Show Notes
Chris Finney is a trial-based plaintiffs lawyer located in St. Louis, Missouri. He is joined by two other lawyers and four support staff. He is born and raised in St. Louis and his wife is from there as well. He is committed to the practice of law in the area. He started his career as a prosecutor in the city of St. Louis before leaving to pursue an insurance defense job which offered more pay and benefits. He only lasted there for Six months, but it was a learning experience, and he is now committed to the plaintiffs practice.
Chris is a trial attorney who turns 40 later this year and has 30 jury trials under his belt. He started out working in his father's injury practice, going out on his own afterwards. He and his firm aim to have around five to seven jury trials a year, but he found himself getting too worn out when he tried seven the last time, resulting in a couple of losses at the end of the year. He understands the importance of trial work and the reputation it brings, in order to get the best results for his clients, unlike many other firms which just want to settle.
Chris is discussing the infrastructure of a law firm and how they have found success in generating new cases. He explains that they started out in their father's basement and had to figure out how to get business in. They tried a variety of methods, including marketing on the only urban radio station in town, but that was not very successful. However, they did get through this marketing turned into many other leads throughout the same community. This led to realize that their game was more about word of mouth referral marketing, which is reputation based.
Chris is discussing his approach to building up his business. He has an old school approach of using newsletters to communicate with his clients. The newsletters are written by himself and sent out in print every month. He also focuses on building a “raving fan base” and providing excellent service to his clients. He also utilizes word of mouth and Google AdWords to reach new clients. He has noticed an uptick in referrals from former clients in the last two years and is currently collecting data to see how it has changed over the last five years.