The Business Side Of Law: Matthew A Dolman of Dolman Law Group On 5 Things You Need To Create Or Lead A Successful Law Firm

An Interview With Eric Pines

Aggressiveness is also very important while understanding top-of-mind awareness. That’s established by meeting as many people, reminding them what you do, and putting out content on the internet with a strong social media presence.

Law school primarily prepares lawyers for the practice of law. But leading or starting a law firm requires so much more than that. It requires the entrepreneurial skills that any CEO would need to run a business; How to manage personnel, how to hire and fire, how to generate leads, how to advertise, how to manage finances, etc. On the business side of the law, what does an attorney need to know to create a successful and thriving law practice? To address these questions, we are talking to successful law firm principals who can share stories and insights from their experience about the “5 Things You Need To Create Or Lead A Successful Law Firm”.

Matthew A. Dolman, a nationally recognized advocate for injury victims, is the Founder & Senior Partner of Dolman Law Group. Matt is best known for challenging insurance companies, maximizing client compensation, aggressively litigating cases, and taking cases to trial when necessary. He is a lifetime member of the Multi-Million Dollar Advocates Forum, an honor given to attorneys who have secured verdicts and settlements in excess of $2 million dollars, and has a perfect 10.0 score by Avvo.com; a national consumer rating service for attorneys.

Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Before we dive in, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your ‘backstory’ and how you ended up where you are? Specifically, we’d love to hear the story of how you began to lead your practice.

I attended law school and had great mentors who taught me how to litigate cases and more importantly how to build a case with a common theme. I started my own practice in 2009 and over the years, I saw that many of my competitors were using phone books or billboards to get their names out there, which was extremely expensive and daunting. I was among the first lawyers to focus my efforts on digital marketing when it was not nearly as popular. Now, we have one of the five most travelled websites among all personal injury lawyers in the country.

I’m a huge fan of mentorship throughout one’s career. None of us can achieve success without some help along the way. Who has been your biggest mentor? What was the most valuable lesson you learned from them?

I was fortunate enough to have several really good trial lawyers show me the ropes. There is a difference between trying a case and trying it properly. Further, seeing the end product enabled me to better understand the importance of building the case properly from the beginning and how to set my cases up for litigation in the event an insurance carrier provided my client an unreasonable offer.

From completing your degree to opening a practice and becoming a business owner, your path was most likely challenging. Can you share a story about one of your greatest struggles? Can you share what you did to overcome it?

The greatest struggle any entrepreneur has, especially those who are in law, is getting the phone to ring and getting clients, especially when you’re young and don’t have a reputation yet. When I started my practice, I built out a website that took some time and I stayed very diligent. Rather than going the same route everyone else was following by advertising in phone books and billboards. Within about six months to a year, I began seeing traffic on the internet and I never looked back. While some of my competitors had websites, they weren’t updated it regularly or devoting much effort at marketing such. We were heavily engaged in search engine optimization (SEO). By the time the majority of my competition realized the importance of digital marketing, I’d already run a number of laps around the track. I’ve been doing it for several years and it gave me a competitive advantage over other attorneys locally and throughout the State of Florida.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share a story about how that was relevant in your own life?

Failure is not a bad thing. I’d rather try something and fail than try nothing at all. Wayne Gretzky once said, “You miss all the shots you don’t take.” The greatest lesson I’ve learned over the years is you can’t be afraid of rejection. That’s not just for trial lawyers or personal injury lawyers, but a life lesson for all. You can’t be afraid of asking questions and somebody saying no. I’ve had so many people say no to me over the years, from trying to land clients to insurance companies not providing me the offer that we desired and having to litigate the case further. You can’t take it personally, but rather dust yourself off and try again. If you’re afraid of rejection, you’re going to be afraid of taking every shot. You’ll miss some, but you’re going to land quite a few. That’s why I don’t fear rejection, in my practice, social situations, or life.

This is not easy work. What is your primary motivation and drive behind the work that you do?

I enjoy helping people and taking on cases where the odds seem stacked against us. If you’re law firm is not out there litigating cases, taking chances, and investing money into your cases, you’re doing a disservice to your client. Anybody can settle a case with the insurance company. Our firm champions cases that other law firms would reject, that are not low-hanging fruit, and are considered difficult on their best day.

What are some of the most interesting or exciting projects you are working on now?

We’re working on a couple of mass tort projects. Right now, we are part of a legal team representing mothers who have autistic children or those diagnosed with ADHD against the manufacturers of generic acetaminophen and Tylenol. It’s considered a long shot and the science is tough, but we believe in it. We’re not saying it’s the main cause of autism at all, but we believe it’s one of the many factors and causes of autism from women taking acetaminophen while pregnant resuling in utero exposure.

Fantastic. Let’s now shift to discussing the business of law. Can you tell us a bit about the nature of your practice and what you focus on?

I have a single event practice that encompasses personal injury. In other words the case arises from a single event. This includes car accidents, truck accidents, motorcycles, negligent security cases, etc. We handle mass tort cases against pharmaceutical manufacturers and I should mention as the third part of our case practice, we represent victims of sexual abuse against the Catholic Church, massage therapists, medical facilities and corporations.

You are a successful attorney. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? What unique qualities do you have that others may not? Can you please share a story or example for each?

I’m very persistent and if one option isn’t working, I’m going to try another. I’m not afraid of rejection, but am afraid of not trying or putting my best effort into something. I’m very persistent, aggressive within reason, and have strong ambition. A lot of folks give up very easily, being afraid of rejection and failure. I don’t mind failing. I’d much rather fail something than not try at all.

Do you think where you went to school has any bearing on your success? How important is it for a lawyer to go to a top-tier school?

That depends on what you want to do. If you want to get a big corporate job as a lawyer, it helps open the door. If your goal is to work for yourself or be a trial lawyer or personal injury attorney and represent consumers, what law school you went to is not going to make a major difference. I’ve gone against lawyers who went to Ivy League schools and have won those cases or had great settlements against them. 192 law schools are accredited by the American Bar Association, so I don’t think it makes a difference. As long as you go to a decent law school, I believe you can wind up in the same spot.

Managing to be a law practitioner and a business owner is a constant balancing act. How do you manage both roles?

I can’t manage it well, I wish I did and it affects my personal life. I’m a good husband and father, but I wish there was enough time to juggle both. I hate going home and still think about the work I have to get done. That’s a challenge you have every single day because there are always things in your head, whether it’s stuff have to do tomorrow or things you never quite finished. I’m always looking at issues relating to work and I wish I didn’t. That’s one area I struggle in and I think many entrepreneurs or business owners do as well. There are just not enough hours in the day.

Can you help articulate the entrepreneurial skills a lawyer needs to run and lead a successful law firm?

If you’re going to be an entrepreneur, you need create your work. In other words, you must generate new clients. The overarching goal is to bring in enough business to be sustainable. Thus, you have to be willing to be outgoing. The theme is you can’t be afraid of rejection. Instead, you have to be ambitious. Wherever you can meet people, you should be there because they’re all potential consumers. It’s all about top-of-mind awareness. Everybody has a friend, brother, sister, and mother who practices the same thing you do. If you’re not out there creating top of mind awareness, somebody is going to refer them elsewhere. You just have to constantly remind folks what you do for a living.

As a business owner, you spend most of your time working IN your practice, seeing clients. When and how do you shift to working ON your practice? (Marketing, upgrading systems, growing your practice, etc.) How much time do you spend on the business elements?

In the last four years, I made a transition from being primarily a lawyer to now wearing multiple hats with an emphasis on running the business. I still have some clients, but for the most part, I oversee the operation and spend most of my day working on marketing and driving the business itself. I oversee a couple of the bigger projects like the Tylenol/acetaminophen cases. Right now I represent several African American women and Spanish women who use chemical hair straighteners that in turn cause uterine cancer, ovarian cancer and uterine fibroids. Other than that, I mostly oversee the practice, our systems, intake center. My job is to ensure from soup to nuts everything is running smoothly.

Can you share some specific, non-intuitive insights from our personal experience about how a leader of a law firm should:

• Manage personnel: The first lesson is to treat everybody the same way that you want to be treated. You also have to remember that staff members are not your friends. While the people I work with are almost like family, you can’t show favoritism to any member. You have to remember what everyone’s role is and maintain proper respect at all times. At the end of the day, if you don’t give them enough autonomy and let them succeed on their own, they’re going to see you don’t trust them and there’s not going loyalty.
• Hire and fire: I believe in firing fast and hiring slowly. If you spot someone who isn’t getting along with other individuals, you have to nip that in the bud very quickly. You have to find team players and individuals who aren’t selfish but understand the overarching goal. At least in our business, you want individuals that are compassionate and empathetic, because you’re dealing with others who are probably at their most vulnerable hout. To us it’s simple, but it’s not to them. They’re going through a horrible situation, so you have to lend an ear and give them enough time because they want to be heard.
• Generate leads: The easiest way to compete is on the internet. It’s easier to move the needle with a lot less money on the internet than it is on television or radio, especially in Florida where you have Morgan and Morgan and 20 firms that dominate the airwaves at all times.
• Advertise: It’s about the quality of the content you put out there. If it’s constantly updated, people will come back to it. That’s how you build up a good audience, you answer questions that individuals are going to be searching for and provide a very robust website. Therefore, potential consumers (in our case auto accident victims and those who’ve been hurt as a result of someone else’s negligence) see our website as a resource. If they put a question into Google, there’s a good chance that my website is going to be shuffled to the top 10 responses that are out there.
• Manage finances: You only want to grow when you’re stretching at the seams. Adding more staff and spending more money is a luxury. You only want to do that if you’ve got enough business already in the door and you’re stretching yourself. If you have a lot of mouths to feed and don’t have enough business coming in, you’re not going to be able to support everyone. You want to fire fast and hire slow. Employees are also almost like a luxury. They are a necessity but only when it’s forced, meaning there’s so much work that you cannot properly service all clients without additional support staff

Ok, thank you. Here is the main question of our interview about the business side of the law. What are the 5 Things an Attorney Needs to Know To Create A Successful And Thriving Law Practice?

1. Drive and ambition with a go-getter mentality: If that’s not your natural inclination, you’re going to burn out very quickly. You also have to understand the overarching goal of what you’re trying to achieve every single day and work towards that.
2. Having thick skin in this business: You’re going to have a lot of rejection and must realize that you’re going to have setbacks. You must continue moving forward, without dwelling on your failures.
3. Aggressiveness is also very important while understanding top-of-mind awareness. That’s established by meeting as many people, reminding them what you do, and putting out content on the internet with a strong social media presence.
4. Consistency: Nothing is accomplished overnight. You must maintain consistent effort.
5. It helps to know your strengths and limitations while surrounding yourself with people who complement you and can help you.

You are a person of enormous influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)

I can inspire my staff, treat everybody the way they want to be treated, and be the best person I can be every day.

How can our readers further follow your work online?

They can always go to our website, www.dolmanlaw.com. I lead a team of seven writers and we write content regularly, updating it four to five times a week.

They can also follow me on Twitter, @dolmanlaw where I tweet regularly.

I provide updates on YouTube three or four times a month. I also have a podcast that I post on YouTube for viewers to see and is available to listen to on Spotify, Apple, CarPlay, or any other streaming platform.

This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for the time you spent with this. We wish you continued success and good health!

About the Interviewer: Eric L. Pines is a nationally recognized federal employment lawyer, mediator, and attorney business coach. He represents federal employees and acts as in-house counsel for over fifty thousand federal employees through his work as a federal employee labor union representative. A formal federal employee himself, Mr. Pines began his federal employment law career as in-house counsel for AFGE Local 1923 which is in Social Security Administration’s headquarters and is the largest federal union local in the world. He presently serves as AFGE 1923’s Chief Counsel as well as in-house counsel for all FEMA bargaining unit employees and numerous Department of Defense and Veteran Affairs unions.

While he and his firm specialize in representing federal employees from all federal agencies and in reference to virtually all federal employee matters, his firm has placed special attention on representing Veteran Affairs doctors and nurses hired under the authority of Title. He and his firm have a particular passion in representing disabled federal employees with their requests for medical and religious reasonable accommodations when those accommodations are warranted under the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (ADA). He also represents them with their requests for Federal Employee Disability Retirement (OPM) when an accommodation would not be possible.

Mr. Pines has also served as a mediator for numerous federal agencies including serving a year as the Library of Congress’ in-house EEO Mediator. He has also served as an expert witness in federal court for federal employee matters. He has also worked as an EEO technical writer drafting hundreds of Final Agency Decisions for the federal sector.

Mr. Pines’ firm is headquartered in Houston, Texas and has offices in Baltimore, Maryland and Atlanta, Georgia. His first passion is his wife and five children. He plays classical and rock guitar and enjoys playing ice hockey, running, and biking. Please visit his websites at www.pinesfederal.com and www.toughinjurylawyers.com. He can also be reached at eric@pinesfederal.com.