anything, you
taught me one loyalty is the most important thing to
people and you're in your relationships with people. And the
other thing what he taught me was how to try
to stay out of jail as I got into a
lot of trouble. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
I mean, those are two great qualities for your death teacher,
especially the loyalty factor.
Speaker 3 (02:01):
Right.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
I think in today's world, self made CEOs are rare. Michael,
I know you're self made. How did you support yourself
all those years.
Speaker 3 (02:08):
Oh boy, it was. It was difficult. You know. There
was no job that was too dirty, there was no
job that was too hard. I started out at thirteen
years old working in a factory. You know. I was
a garbage man. I was a bouncer. I was a bartender.
I was a farm hand. You name the work, you know,
and I did it. But what was interesting was also
(02:30):
a porter. I just realized I got about that. I
think I actually poorted in this building. Wow, a long
time ago. So, you know, there was nothing that I
wouldn't do to make money, including boxing. I was a
boxer and I was I'd fight professionals, and they would
give me one hundred dollars to fight a professional. You
know what professionals do is gonna do to an amateur, right, Yeah,
(02:53):
he wants to beat the head guy to his four
one hundred dollars. I had the crop beaten out of it.
But it got me through, and it also made it
allowed me to pay for my education throughout. You know,
it's a little bit difficult, you know, having full time
jobs and also you know, doing things that that really retiring.
(03:14):
But it got me through and it got me through college.
I paid for college. I paid for law school, I
paid for graduate school. Everything was paid for by me.
So everything was paid for by my hard work. And
I'm proud of that. And also it makes me more
relatable to, you know, people who come in to my
(03:35):
office and have jobs that are difficult, you know, and
that you know, no matter how difficult that job is, is
I say, okay, you were this, but hey, I did this.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
So you know, those are the lessons and hard work
that you can't learn in the classroom.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
So it's definitely inspiring to hear that.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
Correct, Well, what kind of hard work did it take
to get you to where you are today?
Speaker 2 (03:55):
And what kind of sacrifices did you make along the way?
Speaker 3 (03:58):
A lot, I mean a lot. I can from really nothing,
and so you know, the first day I opened up
my office, it was about the size of I don't know,
six by ten with no windows, you know, and I
had not a penny in my pocket. Yet you know,
I had to work really really hard because without money,
(04:18):
you know, coming from mommy and daddy, you know, I
didn't have that. I'd work really really hard. Sometimes as
I was growing, I would work almost through the night,
almost every single night, you know, through the night fall
asleep in my chair and get up again and go
back to work. So it was a very difficult thing.
(04:38):
I don't even know or remember the late nineteen nineties,
in the early two thousands.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
Yeah, I mean, all the hard work thankfully paid off there.
Speaker 3 (04:46):
It took twenty years. It was working my butt off yep, okay,
and obviously it paid off. So it was it was.
It was difficult, but you know, I was very very
single minded. I knew what I wanted. I had this
dream of a law firm that I wanted to build,
and I would let nothing interrupt into fear with that dream.
(05:09):
And so I knew that in order to do that,
I would have to really work my butt off. Yeah
I did, and I ended up browing from one person
be a solo practice to over one hundred people.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
It's awesome.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
Yeah, that's inspiring because you hear about obviously your true
testament to hard work pays off, right, all those years
that you put in. It's amazing to see the law
firm you built today. So that's something definitely gonna be
proud of and very inspiring for everybody that's tuning in.
Speaker 3 (05:35):
I am proud. I'm most proud of my people. I've
got some great, great people.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
That's awesome.
Speaker 1 (05:40):
That's great to have to Speaking of success, Michael, I
know you've won some of the highest multi million awards
for your clients. You have a whole section on your
website called the Bulls Millionaire's Club. What drives you to
get results like that?
Speaker 3 (05:52):
The same thing that drove me to beat up to
bullies when I was a kid. A lot of these
people who are really badly injured, they're getting shafted by
these big multinational insurance companies. I love fighting them, and
I love winning for my clients period. Okay, And most
fun thing about this whole thing is giving that check
to that client who's been injured. Okay, And you know
(06:16):
that there is no way that that check, no matter
how many millions of dollars it is, will make up
for the injuries that they had and what happened to
them in the past. But it's some form of justice
that they get. And I really enjoy I enjoy the fight.
I enjoy also winning for the clients, and you know what,
I enjoy making millions for myself as well.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
So absolutely well, they're lucky to have you, and I'm
sure that's a really rewarding feeling, getting the hand that
check over to them too.
Speaker 3 (06:43):
Oh, there's nothing better. There's there's just nothing better. You know.
Of course, it doesn't replace what they've lost, but you know,
the smile on their face and the confidence and knowing
that the rest of their life they can take care
of their family, they can do whatever they want to
do with their lives and is amazing thing.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
That's awesome, and it's thanks to you. So they're very
lucky that they found you to be able to help
them with that fight too. I understand you two masters
in psychology. How has that benefited you being an attorney?
Speaker 3 (07:12):
Oh? In many many ways. Okay, first of all with
my clients. You know, I can understand their plight. I
can understand how they feel, their feelings. You know, we
have many different practice areas I'm just giving you. For example, Sure, okay,
we have a practiceric hold sexual assault, sexual abuse, and
it's people men and women, boys and girls who have
(07:35):
been sexually abused by another, by somebody older and maybe
even the institution that that person works for, the perpetrator
that did this to this child or adult. Okay, we
hold them responsible. So on intake, you know, Sure, you
have to be very, very very careful when you speak
(07:57):
to somebody who suffered from some kind of sexual abuse.
I can read them, I can understand for their body language.
You know, when I was I was a social worker
before became an attorney, and so I would counsel victims,
survivors really of sexual assault, and that carried into my
(08:18):
training as an attorney. You know, now when I have
cases of sexual assaults or sexual abuse, I know exactly
how to how to talk to that survivor. I know
when to slow down when things get a little too
hard on them. You know, some of them really emote,
they have PTSD, they have all kinds of problems, mental
(08:42):
health issues as a result of the trauma. So I
know how to do an intake with them. I know
how to make them feel empowered because a lot of
them really are seeking empowerment because power was taken away
from them when they were sexually abused. That power that
was taken away from them is the ultimate power. You know,
(09:03):
to have somebody do something like that to a person
and that person feels that. So I also in the
courtroom and preparing the cases, I know how people will
respond sure to situations like this. Juries, for example, judges
and so forth. So I know how to pull at
their heartstrings. When I say that, I don't mean a
(09:25):
bad way. I mean some of them, some judges and
some juries, and they become a little bit insensitive because
they don't really understand the topic. So I do know
the topic very well. I do know how to make
them empathize with my clients. I do know, because they
don't know sometimes and it's a very very hard thing.
(09:45):
And some jurors and judges and so forth, you know,
have been survivors themselves. Yeah, and it's very very difficult
for them. I've had that happen too, you know, people
on juries and so forth. It becomes a very very
sensitive issue. For sure.
Speaker 1 (09:59):
It's a great quest to have, and I'm sure you
give the clients the confidence and reassurance having you in
their corner. Two, by having those skills, that's a great quality.
Speaker 3 (10:07):
One. It's extremely important that they you know, if they
trust you, there's always gonna be trust issues. And I
get past that awesome.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
Well, what's your biggest pet feed when it comes to
running a major law firm, especially here in New York.
Speaker 3 (10:20):
There's many, but I'll just name a few. Sure, there's
a few people. I won't call them competitors because I
don't think there there possibly can be competitors to me.
I feel like I dominate personal injury. But there's there's
a there's a few. One guy from Florida, you know,
with a wacky Southern accent, who you know, who started
(10:40):
firms up here so to make a money grab. There's
another guy from Philadelphia who shouts at you on his
social media, but it doesn't make sense, doesn't make sense.
He's got a wacky name. So they're not New Yorkers.
They don't know the laws in New York. And these
(11:01):
outsiders what they do is these they open these firms here. Sure,
and the facade is these lawyers that they hire by
the hundreds, right, But they're not good because they don't
really care about who they are because they're not here
in New York hiring them. And it becomes a problem
because whenever we fire them, we take a look at
(11:23):
the files and we're like, oh my god, what kind
of work is this. They don't know what they're doing.
So pep Peeve is that these guys that are out
of state, really they don't know they're outsiders. They don't
know New York. I'm a born and bred New Yorkers.
I know New York. Now, what I would tell your
radio audience is, want to give you a radio audience,
(11:44):
you know, some advice. You know, if you are naive
enough not to come to me, okay, and you've been
injured in an accident, don't go to one of these
firms that the owners are from some other state. They
were just advertising here. And the way to find that
out is just cup the owner of the firm where
he lives, where he's from. You'll find some deceitful information.
(12:07):
For example, they'll list all these awards they've had, but
they're in other states. They're not here. All you have
to do is look at the Bulls Millionaires Club and
compare those those awards and those settlements, okay, to their
settlements and awards here in New York. And they're not
going to do anything close to what we're doing. Yeah,
New Yorkers wanted New Yorker fighting for them, That's right.
(12:28):
I couldn't agree more.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
In New York.
Speaker 3 (12:29):
You want a New York hot though, right, You don't
want one from Florida, right, want one from Philadelphia. No,
you want a cheese steak from Philadelphia.
Speaker 2 (12:37):
Right, that's right.
Speaker 1 (12:38):
So we talked about this a little bit about social media.
How does how does it feel being a lawyer in
the age of social media and influence their culture.
Speaker 3 (12:46):
Well, I love it. I do love it. I actually
have my social media manager here in this office who's extraordinary.
And the reason I love it is because I'm able
to I'm able to educate people, educate people on what
to do and what not to do in case they're
injured in an accident, and also what to look for
(13:08):
so that they don't get into an accident. Sure, people
don't need to be hurt unnecessarily. So if you watch
some of my social media stuff, what you can to
see is you know what not to do, what to
look out for, don't get injured, there's no reason for it.
And where can people follow you on social and may
sell I legal?
Speaker 2 (13:27):
Great? I love following you guys. You have great content.
Speaker 1 (13:29):
I think the other great thing is people actually get
to see you, and they get to see the authent
took Michael and feel that confidence.
Speaker 2 (13:35):
Having you represents.
Speaker 3 (13:36):
Why bark a lot.
Speaker 1 (13:37):
I do bark a lot, but it shows them your
It shows them your drive, what are three qualities that
you found out about you that helped you become a
successful CEO.
Speaker 3 (13:45):
Easy drive, tenacity, and George Washington.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
Why George Washington.
Speaker 3 (13:51):
Well, George Washington was one of the greatest leaders, one
of the greatest generals of not just our time obviously,
but of all time. And people think that George Washington
was so special because he handed his sword back to
Congress and not and was not Napoleonic like, okay, trying
to take over the world and so forth. George Washington
(14:14):
was beloved by everybody. That's not what made him a
great leader. What made him a great leader was the
fact that he would listen to his generals. So he
had some extremely able generals and officers like Alexander Hamilton,
for example, and he would listen to them, and yes,
he would get advice, and he would either take them
(14:35):
the advice or he wouldn't. And he was not so arrogant.
They would say, uh, we're going this, We're gonna we're
gonna go back and we're gonna attack, and we're gonna
get Manhattan back. Now they went. They went back down
to Virginia, down south and obviously won the war. There.
He listened to the French advice, but he also carried
(14:58):
the Beatle power. He was not a pushover. He just
wanted to know enough information to make a really good
decision that was good for the country back then.
Speaker 2 (15:08):
I love that. I love that motto.
Speaker 1 (15:10):
So for those that are tuning in, what advice would
you have for young aspiring lawyers.
Speaker 3 (15:14):
Well, we have a lot of them because we take
on interns and we hire some young lawyers too, But
I always tell them the same thing. Trust yourself, but
don't trust everybody else. Verify from other people, paralegals that
doing work for you. Whoever's doing work for you, trust them,
but verify their work. Don't ever put it out any
(15:36):
work that's not actually looked at by you and verified
by you or else your name is on the line.
Speaker 2 (15:43):
That's great advice. Yes, So what's next with the book?
Speaker 3 (15:46):
I made a reference before about you know that I
don't think I really do have competitors. Okay, in New York, Well,
there are people that try to compete, let's let's put
it that way, but I don't want them even having
the ability to try to step up. I want to
dominate New York. In other words, I mentioned before that
(16:06):
there are some people, some attorneys out there that think
they're competing with me, but really not. But I know
how good we are. I know how good I am,
and I don't want people to get the show down
to the stick. I see that when I fire other attorneys,
they're really being underserved. So I want to dominate New York.
I want to bring in the best attorneys. We already
(16:28):
have amazing, amazing attorneys, but I want to bring in more.
And we're growing, and we're growing, and we're growing. Sexual
assault is a huge, huge field for US practice area.
I know that we can really help people out there.
Speaker 1 (16:41):
Well, Michael, thank you so much for coming in today
and sharing with our audience your story, your journey. We
always love having you come in and iHeart I think
it's a true testament of when you put in the
hard work what you could get. And I think it's
even more inspiring to see your fight and your drive
and your passion for your clients, especially for those New Yorkers.
Love it so Michael, thank you, Thank you so much
for us today. Thank you guys for tuning in. Please
(17:02):
tune in next week for next week's edition of CEOs.
Speaker 2 (17:04):
You should know
Popular Podcasts
1. Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
2. Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations.
3. Crime Junkie
If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people.