Today we’d like to introduce you to Daniel Amos.
Hi Daniel, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
“Ambulance chaser”, “shyster” and “A_ _ hole” are some of the words I’ve heard used to describe personal injury lawyers. As a lawyer who has helped accident victims since 1985, I get it. One summer when I was in high school, I went with my father to watch him in court. I’d never seen my dad in his capacity as a lawyer before. I knew he was a lawyer, but I had no idea what he really did, and I certainly didn’t know what area of law he specialized in. We went to the Torrance Courthouse on Maple Ave and took the elevator up to the 3rd floor. I remember the wide corridor which had floor to ceiling windows on one side and double wooden doors to the courtrooms on the other side. The floors were cold marble and there were uncomfortable wooden benches outside of each courtroom where people could sit. My dad was a quiet guy with a dignified and kind demeanor. I remember feeling really proud to be there with him. What happened that morning shaped both my legal career and how I’ve lived my life.
What I recall happening was my dad and I sitting on one of those uncomfortable wooden benches outside the courtroom when another guy, who I later figured out was the opposing attorney, came over to my dad and started yelling at him and threatening him and using every F-bomb and vile obscenity I’d ever heard. It was so upsetting. For me, it was an out of body experience. My dad just sat there and calmly tried to tell this other attorney that he needed to calm down and that they could discuss it all with the judge once they got into the courtroom. It was one of those moments as a kid you never forget. I didn’t have any idea why this guy was so out of control, but it did leave me with the impression that not all lawyers were like my dad. It turns out the other guy was a personal injury lawyer. As I grew up, I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do for a living, but I did know one thing, I would never be a personal injury lawyer. Funny how things work out. I’ve been in the personal injury business for 36 years now.
During my career as a practicing personal injury lawyer, I met many lawyers who were like that guy who was so out of control and obnoxious that day. But I have also met many very professional personal injury lawyers. I’ve strived to be a personal injury lawyer who didn’t need to be a jerk to find success. After practicing as a personal injury lawyer for 25 years, I ventured into the world of business and opened Higher Legal, a California State Bar Certified Lawyer Referral Service (LRS#130) that specializes in helping people find great personal injury lawyers. Higher Legal is a free service. And Higher Legal is a one-person operation, me. My mission is to help people find the good guys because as I learned at that encounter during high school with my dad, not all personal injury lawyers are created equally.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Life is a struggle, so why wouldn’t opening your own business be any different, right? I had a very successful career as a personal injury lawyer for 25 years and had the pleasure of working with some of the best personal injury lawyers in Los Angeles. Most of my career was working with the Greene, Broillet & Wheeler firm and lawyers from that firm such as Brian Panish, Mark Quigley and Gary Paul. So why wouldn’t that success smoothly transfer over into the world of business, especially since the work of Higher Legal is directly related to my 25 years of working as a personal injury lawyer? Have you ever heard of ‘Lead Gen’? Neither had I. And to say it’s caused me to struggle is the understatement of a lifetime. Legal Lead Generation is a marketing term that I like to describe as the evil enterprise that deceptively sucks in all the people who are looking for a personal injury lawyer and then sells them to whatever personal injury lawyer (good or bad) pays them the most money. You would think it’s illegal, but it’s not. Lead Gen is the big bad middleman which has taken over the world of legal referrals, has made an enormous fortunate doing it, and has in my opinion provided virtually no benefit to any of its unsuspecting clients who wind up with an attorney they don’t like.
When I first started practicing law in 1985, most of the personal injury clients I had were referred to me or my firm by judges. That made perfect sense. Judges spend their days watching lawyers in court and they have a pretty good idea of who is good and who is bad. But then along came this new business idea of the ‘middleman’ known as the Lead Gen industry. They are basically big marketing companies that run a ton of TV commercials, radio ads, and internet ads to attract people who need a personal injury lawyer. They have no legal experience and no intention of ever representing the person, instead their only goal is to sell that person (or lead) to a lawyer who needs cases and has paid them handsomely for the lead. So, to answer your question, no – it hasn’t been a “smooth road”, but every day I am here trying to help people find the good personal injury lawyers. Like I said before, Higher Legal is a one-man operation with no marketing budget, and I’m trying to compete against giant Lead Gen companies that have multi-million dollar advertising budgets. It’s been hard to compete! But I’m happy to say that some people who are looking for a great personal injury lawyer do find Higher Legal, and I’m always happy to spend as much time with them as necessary to hear their story, to ask the right questions, and to see if I can connect them with a great personal injury lawyer; one that is the right fit for them and for their case.
As you know, we’re big fans of Higher Legal. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
It’s funny (or sometimes sad) to see how some people pick their personal injury lawyer. Some hire their lawyer because “they are so good looking”, others take the recommendation of a crazy uncle who “knows some guy who will get you a great settlement”, and others go with one of those lawyers who bombard us with millions of ads on TV. These are all experiences of real people who contacted me after they fired their first attorney and were looking for another one. Based on my years of experience, there are lots of bad ways to find a personal injury lawyer, but one good way is to ask someone who has experience in the business. I like to tell people that the most important decision they make in their case is who they hire. And that decision is usually made shortly after their injury, which is a time when they may not be in the best mindset to make such a big decision. I started Higher Legal to use my 25 years of experience as a personal injury lawyer to help people find the best attorney for their case. Because finding the right lawyer isn’t easy. Many people don’t realize that personal injury lawyers have specialties, and that’s an important factor to consider.
For example, you don’t want the personal injury lawyer who specializes in medical malpractice cases to handle your auto accident case and vice versa. So to answer your question; Why are we better? Here are just two reasons: State Bar Certified: Higher Legal is certified by the California State Bar to make honest and trusted legal referrals. Every year I have to prove to the State Bar that Higher Legal is helping people find honest and experienced personal injury lawyers. Our job is to protect the public from the unscrupulous lawyers. Higher Legal is the ONLY service certified by the California State Bar that specializes in personal injury lawyer referrals. So, when people contact me, not only are they getting advice from a personal injury lawyer with 25 years of experience, they are also getting the peace of mind that we are certified by the California State Bar. B Corporation: Higher Legal is also a Certified Benefit Corporation. You may have heard of some of the big “B Corps” like the outdoor company Patagonia. The mission of Certified B Corps is to be companies that are not only the ‘best in the world,’ but are also the ‘best for the world’. Certified B Corps are businesses that meet the highest standards of verified social and environmental performance, transparency and legal accountability. We take our commitment to our community seriously and our mission is to be a business that is based on people over profit.
Are there any books, apps, podcasts or blogs that help you do your best?
What we do!: https://youtu.be/Nr7oIg8gt2M
Pricing:
- Free!
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Website: https://www.higherlegal.com/
- Instagram: @higherlegal
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/higherlegal
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/higher-legal-los-angeles
- Other: https://www.higherlegal.com/lawsuit-success-ebook.pdf
