Breaking Barriers: Marine Vet Leo Fuentes Launches His Own Law Firm

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Leo Fuentes, Marine Corps veteran and attorney, shares his journey launching a personal injury law firm and the challenges of building from scratch in a competitive field.

• Transitioning from enlisted Marine to law school graduate to law firm owner
• Continuing jiu-jitsu training while building professional career 
• Military experience providing foundation for entrepreneurial mindset
• Importance of having legal representation after accidents or injuries
• Common mistakes people make by talking to insurance adjusters without counsel
• Creating a brand identity with the lion logo representing strength and advocacy
• The approach of "stepping into the arena" for clients
• Building trust through transparency and honest client communication
• Balancing business needs with moral values in legal practice
• Vision for future growth and giving back to the community

If you're interested in law school, becoming an attorney, or have questions about legal careers, Leo invites you to reach out via his website at www.leofuenteslaw.com or through his social media channels.

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Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_02 (00:01):
Warriors fall in.
It's time for formation.
Today, we welcome back attorneyLeo Fuentes.
He's a Marine Corps veteran.
In our last conversation, welearned about his journey as a
Marine and his transition intolaw.
But today, Leo is entering a newchapter, launching his own law
firm in the personal injuryspace.
We're going to talk about hisvision, the challenges of
building from scratch, and whatsets his firm apart in a crowded

(00:24):
market.
Formation Nation, you're aboutto hear lessons in resilience,
branding, and building somethingthat leaves a mark.
Leo, thank you for joining me onthe Morning Formation today.

SPEAKER_00 (00:34):
Thank you, KP, for having me again.
It's always a pleasure.
Yeah, that's the news.
I launched my own firm and herewe are.

SPEAKER_02 (00:43):
I am extremely proud of you, man, because I know I I
talk to a lot of people and theytalk about starting their own
business.
And it's scary.
It's scary because you'reliterally taking all the risks
and you're pivoting.
No one's telling you when topivot.
It's not like you have a bossnow.
Like you have to get yourself upin the morning, right?
And you have to get yourselfready to go.

SPEAKER_00 (01:03):
Right, right, yeah.
Yeah, it's literally um you youeat what you hunt, kind of
thing.
Yeah.
Um, but you know, thankfully, uhit's going well, and I have a
couple client stories to talkabout when uh when we get to
that.

SPEAKER_02 (01:18):
Yeah, man.
Um I you're I in my opinion,you're a very big inspiration
for a lot of people.
Uh you were enlisted in theMarines, and then once you got
out, you put yourself throughlaw school.
And I think for a lot of lowerenlisted people out there, they
sometimes don't see themselveslike achieving that high of a

(01:39):
profession.
So, in my opinion, you're youcould be a great mentor for many
folks out there that may bethinking about going that route
and starting your own business,man.
That's a whole new venture initself.
Um but before we get into youruh law firm, I want to ask you,
how's your jujitsu trainingcoming along?

SPEAKER_00 (01:57):
Man, I it I've been gone for a little bit, but uh I
it's good to be back.
I want to be more consistent.
And I was there yesterday and itwas fun.
It was fun.
It was promotion day, and youknow, sometimes when it's
promotion day, some people go alittle harder, and I'm like,
relax, bro.
We're not trying to injure eachother here.
We gotta we got jobs to go totomorrow.
But it it was good.
It was good.
Um still uh still training,still trying to get better and

(02:21):
taking it day by day.
And I think the best thing, likea lot of people say, I'm sure
you think the same.
It's not about the promotions orthe belts, it's about just
learning and you know, thatheadspace you get into when
you're there takes you away fromfrom the world and whatever's
going on, at least for that houror two hours that you're there.

SPEAKER_02 (02:39):
You know, I I was thinking about it earlier this
week.
Um, when you get promotedthrough the ranks of Brazilian
Jiu-Jitsu, it's not just a markon how good you are at doing
that specific uh martial art,but it's also a mark on you
becoming a mentor and youbecoming uh someone who others
look up to.

(02:59):
Because I don't think it's agood idea to continue on, become
a brown belt, become a blackbelt, if you're not of good
character.
I think all around it paints, itshould paint a picture of like
this is someone, especially ifyou're an owner of a gym and
you're promoting people, youneed to make sure that you're
promoting not just people whohave skill, but people who have

(03:20):
the right character.
So I hope you continue thatjourney, man, because I think uh
a lot of others out there willbe like, well, this guy is a
lawyer, like and he's a marineveteran.
That's badass.

SPEAKER_00 (03:32):
Yeah, thank you.
Yeah, I um I I started uh in lawschool at the time that law
school was uh offering a freemembership to a gym downtown,
and then that gym had two blackbowl instructors that uh had
classes going on.
But it got to the point where,for me at least, um I had to
tell myself, all right, do Iwant to pass this class uh in

(03:52):
law school or do I want to gotrain?
I was like, I gotta pass theclass.
So I kind of stopped going and Ijust never got back to it.
I got back into it until afterlaw school, after I started
working.
But uh there is this law studentin uh at our gym, and he he
trains, he studies.
I'm like, man, good for you.
I'm always giving props, like,good for you.
I'm like, what are you gonna donow?

(04:12):
He's like, I gotta go do thiscontract uh reading or whatever.
I'm like, man, that's my hat'soff to you because I I just kind
of said I gotta focus on school.

SPEAKER_02 (04:21):
It's hard to get it in, man, sometimes.
So, what inspired you to startyour own personal injury
practice?
And and let's talk about whatsets you apart from the others
in the in this industry.

SPEAKER_00 (04:32):
Yeah, so I think I was so before I went to the
private firm life, I was withthe county of San Diego uh and
you know, shout out to thepublic defender's office in San
Diego because thanks to them,all the mentors, there speaking
of mentorship, I was able to uhwork with a lot of great
attorneys, great trialattorneys, and learn from them,
and they were always willing toteach and guide.

(04:55):
And and then there, I didn'tknow at the time, but I was
essentially my own little lawfirm there because you have your
caseload, you have your casesassigned to you, you have your
clients, and then youessentially run your cases and
make decisions on what motionsto file, what research you need
research you need to do.
And essentially you are incharge of those cases, and

(05:17):
nobody really tells youanything.
You don't really, as long as youdo your job, you just kind of
handle your cases, and then itdidn't come to uh mind, or I
didn't realize it until afterthe fact.
Um, there's nothing wrong withthe the private firm.
Um, I just think uh for me,everybody's different, right?
There's people that like to beat a private firm, they like to

(05:39):
be uh associates, and that'sthat's fine.
Um, it's just something that forme I realized, wait a minute,
like I just realized I was myown law firm when I used to work
at my own job, and now um I'mpart of a law firm, but it's not
my law firm.
And there's nothing wrong withit, it's just different
different career choices, right?
And for me, it was more like umit's time to to do it, right?

(06:04):
It's just uh to be honest withyou, it was uh one of a dream
that just came to light.
Um there's only been man, likewhen I when I joined the Marine
Corps, when I went to lawschool, when I left my first job
to go to the private firm, andthen now the same feeling, um,

(06:28):
some people call it the feeling,I I just it's just overcome me
and overwhelming, feeling like Ineed to do this.
I need to do this because if Idon't, I'm gonna live in regret
the rest of my life with whatif?
Yeah, what if I could, right?
And I want to I want to take amoment to like you mentioned the
the uh military, whether you'reNavy, Marine Corps, Army, any

(06:51):
other uh branch.
I wanna I wanna encourageeverybody to just pursue their
their vision, their dreams,because I I was there too, and
then there's a lot of peoplethat were scared to get out.
They're like, man, I gotta getout.
Like, I gotta leave this asteady military paycheck.
I already know what I'm doing.
And you know, unfortunately,they don't tap into their full
potential.
And I I I seen it, I see it now,unfortunately.

(07:14):
And you know, I'm I'm always I'man open book.
Uh military members have reachedout.
Um actually, this young LanceCorporal, E3 from uh Camp
Pendleton, reached out to me andhe's like, hey sir, because he's
still late, he's like, hey sir.
Oh, he called me Leo.
It's all it's good, it's allgood.
And uh he's like, Yeah, I I'm aLance Corporal, Camp Pendleton.

(07:34):
I want to go to law school.
But this guy, he already hadeverything set.
And I was like, wow, like I meanI never even thought I was gonna
be an attorney, but he alreadyhas this plan, uh, saving his GI
bill for law school.
So um, yeah, I mean that that'sthe reason why I I decided to
essentially uh go for it, youknow, and and I I I'll rather

(07:57):
see what what what's gonnahappen versus what if.

SPEAKER_02 (08:01):
So many things that you mentioned, I I identify with
a thousand percent.
I'll tell you this, much Leo,you're the type of person that
accepts new challenges.
You're not stagnant.
And that that is you've proventhat over your resume and your
career, um, going from thebottom to where you are right
now.
I mean, enlisting in the MarineCorps, I remember the last time

(08:22):
we spoke, you just went in.
Like you just went to the Marinerecruiter and you signed up and
um, you know, and and you talkedabout how proud your father was,
you know, of you graduating bootcamp and and going into the
Marines.
So you're not the you're not thetype of character to just fall
into formation.
Like you're in front of theformation, you're in charge of

(08:43):
the of the uh of the group andand getting out of the military.
I remember when I resigned mycommission, I had other officers
walking up to me at that timeand they were like, Well, what
are you gonna do?
What are you gonna do?
Like, oh my god, like you'regonna be poor, you're gonna be
unemployed, and you're gonna andI was thinking to myself, I'm
like, well, I I'm getting outbecause I believe in myself.

(09:03):
Like, I'm going to figure thisout.
You know, I'm not here for apaycheck.
And um I did my time, I did mydeployment, and it's just time
for me to move on.
That was my plan from thebeginning.
Um, and I tell people all thetime, like, the military is not
bad as long as you manage yourcareer.
And what I mean by that is whatyou just talked about with that

(09:24):
Lance Corporal, properlymanaging your career for
transition is what you got to dofrom the beginning when you
first get there.
And that I can completelyidentify with everything that
you're talking about.
And those are some great, greatpieces of advice for people out
there who are listening who maybe going into the Marines or may
know someone that's going intothe military in general for them

(09:46):
to actually think about.
But how do you think your MarineCorps background, your training,
your experience, and everythinghas shaped the way that you have
approached starting this newbusiness?

SPEAKER_00 (09:59):
I think one of the first things that they ingrain
in you in BootCamp is um attackthe hill.
Um the challenge.
Go go for the challenge.
Um, fear is one of the thingsthat they kind of uh ingraining
you to put to the side.
It doesn't mean it it's notexistent, it just means um you
you do it anyways, right?

(10:20):
Um it's kind of like that sayingthat says, you know, courage
doesn't mean you're not you'renot scared or there's no fear.
It just means you have the willto go despite that.
Um and I think that that's whathas been driving my life
decisions since I joined theMarine Corps and then I left,
and then um, you know, I'm justI'm just so grateful that uh

(10:43):
it's all worked out, and youknow, I I I'm able to provide
whatever I can knowledge toother people, you know, like um
there's veterans that havereached out too that's like,
hey, I've always wanted to be alawyer, man.
It's like you can, you can stillgo.
Like, you still have your jabbill.
Like, and one of them took me upon it too, is uh like, yeah, so
this is my plan.
I want to do this, I want to dothat.
I was like, okay, cool, justlook into that, look into that

(11:05):
school.
Um, and yeah, just I think umI'm grateful that I that
everything has worked out sofar, but also that I'm able to
provide any sort of guidance ormentorship, like you mentioned,
to um former military, activeduty, and even non-military uh
law students or just undergradstudents.

SPEAKER_02 (11:25):
You know, you you mentioned um fear.
Uh when you when you launchedyour new business, what uh
doubts or fears or if any cameup for you and and how do you
think you pushed through them?

SPEAKER_00 (11:40):
I think the most common uh concern and or fear
for anyone who's going on theirown is oh my god, where are the
cases gonna come from?
Right?
How am I gonna get clients?
Um You know what the cases willcome.
The cases are coming.
And it's people told me that.

(12:00):
Um shout out to everybody who'sbeen supporting me, because I
also had a lot of people thatwere encouraging me to to to
essentially make the move for awhile now.
They they've always told melike, hey Leo, like like what
are you doing?
Like you you you are the typethat can um do your own thing.
Like, um, what are you waitingfor?

(12:21):
And I was like, I don't I don'tknow.
Excuses basically, you know.
To be honest, it was just me,like, oh well, I gotta wait for
this, or I'm gonna wait forthat.
But um just it came to the pointwhere um I think it just
vanished.
The fear was more like I'm gonnaembrace embrace it, embrace the
grind and and let's go, youknow, let's go, let's do it.

(12:42):
And yeah, that's the main themain concern that everybody has,
and it's true.
Uh the the second third day thatI I started um the firm, I I got
client calls and the cases came,the cases are coming.
So um little by little, day byday, you know, like with

(13:03):
anything, um, just stay positiveand then just they they're gonna
come.
What they told me, the otherattorneys that have their own
practice too, um, is true.
They're like, don't even worryabout it, the cases are gonna
come, man.
And I'm like, man, they wereright, you know.

SPEAKER_02 (13:17):
So you know, I I really think fearless, uh
fearlessness starts at an earlyage.
I don't know if you can thinkback to a time, maybe in your
teen years, where you werejoining the football team or the
wrestling team and you've neverdone it before in your life, but
you did it and you stepped intothat dark room for the first
time, and it wasn't that bad.

(13:37):
It worked out.
I think that for a lot of uhpeople coming up through the
ranks in their teen years andand whatnot, it being fearless
almost becomes kind of a a thingthat you embrace, a thing that
you become comfortable with overtime.
And would you would you agreewith that?
Do you think that was part ofyour upbringing?

SPEAKER_00 (13:57):
Yeah, I think um as being being the oldest out of
four boys, my poor mom, uh nogirls, but my brother gave her a
granddaughter, so I guess that'sthat's okay.
Um but so I'm the oldest out ofthe four boys, and I had to
essentially take on the first ofeverything.
The first of joining the MarineCorps, the first of going to
college.

(14:18):
And yeah, I think little bylittle, like little small
accomplishments, whether it wasum the first two uh join the uh
soccer team, right?
Or the first to join themilitary or go to college, I
think um uh the way I like toexplain to some people, some
people that I ask, like, oh, howhard how hard is law school?
Um I tell them, look, it's it'slike a stamina thing.

(14:40):
If you think about it, I tellthem because for me, you know, I
I I went to community college,which is where I met the Marine
Corps recruiter, and I tell him,look, think about it this way
high school, you start preparingto go to college, whether it's
community or undergrad.
And then I went to uh communitycollege.
That prepped me to go to theundergrad university.
That prepped me to take on uhgraduate graduate school.

(15:05):
Um, and at the time I I didn'tknow what I was gonna go do.
I knew I wanted to do graduateschool.
So yeah, I think it little bylittle, like you're saying, it
it tends to um it just go away,or you should learn to adapt and
do it anyways.

SPEAKER_02 (15:19):
Yeah, yeah, it becomes like second nature for
you, and it's uh it becomes oneof those things that you don't
mind doing after a time becausea failure is is there's such a
thing called failing forward andum and trying new things out,
and that's how we achieve.
Leo, I want to ask you overall,talking about some of your
clients and stuff, why do youwhy do you think it's so
critical for injured people tohave an advocate on their side?

SPEAKER_00 (15:43):
Well, I think it's it's very important to have
somebody that's on your sidebecause a lot of people think
that um the insurance adjustersand the other side are are on
your team, right?
Because you think, well, I'mpaying them every month, they're
looking out for my bestinterest, but it's all a numbers
game.
Um it sounds bad, but at the endof the day, that's what it is,

(16:06):
right?
Because there's no way they canpay out all the claims uh for
what they're worth because thenthey won't have any money left,
right?
It's it's their business.
So um it's important to talk toan attorney before you give any
written statements if possible,or uh any recorded statements
when the insurance adjusterscalls you, or when anybody from

(16:28):
the other side calls you,sometimes the attorneys from the
companies or the corporationssometimes uh want to get a
statement from you.
Um the investigators like forlike Walmart or Target or any
other stores, sometimes theyemail uh the clients and they
they tell them X, Y, and Z, andthey've even sometimes said,

(16:51):
Hey, you want to go ahead andsettle uh that this claim for a
couple hundred bucks?
And I seen the email's like,wow, like good thing you said
no, you didn't reply, right?
But um it's super crucial.
Um recently uh there was a a acase that came to me good good
uh I guess policy you can say.

(17:14):
It was a good but they made amistake of not talking to an
attorney before they theyresolved their case.
And they resolved it for alittle under a grand.
When I saw the video of the dashcam and I saw what happened and
now the injuries that they haveand they haven't treated, I'm

(17:35):
like, man, I wish you would havecome to me before.
Essentially they signed theysigned a settlement agreement
and they they there's no remedyanymore.
They they signed it.
Um they can't really argue thatthey didn't they didn't know
because they were advised andthey they were told, you know.
And yeah, I mean it's superimportant, you know, especially
the injuries that you don'trealize are severe, or you don't

(17:58):
really feel it sometimes becauseof the adrenaline, right?
You don't feel it a couple dayslater, a month later.
Right.
And yeah, it's super it's supercrucial.
And then you never know what'sgoing on in your in your back or
in your brain.
Like some people haveconcussions.
So it's always good to getconnected with an attorney
that's gonna connect you to theappropriate uh treatment
providers so that you can getthe the best uh result out of

(18:22):
your case and just more thanmore than anything, your health.
Nobody wants to be in pain orhurt.
And you know, that's one thing II say, I I I think you agree
too, like there's no price onhealth.
It's like when I tell thejurors, right, uh in jury
trials, like we can't put aprice on health, we can't put a

(18:42):
price on Mr.
So-and-so's back or Mrs.
So-and-so's neck or whatever theinjury is, right?

SPEAKER_02 (18:49):
Right.

SPEAKER_00 (18:49):
But the law, the law allows us to at least try our
best, right?
But nobody wants to be injured.
Like you can offer me any amountof money.
I'd rather be able to go tosleep and be healthy, right?
And work.

SPEAKER_02 (19:02):
Yeah, sometimes we can be our own worst enemy.
Um, I've known people beforethat have tried to buy real
estate on their own and theydon't know a whole lot about
real estate.
They go in without a real estateagent and they end up getting
burned.
That the house has a lot ofissues with it.
Um it's the same thing withveterans too, man.
Like when you get out of themilitary, a lot of veterans
don't want to put in any type oflike service connection at all.

(19:26):
I, you know, the pride,resiliency, the suck it up and
drive on kind of kind of setsin.
And and like you mentioned, man,like sometimes we can be our own
worst enemy with um with thoseinjuries too.
So having an advocate on yourside, um, I can see where that
would be of immense importancefor someone to to take on.
What are some of the what do youthink are some of the biggest

(19:48):
mistakes that you've seen uhpeople make after an accident?
Things like not documentinginjuries, delaying treatment, or
talking to insurance adjustersalone, like you just mentioned.

SPEAKER_00 (20:00):
Yeah, that's one of the biggest mistakes talking to
them without an attorneysettling without getting the
appropriate uh medical care ortreatment.
Um saying, I'm fine,everything's gonna be fine,
right?
Um that's that's that's in notjust car accidents, but also
whether you fall out the storeor something happens at work

(20:21):
where you get injured because ofsomebody else's fault.
Um and that that's the mainmistake.
They don't they don't lawyer up,right?
The word is lawyer up, and itapplied it applies in other
areas of law, it also applies inthe personal injury uh area.

SPEAKER_02 (20:36):
Yeah, it totally does.
Um, as far as making sure youhave that representation.
Um what do you think is yournumber one piece of advice for
someone who's just been injuredin an accident and doesn't
really know what to do?

SPEAKER_00 (20:50):
Seek medical treatment, document it, document
it because they love the otherside loves to hold on to that.
Like, well, if you were reallyhurt, you should have gone to
the doctor.
Or you didn't go to the doctor.
Um, sometimes I think it's alittle hilarious because like
you waited a whole week to gosee a doctor.
It's like people have thingsgoing on, they have lives going

(21:11):
on.
Like, it's not that they didn'twant to, right?
I ideally you want to go thesame day or the next day, right?
But there are there aresituations, there are
explanations as to why, butyeah, um try not to delay the
medical treatment or the yeah,the scene by a doctor so they
can diagnose what your injuriesare uh on uh on paper and
document it.

(21:31):
That's one of the things that Iwould say.
Um earlier we were talking aboutum fear, right?
How it goes away after you do acouple things.
Um I don't know, I just thoughtabout how for us and my my
colleagues that um that practicelaw, whether it's criminal
defense, uh employment law,personal injury, when you get to

(21:52):
trial, um we we like to say ifyou're not a little bit, little
bit scared or still feel thatthat adrenaline, however you
want to describe it, then thatmeans you need to find another
job because in the in the inessence that kind of also drives
you to to do your best and andprep the case, prep the
witnesses, and basically do agood job for your for your

(22:15):
client.
And uh yeah, I mean it'sinteresting how fear can work in
your favor in a way, um, butalso uh it it goes it it can
stop people from doing what theywant to do too, or what the
vision they have for themselves.

SPEAKER_02 (22:29):
Yeah, yeah.
Like I mentioned, you can beyour own worst enemy.
I've known people before thathave just uh slipped, fell,
busted their back, and they getup and they go back to work,
only to find out years laterthey have a major issue going on
in there, and now it's now it'stoo late.
They've moved on to a newemployer or they've they've uh
you know, whatever the situationis, they can no longer go and

(22:52):
get the um the the help thatthey need.
Um and they're just having todeal with it on their own, man.
And you know, it's and talkingabout just your overall law firm
and your core mission of the lawfirm is what I want to talk
about.
How do you want to be known inthe personal injury space?

SPEAKER_00 (23:09):
I think uh in general as an attorney, I want
to be known as someone who whoobviously uh you can trust who's
gonna fight for you, and stepinto the arena as a colleague.
I call the the the courtroom uhjury trial the arena, and I step
into the arena and let thepeople decide.
Um, the the 12 people from thecommunity are gonna decide what
the verdict is, right?

(23:31):
Um I know earlier you said whatsets Fuentes Law APC apart.
Um I think a good way to answerthat is just sharing my what my
clients' feedback to me, right?
Um recently there was a lady whoreached out to me.
She had a uh a bigger case withanother law firm, and she had
another case, she reached out anew case, and um she's like,

(23:53):
Hey, like I was recommended toyou by so-and-so, and cases
come, remember?
So I was like, Oh, cool.
I haven't talked to that personin a while, but thank you,
right?
Um, so she's uh I I talked toher, walked her through A,
through Z as far as what toexpect, what my goal is gonna
be, and how everything goes,right?
And she was just so thankful.

(24:14):
She's like, she was like, Oh,thank you so much.
I got the the other firm didn'teven talk to me.
Like uh I to be honest with you,I'm not really um happy with
them, right?
And I'm not gonna really likeI'm the type of person that just
hear them out, right?
I'm never gonna be talking badabout any other attorney or any

(24:34):
other law firm because why?
Right?
There's cases for everybody,like do your thing, right?
But I I'm focusing on me.
So I told her, um, oh, I'm sorryto hear that, ma'am.
Um, but for this case, like Iwant to make sure you know
everything.
She comes back a couple dayslater and she's like, hey, I do
want to retain you.
But I was wondering um if youcan take my other case too.

(24:58):
So it's very common for a clientto just like they have the right
to uh hire different attorneys,the attorney can also terminate
the attorney-client relationshipfor whatever reason, reasonable,
right?
You can't just be saying, Youmay you annoy me today.
I'm I don't want to be yourattorney, right?
So um that's what she wanted todo.
She wanted to basically leavethe other firm, which is a big

(25:20):
firm out of LA, and and thencome to me and said, because I
want you to handle both mycases.
And I think that speaks for forme and the law firm I'm
building, the Fuentes Law APC.
And I told her, I'll be happyto, but my goal is always your
best interest.
I want you to get the bestoutcome.

(25:40):
I need you to go back and askthe law firm these questions.
So I told her what questions toask.
And I told her, because the lastthing I want is for you to bring
your cases with you to my firm,and then you you not only have
to pay uh my fee, so forpersonal injury cases, it's
contingency.
So until like, you know, thecommercial said, We don't win,

(26:02):
you don't pay, right?
It's basically a contingencyfee.
So I told her the last thing Iwant is you having to pay the
contingency fee for contingencyfee for my firm, and then you
have to owe them money.
And she's like, What do you meanI owe them money?
He's like, Well, there's thisthing called an attorney lien,
which means the other firm isgonna likely say, Well, hey,
guess what?

(26:22):
We worked under a case for Idon't know however months we've
done this, that, and this.
So now you owe us this amount.
So she was like, I didn't evenknow that that was the thing.
It's like, it's a thing.
And I'm like, I and usually uhfirms uh exercise those liens,
right?
It's not common for a firm notto.
Sometimes you know the otherfirm and you're cool and you

(26:43):
talk about it like, yeah, it'sfine, we just pay us our costs,
right?
But um, I think uh I I had afeeling uh when she asked them,
they said, Yeah, like we wouldexercise the attorney lien.
So she came back again, calledme back.
It's like Leo, like thank you somuch.
I appreciate you.
Um, I think I'm gonna stand stayput.
Uh, you're right.
So by the end of the the cases,by the time the cases is over,

(27:04):
I'm not gonna have a lot leftfor me.
Like, and like I totally get it.
She's like, but I'll keep you inmind.
Thank you so much, you weregreat.
So I think that's what sets meand my firm apart.
Um, and then also um that takesme back to uh um an army veteran
client I had.
Uh this was when I was with thecounty.

(27:25):
It was my first um case wherethere was a dece decedent.
Uh, and the family actually paida private attorney at the time.
All paid told my client at thetime, hey, we already paid this
attorney.
He's a private attorney.

(27:45):
Tell tell your attorney that'sappointed by the court that
you're gonna go with him.
Well, the rapport have builtwith him, not just because of
being a uh veterans, right?
Just me talking to him, takingthe time and hearing him out, he
essentially told the family, no,I'm staying with Leo.
I trust Leo.

(28:05):
I I I'm sorry, like go get yourmoney back.
I'm not gonna, I'm not gonnachange attorneys.
And I that that was I was solike taken back, and I was super
grateful that whatever it isthat he he uh he liked about me
or whatever trust uh report webuilt, like it was enough for
him to say, no, I'm staying putuh with the free attorney,

(28:26):
basically, appointed by thecourt, right, at the time.
And most people, uh it's commonfor most people to retain
attorneys when they're facing uhcertain certain issues, right?
And yeah, long story short, wewe went to trial and got a great
result, and then he just endedup paying like a$200 fine,

(28:47):
right?
And um the uh the resilience, Ithink we I think in that case
actually, I was going up againstthree opposing counsels, uh, the
senior one, and then the othertwo that were not as
experienced.
So it kind of went like down,like kind of the chain of
command in the military.
It was it was like the thegunny, the staff sergeant and

(29:08):
the sergeant uh put comingtogether to uh go against me and
my client.
So um we uh we we went at it andthe jury saw it our way and he
was super thankful and we stayedin touch.
Every once in a while we checkin, like, hey, how you doing?
Um, because you know, being uhan army combat uh veteran, he

(29:28):
was a medic.
So you can imagine all thethings he saw during the the
time of war.
And he obviously has uh PTSD andother issues that he has to uh
live with and uh you know adapt.
He still has a job, he's doing,he's doing good.

unknown (29:44):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 (29:44):
But uh yeah, I think those are the things that that
set me and my law firm apart.
Um, our clients, our clients sayit for us, right?
My clients say it for us.

SPEAKER_02 (29:53):
I think just on the interviews that we've had and
the conversations we have, youhave a very good demeanor about
yourself.
You have characteristics.
Characteristics of leadership.
Um, you have alsocharacteristics of fearlessness,
obviously, from your time.
From you talked about in thelast interview how you lived in
gang territory growing up.
You were recruited to join agang when you were a kid, you

(30:16):
said no, and then you finishedup school, decided to go into
the Marines on your own, um, andnow here you are today in your
law firm.
And I think sometimes you can'tthrow money at somebody who just
inherently has the rightcharacteristics to be a
champion.

SPEAKER_00 (30:34):
Well, thank you for that, KP.
Um, I totally agree with you.
Uh, one of the things thatconversations I have with my my
colleagues that super closefriends that are also um the
type of attorneys that just goall out and step into the arena
for their clients, um, we liketo say you either have it or you
don't.
Why do we say that?

(30:54):
Because when it comes to trial,um you see it, you see it.
I you see people get up thereand try to say verbatim lines of
other attorneys that haveworked.
It's worked for them, but Ican't, I'm not, I'm not going to
stand there and repeat JohnnyCochrane's sentences because it
worked for him or whateverattorney, right, that's doing

(31:16):
great and he's super whoever theattorney is that's super
successful, and whatever worksfor him, he has to style his
thing.
But also when you're in front ofthe jury, um, you can see who
freezes up, you can see who whohas that flow or that that it
factor, right?
And you know, I'm just thankfulthat again, just based on the
the mentors I had coming up, theuh uh attorneys and other people

(31:38):
I can brainstorm with, I thinkuh we we come up with uh the
best solution.
And when I get in there, I I tryto be myself also.
Um, you know, that's I just tryto be myself, and then sometimes
you gotta you gotta lock it upor you gotta be super serious
when the right moment is.
But I think I think it works.
I mean, sometimes you even haveto go against uh judges, right?

(31:59):
Not to come across as mean oranything, but sometimes you just
have to put your foot down uh asattorneys and you can't be
scared um or intimidated, right?
Um you just gotta find a way touh to kind of maneuver, right?
Maneuver around it.
Like um, like one time thisjudge uh he admitted a lot of

(32:20):
bad evidence for the case.
And you know, I I think Imentioned it not on purpose, but
then the other attorney waslike, objection.
And then it was sustained, whichmeans you can't talk about it,
right?
Like shut your mouth, basically.
So then I was like, okay, but Iwas like, there's a reason why
they don't want me to talk aboutit, ladies and gentlemen.
I'll leave that up to you.

(32:40):
And then that was the way thatyou kind of like remember it
gets him thinking.
That's old, man.
No, but I mean, at the time,because you get in the moment
and you're like, you getpassionate, right?
You get passionate, but yougotta walk a uh a thin line.
You can't just be uhunprofessional or disrespectful,
which I've seen too, actually.
Uh I was watching a trial in LAand I couldn't believe what was

(33:04):
going on with one of theattorneys.
I was all like, man, I was like,I was like, I'm not gonna, I'm
not gonna be the one that doesit because I don't know him, but
somebody needs to talk to thatguy and tell him, like, hey man,
you can't be yelling at thejudge or talking to him like
he's your brother or something,or like your homie because he's
not.
You know, you gotta have somerespect for the for the bench,
for the position, and just betactful about it.

(33:26):
So what was the judge's responsewhen you said that?
Nah, nothing.
It wasn't really it wasn'treally uh a jab at him, it was
just more to get the jurythinking.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
They were just thinking, and umuh they they came back and it
was a favorable outcome for theclient.
And yeah, I mean, I was supergrateful.

SPEAKER_02 (33:47):
And you know, a lot of people ask me, do you know
what it's funny because I'venever heard that before.
I've always heard sustained andthen they they just shut up, but
no one's ever kind ofcounterpunched that with a
statement like that.

SPEAKER_00 (34:01):
Yeah, and you know, it just it just happened.
Uh it's one of those thingswhere like edges you yeah, you
gotta adapt and overcome, likewe say in the military, right?
Um but um those are the type ofthings like you you can only
learn to do or they come up justby reps.
Get the reps in, right?
Kind of like jujitsu too oranything, right?

(34:22):
Like you you get your trials andyou get the courtroom experience
and and you're able to seedifferent situations happen and
then you know how to adapt,right?
Um and that's another re anotherthing that sets uh my law firm
apart.
You know, like we have nineyears of over over nine years of
of experience, right?
Um it's uh I think it's moredifficult, more challenging when

(34:45):
you launch your firm straightout of law school.
Not impossible, right?
By no means I want to discourageanybody.
If if you're uh a new attorneyand you want to open your own
law firm or are, good for you.
And you're gonna do it, it'sgonna work out.
Yeah.
Um but uh for me, I think ithelped me build myself first
with the experience and just uhwhen it comes to the legal

(35:08):
research and the courtroomexperience itself, I think that
really helped me become theattorney that I am now.

SPEAKER_02 (35:15):
Gives you an opportunity to put yourself in a
public defender's shoes.
It gives you uh an opportunityto put yourself in different
positions and different roles.
Uh you were talking just aminute ago about um managing
sort of judges, making sureyou're not inappropriate, but
you're also pushing andchallenging at the same time.

(35:37):
And anytime I've been inleadership roles and I've had an
upper and a lower, like whereI've got people I'm in charge
of, and then I've got peoplethat are in charge of me, I've
I've always said 90% of that jobis managing personalities.
You gotta know what wags thetail in that dog.
So if you're if you you get toknow these judges, you probably

(36:00):
know what they like to hear.
You probably get to know theirpersonality, their character.
Um some people when they walkinto a room, they command
respect.
And that's all they want isrespect.
Some are more like laid back.
I mean, would you agree thatthat's kind of how it is in the
arena?

SPEAKER_00 (36:19):
Yeah, yeah.
You definitely uh when you're infront of a judge, you you learn
their style, their demeanor.
Um some of them are more uhchipper than others, others are
more like to down to business,right?
And then there's other judgesthat I've had where they said,
uh, counsel, go ahead and take aload off, take your jackets off,

(36:39):
roll up your sleeves if youwant.
Let's talk about these motionsin limit, which are the motions
uh before a trial gets started,right?
Basically, it's both sidesrequesting what they want to
come into evidence, what theywant to talk about.
Then the judge decides yes orno, right?
So in that situation, yeah, hecame up and he was just super
chill, like, hey, take a loadup, let's just let's knock this

(37:01):
out, right?
As as gentlemen, basically.
But then there are other thereare other judges that are like,
no, like that's not gonna,that's not gonna fly with that,
with that judge, right?
Other judges like to joke aroundalso, you know, believe it or
not, you know.
Um, one of the things that uhpeople have told me colleagues
that uh when I was with thecounty, and um just in general,

(37:22):
uh they're like, how how is itthat only you can get away with
saying certain things?
And we're like, what do youmean?
It's like I would never be ableto tell that to judge so-and-so,
or like to um uh this prosecutoror opposing counsel.
And I'm like, I don't know, Ijust I'm I'm I just I'm just me,
I guess.
I mean, I don't know, I just Idon't really think about it,
right?
It's just well it just happens.

SPEAKER_02 (37:44):
I think you've probably through your military
experience and your upbringing,you probably have really honed
the craft of reading the room,which is really important for a
lot of people to understand.
Um, you know, you walk into anenvironment, you need to read
the room.
Like who in here is the alpha,who is like not the alpha, who

(38:05):
is expecting this, expectingthat, and that's that's huge.
I've known so many people overthe years that have stepped on
their own toes um because theyjust don't know how to read the
room, they don't understand thatthis is all about managing
personalities, managingexpectations, and it sounds like
you've got that mastered justthrough your years of experience
overall.
And I'm drawing the line now.

(38:27):
Leo the lion, the arena, andthen you've got your logo,
right?

SPEAKER_00 (38:33):
Oh, yeah, my logo, yeah.
My logo has a lion, yeah.
Um I actually did you do that onpurpose?
Yeah, yeah.
I actually just got my cards.
I don't know if you can see iton it.
Let me see.
I can try.
So I just got the these cards.
Uh I ordered them like um acouple weeks ago.
Um, and let me see.
I don't know if you can see it.
Can you see it a little bit?
Yeah.
So um yeah, so it's a lion.

(38:56):
The lion and the scales ofjustice.
The lion, um, my name Leonel, myfull name means uh lion, right?
And then people know me as Leoat work, outside of work, and
then um I'm not saying that Ifollow like like religion, but
my zodiac sign is Leo, and theanimal for that zodiac sign,

(39:17):
Leo, is the lion, too.
So those are the three reasonswhy um I went with I I told
myself I have to have a lion.
Like, you know, everybody hastheir own animal, like my their
own animal, their favoriteanimal, right?
Like my buddy has a horse, hehas a horse statue at his desk,
right?
But for me, I feel like Iidentify with a lion for those
three reasons.

(39:37):
My name is Lion, my Zodic lion'sthe lion, and then people know
me as Leo, right?
And I think um when it's theright time, I I I I take on that
that lion, I guess, uh approachwhen I need to get things done,
whether it's for a client orjust in life in general, and you
step into the arena, like it'skind of like, you know, um, you

(39:59):
gotta let the lion roar, youknow, like type of thing.

SPEAKER_02 (40:02):
But uh, reminds me of like Sparta, like gladiators
and everything else, man.
Like I I see you someday doing acommercial where like you're
saying step into the arena.

SPEAKER_00 (40:11):
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah.
There's uh yeah, that that's howthat came about.
But then the scales is basicallythe the law of it, right?
And that's how I I I created, Icame up with my logo, and I was
just kind of like, I gotta do itbecause why not?
You know?

SPEAKER_02 (40:25):
Yeah, and I don't think, I don't even know if you
really realize or not, man, butyou've come a long way.
I mean, you when our lastconversation we talked about
where you started uh and how yougot to where you're at right
now, I mean, you've literally hahad the heart of a lion to be
where you're at.
I think that a lot of peoplelike yourself, um, I have
another good friend of mine.

(40:46):
She was um enlisted in the army.
She's from another country, uh,enlisted in the army um as just
an E1, um, didn't know what shewas getting into.
And today she's now a doctor ofradiology, Dr.
Nicole Donrosh.
And I I love when people can seethemselves further than the end

(41:07):
of their street.
And I think a lot of peoplestruggle with that, with seeing
how far they can go in theircareers by looking over the
horizon and seeing somethinggreater than or bigger than
themselves.
And that's why I love doing theshow, man.
I love highlighting people likeyou who came from almost nothing
to making your own business now.

(41:30):
And I I really think that yourbrand is awesome, man.
I think that freaking uh Leo theLion step into the arena, you
got the logo.
I mean, I see big I see bigthings for you, man.

SPEAKER_00 (41:42):
I do.
Yeah, one day at a time, andyeah, it's uh you know, uh it's
interesting you say that becausesometimes um you forget, you
forget to uh think of it and andjust pause and just look around
you and just be like, man, youknow, um it's like that that one

(42:02):
uh saying that I I I've seenonline and social media, uh it's
something along the lines of umyou've dreamt about where you
are now at some point and nowyou're here, so enjoy it, right?
Enjoy it.
But um I I think sometimes I youmove so fast that you forget,
and you know, I gotta do abetter job at passing and just

(42:25):
looking around and just beingeven more grateful, right?
I'm already grateful for uhwhere I am now, but even more I
think uh gratitude is key andit's gonna set the set the vibe,
set the the uh route to whereyou headed.

SPEAKER_02 (42:38):
You hit the nail on the head.
Gratitude is key, man.
And you know, I I've talked topeople before, um, and you know,
pe people have asked me, like,well, why do you compare
yourselves to others?
I don't compare myself to othermyself to others, but what I do
think is that we are all in amarathon together, and you have
to look to your left and to yourright and to your front and have

(43:01):
an idea who's behind you.
Because life is a marathon, andat the end of the day, if you
don't know where you're at, yourage, your career progression, if
you're not keeping track of thatin this marathon, then you're
gonna lose focus on what you'redoing.
And sometimes you can lose faithin yourself.
And yeah, 100%.
Yeah, and so that you hit theyou hit the nail on the head

(43:22):
with that one.
And you know, in the next yearfrom now or five years from now,
where do you see your law firmheaded?

SPEAKER_00 (43:31):
I think that uh definitely is going to grow.
I'm gonna have to uh hirepeople, get help from people,
and put together a team, puttogether a team.
And I I'm excited because I I'vebeen around uh different styles
of leaderships ever since I was18, right?
Since I was at 18, I was leading30-something year olds, right?

(43:53):
Um and being uh an attorney,I've been exposed to two
different leadership styles,leadership styles, and take take
uh the good and the bad, andthen I know what I what I want
to build.
I know the type of uh vibe Iwant to build at my firm, and I
and I want to make sureeverybody's happy and taken care

(44:14):
of because you take care of yourpeople, they'll take care of
you, right?
And check in, check in.
Um I see, I don't I I uh I'malready thinking about it before
even growing uh as big as I see,I see the uh the firm growing,
right?
But I'm already thinking, I'mgonna check with Joe.
Hey Joe, how are you doingtoday?

(44:35):
Um what do you see?
What do you see in the trenches,right?
Because you're not in thetrenches with them, right?
What in whatever they're doing.
So like what do you see?
What do you think will make theprocess better or faster, right?
And then, oh hey, uh uh Jose orhey uh um Stacy, like what do

(44:55):
you see?
What do you think?
You know, like um what couldmake us make make us better,
right?
What can make everything better?
And rather than all right, guys,we're doing it like this because
I want it this way, right?
Like because I don't knoweverything, nobody does, nobody
knows everything, and it'salways good to put your heads
together and come up with with aplan to level up together.

SPEAKER_02 (45:16):
So starting this new venture, have you had any um
early adjustments or uh had topivot um as you've been setting
up your your own business?

SPEAKER_00 (45:27):
Um I think that it's just different different things
happening day by day, right?
There's the the setup of uh thelogistics of not taking clients,
even though you could uh, forexample, that lady that had the
case, she wanted to bring itwith me.
Like I had to pivot therebecause I could have taken a
case, but I wouldn't be able, itwouldn't sit right with me.
You know, it wouldn't be goodsit uh well, like my conscience

(45:50):
would be like, no, like that'sjust not how I do things, that's
not how I want to run mybusiness, that's not how the
type of person I am or the typeof attorney I want to be.
So I just pivoted, even though Iknew that there was a that was a
case, two cases actually, but Ifelt much, much better giving
her my time, talking to her, andthen she's happy and then I wish
her the best.

(46:11):
So, you know, and yeah, so far,um, yeah, so far that's the the
main thing right now, and justsetting setting up things like
uh you need this program, youneed that program, uh, you need
to pay for this membership,right?
So um yeah, it's been a it'sbeen a learning adventure and
it's been it's been good.

SPEAKER_02 (46:30):
In the Marines, uh, when you were out training in
the field, did you ever haveFragos?

SPEAKER_00 (46:33):
No, no, no.

SPEAKER_02 (46:35):
Fragos is like a Fragos is like a it's like a
change, a change in plan.
Ah, okay.
Yeah.
So I mean, yeah, like beingbeing in the military, we're
used to that, right?
We're told to go here, do this,do that, and then as you get
there, they're like, all right,we got a frago, we're gonna go
somewhere else, we're gonna beover here now.
Like change becomes becomessomething as uh as common during

(46:58):
some operations and some somedifferent types of training out
there.
Uh leading your law firm,comparing it to the Marines in
the field, how does how doesthat compare?
How does leading a law firm nowcompare to leading Marines in
the field or managing cases as atrial attorney?

SPEAKER_00 (47:16):
I think uh it's definitely helped me because uh
you see you have the uh or Ihave the um the experience of
knowing what to do in order tomake sure the entire unit or
operation is running, right?
Um, in the military, you have tomake sure that the mission is
completed, whatever the missionis, right?
Um, whether it can be justgetting your unit uh to do the

(47:40):
training or get them qualifiedwith the shotgun and the rifle
and the pistol, right?
Um logistics, you have to geteverything together, plan
everything out step by step tomake sure nothing falls through.
Same thing with the with the thelaw firm, right?
You gotta make sure you get thecase and you take the right
cases.

(48:01):
What I mean by that is umsomething that that's gonna be
uh a good case, not just foryou, but for the client too.
Um, because I'm not I'm not thetype of person that's just gonna
be taking whatever case justbecause, and let's see what
happens, right?
Because it's a kind of like nota good use of your time.

(48:21):
So, and then you gotta see whatthe what like what the injuries
are, what motions need to befiled, what needs to be um
litigated, right?
Argued in court if or a case maynot need to go to court, it can
be maybe resolved before alawsuit's filed, right?
These are the type of thingsthat you have to keep in mind
and kind of run through youryour to-do list, right, on a

(48:44):
case.
And that's that's helped me outto be organized and just you
know, take it on and and do thesame thing.

SPEAKER_02 (48:51):
I mean, I'm sure in your field you have such a
spectrum of values, morals, andmoney in business.
So how does that how does thatwork for you when it comes to
taking cases and just takeright?
You know that you know that thatthat question because always
people always talk about thecrooked lawyer, like you're
talking about like uh what'sthat called, breaking bad um?

SPEAKER_00 (49:14):
Uh better cost all.

SPEAKER_02 (49:15):
Better cost all, right?
You you see that in Hollywood.
Yeah.
Um how would you how would yousay that that you manage those
those three things?
You got values, morals, and thenyou have the business side of it
all.

SPEAKER_00 (49:27):
Yeah, for me, morals and doing the right thing,
number one on the list.
Doesn't matter whether it'sgonna pay X amount, um, because
I that's how I I want to run mypractice, that's how type of
attorney I want to be, and typeof attorney and person I am.
And if if it means not takingthe case or not getting any

(49:50):
money out of it, then it's fine.
But it's interesting you saythat because coming from public
service as an attorney toprivate law firm, and now that I
I'm getting clients to where Ihave to charge them right,
depending on the case, right?
Um because even though personalinjury uh is contingency uh
contingency fee, sometimesfriends reach out and if I can

(50:12):
help them out, why wouldn't?
Or uh a friend of a friend,right?
Um for example, right?
I I've uh I've had someone reachout.
Uh yeah, thank you for havingme.
Yeah, yeah, no worries.
Yeah, even if it's just talkingto people and guiding them in
the right direction and tellingthem what to expect and things
like that, yeah.

(50:33):
Um, so I it got to the pointwhere like I felt bad for for a
little bit like charging money,but the way I balance that is I
ask around what the market valueis, right?
So that person needed help witha criminal defense case, right?
So to me, it's like I can helpand I have the experience to

(50:57):
help, so why not, right?
Why wouldn't I help a friendout, right?
And it would be kind of a wastenot to use that experience to
help him out, right?
So when it came down to theprice on the retainer, I was
like, I told my friend, like,man, I feel bad, but that's the
market value.
It's like, hey man, it's themarket value.
Like, welcome to the privateworld, welcome to the to the
business side of it.

(51:18):
I was not like, yeah, you'reright, you're right, man.
Um, I still give him a discount,but you know, I think it it was
difficult, like at first, uhadapting coming from public
service where you don't chargehim anything to now coming to
the private, private law oflife, and you know, it's just
part of uh it's just business,no hard feelings, but yeah, I

(51:38):
always try to do the rightthing.
I'm never gonna take advantageor try to take advantage of
anybody because why?
You know, you do good things inlife, good things will happen to
you.
But the opposite, I think also,you know, if you screw people
over, it's gonna catch up toyou.

SPEAKER_02 (51:53):
You're right, you're right, you're totally right.
I think that's the one thingthat military veterans struggle
with is giving up too muchvolunteer time, giving up um
giving up too much and justdoing things for God and
country.
Um in the private world, in thecivilian world, to be
successful, you can't always dothings for God and country.

(52:14):
And I always tell people, like,yeah, I don't want to do it, but
I'm gonna do it for God andcountry.
Because it's the right thing todo for my family, my community,
my neighbor.
Um, and it's the one thing thatI think I've struggled with with
this podcast is trying tomonetize um because I do have to

(52:35):
pay myself back for the expensesof what I've purchased to set
this up and then all thesubscriptions that I have.
Right, right.
But I struggle with it becauseit's like I enjoy doing this.
I enjoy talking to people likeyou.
Like I enjoy people that arejust whole natured and just
humbled.
And um, but I I struggle withthat as well because it's I

(53:00):
always say God and country, it'snot about me.
So yeah, yeah.
That's why.

SPEAKER_00 (53:04):
Thank you for that, KP.
Yeah, thank you so much forthat.
I mean, yeah, for keeping thisthis podcast, uh first of all,
for starting it, creating it,and keeping it going.
Um it it's it's a lot, it's agood you put a lot of good good
videos out there, differentpeople.
I like the fact that you bringon different guests and they
talk about different things,right?
All the way from from uhsmashing people on the jujitsu

(53:26):
mats to to what they do, right?
For a living.

SPEAKER_02 (53:29):
So well, the podcast is just me.
Like it's just me, mypersonality, my experiences.
I've I've told some people I'mnot interested, no.
I really thoroughly enjoybringing people back that I
think are just authentic andhonest.
So I mean, it's it's an honorfor me to sit back down here and
and talk to you again.

SPEAKER_00 (53:48):
Yeah, speaking of um Sorry, go ahead.
No, go ahead, man.
No, I was gonna say, I justthought of um when you were
saying you you do things for Godand Country.
I I one of the questions youasked me earlier was, where do I
see my firm and what I what whatdo I want right with it, right?
Um one of the main things, to behonest with you, is I want to be
able to grow enough for me toget involved with the community

(54:11):
way more, uh, give back waymore, right?
And just because it's the rightthing to do, if I'm able to, why
not, right?
Like I would love to uh at somepoint be able to um donate
scholarships for undergrad uhunder undergrad students or law
students, right?
I want to get to that point, tothat level.
I want to get to to where I'mable to tell this uh breast

(54:33):
cancer organization, hey, um Igot the podium fee or whatever,
you know, whatever it is.
I want to give back and be ableto give back.
Um, and it's interesting becauseuh before I launched my firm, uh
I I uh I would talk to peopleand then I would um there's
hopefully they don't they don'tcatch this, but it happened.

(54:54):
Better way to say it is somepeople thought that I was able
to write it off as a taxdeduction, and then I had to
sound like no, like this is me.
Like, like I I work for a firm.
I I don't get to write offanything, you know.
So I think they're like, really?
They're like, um, oh, we thoughtyou were on your own already.

(55:14):
And that's another thing that II wanted to share.
It's like it was it'sinteresting because a lot of
people um already uh would tellme, like, you're not on your
own.
I'm like, no, I work, I work fora firm.
And they're like, oh, I thoughtI thought you were.
But um, like going back to youdo it for for to get back to the
community, right?
You do it for for yourself, orlike you said, forgotten

(55:36):
country, and and yeah, that'sthat's what we have we do things
sometimes, right?

SPEAKER_02 (55:40):
Yeah, and you really got to find that that middle
marker somewhere of moderationwhere like you have to get paid,
but then you provide value andyou provide quality and personal
quality.
And I'm sure that's thedifference between hiring a
gigantic law firm versus hiringa smaller law firm, you get that
personal touch of like you whenyou call, you're gonna talk to

(56:03):
Leo.
Or you're gonna talk to Leo'sassistant, right?
You're not gonna talk to someattorney of an attorney of an
attorney or an intern that'sgonna show up for you.
I've heard people that that havedone that before.
They've hired an attorney andthen they expected the attorney
to show up, but instead some newrookie intern shows up and
they're like, what the heck?
I didn't hire this.

SPEAKER_00 (56:24):
Yeah, I think it, I think it happens.
Um, look, there's a lot of greatlaw firms that are really,
really big um in California andTexas.
And I think it comes down tojust the attorney that gets your
case assigned, right?
Just kind of like whatprosecutor, what public offender
would get your case assigned.
I would hear it all the time,right?

(56:44):
Um it's interesting because youwould never think that somebody
would complain about aprosecutor, right?
But they do.
They're like, oh, that theydidn't get like what was
supposed to happen, X, Y, and Z.
Same thing like with a publicoffender, like, I got a crappy
public offender, they didn't dothis, they didn't do that for
me.
Um, and then in the privateworld, in the the PI firm law
firms, I think it just dependsalso who you get as an attorney,

(57:08):
right?
Because there's a lot of lawfirms out there that are huge
and have great, great associateattorneys, and they're like
amazing.
And some of them might be like,man, I want I need to learn how
to do that, right?
I need to learn how to do thosetype of cases.
But you're right.
With my with me, like you talkto me, I'll talk, uh, I'll walk
you through the process and justtry and see what I can do for
you.

(57:28):
And if I can help you, becauseI'm not gonna uh just sign you
up or sign up the case when Iknow that there may not be a
remedy or there may not may notbe a a good resolution for you,
right?
Um I literally just told this touh a client I have a meeting
with um this next coming week.
I told him, okay, so from whatfrom what I'm getting, you need

(57:50):
X, Y, and Z.
And that requires uh payment upfront.
Um and it was a a friend of afriend.
Remember, I told you how I'm notI'm focusing on on personal
injury, that's my my mainpractice.
But if I can help, why not?
Right.
So I told him, let me let metalk to uh my buddy because I
need to find out what exactlyyou need.

(58:11):
And if I can help you, I willbecause I'm not gonna take your
money just to take your money.
Like, why would I do that?
So he's like, Oh yeah, Iappreciate it.
Thanks.
Anyways, called him back andtold him, like, I can help you.
Um, and then we're gonna meetand talk more details about it.
But yeah, you you gotta be yougotta be able to talk to the
client at least a couple times.
Um, I still hear it nowadays.

(58:31):
Um people um say, unfortunately,that they've never talked to an
attorney, right?
I I don't I really don't knowwho's doing it out there, but
I've heard it too.
Like um some clients say like, Ihaven't talked to an attorney
the the entire time that my casestarted.
So it's just it's kind of likeuh in every profession, there's
there's uh like in the militaryor professions, there's the the

(58:54):
the the great uh attorney, thegreat police officer, the great
doctor, the great um whateverprofession.
And then there's also kind oflike the nozzle grade or like
the bad apples, right?
Like I think that that's alsoum, which I think is important
to for people to look into whothey're gonna hire, right?
When you go talk to an attorney,and I remember when when me and

(59:16):
my dad went to talk to like nineattorneys, um, because he had uh
he had uh some some court issue,nothing, nothing, nothing crazy.
It's just he needed an attorney,right?
And we went to talk to ninedifferent ones, and it was the
last one that we we sat down, wetalked to them, and you could
you could just feel their vibe,you feel who they are, what
they're about, and you thetrust, you could just feel it,

(59:37):
right?
And that's what I aspire toalways provide for whoever
contacts me, whoever wants me tohelp them on their on their uh
case, right?
And I want to make sure that Ieven tell them like look, um,
talk to different attorneys.
I I always recommend it becausethat way you I tell them
literally you get to feel thattheir vibe, talk to them, see

(59:58):
who they are, what they'reabout.
And then you decide, you know?

SPEAKER_02 (01:00:02):
Yeah.
Yeah.
And I understand what you'resaying, because even doing this
podcast, I get that too.
I've had guests on before, and Idon't know what it was.
It was something about theirvibe.
And I was just like, yeah, thisis not, this is not like someone
that I'm gonna ask to come backon again.
And I this is probably amistake.

SPEAKER_00 (01:00:20):
Um this is not it here.

SPEAKER_02 (01:00:23):
Yeah, man.
Like, you know, it's exactly,and it it that's it's important.
It's important to resonate withpeople, it's important to read
people, it's important for themto trust you, first of all,
because it's like the theirlivelihood is in your hands, you
know, and and that's that's hugefor people to to have that that
type of trust when when theyhire you on board to represent

(01:00:45):
them uh in the arena, you know,like as you like to say.

SPEAKER_00 (01:00:49):
Yeah, yeah.
And and you know, not all caseshave to go to court, right?
It's always uh I always tell theclients if if we can get the
other side to takeresponsibility and actually uh
provide a resolution orcompensation that's uh fair and
that's deserving of whateverinjuries you have, or and if
they don't want to takeresponsibility, then we have to

(01:01:11):
proceed with the lawsuit, andthen they still don't want to do
it, then we have to go to courtin front of a jury and let them
decide.
Um but that that yeah, you'reright.
I mean, it reminds me too of umuh a person that reached out and
uh they they they literallysaid, Um, yeah, I talked to all
the attorneys, but to be honestwith you, like they're all

(01:01:32):
sissies.
Like, can you think you can helpme?
I'm like, yeah, yeah, I can helpyou.
It's like, yeah, man, I just Idon't know.
I just didn't I didn't like likeI didn't like that.
I was like, all right, well,look, let's do it.
You know, I'll help you out andlet's go.
And you know, I think like Isaid earlier, like what sets
Lafuente Lao apart?
The clients and their feedbackto me.
And it's just that tells me, andit's very encouraging for me,

(01:01:53):
like that I I'm doing the rightthing by the clients, I'm doing
the right thing, I'm on theright path.
I'm not where I want to be yet,but guess what?
Day by day, day by day.

SPEAKER_02 (01:02:02):
Day by day, you're setting yourself apart just
through your character,personality, values, morals, all
that stuff, man.
And I I feel it.
I mean, at the end of the day,like even on this end of the mic
and this end of the camera, man,I I really think that you're
gonna go extremely far.
Um, what do you think, what doyou hope your legacy will be,
both as an attorney and as abusiness owner in this space?

SPEAKER_00 (01:02:25):
I wanna, you know, like that that saying goes, you
know, it's it's it's how youit's not what you do for people,
it's how you make them feel, howthey remember you, how you
impact their life.
I wanna be able to impactpeople, not just as my not just
my clients, but also peopleoutside of that attorney-client
relationship.

(01:02:45):
Just people in general continueto do good things and impact
their life in a in a meaningfulway.
Um, whatever it is, right?
The little things matter.
The little things matter, youknow, like I you could see
somebody and just offer them topay for their breakfast,
whatever, you know, whatever thecase is, like, that's what I
want my legacy to be.
That's what I want to be knownfor.
Um, impacting people in apositive, meaningful way.

(01:03:09):
That's huge, man.

SPEAKER_02 (01:03:10):
I always tell people, legacy to me is really
important.
I think I saw an interview nottoo long ago where a young lady
was asking Mike Tyson aboutlegacy, and he's like, Legacy,
who gives a shit about legacy?
Blah, blah, blah.
But that's Mike Tyson.
Like, legacy is to me is reallyimportant.
We don't know how long we haveon this earth.
Some people die very young, somepeople live to a very old age.

(01:03:34):
To me, I don't know how muchtime I have left.
But what I want to do is I wantto leave a mark, a meaningful
mark, um, to help our humanrace, to help our society, to
help the future generations tocome.
And that's really what gets meup to do this podcast over and
over again.
It's not I don't I don't makeany money off of this, um, not

(01:03:55):
yet.
I hope to.
Um so I can pay myself back.
But um what gets me excitedabout it is the hope that maybe
we can help tread the path for abetter future.
Because especially in ourcountry, our society today, our
world needs it more than ever.
Yeah.
100%, yeah.

(01:04:16):
And you know, that's probablysomething you'll do at some
point where you'll you'll hirenew attorneys and you'll be in
charge of mentoring them andbringing them along in the
process and kind of molding theminto your template of character.
Would you agree?

SPEAKER_00 (01:04:32):
Yeah, that would be that would be great.
It would be great to to get theopportunity opportunity to do
that for sure.
Um I'll we kind of um get alittle uh experience of that
with the interns that we hadwhen I went for the county.
You see them coming, they'refirst year, second year, third
year law students, and you know,you you get to you get to see
them, you get to uh teach them,and you know, it's uh it's

(01:04:55):
great.
I mean, like uh going back toimpacting people's lives in a
meaningful way, right?
One of my um interns, uh helives up in San Francisco
somewhere.
Anyways, he he was asked, do youknow any California attorneys
that can help with this issue orwhatever, right?
And he thought of me right away,but you know, even though he

(01:05:19):
didn't say it, I think it's justthe way that I treated him, what
mentorship I provided, and thefact that I I I always treated
him as my peer, not as below meor as my intern, right?
Like, like I always talk to him,even when I introduced him to
clients, like, hey, this is thisis my colleague, uh, so and so.
And uh, and I think because ofthat, that's why immediately

(01:05:41):
he's like, Leo, right?
Because imagine if I would havetreated him the opposite, yeah,
like um, like if he was likebelow me or like not worthy.
Yeah, yeah.
Like, Leo, no, I don't knowanybody.
I know this guy, but I'm notgonna I'm not gonna attend it,
right?
Um, and you know, one of thethings that reminds me, um so,

(01:06:02):
so I was just so grateful andalso like I appreciated the fact
that so there's um investigatorsthat I we work with closely on
cases at my uh my first uh lawlaw job.
And when I left, we were at somegathering and I was uh at a
table with them and theyliterally told me like, hey,

(01:06:25):
like we want to say thank youbecause you were always chill.
Like you always talk to us, likelike other attorneys, they were
so condescending, and they wouldlike yell at us and try to like
talk down to us, and like younever did that.
I was like, I'm like, oh well,like, oh thank like thank you,
but I mean, but also why wouldanybody do that?
Like I was actually surprisedthat there was people like that

(01:06:48):
treat like talking to them likethat or treating them that way
because I if I would have knownabout it, I would have been
like, hey man, like chill, likewhy are you talking to them like
that, right?
But um, yeah, I think yeah, Ithink that's that goes back to
the the type of impact andlegacy like we were talking
about.
Like, I want to be known forsomebody who never does that,

(01:07:08):
does the opposite, right?
Encourages and lifts people upand you know, just does that.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 (01:07:15):
Yeah, that's a great way, a great foundation to start
a business.
I just want to finish up thepodcast by asking some specific
questions for you.
Um, right now, like what's abook or a podcast or tool that
you're leaning on right now thathelps you grow this business?

SPEAKER_00 (01:07:30):
Right now, um, so I'm I'm I'm listening to that
older book, uh Rich Dad PoorDad.
Again, I already read the book.
I listened to the to the podcastor the audiobook, but also this
book, I forget the author, I canlook it up, but uh it's called
Um You Could Just Do Things.
And that book basically talksabout um entrepreneurship and

(01:07:55):
people's stories of how theystarted, what steps they took.
Um, and to me it's it'sinspiring reading about that.
And even the author himself, um,let me I want to look it up
because I want to make sure um Iget it.
But that author himself, um hehe also he actually quit
college.

(01:08:16):
He's uh he his uh the theexpectation you know is usually
like um go to college.
Which another thing I believein.
Yeah, like some some there'ssome great trade schools out
there, like for electricians,and doesn't you don't have to go
the conventional way, right?
No.

SPEAKER_02 (01:08:28):
Um let me see.
I actually had a conversationnot too long ago with some
coworkers, and um, you know, mywith my daughters, I've I've
told them, I've told them like,hey, you know, you don't have to
go to college.
I would rather you understandhow money works.
I would rather you understandhow business works.
Some of the best innovators ofthis country um did not go to

(01:08:49):
college.
So I was told I was told to goto college.
I went to college, I've got twograduate degrees, MBA and MSA in
organizational leadership, MBAsin project management.
Let's go.
Congratulations, yeah.
And I'm telling you, like,that's not always the route.
Like, trade schools are greattoo.
I know guys that are justkilling it, and gals that are
killing it, doing uh eitherbeautician stuff, they're doing

(01:09:12):
stuff like nails, they'rethey're running their own
businesses, killing it.
Um, electrical businesses outthere, because they understand
how business works and theyunderstand how money works, and
that's more important than justchecking the block.
Yeah, you got to get away fromthat.

SPEAKER_00 (01:09:27):
Yeah, yeah.
I found the book.
So, yeah, so it is called YouCan Just Do Things, and the
author's Jay Yang, and it prettymuch advocates uh to take
initiative and creating your ownopportunities, and he tells
stories that inspired him toessentially pave his own way to
get to where he is.
He actually shares his uh hisfirst move was he not cold

(01:09:50):
called, but just sent a letterto this marketing company, and
he was, I think, like 17 or likesuper young, and he landed it.
And it was just one of thosethings where he just did it,
right?
To see, let's see what happens.
What's the worst that couldhappen?
You know?
So, yeah, so he goes throughthat that that book essentially
tells uh stories and and andtalks about taking initiative
and creating opportunities foryourself and just kind of

(01:10:13):
putting that fear to the sidewhen needed.

SPEAKER_02 (01:10:17):
Stepping into that dark room fearlessly and
figuring out where where's thelight, right?
Yeah, exactly.
Yeah.
So, Leo, uh, as we wrap up thepodcast, was there anything that
I didn't mention that you'd liketo cover?

SPEAKER_00 (01:10:30):
No, just uh thank you so much for uh having me
back, having to podcast, andthank you for everything you do
for the community, the military,the jiu-jitsu community, and uh
let's go.
Without fear of success, it'swhat I in Spanish is similar
lexito, without fear of success.
Let's do it, man.
Do you have your website up yet?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
It's uh www.leofuenteslaw.com.

SPEAKER_02 (01:10:51):
All right.
We'll make sure you put thatdown in the show notes as well
as the Instagram account thatyou have.
I know that you're also onTikTok too, so I'll make sure I
put those down there as well andtag those.
And uh it's always a privilegeto have you back on the Morning
Formation podcast.
Uh today you've shown us thatlaunching a business isn't just
about opening doors, it's aboutbuilding a brand, creating
trust, and standing up forpeople when they need it the

(01:11:14):
most.
Um, you know, the FormationNation, if you've learned
anything from this conversation,it's that the fight for justice
isn't fair.
But without the right advocatein your corner, you can never
level the playing field forsure.
Leo, I want to thank you forsharing your journey and your
vision for this new chapter.
We'll be watching and rootingfor you and for your success.
So thank you for the uh for thetime today.

(01:11:35):
I know you're an extremely busyprofessional.

SPEAKER_00 (01:11:37):
Thank you so much.
You know, and uh before I go, Iwant to offer, like I always do,
anybody that wants to talk abouthow to get to law school, how to
become an attorney, justanything, reach out, send me a
message.
I I've done it many times, soI'm here.

SPEAKER_02 (01:11:53):
Thank you.
Yeah, yeah.
Great mentor right here.
So make sure you, if you'regoing down that that track or
that career field, I mean, justeven someone to talk to.
I mean, Leo would be your guy.
Uh, if you're a Marine currentlyserving right now, or you know a
Marine that's currently servingright now, maybe it's a son or a
daughter, or anyone in themilitary in general.
Um, talking to folks like Leo isgoing to help you figure out

(01:12:16):
which path.
And it's gonna clear the theoverall vision on where you're
headed to.
So, as always, formation nation,I want you to stay tuned, stay
focused, and stay motivated.
Warriors, fall out.