September 6, 2024 • 46 mins
Can you imagine transforming from a college football player to a successful lawyer with a thriving law firm? Join us as we sit down with David Menocal, founder of Menocal Law Group, to explore his incredible journey. David's transition from Furman University athlete to a legal professional in Las Vegas is nothing short of inspiring. He opens up about the invaluable experiences he gained at two law firms before launching his own practice, and how he and his wife built their burgeoning firm through authentic client relationships and word-of-mouth referrals, achieving a remarkable 250 clients in just their first year.
David also sheds light on the complex yet fascinating world of personal injury law in Las Vegas, where auto accidents, dog bites, and slip and fall cases are common. Through a personal story about being rear-ended by a drunk driver, David provides actionable advice for accident victims, emphasizing the importance of adequate insurance coverage and being prepared for the unexpected. This conversation is packed with practical insights on navigating personal injury incidents, making it a must-listen for anyone looking to understand the intricacies of this legal field.
Ever wondered what it takes to grow a law firm authentically? David shares his philosophy on maintaining a classy and modern brand, far removed from flashy advertisements. Discover his strategies for fostering meaningful client connections, offering direct attorney-client interactions, and providing extra services like Ubers and car rentals to help clients stay on track. We also discuss the importance of balancing work with family life and the profound impact of having a supportive spouse. From strategies for firm growth to personal anecdotes, this episode provides a comprehensive look at the world of personal injury law and the keys to both professional and personal success.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
Welcome to Vegas Circle Podcast with your hosts,
paki and Chris.
We are people who arepassionate about business,
success and culture.
This is our platform toshowcase people in our city who
make it happen.
On today's podcast, we're goingto be exploring personal injury
and criminal defense and how tobetter prepare yourself when a
situation arises, either withyourself or maybe even a loved
one.
Welcome our guest to a circle.
(00:32):
Founder of Minicow Law Group,mr David Minicow.
So welcome to the circle,brother.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
Thanks, Chris, Thanks Baki.
Shout out to our mutual friendthat connected us and got us on
the phone together Ace Pachenko,great dude, Been a guest of the
podcast too, but let's jumpright in, man.
So why'd you jump into law?
What made you get into thatfield of work?
Speaker 2 (00:55):
So I'm originally from Georgia and I graduated
undergrad, played football at aschool in South Carolina, furman
University, and I graduated in08.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
And I was like right country was rock bottom.
Yeah, for real, I moved in 07.
So then next year?
Yeah, yeah, you already know.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
So I was originally thinking about doing sales.
I didn't really want to go tograduate school.
I did well in undergrad but Iwas like, nah, I want to do
something different, let's gointo sales, did like the whole
cold calling thing for three,four months and I'm like, nah,
this ain't for me.
So I always thought that, yeah,maybe I'll do law school.
But after that experience withthe outside sales I was like,
(01:26):
all right, this is like a signI'm doing law school.
So I went to law school atGeorgia State in Atlanta.
I'm originally from a littlesmall town called Gainesville,
which is like an hour north ofAtlanta.
And then I lived in Atlanta forfour years, went to law school
there and I was coming out toVegas a lot and I ended up
deciding, hey, I want topractice law here.
(01:47):
I mean, I was in my mid-20s,you know loving life right.
And then my last semester inlaw school I did something
called a visiting semester atUNLV, and that was a blessing
because I got to be here likeanother five, six months.
I wasn't here, only like acouple of weeks.
I could really get my feet wet,sure, and get used to, you know
, the the city is for a mid-20year old bro it's like coming
(02:07):
from the south too.
It's uh yeah, it's definitely adifferent scene, but um no, I'm
super glad I did law because thething with law is it's so
diverse.
I mean you could do any type oflaw you want, like my one of my
best friends in town, tony.
He's a commercial litigator,does contracts business,
completely different than what Ido in personal injury, and you
(02:28):
know we balance things off eachother.
He'll refer me cases, I'll tryto refer him stuff too, but it's
like night and day what he doesand I do so with a law degree
you can just do like so much.
You can do entertainment lawLike you won't be you know,
pigeonholed and just doing onething so sure, yeah, kind of
moving through.
Speaker 3 (02:46):
Like you know, graduating law school, getting
your degree, obviously it's abig challenge, right?
You know you come out and youhave a lot of responsibilities,
or backlogged a little bit, youknow, do you have an obligation
to go and practice law for acertain amount of time before
you can open up a firm, or canyou jump right and open a firm
right from day one?
Speaker 2 (03:00):
Yeah, you can jump, jump in and open up a firm right
from day one.
But I mean it's smart to getthat experience first Most
people won't jump in right away.
I mean, it's very risky for acouple of reasons, Like one how
are you going to get theclientele?
No one knows you and in myworld like personal injury world
.
It's so competitive, you know,people do some crazy stuff to
get clients, even illegally, asyou can imagine, right, but so
(03:25):
you're competing with that, andthen you're competing with
people that are doing it theright way too, so it's just a
lot of risk involved.
So you know when I not to fastforward too much, but I worked
for two firms, you know, priorto open up my own law firm a
year and a half ago, and I'mglad that I didn't go out on my
own after that first firm, eventhough I worked there for six
years, because the second firm Iworked at for three and a half
(03:45):
years.
I got even more experiencethere and they really taught me
how to run my own thing.
So my wifey and I you know Iwas- telling you that my wife is
very integral and our wholefirm.
I mean she helps run it with me.
I mean we'll be up till 1, 2 amcutting checks.
I mean she does all thebookkeeping, client disbursement
(04:06):
, all the merch that I showedyou and brought right Like she's
in charge of all that.
So I mean she's the backbone,you know.
But we were averaging a coupleclients a week, just word of
mouth, organically, noadvertising or anything.
Because I was working for afirm at the time, sure, and we
were averaging two word of mouthreferrals a week.
At my last firm, you know, Iwas 36, 37.
Two word of mouth referrals aweek at my last firm, I was 36,
37 at the time.
Our son just turned four now,so he was like two then and
(04:28):
we're like, why not?
This is the time right.
So we're like, if we can justdo two a week, that's 100
clients a year, no overhead withmarketing, billboards,
commercials, any of that.
And we were just hoping to getthat and we ended up signing 250
clients in the first year andwith no, just all word of mouth,
so like that's big in thatspace, right, yeah, yeah, and
the thing is too.
is like the quality of cases,too Like that's what I wanted to
(04:51):
get into.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
I'm so happy you mentioned it, yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
You can.
You could sign up a hundredcases that are like some are
good, some are bad, but then youcould sign up 50 cases that are
like really good quality, thatare going to be the equivalent
of those hundred other cases.
Right, and that's what we'rereal, real big on there's.
You know there's firms in townthat'll just sign up everything
that walks through the door, andthen they'll just want the
velocity.
Yeah, they want the volume, andthen they drop the client.
(05:15):
I've never been a big fan ofthat and I'll tell the client
straight up like, look, I don'twant to do this to you because
this is what's likely going tohappen.
But I'll give you this adviceand maybe you want to get a
second opinion go to these otherfirms and I've had that happen
before.
They do that, they go toanother firm and they get
dropped and I'm like, yeah, I'mreally sorry that happened to
you.
So we've been blessed with somereally good, good quality cases
(05:35):
and our biggest settlement isconfidential, but we can
disclose a number we just gottwo weeks ago and it was $9
million, which, for a firm ofour size, it's me and my two
case managers, intakespecialists and then my wife, so
there's five of us, but for anyfirm that's a big deal.
Speaker 1 (05:55):
That's huge, not bragging, but I'm proud of what
we accomplished, 100%.
Speaker 2 (05:59):
You should be proud, though, to be honest with you.
Yeah, yeah, no, we really are,but it's just crazy how we even
got that client, because duringcovid, like you guys might
remember, like traffic ticketswere on hold, they were on limbo
sure no one was really gettingthem fixed right.
but I had a, you know, a plug atthe court would help me out,
and you know she, uh, she wasawesome.
(06:19):
So I was just going to courtone day it was back in 2019 just
to show some love and give hera gift card, and I happened to
be in her office or whatever.
And then there was anotherjudge that happened to be
walking by and not the samejudge that she clerked for and
we just started chopping it upand she ended up referring me
the same case we're talkingabout.
(06:40):
Wow, and had I not have beenthere that day?
And not like patting myself onthe back, like, oh, I'm giving
her a gift card, but you knowwhat I mean like had I not have
been there that day.
Speaker 3 (06:47):
Being proactive, just show some love.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
I never would have got there because that I hadn't
seen that judge in a few years,you know, and she's just like,
oh, are you working at this firm?
Now?
It was before I opened up myown firm, so it was just like,
uh, that one was a big one forus and, um, yeah, I couldn't be
prouder and you guys have beenin business for you said about a
year and a half, two years.
A year and a half, yes, februaryof last year, so it's just um,
(07:10):
but I always had that kind ofmindset, though, with the uh
like, with the traffic tickets,so like my main hustle when I
moved here and I moved here in2012 I didn't know a lot of
people.
I lived on the strip at sky lasvegas for like four years and I
was like know what?
I got to do something different, because I didn't grow up here.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
I don't have that advantage.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
So, like my hustle, I got my own business cards made
because my one firm did not havethe best business card.
So I got my own cards made,like you know, credit card style
business cards, and I reallyjust hit the nightlife scene,
you know we go out all the time.
Excess like seen you know wouldgo out all the time excess, like
everywhere, right, and it wastell all the people in the
industry hey, I'll do yourtraffic tickets for free, small
claims for free, you get a dui,like I'll help you out with that
(07:50):
.
And I just kept doing that overthe years and that's how I like
.
Organically, we're getting alot of word of mouth and you
know, as all the word of mouthare building up, then it just it
kept going and going.
But uh, awesome and it comeswith a lot of stress yeah
because, I mean, our big sell istoo that you know we're
one-on-one.
Speaker 3 (08:09):
It's a personalized experience okay you're the one
who's essentially on every oneof these cases.
Right, you're trying to mccore,you're doing all the stuff.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
Obviously you have people assisting you on
paperwork things but you're theone actually having to go to the
court for it yeah, and that andthat's the thing, because the a
lot of firms in town likeanyone that's gonna get anyone
that gets an accident andthey're looking for a personal
injury attorney.
I'll always say take a billboardyeah, do your research you know
I'm saying like talk to people,because the average law firm
here it's a non-attorneyhandling it, meaning like you
(08:39):
know case managers and don't bewrong, they're amazing.
I'd be nothing without my casemanagers.
I know that more than anyone.
But you got to have attorneysnegotiating with the insurance
adjusters and stuff like that.
So there's a lot ofnon-attorneys handling the whole
case from A to Z.
Most of the attorneysespecially the ones on these
billboards and stuff, withouthating, they don't even know the
client's names.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
So that's really our big sell when you hire us, I'm
the main point of contact.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
And I'm the one really quarterbacking the case
me and my case manager together.
But I'm the one quarterbackingit, negotiating and all that.
And normally when the attorneyis more involved then you get
better results.
But I take a lot of pride inthat and it feels good when a
client really is like man, youweren't lying.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
I want to step back a little bit.
So how do you choose who youwant to work with as a client?
Is that?
Is there something specific,like you were saying, like you
know, like 50 cases versus 100cases or 250 cases?
Is there something that you'respecifically looking for or?
For me to sign up a client forto sign up a client and choose
to work with them yes, I meanusually has to fit like a
criteria.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
I mean, okay, I do all kinds.
I mean I exclusively dopersonal injury.
Now, like the plan when weopened a year and a half ago was
like we'll do some criminaljust to help with overhead.
Sure, but we just hit theground running so fast on
personal injury we're like I gotto cut out the criminal.
Yeah, so I just refer it to afriend of mine in town.
But I do auto accidents, dogbite cases, slip and falls, all
(10:06):
kind of personal injury, butprobably more than 90% of it's
auto accidents Cause.
let's be honest, like it's Vegasright, I mean before I lose my
train of thought.
I mean me and wifey.
We got rear-ended by a drunkdriver last year and yeah, I
know, I mean we're, uh, I'm donewith treatment, but she just
had her second injection.
So that's actually I look at itas a blessing in a way, because
now when I talk to clientsyou've actually went hey look,
I'm going through the same thingyou are.
(10:27):
We had a, we had a nice, youknow, brand new car is still not
fixed this was june of lastyear because the parts are on
back order and stuff.
So it's like, you know, becausea lot of people when they get
an accident.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
Yeah, yeah, because it was like a year and a half
literally, yeah, yeah yeah, alittle over.
Speaker 2 (10:42):
Yeah, A little over a year or so, Like you know,
because the clients a lot oftimes they're more worried about
their car than they are theirinjuries, you know they got to
get to work.
How are they going to help withthat?
So I try to make it as easy onthem as possible, like I'll
order their lifts for them andeverything, like I don't care,
(11:09):
like my to take be taken care of.
And yeah, it does get stressfulat times trying to do too much,
but it's just like it's in mynature.
So I just I don't really knowanother way, you know.
So I'm trying to learn todelegate a little bit more, you
know, but uh, but no, I can tellthem, hey, I'm going through
the same thing you are.
So uh, normally, though, for,like, auto accident, you want to
see that, hey, it's clearliability, like we actually are
going to win that argument thatit was the other person's fault
and then you need to have someinsurance there.
So, luckily, in our case, itwas a 19-year-old kid that hit
(11:31):
us.
It was the night they had theVGK parade.
Speaker 1 (11:35):
Oh, when they won the Stanley Cup.
Speaker 2 (11:37):
Yeah.
So we happened to be at theWestgate for some Latin American
Chambers party that had anevent.
And we're going back on theSahara and we're about to get
onto the 15 on-ramp and there'sa yield sign right there and so
many accidents happen rightthere and this kid just plowed
us and we get out, we're stunnedand I'm like nah, no, my
clients are there.
And there's like 10 or 15 kidsdeep in this old pickup truck.
(11:59):
They're taking out beer casesand cans and all this stuff
Picking out beer cases and cansand all this stuff.
Luckily the kid, the driver,everyone left him, but he stayed
on the scene and in Vegas, likemost of the time they know
you're going to get arrested.
They're deuces.
But he stayed on the scene.
He was cool.
He was like, hey, are you?
Okay?
Cops came and everything, buthe only had the state minimum
(12:20):
insurance, which is what mostpeople have.
Right, if they don't havesignificant assets, they're like
.
I'm just going to get the bareminimum because that's all the
state requires.
So it's really important thatyou load up on your own
insurance and that's what wehave on ours, so we're actually
able to make also a claimagainst our own insurance
company.
But most people don't know that.
I'm glad you're bringing thatup.
Speaker 1 (12:39):
I'm going to look at both of y'all's policies.
Yeah, for sure, I'm going toread that up.
Speaker 2 (12:42):
You're going to look at both of y'all's policies and
be like all right, we're goingto get y'all right Because it's
dangerous.
Speaker 1 (12:47):
You might not even be all right.
Yeah, because it's superdangerous in Vegas.
You see it all the time, likeyou were saying, drunk accident,
drunk car accidents.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
I or a dog bite right .
Speaker 1 (13:01):
What would you recommend just kind of the cliff
notes of what they should do?
Speaker 3 (13:04):
And kind of on that too, because right now they
don't, because I noticed thatbeing an accident like please
don't even show up anymore.
Speaker 1 (13:10):
That was another piece.
Yeah, that was another piece.
Speaker 3 (13:11):
So kind of back down to that like hide that and play
a part in that.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
Yeah, great point.
So since they don't, I meanwhen I moved here in 2012, I
mean some kid did a hit and runon me then or whatever, but I
didn't nearly see as manyaccidents as there are now.
So because of that you've gotto do even better cop work,
because they're not showing upmost of the time right, unless
there's like a DUI or somethinglike that involved.
(13:35):
So first thing was you know youget out of the car.
You need to take pictures,mainly of their license plate,
because even if they decide tobounce, at least you got some.
We can run the plates throughthe dmv.
We'll find the last four of thevin, we'll put the plates and
last for the vin in the dmvwebsite and it'll tell us who
the insurance is so legal hasthe ability to do that.
Speaker 3 (13:52):
I didn't know that yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (13:53):
As long as I have that the license plate, I can
find out the last four of thevin and then go on dmv website
and find who they're insuredwith oh cool.
So so the first thing I wouldget is the license plate and
then after that I would try toget their driver's license.
Um, if it's like a rear ender,like typically that's not like a
big fight like by the otherinsurance company, but if it's
(14:15):
like I tell clients to do thisall the time, uh, if they and
like I'll have my phone on metoo, they'll have people call me
at the scene 10 pm, 11 pm, likeI'm we're literally 24-7.
Speaker 1 (14:26):
Oh, wow.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
And I tell people don't feel bad.
Like my wife knows, we workhard in our family.
Like you can call me whenever,I don't care, I'll pick up, but
yeah, I'll tell them.
So if it's like a side swipesituation and it's like you know
, a lot of times people, people,will lie right.
The other person will oh, theywent to my lane to say their
insurance and I'll have clientstell me yeah, but they said that
they were going to tell theirinsurance company.
(14:47):
I'm like do not believe them.
Yeah, they're gonna protectthemselves video them without
them noticing, because that'slegal.
You can tape record someone inperson without their permission.
So just video record themwithout them noticing, like have
the phone, like so they don'tnotice, and like be like, hey,
like you know what were youthinking there?
Get them.
Then they admit it and then youhave that, just in case they go
tell their insurance somethingdifferent, something different.
(15:09):
Then we're like, boom, we gotthem, you know.
So I would say, uh for sure,license plate, get their
driver's license insurance card,if they have it on them.
And then, if it's a, if itcould be like a wishy-washy on
the liability, like get a.
I mean I would get a video ofthem regardless, even if it was
a rear-ender, um, because you'regoing to be there for a minute,
you know.
I mean, generally people aregoing to like if you say, hey,
(15:30):
we called the cops, if you'rewaiting on the cops and you, and
if they try to leave at thatpoint, well now it's a hit and
run, and if we have the licenseplate, it's even more.
We got them now, as an attorney,I'm gonna say all there's
punitive damages.
Now they did a hit and run.
So now the insurance carrier isgoing to have to pay even more
money because their driver did ahit and run on you.
Speaker 1 (15:48):
Yeah, yeah.
So those are kind of like it'scrazy times, man.
It's crazy times Because I'vehad all of that happen.
I've got hit by a drunk driver,luckily not here in Vegas.
Yeah yeah, same, good call.
I lost my train of thought.
We were talking about when theydon't have insurance, right?
(16:10):
So you were mentioning likebecause you find people all the
time, a lot of times they'redoing hit and run, either
because they legal, whateverlegal situation is or they don't
, just don't have insurance, sothey're just out.
What do you recommend?
Speaker 2 (16:19):
You said mentioning getting higher insurances to
cover yourself for the liabilityside, right, yeah, so there's
something called uninsuredmotorists, correct, and then
underinsured motorists.
So in Nevada, if you have one,you have the other.
You can't have only one, youhave to have both so uninsured
is that situation.
They bounce and let's say we gotthe license plate but online it
shows that they just terminatedtheir insurance, like a couple
(16:41):
months ago.
So if we confirm with that,we'll still open up a claim with
that insurance and if thatinsurance that person confirms
there's no coverage coverage,then we're hoping our client has
uninsured motorists.
Underinsured is what me and mywife and I are going through
right now.
The kid had insurance but itwasn't enough to cover our whole
treatment god.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
So we'll ask everything the total bill, the
whole nine, yeah, pain andsuffering everything.
Speaker 2 (17:04):
So we'll ask his insurance to pony up their max
coverage, and then we'll ask ourstate farm to chip in as well
yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (17:11):
And if no insurance, can you go after like, so say, I
get injured and they don't haveinsurance?
What does it look like from adamages standpoint?
Do I have any authority to beable to get anything out of that
, or I'm really so that that's avery hard thing.
Speaker 2 (17:27):
so if the person doesn't have insurance, I always
tell people like I just hadactually someone ask me this
today and I was like if theydon't have enough money to pay
their monthly premium, they'relikely not going to have enough
assets to satisfy any kind ofjudgment if we were to go to
trial kind of thing.
But there are some exceptions.
I was telling the potentialclient today it wasn't a hit and
run, he got hit, the kid didn'thave insurance and then the
(17:50):
potential client was talking towho didn't have uninsured voters
.
But it was a criminal, like itwas an intentional.
um, it was like assault with adebt, like a battery with a car,
like he hit him on purpose yeah, it was terrible, so I was like
hey, man, there's actuallysomething called the victims of
crime, that the state has a fundthat you can apply for, and
they'll cover up to a certainamount, uh, for your medical
(18:11):
treatment, everything.
And then the best way, though,would be through the criminal
case.
If it's like a criminal matter,you just tell the da hey,
here's my medical bills.
It's called restitution.
Make that defendant payrestitution if they want any
kind of good plea deal, so thatI mean that's why it's a
blessing that I did criminaldefense for a couple years,
because sometimes there's somecrossovers there.
(18:33):
But if it's a non-criminalmatter, like I said, generally
it's going to be very toughbecause we could go to trial and
get a huge jury verdict.
But it's like, how are we goingto collect on that money?
And then I'll get a lot ofpeople that tell me what about
the house?
They own a house, but there'shomestead law in Nevada so
you're not even going to be ableto lean up their house anyway.
I didn't know that.
Speaker 1 (18:50):
Yeah, A lot of people set their companies up, set
LLCs up and protect their assetsand the whole nine.
Oh yeah.
Yeah, it could be a littlefunky man.
Yeah, no, for sure.
Speaker 3 (19:00):
It's kind of like digging into the business aspect
of it, so building your own lawfirm.
You're in here a little oversome time now.
You're kind of getting yourbearings under.
You would, um, going intopersonal injury law in vegas
especially.
It seems like you say there'sbillboard every corner.
It seems like it's pretty hardand I know word of mouth is
definitely helpful, but you know, where do you see?
How do you continue to growthat business?
Speaker 2 (19:20):
you know that you're learning some of those lessons
uh, we've talked about goingthat route at some point.
But we just, at this point,like we're signing up a lot of
word of mouth, sure, and it'sjust like I know people that
might get one billboard, twobillboards, but it's just like
if we're gonna do it, we'regonna do it the right way, right
way and like we're actuallynoticeable, get some real estate
(19:42):
.
You know, I'm saying like wherepeople notice, it's not just
like one billboard on 215 orwhatever, not like hating on
that model, but it's just Iwould rather put that money, you
know, somewhere else.
Um, because billboards I wouldrather put in a commercial,
honestly, instead of a billboard.
Because I don't know, I like toconsider myself like more
people's person, like I liketalking to people, being on a
(20:06):
billboard, like yeah, you putyour face up there, but like
they're not hearing what you'reabout.
You know, that's why I love theopportunity to come here with
you guys, because I feel likeyou know, I don't know.
Speaker 3 (20:15):
You can tell the story more.
Speaker 2 (20:16):
Yeah, I don't know, I just like settings like this
more.
So I think in a commercialpeople can generally tell, like
you know, hey, is this personauthentic or not?
So I just with our brand.
We wanted to be, you know, havea sharp brand, more modern, but
just classy.
That was like our whole thing,because that's just how we are.
We don't like to floss, likethat's another thing too.
(20:38):
Like with a lot of theseattorneys.
Like how is posting your carsand a plane and all that like
100%, yeah, what is that doing?
Like how does that help yourclient at all?
Don't get me wrong.
Is that doing like what is?
How does that help your clientat all?
Like knowing you're wrong.
Like with our nine milliondollar settlement best, believe
me, we're gonna put on the flyer, yeah, and like but we're not
gonna like post in front of acar or something.
I mean it's just like it's just,you know, classless and I don't
(21:01):
know, it's just shallow.
But uh yeah, so we're just.
We just have a very differentmindset in that regard.
We like to be low-key, you know.
People know about us, but notfrom a flashy standpoint, that's
just my wife and I are on thesame same page, you know because
a lot of times I see it.
Speaker 3 (21:15):
You know, for some reason I always thought why this
personal injury law like a lotof times.
But I see it seems so cheeky,it seems very kind of like a
salesman-y less about you know,you're there.
Speaker 2 (21:24):
For me it's very song oriented, not like you know,
and I always wondered why thatwas, and I don't know like,
because when I moved here in2012, it wasn't like that as
much like you had some of theattorneys that would have the
jingles and all that, but it wasstill.
It was still different, youknow, I think, more classy than
it is nowadays, and it's justlike how much of your personal
(21:47):
possessions can you really post?
And it has nothing to do withthe law yeah, correct, but
Correct but hey, you know, toeach his own right.
Speaker 1 (21:53):
I love the fact like that's like when we first talked
over the phone remember we werekind of like he was sizing me
up, some sizing you up andtrying to figure it out.
But I love the fact that it'sone-on-one right.
Speaker 2 (22:15):
Yeah.
So I love that you're goingthat route, building it the
right way, yeah, and that's likethat's really our, our main
model.
And I get a lot of uh people, alot of clients that will fire
their current law firms, and alot of people don't know this.
But like, if you have a lawyerand you're not happy with them
and you're free to leave, youdon't have to pay two attorney
fees, you just pay one to me andI just have to square up with
that other law firm.
And a lot of people don't knowthat.
Speaker 1 (22:34):
I never knew that.
Speaker 2 (22:35):
Well, one, they think they can't get out of the
contract, and then two, theythink if they can they're still
going to have to pay two lawyerfees.
So they don't want to do it.
Speaker 1 (22:41):
Is there some type of term?
There's got to be like atermination fee or something
right.
Speaker 2 (22:46):
No, just, and they don't have to let the attorney
know.
They will let them thatattorney know for them and then
we just will pay and, like Isaid, square off the prior law
firm once we settle the case.
We'll just pay a portion.
It's called an attorney lien tojust get rid of it, to just do
good business.
Yeah, yeah, and they'reentitled, you know, to it and
they're entitled to like areasonable, you know, attorney
lien.
But I've had clients be with alaw firm like two of our bigger
(23:09):
settlements prior to this one.
They were with these law firmsfor like a year, a year and a
half, and then they came with me.
But anytime I get a potentialclient like that, the first
question I always ask them letme guess you never talked to the
attorney 100% of the time it'salways.
How did you know?
It's just like because you'retalking to me right now, but you
(23:29):
know, but you know what.
I played that up to our benefit.
You know, like if the, if thenon-attorneys doing all the work
on the case and everything, andwe can come in and offer them
the opposite.
I mean, they, you know, theylove that and then they can go
tell their friends like not anda lot of people don't, can't
even believe it.
They're like there's no way.
And then we sign them up andthey see it, but it just I don't
know.
It comes more natural for melike I don't try to be cliche
(23:52):
and say, oh, I love helpingpeople, but like my whole
mindset was even back in the daywhen my hustle with the traffic
tickets and all that I alwayssaid like, look, try to refer me
someone, but if you don't, allgood.
Like I wish I knew someone likeme before I was an attorney
that would just handle thistraffic ticket for free and not
expect anything in return.
And you know, I know, I feellike it'll come back to you
(24:12):
eventually, somehow.
Speaker 3 (24:13):
For sure, being a lawyer is all about trust.
From what I've, you know we'veall been at some point, I'm
assuming if you've been a lawyer, you've gotten nickel-dimed a
little bit, You've had some ofthese situations occur.
So when you develop that trust.
It goes a long way.
And kind of on that, a coupleof questions.
You know, like how you talkabout the.
The process you went throughthat went for a year or two
years.
What is like the averagelitigation timeline that you're
(24:34):
running through these procedures?
Are they fairly quick?
And personal injury are therelonger ones?
Speaker 2 (24:38):
so it yeah, um.
So I would say our average uhcase time is like six months
okay, sometimes okay sometimescases settle sooner than that.
But the bigger cases, like the,the nine million dollar one, I
mean, that was like five yearsand plus.
It was during covid and all thecourts got like the deadlines
and everything got backed upduring that time.
So that's why it?
(24:59):
took you probably a little bitlonger, um, but yeah, I mean,
but I prepare clients for that,you know, and I'll tell them,
because the thing you have tobreak through to is
misconceptions when you, whenthese clients sign up, so I like
to my initial call with them.
I like it to be usually 30 to45 minutes.
That way, as the case goesalong, they're not asking me
these same questions over time.
Speaker 1 (25:19):
Oh yeah, I already you know I remember that.
Speaker 2 (25:22):
So like some of the common things would be like,
well, hey, like I thought I wasgonna get x amount of money
because this billboard says, youknow about check, getting check
or whatever you know.
But it really all depends on tolike what kind of insurance
you're dealing with.
You know.
So like for a big case, youneed all the stars to align, you
need, you know, clear liability, you need huge insurance limits
(25:42):
, like a company, commercial,something like that.
And then you need like biginjuries, like surgery.
So I tell clients like, look,it's a catch-22, you might get a
huge settlement, but thenyou're like jacked up and you
know you don't want that forthat either right, so I mean
yeah, I mean, I had back surgeryfour years ago, not related to
an accident, but like and I'm 38, you know so like to be able to
give that kind of personalexperience to the clients helps
(26:04):
you know a lot of these lawyerslike they've never even gone to
a chiropractor before andthey're trying to tell you what
kind of treatment you know thatthey're going to you know, set
you up with and stuff.
Speaker 3 (26:12):
And does the client have to pay for that whole
process for that five year termor is it all kind of on the
settlement amount?
Speaker 2 (26:18):
Yeah, so, uh, it's on a what they call a medical lien
generally.
Um, so basically everythingjust gets pushed to the end.
So my fees are on a contingencyright, so I charge a percentage
and then the medical bills willbe deferred till the end too,
once the case settles.
So the idea is like through thesettlement is how we pay our
fees and costs, the doctor'sbills, and then whatever's left
(26:41):
over is the client's portion.
But we have a rule in our firmthat we never take more money
than the client.
It's not like a.
There's no law in Nevada thatsays that, but the better firms
have that policy, just becauseyou know it's the right thing.
Speaker 1 (26:53):
Yeah, treat people the right way.
Yeah, I want to stop you forone second.
So, like you're going through,like a medical situation, right
People, because you always hearpeople, the medicals hit their
bills and bill when they'regoing through you know,
litigation, I guess, is what youwould say until the end of it.
Speaker 2 (27:11):
Yeah, Cause it's all.
It's called a medical lien.
Speaker 1 (27:14):
Ah, that's what you're talking about.
That's the protection.
That's the protection, yeah.
Speaker 2 (27:17):
Basically, the doctors are like they'll treat
you and they, you know they'llwait until the end of the case
and they get paid Got it Okay,um, but it's not on health
insurance.
So the only time a client wouldhave to front any money, like
during the middle of the case orbefore the end of it, is if
they use their health insurance.
So let's just say they go tothe ER the day of the accident
(27:39):
and have like a $100K ER bill.
They might have a copay.
Speaker 1 (27:42):
I was going to say they got something.
Speaker 2 (27:44):
This is a conversation usually that the
attorneys don't have with theclient, and the non-attorneys
forget to mention to them too,or maybe they don't know, and so
they might have a couple grandcopay, I was getting that okay,
thank you.
Thank you for being out yeah,that's exactly what I was
getting at.
Yeah, the client's gonna assumewell, that's what's gonna be
part of the case.
I don't have to pay it.
They don't say anything nowthey're in collections, okay
(28:06):
yeah, so like I remember thatthe first conversation when I
have with the client when I'msigning them up is like hey, you
went to the ER today, Pay yourco-pay.
You're going to get a co-payfrom potentially four different
ER providers if you went in anambulance?
You could have four different ERco-pays, so you need to.
Anytime you get a bill in themail, text it to me.
I'll tell you the exact way todo it.
(28:26):
But by and large, thisconversation is not being held
with the client and then theyend up in collections Now their
credit's messed up, like yousaid.
Speaker 1 (28:33):
Yeah, okay, so pay to copay listeners.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, pay to copay.
That's crazy, do you have?
Speaker 3 (28:38):
to fight for that medical lien?
Or is that just like automatic,because I've never heard that
before.
Speaker 2 (28:43):
I've never heard that was even part of it.
Yeah, so with the doctors.
Okay so that's what we tellthem.
Hey, we got a relationship witha network.
You know we have a network ofdoctors in town.
Great relationships with themover the years Got it.
A lot of the clients that Iwill set you know, or a lot of
the doctors I'll set my clientsup with, are the same doctors
that my wife and I treated withfor our accident.
(29:04):
So that's so.
We set them up with them, andthen, yeah, the doctors will get
paid at the end of the case andthey know that it's basically a
contract, right, but it stillbenefits the client a lot
because now they're not havingto pay for anything.
Speaker 3 (29:18):
Yeah, especially going for four or five years,
and you're racking up thosebills, paying those minimum
payments.
Speaker 2 (29:22):
High yeah the car situation is a crazy one too,
because, like, let's just sayyou're a total loss, the car is
not drivable, yep.
And then the insurance companyis only trying to give a rental
for a very limited amount oftime.
You know, so it's.
Yeah, that's another big thingwe'll do, too is most firms
don't help with the propertydamage claim.
They only help with the injuryclaim.
(29:43):
Oh, so you hit property,commercial, whatever it is,
residential, whatever yeah solike let's just say, you know
your car's, you know not a total, it's repairable or whatever.
But most law firms will notassist at all with that claim.
So there's two claims there'san injury claim and the property
damage claim Got it.
So most firms don't help withthe property damage.
Speaker 1 (30:01):
You guys do.
Speaker 2 (30:02):
But we help with the property damage and we don't
charge a fee for it Smart.
So it's just like you knowbasically extra, you know extra
assistance.
And, like I said earlier,normally the client's main
concern a lot of times is theircar, Because it's like, how am I
going to get to work?
So that's why we offer theUbers.
We work with what they call carrental lien companies, so
companies that actually have afleet of cars that they'll rent
(30:23):
out.
And just like a medicalprovider is on a lien, the car
rental will be on a lien too.
Speaker 3 (30:28):
So we offer that as, too.
Speaker 1 (30:29):
I'm so happy to talk.
I'm learning.
I'm learning as you're talking,man.
You know what I was reallycurious about?
Just briefly, dog bites.
Right, I didn't realize howmany dog bites happen on
probably a daily basis in Vegas,but what do you suggest for
people, especially with kids andthings like that Dog parks
opening up everywhere in Vegas,what do you suggest for them on
(30:49):
how to handle that If it happensup everywhere in Vegas?
What do you suggest for?
Speaker 2 (30:52):
them on how to handle that and what do they do?
Yeah, you need to find out.
So that would go throughhomeowner's insurance.
Okay, yeah, so you would needto find out where the dog owner
lives, got it and if regardlessif you're at home or not.
Speaker 3 (31:02):
Yeah, so if you're at the dog park, yep.
Speaker 2 (31:04):
Okay, the homeowners?
Yeah, it's a great question.
Homeowner's insurance stillextends and then it's really
based on what the homeowner'spolicy says, because some breeds
of dogs might be excluded onthere.
So, like a pit bull, it mightsay hey, if you have a pit bull
and it bites somebody, we're notpaying, doesn't?
Speaker 1 (31:19):
cover yeah.
Speaker 2 (31:20):
Yeah, and then a lot of times it's very different
than a car accident, where youdon't know the address of the
homeowner but you don't knowwhat insurance they have.
You can't look that up online.
So then I'll hire aninvestigator to do a homeowner
search and then they'll tell uswho the insurance carrier is.
Oh, you're smooth, david,you're smooth.
Speaker 1 (31:38):
You figured all the loopholes.
Speaker 2 (31:41):
I'll hang out with.
Speaker 3 (31:41):
Ace.
That's hilarious.
Speaker 1 (31:45):
How do you maintain your pipeline?
Is it more on the tech side?
Speaker 2 (31:57):
or how do you?
How do you continue?
To keep managing that andmaintaining your, your client
pipeline?
Um, just in terms of likegetting the steady flow of
clients.
Speaker 3 (32:00):
Yes, it's hard.
Speaker 1 (32:01):
It's hard to do cases like 200 cases a year?
Yeah, how?
Speaker 3 (32:02):
do you keep all that like?
Speaker 1 (32:04):
everything together.
Speaker 2 (32:05):
Yeah Well my wife helps out a lot, but I do have a
strong team.
I mean the two case managers Iintake specialists that I have.
The third employee we justhired, intake specialist Anna.
She's amazing.
She's helping me out a lotsigning up the new clients,
because I was doing that too.
(32:25):
The point I was making earlieris I was just doing too much and
so she's really been a gamechanger.
And then my two case managersamazing the one I brought with
me from my last firm.
I mean she's like day one forme.
You know she's, she's the best.
And then the second casemanager was hired in January.
She worked with me at the firstfirm I worked at.
So it's like all these girlsthat have a like got a
(32:47):
relationship with you know anduh, and you know I try to be
like I'd like to think I'm apretty cool boss.
I never play the whole attorneycard thing.
Some of these guys and girlsget little big heads and stuff.
That's not me.
I started when I was 18 yearsold working for an attorney in
my little small town in Georgiafetching waters.
(33:09):
So I always kept that mindsetlike, don't ever get too big.
My dad instilled that in me aswell.
He'd take me to work on theweekends with him.
My dad's from into me as well.
He took me to work, you know,on the weekends with him.
My dad's from cuba and he tookme from work to work on the
weekends and he was like amanager of 500 people in this um
factory and he would um take meinto the factory and I'm like
what we're doing today.
He's like the first thing we'regonna go do is tell these
(33:31):
people thanks for working on aweekend.
You know so like that alwaysstuck with me.
Yeah, just uh always treatpeople no matter who it is like
just the right way.
Speaker 3 (33:40):
Especially as you continue to grow and you're
going to keep growing andgrowing and growing, and it gets
harder.
Speaker 1 (33:45):
And did I read that correct?
Speaking of Cuba, did I readthat correctly?
So was your uncle like thethird president of Cuba?
Yeah, that's a fact.
Yeah, research.
Yeah, mario garcia menocal.
Yeah, that's awesome.
Speaker 2 (33:56):
Yeah, he was a third president from 1913 to 1921 so
it's pretty cool back in the daythe cubans would actually go to
school here in the states a lotof them and then go back to
cuba to be successful.
So he actually graduated fromcornell university new york yep.
And then he went back.
He fought in thespanish-american war with, uh,
teddy roosevelt and rough riders.
He fought with the us becausethe us helped spain, or helped
(34:18):
cuba liberate from spain, sure,and then they?
Speaker 1 (34:20):
then he became the third president so like I'm very
my dad's from havana his senioryear in high school.
You got your roots here.
Speaker 2 (34:27):
Yeah, yeah, okay like , and that was like that uncle
was just like one of them, likethere's other, like I got a
cousin that's buried inarlington cemetery, even though
he's he's cuban.
He's buried in ArlingtonCemetery, even though he's Cuban
.
He's buried in ArlingtonCemetery.
He was actually one of theoriginal co-authors of the
Panama Canal.
At one point the WashingtonMonument got uneven and they
(34:48):
hired him to correct it.
Yeah, so it's like we have alot of family history there.
Y'all put a movie out.
Speaker 1 (34:55):
Yeah, put a movie on y'all's family man.
That's pretty powerful, it wascool, and that's the thing
growing up.
Speaker 2 (35:00):
We didn't, I didn't speak spanish um, because my mom
is, uh, from the us, and shedidn't speak spanish, and so
she's polish.
So, um, I didn't speak spanish.
And then, when I got to middleschool, I started taking spanish
classes, but really the drivingfactor was my, my grandmother,
mi abuelita.
She only only spoke Spanish.
And so between her, my aunt andmy dad.
(35:20):
Like you know, I've beenspeaking, obviously the last
20-something years and nowyou're white.
Speaker 1 (35:24):
I was going to say yeah, so our son, you know, he
just turned four.
Speaker 2 (35:27):
That's his first language.
Speaker 1 (35:28):
That's awesome.
So in Columbia right now he's astraight-up white boy speaking
perfect Spanish.
Speaker 2 (35:33):
So he's going to be trouble.
Speaker 1 (35:35):
Yeah, that's awesome man.
Yeah, he's the man.
That's good stuff, man, that'sa good history.
When I read that I was likedamn, I got to ask him about
that.
Speaker 2 (35:42):
So that's pretty cool man.
Speaker 1 (35:44):
With us being a bigger circle, mentorship is
extremely important to me.
Speaker 2 (36:01):
Who has been speaking in your life and who do you
kind of bounce things off thebackboard to make sure, even on
your personal life or yourbusiness life, you know things
are solid and going the rightdirection.
Speaker 1 (36:06):
So I got a very close relationship with both my
parents have been married uh 50,going on 53 years.
Speaker 2 (36:09):
Yeah man, yeah, so uh you know they're, uh, they're
my rock.
You know they, uh, they're theones that really pushed me with
law school too, cause I wasn'tdoing well on the practice,
practice exams.
They're like no, no.
So they really, you know, droveme in that regard.
I got two older brothers.
Both are integral in my life.
My middle brother.
He's actually a baseball agent.
(36:29):
He has some pretty prominentclients.
And then my oldest brother isin marketing and he's been
working for Siemens, a big uh uhautomotive company and out of
Germany, and that's where my dadworked for over 40 years.
Speaker 1 (36:44):
I think some tips from your parents are doing it
right.
Speaker 3 (36:45):
Yeah, good kid.
Speaker 2 (36:47):
I always tell them I'm like, but they they raised
us you know, but it was neverlike a thing where I don't know
like they always kept our, ourvalues and principles.
You know I'm saying like we'rereal faithful to religious and
that that helps keep me grounded.
You know my faith.
You know in god, um.
(37:07):
But then my wife has been likethe biggest uh difference with
me too, because before I met her.
I had the grind and hustle youknow, doing all the tragedies
and all, but really she helpedme put it all together.
She elevated me.
That's awesome Because a lot ofpeople think, oh, she was a
cocktail waitress in theindustry, she married a lawyer.
Blah, blah, blah, I'll be thefirst one to say.
(37:28):
When I met her, she had moremoney than me.
Speaker 1 (37:30):
That's powerful.
You hear her smiling over there.
I see her in the same boat.
Speaker 2 (37:37):
I'm with you, man, yeah and uh you know, but she
saw the potential and she really, you know, helped me put it all
together.
Yeah, um, so, yeah, that wifeis the biggest blessing I've had
and, um, that's good stuff, man.
Speaker 1 (37:50):
Powerful man out of that man.
Family values man, that'sawesome.
Man.
What would you share?
You know, just for businessadvice?
You know just a gem.
I mean you work and I hear alot about this man.
Like we were talking about Chrisrecently, a couple of weeks ago
we interviewed a guy and andI'm hearing it more and more is
(38:10):
people are buying smallbusinesses from you know some of
the baby boomers.
Right, they want to just, Imean, that's all their asset,
they can sell their company out,right, but I've been hearing a
lot about people that maybe, ifthey want to go buy that
business, maybe go work for thebusiness similar to yourself,
right, go work for the law firmfor a year and a half and learn
whatever it is, and then maybeyou buy 48% or 49% of the
company.
But maybe in that period you'rereally getting the real value
(38:32):
of what the company is all about.
Right, and hands-on learning isall about right and hands-on
learning.
But what would you share tosomebody that maybe they're
thinking about starting theirown business or maybe starting
their own law firm?
Because we all need differenteyes and competitiveness brings
everybody up, right?
So what would you suggest onthat side?
Speaker 2 (38:50):
I would say.
I mean, in my industry I cankind of speak on more experience
.
Sure, you got to be prepared toeither market a lot, so you
better have some like financialbacking, either some, maybe some
money stashed away, familymoney, whatever it is to hit the
ground running with all thesebillboards and commercials and
(39:10):
everything because to competewith these top top, you know
marketers in town like you gottago, ham right, what their bills
like.
Speaker 3 (39:15):
I was wondering that what their marketing goes.
Yeah, you got to go, ham right,I wonder what their bill is
like.
I was wondering that what theirmarketing bill is.
Speaker 1 (39:18):
It's got to be seven business a month.
Speaker 2 (39:20):
Man, yeah, jeez, yeah , they killing it and the thing
is is like think of how manycases you need to like average
that out, and it's just like Idon't know.
I'm not the big volume type ofguy Once again.
Either that or you better belike a hustler and be able to
get clients, and it's hard.
You've got to do somethingdifferent.
(39:41):
So I remember I used to be withI mean, I'd have coworkers and
stuff and they'd be like why areyou giving out your cell phone
number to clients?
Are you crazy, dude?
They're going to be callingthem.
I'm like why not?
You think they're going to callyou or somebody else when they
have an accident, right, or uh,another thing dude, why are you
doing that traffic ticket forpeople?
Like dude, like that's gonnatake so much of your time?
Yeah, it is, man, but you knowwhat.
(40:02):
That's why you're not gettingcases right.
Speaker 1 (40:04):
You know I'm so happy .
You said I don't know if youknow colin fukunaka is on
spookaburger oh, yeah, yeah oh,colin.
Speaker 2 (40:09):
Colin said the same thing.
Speaker 1 (40:11):
Remember he was saying I mean he was like look,
I give my phone around toeverybody and that's why he's
successful.
He leads the stadium.
Speaker 2 (40:20):
Honestly that.
Tamago egg is like that's mygo-to.
I just had it a couple nightsago.
Speaker 1 (40:24):
But shout out to Colin because he did something
similar to yourself.
He gives his phone number outbecause he wants to hear whether
it's the reviews or any of hisbusinesses do bad or good, or
how he can help or how he canchange it.
Speaker 3 (40:33):
People who do that always have a better
relationship with their customer100%, everybody they see with
him and I'm sure you have thesame type of dynamic.
That just always happens?
Speaker 1 (40:40):
Yeah for sure.
Well, I applaud you, man.
That's good stuff, man.
So marketing is what I got outof that too, man, which is
awesome.
You got to market the right wayand have some capital to be
able to do it the right way.
Favorite restaurant we alwaysask everybody about restaurants
in Vegas.
Man, I know you eat a lot too,so that's good man Foodie, but
what's your favorite restaurantin Vegas?
Speaker 2 (40:59):
It's hard to narrow it down to one.
I would probably say so.
Speaker 1 (41:02):
I live in Summerlin, okay you knew me, so Harlow, I
love Harlow.
Yeah, shout out to Harlow.
I stayed there last night Okay.
Rib-eye, all of it.
To be honest with you, man, Ilike all of it.
I like harlow, to be honestwith you, I think.
(41:22):
Uh, a last person, I think,said it was nick dosa, I think
nick brought up harlow.
Speaker 2 (41:23):
But I like harlow, it's legit, it's low-key, you
know like you get the quality offood you get on the strip, but
sure you don't have to drive allthe way there.
So I say that lpm it'smediterranean and, uh, I think
asian and mediterranean?
Speaker 1 (41:32):
I have not.
Speaker 2 (41:32):
I don't think I've been there, yet they have them
all over.
It's a chain, okay, but it'sreplacing.
I can't remember the spot atCosmo Right next to STK.
Okay, what did you call itagain?
Oh, it used to be Milos.
They replaced Milos.
Speaker 1 (41:46):
What's it called again?
Speaker 2 (41:47):
LPM, lpm.
Speaker 1 (41:48):
Yeah, I highly recommend that.
Speaker 2 (41:49):
Okay, that's awesome man, but Carbone.
Shout out to Carbone.
Yeah, carbone was good.
Spicy vodka, rigatoni yeah.
Speaker 1 (41:58):
Shout out to Carbone.
I've heard I think it was NewYork City the hardest
reservation to get Period In theUnited States.
Speaker 3 (42:09):
They tracked it.
Speaker 2 (42:10):
We got an N.
Yeah, and Ace too.
Ace said he got the connectionbecause he worked at Carbone.
Yeah, I've been to Carbonebefore and I actually really
like it.
Speaker 1 (42:16):
Where's that?
I said I've been to Carbonebefore and I really like it.
Speaker 2 (42:20):
You feel like you're in Goodfellas or something.
Yeah, it's good stuff, verygood service.
Speaker 3 (42:24):
Sign in.
I've never been Check that out.
Check that out for sure, man.
I've been a couple times.
Speaker 1 (42:30):
Yeah, it's awesome.
What else that you want toleave us out on?
Speaker 2 (42:34):
I would probably, I'd like to touch maybe on like
family life too, sure, you know,like balancing that with work
Because you know.
I can be very obsessive withwork and it's good to have my
wife check me and it's like myson.
I mean we have one kid, youknow, and it was nice to have a
boy on the first one and he's myworld, like I wasn't sure if I
was ever going to have kids oranything, but he's like a little
(42:57):
mini me you know, and they'rein.
Columbia right now, and Veronicawas.
Like Vicente knew it was theweekend he was like he was just.
He knows it's y'all's time.
He's like he knows during theweek it's harder, but it was the
weekend, he knows it's y'all'stime.
So I mean all these personalyou know and professional
successes and everything youknow, the big settlements and
(43:18):
all that.
They would mean nothing if Ididn't have my family.
If I didn't have them to shareit with, because then I'd be
sharing it with people maybethat don't care that much about
me, right, and it's like notthat genuine, authentic realness
that you'll have with yourfamily.
So you know, shout out to mywife and Vicente in Columbia and
Veronica, to my wife andVicente and Columbia, and, um,
(43:41):
not Veronica, I mean she's uh, Imean once again, our firm I
always tell people would not behalf of what it is without her,
you know, because she justhandles so much and not, I mean
she, she's old Colombian, solike, come in.
Women are known to take care oftheir men and everything.
So I mean it's whether it'scooking for us.
She cooks, you know, for my soneverything from scratch, his
kids having grass-fed lamb chopsyeah, so she's like don't worry
(44:05):
, I'm gonna make some for youtoo, but uh, I mean, she handles
she handles everything from ato z, so she's got that
traditional colombian, you knowculture.
But then, um, you know she'shelping out so much of the firm.
Speaker 3 (44:16):
I mean originally when we started it was looking
like it was gonna be like apart-time thing yeah because we
didn't think we're gonna be sobusy, but it's like full-time,
that's beautiful right now,right so, um, because you have,
you know, your wife, it workswith you yeah, that's what I
tell her all the time.
Speaker 2 (44:30):
I'm like look we're around each other 24 7 and we're
still married, you know.
So that's uh, that's a successin and of itself best friend
yeah, but she was smart, likewith her money, like because she
was in queens 10 years and shewas there like when, uh, like
clubs like uptown and stuff likethat in the latin scene really
(44:51):
good, like fat joe, all theseguys you know going and she
worked at tau okay, in new yorkyeah, okay, yeah, in new york.
So she lived in queenstown years.
Then she moved out here in 2016.
But she was smart, like I wassaying when we met, like she
stacked up, that's awesome.
And she was like smart.
She had like four or fiverental properties here.
Speaker 3 (45:09):
No, they do.
Speaker 2 (45:10):
It's just like you, save it right and she, she saved
her money and like I mean shelegit, I mean I'll go to her for
advice all the time on stufflike when it comes to like
economics.
Like she studied that in schoolin columbia, like she's she's
super sharp.
Like you're not going to getmuch past her, you know yeah,
it's funny.
Speaker 1 (45:27):
Your wife definitely needs to be more.
Speaker 2 (45:28):
That's why she was smiling earlier because your
situation is very similar.
Speaker 1 (45:31):
As you know, my wife had same thing house the whole
nine when I first met herbackground uh, philippines, oh
yeah, philippines.
Speaker 2 (45:38):
So there's a lot of spanish.
Yeah, spain, yeah, for sure sowhat's your social handles?
People who can reach out to youon so it's uh at david menichel
, okay, and then uh, menichellogger okay, yeah, well, check
this man out, man.
Speaker 1 (45:51):
Follow what he's doing.
You gave some great tips that Iwasn't aware of at all, man, so
we appreciate, uh, learningfrom you and being able to pick
your brain a little bit, butcheck them out.
Check us out at thevegasurgecomand subscribe with us, man.
We appreciate your time, man.
Speaker 2 (46:02):
Thank you very much.
Thanks guys.
Welcome to Vegas Circle Podcast with your hosts,
paki and Chris.
We are people who arepassionate about business,
success and culture.
This is our platform toshowcase people in our city who
make it happen.
On today's podcast, we're goingto be exploring personal injury
and criminal defense and how tobetter prepare yourself when a
situation arises, either withyourself or maybe even a loved
one.
Welcome our guest to a circle.
(00:32):
Founder of Minicow Law Group,mr David Minicow.
So welcome to the circle,brother.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
Thanks, Chris, Thanks Baki.
Shout out to our mutual friendthat connected us and got us on
the phone together Ace Pachenko,great dude, Been a guest of the
podcast too, but let's jumpright in, man.
So why'd you jump into law?
What made you get into thatfield of work?
Speaker 2 (00:55):
So I'm originally from Georgia and I graduated
undergrad, played football at aschool in South Carolina, furman
University, and I graduated in08.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
And I was like right country was rock bottom.
Yeah, for real, I moved in 07.
So then next year?
Yeah, yeah, you already know.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
So I was originally thinking about doing sales.
I didn't really want to go tograduate school.
I did well in undergrad but Iwas like, nah, I want to do
something different, let's gointo sales, did like the whole
cold calling thing for three,four months and I'm like, nah,
this ain't for me.
So I always thought that, yeah,maybe I'll do law school.
But after that experience withthe outside sales I was like,
(01:26):
all right, this is like a signI'm doing law school.
So I went to law school atGeorgia State in Atlanta.
I'm originally from a littlesmall town called Gainesville,
which is like an hour north ofAtlanta.
And then I lived in Atlanta forfour years, went to law school
there and I was coming out toVegas a lot and I ended up
deciding, hey, I want topractice law here.
(01:47):
I mean, I was in my mid-20s,you know loving life right.
And then my last semester inlaw school I did something
called a visiting semester atUNLV, and that was a blessing
because I got to be here likeanother five, six months.
I wasn't here, only like acouple of weeks.
I could really get my feet wet,sure, and get used to, you know
, the the city is for a mid-20year old bro it's like coming
(02:07):
from the south too.
It's uh yeah, it's definitely adifferent scene, but um no, I'm
super glad I did law because thething with law is it's so
diverse.
I mean you could do any type oflaw you want, like my one of my
best friends in town, tony.
He's a commercial litigator,does contracts business,
completely different than what Ido in personal injury, and you
(02:28):
know we balance things off eachother.
He'll refer me cases, I'll tryto refer him stuff too, but it's
like night and day what he doesand I do so with a law degree
you can just do like so much.
You can do entertainment lawLike you won't be you know,
pigeonholed and just doing onething so sure, yeah, kind of
moving through.
Speaker 3 (02:46):
Like you know, graduating law school, getting
your degree, obviously it's abig challenge, right?
You know you come out and youhave a lot of responsibilities,
or backlogged a little bit, youknow, do you have an obligation
to go and practice law for acertain amount of time before
you can open up a firm, or canyou jump right and open a firm
right from day one?
Speaker 2 (03:00):
Yeah, you can jump, jump in and open up a firm right
from day one.
But I mean it's smart to getthat experience first Most
people won't jump in right away.
I mean, it's very risky for acouple of reasons, Like one how
are you going to get theclientele?
No one knows you and in myworld like personal injury world
.
It's so competitive, you know,people do some crazy stuff to
get clients, even illegally, asyou can imagine, right, but so
(03:25):
you're competing with that, andthen you're competing with
people that are doing it theright way too, so it's just a
lot of risk involved.
So you know when I not to fastforward too much, but I worked
for two firms, you know, priorto open up my own law firm a
year and a half ago, and I'mglad that I didn't go out on my
own after that first firm, eventhough I worked there for six
years, because the second firm Iworked at for three and a half
(03:45):
years.
I got even more experiencethere and they really taught me
how to run my own thing.
So my wifey and I you know Iwas- telling you that my wife is
very integral and our wholefirm.
I mean she helps run it with me.
I mean we'll be up till 1, 2 amcutting checks.
I mean she does all thebookkeeping, client disbursement
(04:06):
, all the merch that I showedyou and brought right Like she's
in charge of all that.
So I mean she's the backbone,you know.
But we were averaging a coupleclients a week, just word of
mouth, organically, noadvertising or anything.
Because I was working for afirm at the time, sure, and we
were averaging two word of mouthreferrals a week.
At my last firm, you know, Iwas 36, 37.
Two word of mouth referrals aweek at my last firm, I was 36,
37 at the time.
Our son just turned four now,so he was like two then and
(04:28):
we're like, why not?
This is the time right.
So we're like, if we can justdo two a week, that's 100
clients a year, no overhead withmarketing, billboards,
commercials, any of that.
And we were just hoping to getthat and we ended up signing 250
clients in the first year andwith no, just all word of mouth,
so like that's big in thatspace, right, yeah, yeah, and
the thing is too.
is like the quality of cases,too Like that's what I wanted to
(04:51):
get into.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
I'm so happy you mentioned it, yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
You can.
You could sign up a hundredcases that are like some are
good, some are bad, but then youcould sign up 50 cases that are
like really good quality, thatare going to be the equivalent
of those hundred other cases.
Right, and that's what we'rereal, real big on there's.
You know there's firms in townthat'll just sign up everything
that walks through the door, andthen they'll just want the
velocity.
Yeah, they want the volume, andthen they drop the client.
(05:15):
I've never been a big fan ofthat and I'll tell the client
straight up like, look, I don'twant to do this to you because
this is what's likely going tohappen.
But I'll give you this adviceand maybe you want to get a
second opinion go to these otherfirms and I've had that happen
before.
They do that, they go toanother firm and they get
dropped and I'm like, yeah, I'mreally sorry that happened to
you.
So we've been blessed with somereally good, good quality cases
(05:35):
and our biggest settlement isconfidential, but we can
disclose a number we just gottwo weeks ago and it was $9
million, which, for a firm ofour size, it's me and my two
case managers, intakespecialists and then my wife, so
there's five of us, but for anyfirm that's a big deal.
Speaker 1 (05:55):
That's huge, not bragging, but I'm proud of what
we accomplished, 100%.
Speaker 2 (05:59):
You should be proud, though, to be honest with you.
Yeah, yeah, no, we really are,but it's just crazy how we even
got that client, because duringcovid, like you guys might
remember, like traffic ticketswere on hold, they were on limbo
sure no one was really gettingthem fixed right.
but I had a, you know, a plug atthe court would help me out,
and you know she, uh, she wasawesome.
(06:19):
So I was just going to courtone day it was back in 2019 just
to show some love and give hera gift card, and I happened to
be in her office or whatever.
And then there was anotherjudge that happened to be
walking by and not the samejudge that she clerked for and
we just started chopping it upand she ended up referring me
the same case we're talkingabout.
(06:40):
Wow, and had I not have beenthere that day?
And not like patting myself onthe back, like, oh, I'm giving
her a gift card, but you knowwhat I mean like had I not have
been there that day.
Speaker 3 (06:47):
Being proactive, just show some love.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
I never would have got there because that I hadn't
seen that judge in a few years,you know, and she's just like,
oh, are you working at this firm?
Now?
It was before I opened up myown firm, so it was just like,
uh, that one was a big one forus and, um, yeah, I couldn't be
prouder and you guys have beenin business for you said about a
year and a half, two years.
A year and a half, yes, februaryof last year, so it's just um,
(07:10):
but I always had that kind ofmindset, though, with the uh
like, with the traffic tickets,so like my main hustle when I
moved here and I moved here in2012 I didn't know a lot of
people.
I lived on the strip at sky lasvegas for like four years and I
was like know what?
I got to do something different, because I didn't grow up here.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
I don't have that advantage.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
So, like my hustle, I got my own business cards made
because my one firm did not havethe best business card.
So I got my own cards made,like you know, credit card style
business cards, and I reallyjust hit the nightlife scene,
you know we go out all the time.
Excess like seen you know wouldgo out all the time excess, like
everywhere, right, and it wastell all the people in the
industry hey, I'll do yourtraffic tickets for free, small
claims for free, you get a dui,like I'll help you out with that
(07:50):
.
And I just kept doing that overthe years and that's how I like
.
Organically, we're getting alot of word of mouth and you
know, as all the word of mouthare building up, then it just it
kept going and going.
But uh, awesome and it comeswith a lot of stress yeah
because, I mean, our big sell istoo that you know we're
one-on-one.
Speaker 3 (08:09):
It's a personalized experience okay you're the one
who's essentially on every oneof these cases.
Right, you're trying to mccore,you're doing all the stuff.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
Obviously you have people assisting you on
paperwork things but you're theone actually having to go to the
court for it yeah, and that andthat's the thing, because the a
lot of firms in town likeanyone that's gonna get anyone
that gets an accident andthey're looking for a personal
injury attorney.
I'll always say take a billboardyeah, do your research you know
I'm saying like talk to people,because the average law firm
here it's a non-attorneyhandling it, meaning like you
(08:39):
know case managers and don't bewrong, they're amazing.
I'd be nothing without my casemanagers.
I know that more than anyone.
But you got to have attorneysnegotiating with the insurance
adjusters and stuff like that.
So there's a lot ofnon-attorneys handling the whole
case from A to Z.
Most of the attorneysespecially the ones on these
billboards and stuff, withouthating, they don't even know the
client's names.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
So that's really our big sell when you hire us, I'm
the main point of contact.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
And I'm the one really quarterbacking the case
me and my case manager together.
But I'm the one quarterbackingit, negotiating and all that.
And normally when the attorneyis more involved then you get
better results.
But I take a lot of pride inthat and it feels good when a
client really is like man, youweren't lying.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
I want to step back a little bit.
So how do you choose who youwant to work with as a client?
Is that?
Is there something specific,like you were saying, like you
know, like 50 cases versus 100cases or 250 cases?
Is there something that you'respecifically looking for or?
For me to sign up a client forto sign up a client and choose
to work with them yes, I meanusually has to fit like a
criteria.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
I mean, okay, I do all kinds.
I mean I exclusively dopersonal injury.
Now, like the plan when weopened a year and a half ago was
like we'll do some criminaljust to help with overhead.
Sure, but we just hit theground running so fast on
personal injury we're like I gotto cut out the criminal.
Yeah, so I just refer it to afriend of mine in town.
But I do auto accidents, dogbite cases, slip and falls, all
(10:06):
kind of personal injury, butprobably more than 90% of it's
auto accidents Cause.
let's be honest, like it's Vegasright, I mean before I lose my
train of thought.
I mean me and wifey.
We got rear-ended by a drunkdriver last year and yeah, I
know, I mean we're, uh, I'm donewith treatment, but she just
had her second injection.
So that's actually I look at itas a blessing in a way, because
now when I talk to clientsyou've actually went hey look,
I'm going through the same thingyou are.
(10:27):
We had a, we had a nice, youknow, brand new car is still not
fixed this was june of lastyear because the parts are on
back order and stuff.
So it's like, you know, becausea lot of people when they get
an accident.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
Yeah, yeah, because it was like a year and a half
literally, yeah, yeah yeah, alittle over.
Speaker 2 (10:42):
Yeah, A little over a year or so, Like you know,
because the clients a lot oftimes they're more worried about
their car than they are theirinjuries, you know they got to
get to work.
How are they going to help withthat?
So I try to make it as easy onthem as possible, like I'll
order their lifts for them andeverything, like I don't care,
(11:09):
like my to take be taken care of.
And yeah, it does get stressfulat times trying to do too much,
but it's just like it's in mynature.
So I just I don't really knowanother way, you know.
So I'm trying to learn todelegate a little bit more, you
know, but uh, but no, I can tellthem, hey, I'm going through
the same thing you are.
So uh, normally, though, for,like, auto accident, you want to
see that, hey, it's clearliability, like we actually are
going to win that argument thatit was the other person's fault
and then you need to have someinsurance there.
So, luckily, in our case, itwas a 19-year-old kid that hit
(11:31):
us.
It was the night they had theVGK parade.
Speaker 1 (11:35):
Oh, when they won the Stanley Cup.
Speaker 2 (11:37):
Yeah.
So we happened to be at theWestgate for some Latin American
Chambers party that had anevent.
And we're going back on theSahara and we're about to get
onto the 15 on-ramp and there'sa yield sign right there and so
many accidents happen rightthere and this kid just plowed
us and we get out, we're stunnedand I'm like nah, no, my
clients are there.
And there's like 10 or 15 kidsdeep in this old pickup truck.
(11:59):
They're taking out beer casesand cans and all this stuff
Picking out beer cases and cansand all this stuff.
Luckily the kid, the driver,everyone left him, but he stayed
on the scene and in Vegas, likemost of the time they know
you're going to get arrested.
They're deuces.
But he stayed on the scene.
He was cool.
He was like, hey, are you?
Okay?
Cops came and everything, buthe only had the state minimum
(12:20):
insurance, which is what mostpeople have.
Right, if they don't havesignificant assets, they're like
.
I'm just going to get the bareminimum because that's all the
state requires.
So it's really important thatyou load up on your own
insurance and that's what wehave on ours, so we're actually
able to make also a claimagainst our own insurance
company.
But most people don't know that.
I'm glad you're bringing thatup.
Speaker 1 (12:39):
I'm going to look at both of y'all's policies.
Yeah, for sure, I'm going toread that up.
Speaker 2 (12:42):
You're going to look at both of y'all's policies and
be like all right, we're goingto get y'all right Because it's
dangerous.
Speaker 1 (12:47):
You might not even be all right.
Yeah, because it's superdangerous in Vegas.
You see it all the time, likeyou were saying, drunk accident,
drunk car accidents.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
I or a dog bite right .
Speaker 1 (13:01):
What would you recommend just kind of the cliff
notes of what they should do?
Speaker 3 (13:04):
And kind of on that too, because right now they
don't, because I noticed thatbeing an accident like please
don't even show up anymore.
Speaker 1 (13:10):
That was another piece.
Yeah, that was another piece.
Speaker 3 (13:11):
So kind of back down to that like hide that and play
a part in that.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
Yeah, great point.
So since they don't, I meanwhen I moved here in 2012, I
mean some kid did a hit and runon me then or whatever, but I
didn't nearly see as manyaccidents as there are now.
So because of that you've gotto do even better cop work,
because they're not showing upmost of the time right, unless
there's like a DUI or somethinglike that involved.
(13:35):
So first thing was you know youget out of the car.
You need to take pictures,mainly of their license plate,
because even if they decide tobounce, at least you got some.
We can run the plates throughthe dmv.
We'll find the last four of thevin, we'll put the plates and
last for the vin in the dmvwebsite and it'll tell us who
the insurance is so legal hasthe ability to do that.
Speaker 3 (13:52):
I didn't know that yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (13:53):
As long as I have that the license plate, I can
find out the last four of thevin and then go on dmv website
and find who they're insuredwith oh cool.
So so the first thing I wouldget is the license plate and
then after that I would try toget their driver's license.
Um, if it's like a rear ender,like typically that's not like a
big fight like by the otherinsurance company, but if it's
(14:15):
like I tell clients to do thisall the time, uh, if they and
like I'll have my phone on metoo, they'll have people call me
at the scene 10 pm, 11 pm, likeI'm we're literally 24-7.
Speaker 1 (14:26):
Oh, wow.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
And I tell people don't feel bad.
Like my wife knows, we workhard in our family.
Like you can call me whenever,I don't care, I'll pick up, but
yeah, I'll tell them.
So if it's like a side swipesituation and it's like you know
, a lot of times people, people,will lie right.
The other person will oh, theywent to my lane to say their
insurance and I'll have clientstell me yeah, but they said that
they were going to tell theirinsurance company.
(14:47):
I'm like do not believe them.
Yeah, they're gonna protectthemselves video them without
them noticing, because that'slegal.
You can tape record someone inperson without their permission.
So just video record themwithout them noticing, like have
the phone, like so they don'tnotice, and like be like, hey,
like you know what were youthinking there?
Get them.
Then they admit it and then youhave that, just in case they go
tell their insurance somethingdifferent, something different.
(15:09):
Then we're like, boom, we gotthem, you know.
So I would say, uh for sure,license plate, get their
driver's license insurance card,if they have it on them.
And then, if it's a, if itcould be like a wishy-washy on
the liability, like get a.
I mean I would get a video ofthem regardless, even if it was
a rear-ender, um, because you'regoing to be there for a minute,
you know.
I mean, generally people aregoing to like if you say, hey,
(15:30):
we called the cops, if you'rewaiting on the cops and you, and
if they try to leave at thatpoint, well now it's a hit and
run, and if we have the licenseplate, it's even more.
We got them now, as an attorney,I'm gonna say all there's
punitive damages.
Now they did a hit and run.
So now the insurance carrier isgoing to have to pay even more
money because their driver did ahit and run on you.
Speaker 1 (15:48):
Yeah, yeah.
So those are kind of like it'scrazy times, man.
It's crazy times Because I'vehad all of that happen.
I've got hit by a drunk driver,luckily not here in Vegas.
Yeah yeah, same, good call.
I lost my train of thought.
We were talking about when theydon't have insurance, right?
(16:10):
So you were mentioning likebecause you find people all the
time, a lot of times they'redoing hit and run, either
because they legal, whateverlegal situation is or they don't
, just don't have insurance, sothey're just out.
What do you recommend?
Speaker 2 (16:19):
You said mentioning getting higher insurances to
cover yourself for the liabilityside, right, yeah, so there's
something called uninsuredmotorists, correct, and then
underinsured motorists.
So in Nevada, if you have one,you have the other.
You can't have only one, youhave to have both so uninsured
is that situation.
They bounce and let's say we gotthe license plate but online it
shows that they just terminatedtheir insurance, like a couple
(16:41):
months ago.
So if we confirm with that,we'll still open up a claim with
that insurance and if thatinsurance that person confirms
there's no coverage coverage,then we're hoping our client has
uninsured motorists.
Underinsured is what me and mywife and I are going through
right now.
The kid had insurance but itwasn't enough to cover our whole
treatment god.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
So we'll ask everything the total bill, the
whole nine, yeah, pain andsuffering everything.
Speaker 2 (17:04):
So we'll ask his insurance to pony up their max
coverage, and then we'll ask ourstate farm to chip in as well
yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (17:11):
And if no insurance, can you go after like, so say, I
get injured and they don't haveinsurance?
What does it look like from adamages standpoint?
Do I have any authority to beable to get anything out of that
, or I'm really so that that's avery hard thing.
Speaker 2 (17:27):
so if the person doesn't have insurance, I always
tell people like I just hadactually someone ask me this
today and I was like if theydon't have enough money to pay
their monthly premium, they'relikely not going to have enough
assets to satisfy any kind ofjudgment if we were to go to
trial kind of thing.
But there are some exceptions.
I was telling the potentialclient today it wasn't a hit and
run, he got hit, the kid didn'thave insurance and then the
(17:50):
potential client was talking towho didn't have uninsured voters
.
But it was a criminal, like itwas an intentional.
um, it was like assault with adebt, like a battery with a car,
like he hit him on purpose yeah, it was terrible, so I was like
hey, man, there's actuallysomething called the victims of
crime, that the state has a fundthat you can apply for, and
they'll cover up to a certainamount, uh, for your medical
(18:11):
treatment, everything.
And then the best way, though,would be through the criminal
case.
If it's like a criminal matter,you just tell the da hey,
here's my medical bills.
It's called restitution.
Make that defendant payrestitution if they want any
kind of good plea deal, so thatI mean that's why it's a
blessing that I did criminaldefense for a couple years,
because sometimes there's somecrossovers there.
(18:33):
But if it's a non-criminalmatter, like I said, generally
it's going to be very toughbecause we could go to trial and
get a huge jury verdict.
But it's like, how are we goingto collect on that money?
And then I'll get a lot ofpeople that tell me what about
the house?
They own a house, but there'shomestead law in Nevada so
you're not even going to be ableto lean up their house anyway.
I didn't know that.
Speaker 1 (18:50):
Yeah, A lot of people set their companies up, set
LLCs up and protect their assetsand the whole nine.
Oh yeah.
Yeah, it could be a littlefunky man.
Yeah, no, for sure.
Speaker 3 (19:00):
It's kind of like digging into the business aspect
of it, so building your own lawfirm.
You're in here a little oversome time now.
You're kind of getting yourbearings under.
You would, um, going intopersonal injury law in vegas
especially.
It seems like you say there'sbillboard every corner.
It seems like it's pretty hardand I know word of mouth is
definitely helpful, but you know, where do you see?
How do you continue to growthat business?
Speaker 2 (19:20):
you know that you're learning some of those lessons
uh, we've talked about goingthat route at some point.
But we just, at this point,like we're signing up a lot of
word of mouth, sure, and it'sjust like I know people that
might get one billboard, twobillboards, but it's just like
if we're gonna do it, we'regonna do it the right way, right
way and like we're actuallynoticeable, get some real estate
(19:42):
.
You know, I'm saying like wherepeople notice, it's not just
like one billboard on 215 orwhatever, not like hating on
that model, but it's just Iwould rather put that money, you
know, somewhere else.
Um, because billboards I wouldrather put in a commercial,
honestly, instead of a billboard.
Because I don't know, I like toconsider myself like more
people's person, like I liketalking to people, being on a
(20:06):
billboard, like yeah, you putyour face up there, but like
they're not hearing what you'reabout.
You know, that's why I love theopportunity to come here with
you guys, because I feel likeyou know, I don't know.
Speaker 3 (20:15):
You can tell the story more.
Speaker 2 (20:16):
Yeah, I don't know, I just like settings like this
more.
So I think in a commercialpeople can generally tell, like
you know, hey, is this personauthentic or not?
So I just with our brand.
We wanted to be, you know, havea sharp brand, more modern, but
just classy.
That was like our whole thing,because that's just how we are.
We don't like to floss, likethat's another thing too.
(20:38):
Like with a lot of theseattorneys.
Like how is posting your carsand a plane and all that like
100%, yeah, what is that doing?
Like how does that help yourclient at all?
Don't get me wrong.
Is that doing like what is?
How does that help your clientat all?
Like knowing you're wrong.
Like with our nine milliondollar settlement best, believe
me, we're gonna put on the flyer, yeah, and like but we're not
gonna like post in front of acar or something.
I mean it's just like it's just,you know, classless and I don't
(21:01):
know, it's just shallow.
But uh yeah, so we're just.
We just have a very differentmindset in that regard.
We like to be low-key, you know.
People know about us, but notfrom a flashy standpoint, that's
just my wife and I are on thesame same page, you know because
a lot of times I see it.
Speaker 3 (21:15):
You know, for some reason I always thought why this
personal injury law like a lotof times.
But I see it seems so cheeky,it seems very kind of like a
salesman-y less about you know,you're there.
Speaker 2 (21:24):
For me it's very song oriented, not like you know,
and I always wondered why thatwas, and I don't know like,
because when I moved here in2012, it wasn't like that as
much like you had some of theattorneys that would have the
jingles and all that, but it wasstill.
It was still different, youknow, I think, more classy than
it is nowadays, and it's justlike how much of your personal
(21:47):
possessions can you really post?
And it has nothing to do withthe law yeah, correct, but
Correct but hey, you know, toeach his own right.
Speaker 1 (21:53):
I love the fact like that's like when we first talked
over the phone remember we werekind of like he was sizing me
up, some sizing you up andtrying to figure it out.
But I love the fact that it'sone-on-one right.
Speaker 2 (22:15):
Yeah.
So I love that you're goingthat route, building it the
right way, yeah, and that's likethat's really our, our main
model.
And I get a lot of uh people, alot of clients that will fire
their current law firms, and alot of people don't know this.
But like, if you have a lawyerand you're not happy with them
and you're free to leave, youdon't have to pay two attorney
fees, you just pay one to me andI just have to square up with
that other law firm.
And a lot of people don't knowthat.
Speaker 1 (22:34):
I never knew that.
Speaker 2 (22:35):
Well, one, they think they can't get out of the
contract, and then two, theythink if they can they're still
going to have to pay two lawyerfees.
So they don't want to do it.
Speaker 1 (22:41):
Is there some type of term?
There's got to be like atermination fee or something
right.
Speaker 2 (22:46):
No, just, and they don't have to let the attorney
know.
They will let them thatattorney know for them and then
we just will pay and, like Isaid, square off the prior law
firm once we settle the case.
We'll just pay a portion.
It's called an attorney lien tojust get rid of it, to just do
good business.
Yeah, yeah, and they'reentitled, you know, to it and
they're entitled to like areasonable, you know, attorney
lien.
But I've had clients be with alaw firm like two of our bigger
(23:09):
settlements prior to this one.
They were with these law firmsfor like a year, a year and a
half, and then they came with me.
But anytime I get a potentialclient like that, the first
question I always ask them letme guess you never talked to the
attorney 100% of the time it'salways.
How did you know?
It's just like because you'retalking to me right now, but you
(23:29):
know, but you know what.
I played that up to our benefit.
You know, like if the, if thenon-attorneys doing all the work
on the case and everything, andwe can come in and offer them
the opposite.
I mean, they, you know, theylove that and then they can go
tell their friends like not anda lot of people don't, can't
even believe it.
They're like there's no way.
And then we sign them up andthey see it, but it just I don't
know.
It comes more natural for melike I don't try to be cliche
(23:52):
and say, oh, I love helpingpeople, but like my whole
mindset was even back in the daywhen my hustle with the traffic
tickets and all that I alwayssaid like, look, try to refer me
someone, but if you don't, allgood.
Like I wish I knew someone likeme before I was an attorney
that would just handle thistraffic ticket for free and not
expect anything in return.
And you know, I know, I feellike it'll come back to you
(24:12):
eventually, somehow.
Speaker 3 (24:13):
For sure, being a lawyer is all about trust.
From what I've, you know we'veall been at some point, I'm
assuming if you've been a lawyer, you've gotten nickel-dimed a
little bit, You've had some ofthese situations occur.
So when you develop that trust.
It goes a long way.
And kind of on that, a coupleof questions.
You know, like how you talkabout the.
The process you went throughthat went for a year or two
years.
What is like the averagelitigation timeline that you're
(24:34):
running through these procedures?
Are they fairly quick?
And personal injury are therelonger ones?
Speaker 2 (24:38):
so it yeah, um.
So I would say our average uhcase time is like six months
okay, sometimes okay sometimescases settle sooner than that.
But the bigger cases, like the,the nine million dollar one, I
mean, that was like five yearsand plus.
It was during covid and all thecourts got like the deadlines
and everything got backed upduring that time.
So that's why it?
(24:59):
took you probably a little bitlonger, um, but yeah, I mean,
but I prepare clients for that,you know, and I'll tell them,
because the thing you have tobreak through to is
misconceptions when you, whenthese clients sign up, so I like
to my initial call with them.
I like it to be usually 30 to45 minutes.
That way, as the case goesalong, they're not asking me
these same questions over time.
Speaker 1 (25:19):
Oh yeah, I already you know I remember that.
Speaker 2 (25:22):
So like some of the common things would be like,
well, hey, like I thought I wasgonna get x amount of money
because this billboard says, youknow about check, getting check
or whatever you know.
But it really all depends on tolike what kind of insurance
you're dealing with.
You know.
So like for a big case, youneed all the stars to align, you
need, you know, clear liability, you need huge insurance limits
(25:42):
, like a company, commercial,something like that.
And then you need like biginjuries, like surgery.
So I tell clients like, look,it's a catch-22, you might get a
huge settlement, but thenyou're like jacked up and you
know you don't want that forthat either right, so I mean
yeah, I mean, I had back surgeryfour years ago, not related to
an accident, but like and I'm 38, you know so like to be able to
give that kind of personalexperience to the clients helps
(26:04):
you know a lot of these lawyerslike they've never even gone to
a chiropractor before andthey're trying to tell you what
kind of treatment you know thatthey're going to you know, set
you up with and stuff.
Speaker 3 (26:12):
And does the client have to pay for that whole
process for that five year termor is it all kind of on the
settlement amount?
Speaker 2 (26:18):
Yeah, so, uh, it's on a what they call a medical lien
generally.
Um, so basically everythingjust gets pushed to the end.
So my fees are on a contingencyright, so I charge a percentage
and then the medical bills willbe deferred till the end too,
once the case settles.
So the idea is like through thesettlement is how we pay our
fees and costs, the doctor'sbills, and then whatever's left
(26:41):
over is the client's portion.
But we have a rule in our firmthat we never take more money
than the client.
It's not like a.
There's no law in Nevada thatsays that, but the better firms
have that policy, just becauseyou know it's the right thing.
Speaker 1 (26:53):
Yeah, treat people the right way.
Yeah, I want to stop you forone second.
So, like you're going through,like a medical situation, right
People, because you always hearpeople, the medicals hit their
bills and bill when they'regoing through you know,
litigation, I guess, is what youwould say until the end of it.
Speaker 2 (27:11):
Yeah, Cause it's all.
It's called a medical lien.
Speaker 1 (27:14):
Ah, that's what you're talking about.
That's the protection.
That's the protection, yeah.
Speaker 2 (27:17):
Basically, the doctors are like they'll treat
you and they, you know they'llwait until the end of the case
and they get paid Got it Okay,um, but it's not on health
insurance.
So the only time a client wouldhave to front any money, like
during the middle of the case orbefore the end of it, is if
they use their health insurance.
So let's just say they go tothe ER the day of the accident
(27:39):
and have like a $100K ER bill.
They might have a copay.
Speaker 1 (27:42):
I was going to say they got something.
Speaker 2 (27:44):
This is a conversation usually that the
attorneys don't have with theclient, and the non-attorneys
forget to mention to them too,or maybe they don't know, and so
they might have a couple grandcopay, I was getting that okay,
thank you.
Thank you for being out yeah,that's exactly what I was
getting at.
Yeah, the client's gonna assumewell, that's what's gonna be
part of the case.
I don't have to pay it.
They don't say anything nowthey're in collections, okay
(28:06):
yeah, so like I remember thatthe first conversation when I
have with the client when I'msigning them up is like hey, you
went to the ER today, Pay yourco-pay.
You're going to get a co-payfrom potentially four different
ER providers if you went in anambulance?
You could have four different ERco-pays, so you need to.
Anytime you get a bill in themail, text it to me.
I'll tell you the exact way todo it.
(28:26):
But by and large, thisconversation is not being held
with the client and then theyend up in collections Now their
credit's messed up, like yousaid.
Speaker 1 (28:33):
Yeah, okay, so pay to copay listeners.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, pay to copay.
That's crazy, do you have?
Speaker 3 (28:38):
to fight for that medical lien?
Or is that just like automatic,because I've never heard that
before.
Speaker 2 (28:43):
I've never heard that was even part of it.
Yeah, so with the doctors.
Okay so that's what we tellthem.
Hey, we got a relationship witha network.
You know we have a network ofdoctors in town.
Great relationships with themover the years Got it.
A lot of the clients that Iwill set you know, or a lot of
the doctors I'll set my clientsup with, are the same doctors
that my wife and I treated withfor our accident.
(29:04):
So that's so.
We set them up with them, andthen, yeah, the doctors will get
paid at the end of the case andthey know that it's basically a
contract, right, but it stillbenefits the client a lot
because now they're not havingto pay for anything.
Speaker 3 (29:18):
Yeah, especially going for four or five years,
and you're racking up thosebills, paying those minimum
payments.
Speaker 2 (29:22):
High yeah the car situation is a crazy one too,
because, like, let's just sayyou're a total loss, the car is
not drivable, yep.
And then the insurance companyis only trying to give a rental
for a very limited amount oftime.
You know, so it's.
Yeah, that's another big thingwe'll do, too is most firms
don't help with the propertydamage claim.
They only help with the injuryclaim.
(29:43):
Oh, so you hit property,commercial, whatever it is,
residential, whatever yeah solike let's just say, you know
your car's, you know not a total, it's repairable or whatever.
But most law firms will notassist at all with that claim.
So there's two claims there'san injury claim and the property
damage claim Got it.
So most firms don't help withthe property damage.
Speaker 1 (30:01):
You guys do.
Speaker 2 (30:02):
But we help with the property damage and we don't
charge a fee for it Smart.
So it's just like you knowbasically extra, you know extra
assistance.
And, like I said earlier,normally the client's main
concern a lot of times is theircar, Because it's like, how am I
going to get to work?
So that's why we offer theUbers.
We work with what they call carrental lien companies, so
companies that actually have afleet of cars that they'll rent
(30:23):
out.
And just like a medicalprovider is on a lien, the car
rental will be on a lien too.
Speaker 3 (30:28):
So we offer that as, too.
Speaker 1 (30:29):
I'm so happy to talk.
I'm learning.
I'm learning as you're talking,man.
You know what I was reallycurious about?
Just briefly, dog bites.
Right, I didn't realize howmany dog bites happen on
probably a daily basis in Vegas,but what do you suggest for
people, especially with kids andthings like that Dog parks
opening up everywhere in Vegas,what do you suggest for them on
(30:49):
how to handle that If it happensup everywhere in Vegas?
What do you suggest for?
Speaker 2 (30:52):
them on how to handle that and what do they do?
Yeah, you need to find out.
So that would go throughhomeowner's insurance.
Okay, yeah, so you would needto find out where the dog owner
lives, got it and if regardlessif you're at home or not.
Speaker 3 (31:02):
Yeah, so if you're at the dog park, yep.
Speaker 2 (31:04):
Okay, the homeowners?
Yeah, it's a great question.
Homeowner's insurance stillextends and then it's really
based on what the homeowner'spolicy says, because some breeds
of dogs might be excluded onthere.
So, like a pit bull, it mightsay hey, if you have a pit bull
and it bites somebody, we're notpaying, doesn't?
Speaker 1 (31:19):
cover yeah.
Speaker 2 (31:20):
Yeah, and then a lot of times it's very different
than a car accident, where youdon't know the address of the
homeowner but you don't knowwhat insurance they have.
You can't look that up online.
So then I'll hire aninvestigator to do a homeowner
search and then they'll tell uswho the insurance carrier is.
Oh, you're smooth, david,you're smooth.
Speaker 1 (31:38):
You figured all the loopholes.
Speaker 2 (31:41):
I'll hang out with.
Speaker 3 (31:41):
Ace.
That's hilarious.
Speaker 1 (31:45):
How do you maintain your pipeline?
Is it more on the tech side?
Speaker 2 (31:57):
or how do you?
How do you continue?
To keep managing that andmaintaining your, your client
pipeline?
Um, just in terms of likegetting the steady flow of
clients.
Speaker 3 (32:00):
Yes, it's hard.
Speaker 1 (32:01):
It's hard to do cases like 200 cases a year?
Yeah, how?
Speaker 3 (32:02):
do you keep all that like?
Speaker 1 (32:04):
everything together.
Speaker 2 (32:05):
Yeah Well my wife helps out a lot, but I do have a
strong team.
I mean the two case managers Iintake specialists that I have.
The third employee we justhired, intake specialist Anna.
She's amazing.
She's helping me out a lotsigning up the new clients,
because I was doing that too.
(32:25):
The point I was making earlieris I was just doing too much and
so she's really been a gamechanger.
And then my two case managersamazing the one I brought with
me from my last firm.
I mean she's like day one forme.
You know she's, she's the best.
And then the second casemanager was hired in January.
She worked with me at the firstfirm I worked at.
So it's like all these girlsthat have a like got a
(32:47):
relationship with you know anduh, and you know I try to be
like I'd like to think I'm apretty cool boss.
I never play the whole attorneycard thing.
Some of these guys and girlsget little big heads and stuff.
That's not me.
I started when I was 18 yearsold working for an attorney in
my little small town in Georgiafetching waters.
(33:09):
So I always kept that mindsetlike, don't ever get too big.
My dad instilled that in me aswell.
He'd take me to work on theweekends with him.
My dad's from into me as well.
He took me to work, you know,on the weekends with him.
My dad's from cuba and he tookme from work to work on the
weekends and he was like amanager of 500 people in this um
factory and he would um take meinto the factory and I'm like
what we're doing today.
He's like the first thing we'regonna go do is tell these
(33:31):
people thanks for working on aweekend.
You know so like that alwaysstuck with me.
Yeah, just uh always treatpeople no matter who it is like
just the right way.
Speaker 3 (33:40):
Especially as you continue to grow and you're
going to keep growing andgrowing and growing, and it gets
harder.
Speaker 1 (33:45):
And did I read that correct?
Speaking of Cuba, did I readthat correctly?
So was your uncle like thethird president of Cuba?
Yeah, that's a fact.
Yeah, research.
Yeah, mario garcia menocal.
Yeah, that's awesome.
Speaker 2 (33:56):
Yeah, he was a third president from 1913 to 1921 so
it's pretty cool back in the daythe cubans would actually go to
school here in the states a lotof them and then go back to
cuba to be successful.
So he actually graduated fromcornell university new york yep.
And then he went back.
He fought in thespanish-american war with, uh,
teddy roosevelt and rough riders.
He fought with the us becausethe us helped spain, or helped
(34:18):
cuba liberate from spain, sure,and then they?
Speaker 1 (34:20):
then he became the third president so like I'm very
my dad's from havana his senioryear in high school.
You got your roots here.
Speaker 2 (34:27):
Yeah, yeah, okay like , and that was like that uncle
was just like one of them, likethere's other, like I got a
cousin that's buried inarlington cemetery, even though
he's he's cuban.
He's buried in ArlingtonCemetery, even though he's Cuban
.
He's buried in ArlingtonCemetery.
He was actually one of theoriginal co-authors of the
Panama Canal.
At one point the WashingtonMonument got uneven and they
(34:48):
hired him to correct it.
Yeah, so it's like we have alot of family history there.
Y'all put a movie out.
Speaker 1 (34:55):
Yeah, put a movie on y'all's family man.
That's pretty powerful, it wascool, and that's the thing
growing up.
Speaker 2 (35:00):
We didn't, I didn't speak spanish um, because my mom
is, uh, from the us, and shedidn't speak spanish, and so
she's polish.
So, um, I didn't speak spanish.
And then, when I got to middleschool, I started taking spanish
classes, but really the drivingfactor was my, my grandmother,
mi abuelita.
She only only spoke Spanish.
And so between her, my aunt andmy dad.
(35:20):
Like you know, I've beenspeaking, obviously the last
20-something years and nowyou're white.
Speaker 1 (35:24):
I was going to say yeah, so our son, you know, he
just turned four.
Speaker 2 (35:27):
That's his first language.
Speaker 1 (35:28):
That's awesome.
So in Columbia right now he's astraight-up white boy speaking
perfect Spanish.
Speaker 2 (35:33):
So he's going to be trouble.
Speaker 1 (35:35):
Yeah, that's awesome man.
Yeah, he's the man.
That's good stuff, man, that'sa good history.
When I read that I was likedamn, I got to ask him about
that.
Speaker 2 (35:42):
So that's pretty cool man.
Speaker 1 (35:44):
With us being a bigger circle, mentorship is
extremely important to me.
Speaker 2 (36:01):
Who has been speaking in your life and who do you
kind of bounce things off thebackboard to make sure, even on
your personal life or yourbusiness life, you know things
are solid and going the rightdirection.
Speaker 1 (36:06):
So I got a very close relationship with both my
parents have been married uh 50,going on 53 years.
Speaker 2 (36:09):
Yeah man, yeah, so uh you know they're, uh, they're
my rock.
You know they, uh, they're theones that really pushed me with
law school too, cause I wasn'tdoing well on the practice,
practice exams.
They're like no, no.
So they really, you know, droveme in that regard.
I got two older brothers.
Both are integral in my life.
My middle brother.
He's actually a baseball agent.
(36:29):
He has some pretty prominentclients.
And then my oldest brother isin marketing and he's been
working for Siemens, a big uh uhautomotive company and out of
Germany, and that's where my dadworked for over 40 years.
Speaker 1 (36:44):
I think some tips from your parents are doing it
right.
Speaker 3 (36:45):
Yeah, good kid.
Speaker 2 (36:47):
I always tell them I'm like, but they they raised
us you know, but it was neverlike a thing where I don't know
like they always kept our, ourvalues and principles.
You know I'm saying like we'rereal faithful to religious and
that that helps keep me grounded.
You know my faith.
You know in god, um.
(37:07):
But then my wife has been likethe biggest uh difference with
me too, because before I met her.
I had the grind and hustle youknow, doing all the tragedies
and all, but really she helpedme put it all together.
She elevated me.
That's awesome Because a lot ofpeople think, oh, she was a
cocktail waitress in theindustry, she married a lawyer.
Blah, blah, blah, I'll be thefirst one to say.
(37:28):
When I met her, she had moremoney than me.
Speaker 1 (37:30):
That's powerful.
You hear her smiling over there.
I see her in the same boat.
Speaker 2 (37:37):
I'm with you, man, yeah and uh you know, but she
saw the potential and she really, you know, helped me put it all
together.
Yeah, um, so, yeah, that wifeis the biggest blessing I've had
and, um, that's good stuff, man.
Speaker 1 (37:50):
Powerful man out of that man.
Family values man, that'sawesome.
Man.
What would you share?
You know, just for businessadvice?
You know just a gem.
I mean you work and I hear alot about this man.
Like we were talking about Chrisrecently, a couple of weeks ago
we interviewed a guy and andI'm hearing it more and more is
(38:10):
people are buying smallbusinesses from you know some of
the baby boomers.
Right, they want to just, Imean, that's all their asset,
they can sell their company out,right, but I've been hearing a
lot about people that maybe, ifthey want to go buy that
business, maybe go work for thebusiness similar to yourself,
right, go work for the law firmfor a year and a half and learn
whatever it is, and then maybeyou buy 48% or 49% of the
company.
But maybe in that period you'rereally getting the real value
(38:32):
of what the company is all about.
Right, and hands-on learning isall about right and hands-on
learning.
But what would you share tosomebody that maybe they're
thinking about starting theirown business or maybe starting
their own law firm?
Because we all need differenteyes and competitiveness brings
everybody up, right?
So what would you suggest onthat side?
Speaker 2 (38:50):
I would say.
I mean, in my industry I cankind of speak on more experience
.
Sure, you got to be prepared toeither market a lot, so you
better have some like financialbacking, either some, maybe some
money stashed away, familymoney, whatever it is to hit the
ground running with all thesebillboards and commercials and
(39:10):
everything because to competewith these top top, you know
marketers in town like you gottago, ham right, what their bills
like.
Speaker 3 (39:15):
I was wondering that what their marketing goes.
Yeah, you got to go, ham right,I wonder what their bill is
like.
I was wondering that what theirmarketing bill is.
Speaker 1 (39:18):
It's got to be seven business a month.
Speaker 2 (39:20):
Man, yeah, jeez, yeah , they killing it and the thing
is is like think of how manycases you need to like average
that out, and it's just like Idon't know.
I'm not the big volume type ofguy Once again.
Either that or you better belike a hustler and be able to
get clients, and it's hard.
You've got to do somethingdifferent.
(39:41):
So I remember I used to be withI mean, I'd have coworkers and
stuff and they'd be like why areyou giving out your cell phone
number to clients?
Are you crazy, dude?
They're going to be callingthem.
I'm like why not?
You think they're going to callyou or somebody else when they
have an accident, right, or uh,another thing dude, why are you
doing that traffic ticket forpeople?
Like dude, like that's gonnatake so much of your time?
Yeah, it is, man, but you knowwhat.
(40:02):
That's why you're not gettingcases right.
Speaker 1 (40:04):
You know I'm so happy .
You said I don't know if youknow colin fukunaka is on
spookaburger oh, yeah, yeah oh,colin.
Speaker 2 (40:09):
Colin said the same thing.
Speaker 1 (40:11):
Remember he was saying I mean he was like look,
I give my phone around toeverybody and that's why he's
successful.
He leads the stadium.
Speaker 2 (40:20):
Honestly that.
Tamago egg is like that's mygo-to.
I just had it a couple nightsago.
Speaker 1 (40:24):
But shout out to Colin because he did something
similar to yourself.
He gives his phone number outbecause he wants to hear whether
it's the reviews or any of hisbusinesses do bad or good, or
how he can help or how he canchange it.
Speaker 3 (40:33):
People who do that always have a better
relationship with their customer100%, everybody they see with
him and I'm sure you have thesame type of dynamic.
That just always happens?
Speaker 1 (40:40):
Yeah for sure.
Well, I applaud you, man.
That's good stuff, man.
So marketing is what I got outof that too, man, which is
awesome.
You got to market the right wayand have some capital to be
able to do it the right way.
Favorite restaurant we alwaysask everybody about restaurants
in Vegas.
Man, I know you eat a lot too,so that's good man Foodie, but
what's your favorite restaurantin Vegas?
Speaker 2 (40:59):
It's hard to narrow it down to one.
I would probably say so.
Speaker 1 (41:02):
I live in Summerlin, okay you knew me, so Harlow, I
love Harlow.
Yeah, shout out to Harlow.
I stayed there last night Okay.
Rib-eye, all of it.
To be honest with you, man, Ilike all of it.
I like harlow, to be honestwith you, I think.
(41:22):
Uh, a last person, I think,said it was nick dosa, I think
nick brought up harlow.
Speaker 2 (41:23):
But I like harlow, it's legit, it's low-key, you
know like you get the quality offood you get on the strip, but
sure you don't have to drive allthe way there.
So I say that lpm it'smediterranean and, uh, I think
asian and mediterranean?
Speaker 1 (41:32):
I have not.
Speaker 2 (41:32):
I don't think I've been there, yet they have them
all over.
It's a chain, okay, but it'sreplacing.
I can't remember the spot atCosmo Right next to STK.
Okay, what did you call itagain?
Oh, it used to be Milos.
They replaced Milos.
Speaker 1 (41:46):
What's it called again?
Speaker 2 (41:47):
LPM, lpm.
Speaker 1 (41:48):
Yeah, I highly recommend that.
Speaker 2 (41:49):
Okay, that's awesome man, but Carbone.
Shout out to Carbone.
Yeah, carbone was good.
Spicy vodka, rigatoni yeah.
Speaker 1 (41:58):
Shout out to Carbone.
I've heard I think it was NewYork City the hardest
reservation to get Period In theUnited States.
Speaker 3 (42:09):
They tracked it.
Speaker 2 (42:10):
We got an N.
Yeah, and Ace too.
Ace said he got the connectionbecause he worked at Carbone.
Yeah, I've been to Carbonebefore and I actually really
like it.
Speaker 1 (42:16):
Where's that?
I said I've been to Carbonebefore and I really like it.
Speaker 2 (42:20):
You feel like you're in Goodfellas or something.
Yeah, it's good stuff, verygood service.
Speaker 3 (42:24):
Sign in.
I've never been Check that out.
Check that out for sure, man.
I've been a couple times.
Speaker 1 (42:30):
Yeah, it's awesome.
What else that you want toleave us out on?
Speaker 2 (42:34):
I would probably, I'd like to touch maybe on like
family life too, sure, you know,like balancing that with work
Because you know.
I can be very obsessive withwork and it's good to have my
wife check me and it's like myson.
I mean we have one kid, youknow, and it was nice to have a
boy on the first one and he's myworld, like I wasn't sure if I
was ever going to have kids oranything, but he's like a little
(42:57):
mini me you know, and they'rein.
Columbia right now, and Veronicawas.
Like Vicente knew it was theweekend he was like he was just.
He knows it's y'all's time.
He's like he knows during theweek it's harder, but it was the
weekend, he knows it's y'all'stime.
So I mean all these personalyou know and professional
successes and everything youknow, the big settlements and
(43:18):
all that.
They would mean nothing if Ididn't have my family.
If I didn't have them to shareit with, because then I'd be
sharing it with people maybethat don't care that much about
me, right, and it's like notthat genuine, authentic realness
that you'll have with yourfamily.
So you know, shout out to mywife and Vicente in Columbia and
Veronica, to my wife andVicente and Columbia, and, um,
(43:41):
not Veronica, I mean she's uh, Imean once again, our firm I
always tell people would not behalf of what it is without her,
you know, because she justhandles so much and not, I mean
she, she's old Colombian, solike, come in.
Women are known to take care oftheir men and everything.
So I mean it's whether it'scooking for us.
She cooks, you know, for my soneverything from scratch, his
kids having grass-fed lamb chopsyeah, so she's like don't worry
(44:05):
, I'm gonna make some for youtoo, but uh, I mean, she handles
she handles everything from ato z, so she's got that
traditional colombian, you knowculture.
But then, um, you know she'shelping out so much of the firm.
Speaker 3 (44:16):
I mean originally when we started it was looking
like it was gonna be like apart-time thing yeah because we
didn't think we're gonna be sobusy, but it's like full-time,
that's beautiful right now,right so, um, because you have,
you know, your wife, it workswith you yeah, that's what I
tell her all the time.
Speaker 2 (44:30):
I'm like look we're around each other 24 7 and we're
still married, you know.
So that's uh, that's a successin and of itself best friend
yeah, but she was smart, likewith her money, like because she
was in queens 10 years and shewas there like when, uh, like
clubs like uptown and stuff likethat in the latin scene really
(44:51):
good, like fat joe, all theseguys you know going and she
worked at tau okay, in new yorkyeah, okay, yeah, in new york.
So she lived in queenstown years.
Then she moved out here in 2016.
But she was smart, like I wassaying when we met, like she
stacked up, that's awesome.
And she was like smart.
She had like four or fiverental properties here.
Speaker 3 (45:09):
No, they do.
Speaker 2 (45:10):
It's just like you, save it right and she, she saved
her money and like I mean shelegit, I mean I'll go to her for
advice all the time on stufflike when it comes to like
economics.
Like she studied that in schoolin columbia, like she's she's
super sharp.
Like you're not going to getmuch past her, you know yeah,
it's funny.
Speaker 1 (45:27):
Your wife definitely needs to be more.
Speaker 2 (45:28):
That's why she was smiling earlier because your
situation is very similar.
Speaker 1 (45:31):
As you know, my wife had same thing house the whole
nine when I first met herbackground uh, philippines, oh
yeah, philippines.
Speaker 2 (45:38):
So there's a lot of spanish.
Yeah, spain, yeah, for sure sowhat's your social handles?
People who can reach out to youon so it's uh at david menichel
, okay, and then uh, menichellogger okay, yeah, well, check
this man out, man.
Speaker 1 (45:51):
Follow what he's doing.
You gave some great tips that Iwasn't aware of at all, man, so
we appreciate, uh, learningfrom you and being able to pick
your brain a little bit, butcheck them out.
Check us out at thevegasurgecomand subscribe with us, man.
We appreciate your time, man.
Speaker 2 (46:02):
Thank you very much.
Thanks guys.
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