John Griffith: [00:00:00] You don’t have to be the best lawyer. You just have to appear to be the best lawyer, right? I started my own firm in 2016. That was a little scary. And then man, it’s just been, we’ve just been skyrocketing ever since that was an experience. And then I had some things happen at first. I love the job. And then after a while, I didn’t like it so much. I just felt like I was being taken advantage of and I didn’t like taking advantage of people more importantly. I love the game of it. It’s competition. It’s like being on the football field. It’s like being in jujitsu. It’s like trying out for a band, you know, I hope I’m good enough to make the cut, but same here. I want, I want my lawyers here to know that I’m in part doing that for them too. I plan on transferring ownership to them.
Welcome to the Founding Partner Podcast. Join your host, Jonathan Hawkins, as we explore the fascinating stories of successful [00:01:00] law firm founders. We’ll uncover their beginnings, triumph over challenges, and practice growth. Whether you aspire to launch your own firm, have an entrepreneurial spirit, or are just curious about the legal business, you’re in the right place.
Let’s dive in.
Jonathan Hawkins: Welcome to Family Partner Podcast. I’m your host, Jonathan Hawkins, really excited about today’s guests. he’s done some really cool stuff and still doing some cool stuff. We’ve got John Griffith of Griffith Law in Nashville, Tennessee. And man we got more to cover than we’ve got time for John, but why don’t you introduce yourself briefly?
Tell us about your firm, what you guys do. You know, how big you are, how long you’ve been around, that kind of stuff.
John Griffith: Yeah, I’m john Griffith from born and raised in Middle Tennessee. I don’t know any place other than home other than Cartersville, Georgia. I lived there for about a year. But yeah, I went to college here [00:02:00] locally went to Vanderbilt played football Got hurt doing that finished up at ut Knoxville the only ut I met somebody from texas yesterday and we had a discussion over that And then I got out of college.
My dad was a lawyer, but we didn’t get along very well. So I wasn’t sure that I wanted to go to law school. I was in a little bit of a rebellion stage. And so I had a friend of mine who just so happened. To be a claims adjuster and said, Hey, Progressive’s looking to fill some slots with claims adjusters.
And I was playing in a rock and roll band at the time. I just graduated and didn’t know what I wanted to do. So I was just playing a band and that was a lot of fun. Now we can talk about that too. But anyway, I started working for Progressive Insurance. I was transferred to Atlanta, lived in Cartersville, handled North Georgia.
That was an experience. And then I had some things happen at first. I love the job. And then after a while, I didn’t like it so much. I just felt like I was being taken advantage of and I didn’t like taking advantage of people more [00:03:00] importantly.
So, I had an opportunity. Well, I decided at that point I was thinking more seriously about going to law school and doing the other side.
So I befriended some plaintiff lawyers that I would negotiate with in my P. I. Cases. And they said, John, you really ought to consider it doing plaintiff work. Yeah. And one man said to me, son, get out of this racket as soon as you can. And so I decided to go to law school. So I applied and got into Nashville School of Law, which is a night school.
So I transferred back to Nashville and went to law school at night. I worked about 50 hours a week and went to law school and just got out. I knew that all I want to do was plaintiff work. That’s, I just had a passion for that from day one. And so I only cared about torts, civil procedure, evidence, and constitutional law and remedies.
So that’s really all, that’s all the classes I needed in law school really, to get, get to do what I do. So I did that and have just been doing plaintiff’s work ever since. Had a partnership [00:04:00] early on. That didn’t work out. I was really unhappy and that didn’t have a lot of say what was going to happen.
And then I just always felt there could be a better way. So I started my own firm in 2016. That was a little scary. And then man, it’s just been, we’ve just been skyrocketing ever since. I’m just so thankful to have the culture that I dreamed of having and having the people around me that I love working with.
And man, we’re just. You know, it’s still work, but you know, we’re, we seem to be, I hope a happy family. And, you know, I tell my people all the time, we’re going to be Monday through Friday, you’re gonna be around these people more than your family and your spouse. I hope we at least pretend to like each other, if not love each other.
So done that we’ve got I’ve got six lawyers working for me now. We’ve got a support staff of 20 ish. And then we’ve got two offices. My office is actually in Franklin, Tennessee south of Nashville, about 15 minutes, and then I’ve, we’ve got a second office in Murfreesboro, about [00:05:00] 30 miles. Do east and then we just were open another office next month and Clarksville and Nashville.
So we’re growing. I’m really thankful for that. I believe you’re not growing, you’re dying. And uh, our goal is to be a 50 million law firm. That’s a very, very lofty goal, but that’s, we’re on track. we’ve been doing the EOS traction model and that’s been very helpful. And We’ve set big hairy goals and we’re, we’re exceeding those goals.
So, it’s scary you know, there’s ups and downs. But I always say as long as my children don’t have cancer or not dying, you know, it’s been a good day, you know, so there’s good days, not so good days, but I’m just very thankful to be part of this journey. I’m just, I’m having a blast. I’m, loving this job.
I love our firm’s reputation. I’m just, man, I’m, very, very humbled and thankful for whatever amount of quote success, whatever that means, you know, that we have.
Jonathan Hawkins: Well, there’s a lot to cover [00:06:00] there. I’m going to, I’m going to go back. First of all, I’ll say I like the big goals, man. So, anything I can do to help would love to help. So that I love that. But I’m gonna go back. So it’s funny. My dad was a lawyer and I didn’t want to be a lawyer. I was like, I want to do my own thing.
I don’t want to be a lawyer, but here I am. I ended up. A lawyer sort of like you too, right?
John Griffith: Yeah, yeah, you understand
Jonathan Hawkins: It’s destiny
John Griffith: Why is it we fight with our dads from like 16 to 20? Why is that? I don’t know. Woo. Yeah.
Jonathan Hawkins: You’re a musician So so I grew up in mobile and you know, I was in a band in high school and we were doing originals and I this was you know, This was back the grunge, you know, had broken out and Pearl jam and all that. I thought we were going to be famous and that’s what I wanted to do.
I want to be a rock and roll star. And there’s a South Alabama is a college mobile. And I was like I got a full ride, all that. And I said, dad, I’m staying in town. To pursue the band and I’d gotten into a couple other schools, one of them, Georgia Tech, and he just said you’re making a mistake.
That’s the worst [00:07:00] thing ever. And I said, I’m doing it. And you know, we had tense time and he said, No, you’re not. I said, Yes, I am. He said, All right. You’re getting zero support from me. Like, give me the car back. Give me all your clothes back. Give me this back, blah, blah, blah. You’re moving out and all that stuff.
And I said, show you. And after about two weeks of really thinking about it, I came back, said, yeah, I’m going to go to Georgia tech instead. So killed my dreams, killed my dreams, but yeah,
John Griffith: Yeah.
Jonathan Hawkins: all for the better.
John Griffith: Well, you never know. I mean, you could have, you know, you could be like I don’t know, some famous rock star now.
Jonathan Hawkins: The other thing about music and we’ll talk about it in a minute, but you can be the best musician. I mean, you’re there in Nashville. You’re the best musician in the world. But if you’re just not in the right place at the right time, there’s only so much you can do where, at least law and other things, if you’re pretty good, you don’t even have to be the best lawyer and you can still be pretty good, right?
A pretty good music
John Griffith: Yeah.
Jonathan Hawkins: [00:08:00] Any art, it’s the opposite. So, you know, it’s probably the right thing. You art, music can be a hobby, but you know, when you’re trying to make it your career, I think it’s, it’s, it’s a lot tougher.
John Griffith: Well, you’re right.
You don’t have to be the best lawyer. You just have to appear to be the best lawyer, right?
That’s look at all the advertisers. That kind of motivated me to advertise on TV recently within the past year. I’m like, I’m not saying those guys aren’t, some of them aren’t good, but I’m like, some of them aren’t, you know, we use know what they are.
We see them, we see them in court. We see some of the problems and fall out. And I’m like, I can do at least as good a job as that guy, you know, or that firm, whatever.
Jonathan Hawkins: So you anyway.
John Griffith: You doing it?
John Griffith: I’ve been a big direct advertiser. I credit a lot of whatever growth we’ve had to Ben Glass, great legal marketing, and he’s done a man.
He’s been such a godsend for me at the right times. And I just, I feel like what the problem is, I felt like we. My goal was to own my local home office [00:09:00] area, Franklin, Tennessee. I’m like, I want to dominate this area. So I feel pretty good that we’ve, I mean, you never stop, but I feel like we’re dominating this area pretty good.
And so we moved to Murfreesboro to increase our reach and like, man, I can’t do, you can’t do, it’s difficult to do direct marketing an hour away. I can meet doctors and take them to lunch a couple of times a month, but it’s hard when you’ve got to drive an hour to get there. It’s hard when you’ve got to drive an hour here, an hour there, all over the map when you’re spreading out your locations.
The broadcast media is, is the way to go. And, so it’s, that’s been a transition for us, but it’s, starting to pay off and working out. I’m just, I’m learning a lot, you know, filming commercials, trying to see what’s the best route to go. You never know. And the money, you know, the problem with broadcast is once you spend the money, it’s just disappeared into the ether.
It’s gone like, well. My phone didn’t ring and that [00:10:00] ad just showed, you know,
Jonathan Hawkins: so yeah, take me through that. My sense again, I’ve represented some advertising lawyers. I don’t my practice area is not suited for it, but my sense is. Has always been you got to commit it’s not a one and done. It’s not a three months and done It’s a 12 to 24, maybe more months
John Griffith: right.
Jonathan Hawkins: hey i’m going to do this consistently And then then it starts to pay off.
So what was your thought going in and you know Has you know, have you started to see you think that it’s working and you’re going to keep going
John Griffith: So one of the guys who’s had a huge influence in my life and a big mentor for me is Mark Breyer out of Scottsdale, Arizona. And that just one of the smart, you meet some guys in your life and like, man, that dude is just eminently smarter than I am, you know, but he told me the same thing you just said. He said, you know, if you commit to this.
First of all, he said, we owe a lot of our success to our broadcast advertising, but if you do commit to it, you need a 12 to 24 month commitment. He said, just be ready [00:11:00] for that and endure that because you might not see anything for six or eight months. Well, we’ve been pretty fortunate. We’ve had some positive feedback and some positive rate of return.
You know, I’m, I’ve turned more into a data man. I know exactly what our average case per average fee per case is. I know it’s easier to make decisions when you do that. Well, I need. You know, our, new Murfreesboro office needs to make X number 100, 000 a year and this much to be profitable. So we need to generate at least 40 cases out of the office to be pretty profitable and within that area of that SEO.
So, we are seeing the frustrating thing about. Broadcast marketing is that you don’t always have a direct return on investment directly attributable to that medium. And so people will say, I saw you on Google when that’s probably true. But I think what happens is they see us on broadcast media.
They go look us up on Google and then they call us, but we don’t track that because our overall. Production are of all intake has [00:12:00] gone up since we advertised about 25 to 30%. So the only thing that changed was the broadcast meeting and that’s it. But we don’t have that number of cases come in and say, Oh, I saw your TV ad.
We do have some, but majority are not. So it’s just a weird way to measure thing. and for somebody who wants data, like I do, I’m like, I’m not getting the data, but I’m getting the results.
Jonathan Hawkins: That’s what matters, right? so let’s go back. So you you went to law school. You want to be a plaintiff’s lawyer you had been an adjuster, so you had probably interacted with plaintiff’s lawyers and people told you to do it or that you’d be good at it. When you graduated, did you immediately go to plaintiff’s law or did you have to do sort of a stint with a defense firm?
Because my experience, it is really hard unless you just start your firm to go straight out of law school to the, to the plaintiff’s side. Seems like they usually want some experience first.
John Griffith: My dad was an attorney in a small town in Waverly, Tennessee. I grew up in a town called Husburg. Nobody ever heard of that, [00:13:00] but it’s just, it’s, there’s 300 people in that community. It’s extremely small. I grew up hunting, fishing, grew up on the Tennessee river, just a kind of, my brother and I considered ourselves the Dukes of hazard.
You know, we would even slide across the hood of our car. Cause we thought we were, that’s how redneck we were. So, out of law school, I worked for my dad. My dad did real estate, criminal. And just whatever he could get his hands on, mainly real estate. He did a lot of work for the banks and he was a very, very smart real estate attorney.
So he said, you could own this town doing real estate. So I started doing real estate as part of our practice. And I realized very quickly, I hated that. I hated the agents telling me you’re going to be to do half the closing at 7pm tonight and you can do the other half at 6. 30am in the morning so that people can make it to work.
I’m like, I don’t like being thrown around, yanked around. For not a lot of money just to get somebody’s business and I just that just didn’t sit well with me I remember the first thing I did out of law school I wrote a will for five hundred dollars for a couple and I couldn’t believe you know This is this country [00:14:00] boy that’s used to bailing hay for you know, a penny a bail Growing up and then I’m like for an hour and a half or two hours.
I can sit down and I can make 500 I mean you’ve got to be kidding me. I just thought I thought this the ticket is valid, you know, it works, you know, knowledge is a good thing, but I remember one of the first cases I settled for as a personal injury lawyer with my dad. I was so excited to get the check.
It was a check from State Farm for 25, 000 and I was so excited, I ripped the check.
I haven’t thought about this stuff in so long, John. That’s funny that we’re talking about this, but anyway to answer your question, I have never done defense work. I’ve just I grew up, well, I gained experience with the insurance companies and I just wanted to get out of the environment. I hated that.
I worked for some bad insurance companies that really took advantage of people. Not that they don’t all to some degree, but mine were the worst of the worst. And, I’ll get in [00:15:00] trouble for saying this, but I just morally couldn’t do the work. I just couldn’t do the work. It doesn’t mean that I think people that do it are immoral, I do not mean that.
There’s, I have some great friends that are defense lawyers, and I have been defense lawyers, but I just. I couldn’t deprive a widow of benefits. I couldn’t give him a hard time. I’m like, why don’t we just go ahead and write you a check for our limits? You know, why don’t we do that? And I wouldn’t be allowed to do that.
So I just, I’m proud of what we do. And I’m thankful what we do. And I’m thankful for the defense lawyers that do what they do. But I’m, I’m very. I just feel like this is my journey that I was cut to do. That is my cloth cut, cut from when I unlocked into that claims adjuster position, I just, I think it was God’s plan for what I am supposed to do.
That’s what I think. Everything has worked out like that.
Jonathan Hawkins: So, we’ll go forward a little bit. So you worked with your dad for a little while, then you had a partner. we don’t have to linger there too long if you don’t want to. And then eventually you two separated and you had to sort of start over. [00:16:00] On your own in 2016. So let’s pick up there. What was that like? So you’d had a partner for, you know, maybe a decade at least. And then all of a sudden you’re on your own. So, I mean, what’s going through your mind?
John Griffith: yeah, I did. It was a not only a partner guy went to law school with. He was a year behind me. And when I first got out, he would send me cases. He worked at the plaintiff’s firm, and he had a huge impact on me. He was we were best of friends. And then we, it was just always I didn’t like the culture of our firm that we had I was more of the tort lawyer and he was more of a comp lawyer and then in one of the things that caused our breakup and is that in 2012 we had a change in our workers compensation laws.
So workers comp, imagine part of your practice just disappearing by legislative fiat, it’s gone. And then. Our case volume just started shrinking. We had a stable of cases, but we weren’t replenishing enough without workers comp filling in the void. And he’d say, what are you going to do? And I’m like, what are you going to do?
We’re going from 200 to 160 [00:17:00] one next year. And then to 110 the next year, like, man, this is not a good trend for us. And so I wrote a book how to get cases. I joined great legal marketing. And I was busting my butt to do everything I could to replenish her cases, and I was scared. I was fearful. And at the same time, I’d gone through a divorce that was very emotional for me.
And I had to pay child support, alimony. And then my partner was wanting to slow down and think about retiring. I’m like, I, that’s not an option for me. I got to churn and burn. I got to get going. And so I just realized we just had a conflict of visions. And so I wanted to so I just decided that I was done.
So I went and told him on April 15th of 20. 16, I was leaving and I said, my wife is pregnant with a child and I’m leaving the firm and his response was, well, you know, if you do that, there’s no turning back. Like, yeah, I don’t need to be [00:18:00] threatened. I’m well aware of the decision that I made. I don’t need you to tell me that.
So anyway that worked out. And it’s just been every year has gotten better and better and better. And it’s just been a lot of work, but it’s just a work of passion that I love and I’m just very thankful for that. It’s, you know, there’s still, there’s ebbs and flows in any business, not every day’s, I recently had a medical malpractice trial and, I lost that trial two weeks ago and it, it hurts, man.
It, it, and it. took a lot out of me. I feel like I’ve just been kicked in the gut 15 times and in the head and I just need to take off two or three days and I was emotional. I was down about it. I usually don’t get emotional. And then I came back to the office and like, Oh, this Case got summary judgment.
We lost on this and I oh man, I was like Lord Can you just kind of call Tom out and just bring me some good news? Can you just give me some good news and then lo and behold the next day was great day You know, I’ve learned not to judge every day on one day. It’s just [00:19:00] you know deal with that day’s problems Don’t get too high.
Don’t get too low don’t make your life decision based on one day or one week or one month even and then just Keep your head in the game and just keep coming back. Just the consistency, that Goggins mentality wins the day.
Jonathan Hawkins: Yeah. And I mean, a PI practice, I mean, you’re living it. You get up and down, you can have your best year ever. And then the next year, your worst year ever, it’s just up and down, up and down. So you definitely got to have the right mindset for it. when you started your firm when you went out on your own again you know, did you bring people with you?
And then was it easier since you had sort of done it before and you’ve been doing it a while, or did you find it was hard to start over
John Griffith: I started out with about 50 cases, I guess. So I had enough and I had one lawyer come with me and one support staff person. I didn’t pay him hardly anything, but we, all agreed to work on, you know, bonuses, you know, when the money comes in. So that was helpful. And they believed in me and the [00:20:00] vision that we had.
And then just slowly over time, it’s grown, just working through our great referral sources, our referral partners, just yeah. I mean, I’m not above just stopping at a doctor’s office and give him on my book or a chiropractor’s office or another attorney at the bar association, the local bar association.
I’ve got so many cases to them just make it there are so many as a, you know, who’s your avatar, your perfect client and, you know, mine are my former clients. Other lawyers and health care providers. Those are my top three referring clients. So I just worked the heck out of those and did, and just stayed on it.
And it’s just been a, good ride in that regard. And I, I don’t know, I’m always looking for the next answer. It’s never one thing. It’s like the spokes of a wagon wheel, like we’re the hub. You know, the website’s pretty much your hub. You do need a great website. But then we’ve got, you know, lunch with vendors, lunch with chiropractors, lunch with orthopedic doctors, lunch with other lawyers, particular [00:21:00] domestic and probate lawyers.
You know, those are some of the best referral sources that I’ve got. And they, they’re usually not little cases. I mean, they’ve already weeded out the chaff, so to speak.
Jonathan Hawkins: and I’m with you. If, you’re not. Moving forward, then you’re, you’re dying in my view. I think, you know, the scientific term, you know, entropy there’s just a natural tendency for things to decay always. So if you’re not and growing, you’re decaying. So, completely groovy on that.
So, you know. You’re still having to bust it, but it’s working, right? I mean, you’ve grown to what? Six lawyers, what you’re about to have, is it going to be five total locations?
John Griffith: Four total locations. We’re adding two. We’ve got two. We’re adding two more in the next two months next month. I’m adding Clarksville next month. We’re just getting ready to sign a lease agreement on that. And then I’ve got to open up another office, an office in Nashville. Which it just makes perfect sense.
I’ve got a lot of employees that live in Nashville. So why not have an office there? [00:22:00] We’re out of space. We, one of the things that we did very well is I found an office location in cool Springs on Franklin right off the interstate. And it’s got visibility where we were had no visibility and we bought a, I’ve been looking at this building for four years.
I approached the owner four years ago and I said, and I, I’m not supposed to say this, but I want your building. I’m willing to pay very handsomely on this. It’s a great location. Good size building. It’s got 26 offices in it. At the time we only had 18 staff. And then a year later I noticed after COVID that nobody was coming back to work here.
So I’m like, man, you got a lot of space you’re not using. I sure would love to have it again. Here’s another offer and you’re not asking for it. And then about a year later, he started spending that money. And he said, John, I’m ready to talk to you about that. So. He got a good deal. I got a good deal. And we’ve been here, but we filled up the office with, I mean, we’re, we don’t have extra rooms now.
So that’s why we opened the Franklin off. I’m in the Murfreesboro office. And then now we’re [00:23:00] for SEO purposes too. We want to, and we’re to meet our growth goals. We’re going to have to increase our production of incoming cases. So that’s why we’re opening. Clarksville, which is a great, I think, untapped charter territory.
And then Nashville, we’re already covering Nashville, but it’ll give us a greater SEO presence.
Jonathan Hawkins: Well, it’s cool. So, you know, growing a firm take, as you know, it takes a lot of work. You’re busy doing, you know, to cases, you know, recruiting and getting all that stuff, the marketing. But you do a lot of other stuff too. I want to start talking about some of that. So, you served as the president of the Tennessee trial lawyers for a term.
John Griffith: Yes.
And how was that? I I’ve been involved with, bar associations and I know you, you get on the bottom of the ladder and you work up and it takes many years to get there. And then you’re there, you got to lobby at the legislature and you’re, traveling and do all this stuff.
It’s, It’s like another job, right? I mean, how much time did that take and what, was the experience like for you?
John Griffith: Yeah, it was a couple of years ago. And that was, the best way it was rewarding, but exhausting. [00:24:00] I was so. Excited to take the post. And I was, it’s like owning a boat, you know, I was so excited to buy it. And then I was really excited to sell it and get out of it.
Jonathan Hawkins: So is immediate past present. Right.
John Griffith: yeah, that’s right. And I always wondered because you do have to serve, you have to serve all the chairs and I was the legislative chair for about 10 years, which was great.
And it just very eyeopening, you know, you go into these legislators offices and they. They really, they don’t want to see you. They’ve already made up their mind. They’re just doing their duty to give you five minutes, but be treated so disrespectfully sometimes. And you know that they’re opposite angles and that’s fine.
I mean, it’s just people’s biases that they have, but you have to do all of those positions treasure all those. And then you work your way up and you get voted in. And then, man, it’s just, I had it relatively easy because mine was during the last year of COVID. And so we did a lot of stuff by zoom, but it was still two or three meetings [00:25:00] a week.
You got lawyers acting like kindergartners sometimes, you know, you’re settling disputes among your own and trying to keep everybody trying to keep all the oars rolling in the same direction and having the same vision. And, but I really enjoyed that. I was very thankful. We’ve got a great group of trial lawyers, got a great executive director, Suzanne Keith.
I was ready to get out though. I always wondered why. I said, you know, it’s I’m not going to be like all these prior past TTLA presidents who get out and they don’t do anything and they don’t get back involved for a year or two. Well, I understand now because it’s like I just. I had burned out.
I mean, I was really not negative towards the organization. it’s the added pressure of running a law firm. And then my law firm took a hit a little bit of that year. and I wasn’t, my head wasn’t 100 percent in the game because I felt a stronger obligation to this organization I was donating my time to.
So, I’m glad to start being more active in it and I still do put on CLEs for them and do that every [00:26:00] year and being in a lot of, I require my attorneys and staff to be members of the organization and donate to them. So, I believe in it, but it, yeah, it was a lot of work and I’m thankful, but glad to be out of it.
Jonathan Hawkins: Yeah. You mentioned all the legislative stuff, you know, here in Georgia right now, huge bush for tort reform, huge bush. We’ll see what’s, what’s going on. So I know the Georgia trial lawyers are down there. Every day, I’m sure. I don’t know what it’s like in Tennessee, if it, it sort of comes in waves in different States.
You know, I guess it was Florida a couple of years ago and now it’s Georgia.
John Griffith: Yeah.
Jonathan Hawkins: Has anything there in a while?
John Griffith: You know, we had fight after fight after fight for years. We had caps that came through and you know, it started out as a cap for medical malpractice cases only. And then lo and behold, poof, it just morphed into all tort law. I’m like, I thought as a guy who didn’t do that much medical malpractice, I thought, man, well, we’re safe on our, our [00:27:00] auto cases, but that didn’t turn out to be true.
I know Georgia has no caps, but we also fought collateral source a lot, and we’ve just been very fortunate to keep our laws as they are we’re just a very conservative state that loves insurance companies overall. that’s the bottom line. I always say. Argue that conservatives are not for really for tort reform.
They believe you break it you pay for it And it’s just tort reform is actually anti conservative agenda in my opinion, but that’s just a philosophical argument But it’s at the bottom line. It’s like insurance companies want protection. They’re paying for that They’re paying their lobbyists to lobby hard.
We can’t out money them We just can’t at least in Georgia Jonathan you guys have a I think y’all got over four three or four thousand Lawyers member of your Georgia trial lawyers and that’s extremely strong. We only have about less than a thousand in Tennessee. So When I found out you guys had so many I was really impressed by that But so far y’all done a great job for your people hard.
Jonathan Hawkins: I know they’re working hard. [00:28:00] But it’s, is a tough battle. I haven’t really, you know, I don’t do any plaintiff’s work. I represent plaintiff’s lawyers, but so I hear about it, but I hadn’t really been following the bills. But every now and then somebody tells me It’s, it’s like, it’s basically like you can’t file a lawsuit basically. And it’ll, get dialed back, I’m sure. But it’ll still be robust, I would think, yeah, it’s, out there fighting, fighting a good fight.
John Griffith: Yeah,
Jonathan Hawkins: we’ll see what happens. But speaking it affects me.
John Griffith: I’ve got a lot of tort cases in Georgia right now.
Jonathan Hawkins: Speaking of fighting you’re also a fighter, you do some jujitsu, right?
John Griffith: Yeah,
Jonathan Hawkins: I’m so tell me about that. How long have you been?
John Griffith: Case Griffith is a senior at U. T. But four years ago he was a senior in Franklin High and it’s one of those dad experiences where I promised my son we kept talking about it like, Hey, we need to take a martial art together, you know? And so I had made an appointment to go have a Krav Maga experience with my son.
[00:29:00] We’re gonna take some Krav Maga classes. And I just so happens I had a client and I was telling him I was getting ready to problem a guy. He goes, Oh, I do jujitsu. And I said, Oh yeah. He said, he asked me, he said, why do you want to do problem? God? And I said, I don’t know. It just sounds like. Badass thing to do, you know?
And he said, well, he said, do you like MMA fighting? I’m like, yeah. He said, well, what do all those guys do in addition to boxing and striking? And I said, probably jujitsu. And he said, yeah. He said, there’s a reason for that. And so I was like, okay. He said, come by and we’ll give you free lessons for a month.
And so I did that and I took my son and my son and I were so into it. At the end of that, my son had to start lacrosse. So I was hooked and that was four years ago, four years ago this month actually. And I am, I just love it, man. I’m so addicted to it. It is the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life, Jonathan, by far.
I mean, I’ve played college football. I’ve always been active and lifted and worked out and stuff, but this is. You know, you know how you play basketball and you can get a [00:30:00] harder cardio workout because you’re competing with someone. Well, when somebody is trying to choke you unconscious or break your arm, it’s equally or more motivating.
You know, so the first times I did it, I couldn’t last a six minute round. And now, you know, on Saturdays on our open mat, I’ll go for an hour and a half, you know, six minute rounds with maybe three or four minutes resting in between, but you just go back to back to back and you just learn how to pace yourself in part.
But man, it’s. I watch videos at night. Now, my wife says, are you over there watching Juujitsu porn again? I’m like, yeah, I’m sorry. Jokingly, I mean, I just love it, man. I just, I’m not as great as a lot of, you know, I real you, it makes, it shows your age. I’m 58 years old and I’m wrestling with 22, 18, 20 8-year-old men that are just buff.
I mean, college athletes that are just adonises when they take their shirts off and stuff. And they’re this first time I’ve ever had a six pack in my life. You know, it’s just, you work your core so much in [00:31:00] jujitsu and it also, it gives you a lot of confidence, not just in the mats, but It gives you a lot of confidence.
I was in Paris, France with my wife and two guys were getting in a fight on the train. I just calmly gave her my bags. And I said, hold these. And she said, why? I said, I’m getting ready to take this dude out. She goes, you are not. He could have a knife. Don’t do that. And I’m like, but it’s just like. You’re not worried about it because you’re engaged in conflict all the time.
You’re used to being in terrible situations. You’re used to somebody mounting on top of you, you know, or, you know, got you got your back, you know, you know how to get out of the situations, you know, at a hundred percent now, you don’t know if they have a weapon or not.
That’s true. And you need to exercise caution, not go looking for a fight, but I can pee. I, love it you can probably tell my heart rate gets excited. And somebody asked me about jujitsu. I just, I love it. I love it.
Jonathan Hawkins: It’s the you’ve had some success. I saw you’ve gotten what is it? I don’t know how you, what they get gold medals. I don’t know what trophies, what do you get, but you’ve won some, some competitions, right?
John Griffith: yep. I’ve won some competitions in this year. I’m training for the [00:32:00] masters worlds in Las Vegas. So I’m going to do that. I’ve had decent success. My coach and I were just talking. I love my coach fires. He’s awesome, and I just admire this man so much, but he’s only like 27 years old, you know, but I look up to him.
I’m always trying to get his approval. You know, like, did I do good coach? But yeah, we’ve got to work on my mindset for competing because he said your jujitsu on the mat is a lot better than it is when you’re a junior. Then when you’re competing and sometimes people, sometimes I freeze up compete. I get so tense.
I want to win so badly that I revert to wrestling as opposed to jujitsu and you just got to keep your mind out. You got to flow your mind. You just can’t, you can’t have an agenda. You got to be reading and evaluating what the person’s doing all the time. It’s like chess while you’re on a log roll. You know, it’s just like doing that at the same time.
It’s so cool. I love it.
Jonathan Hawkins: So it’s, probably a really good stress release for you. Are there any lessons or anything you’ve taken [00:33:00] from that that you apply your trial work or anything in the firm?
John Griffith: I would just say the confidence of it. I mean, even I don’t know. There’s just I’m such a redneck I just think there’s a confidence that you have being able to control the situation or You’re being in bad situations that you know you can get out of. You’re going to have good days and bad days. I mean, it’s just part of the other lessons of life.
that’s all I can really say about that. But it is a great stress relief because when I do it, no matter what’s going on, whether I’m having a, you know, maybe a fight with my wife or my business is taking a hit or something, or we had a great day. All I can do is concentrate in that time and that space.
I don’t think of anything else. I’m 100 percent locked in on what I’m doing. So I think it does teach you that. It does teach you to focus. It’s like, just focus. You can worry about the other stuff later.
Jonathan Hawkins: That’s cool. I don’t know if I’ll ever do it. I got some back issues, But
John Griffith: Yeah. I did get hurt pretty bad doing it. I, I’ve learned, I was trying to be a bad, you know what? And I [00:34:00] was, I got an arm bar and I thought everybody say, man, you don’t tap to anything. I would almost pass out, but I tore my pectoralis major off my arm cause I wouldn’t tap an arm bar, which was just so stupid.
So now I’ve learned tap early and tap off and live to fight another day. There’s you’re not going to impress. Anybody in that room,
Jonathan Hawkins: yeah.
Real quick. Thanks for listening. If you’re getting any value out of this podcast, please take two seconds to hit the subscribe button and leave a five star review. It would really mean a lot to me. Now back to the show.
Jonathan Hawkins: So let’s talk about, so you played, football at Vandy. What was that like? how long were you there? Just, was it one year or a couple years?
John Griffith: you know, that was a very trying time for me because I had good success I always use that word with quotes because I don’t know what that means some days but I had good success in high school and I was recruited by all these smaller schools and It kind of got in my head. I grew up in a small town and [00:35:00] everybody would treat me like I was royalty.
And it really kind of gave me an ego complex, if I’m totally transparent and honest. Because I’d go in a restaurant and say, Oh, Johnny, you ready for the big game Friday? And I’m like, yeah, I’m ready. And, all right, this is on the house, brother. Good for you. Go get them. You know, and I’m like, I started walking a little bit taller than I actually was.
And so I thought that I, and I got a lot of offers to play football in Middle Tennessee and West Tennessee, Memphis, but mostly smaller schools. But anyway, I didn’t get an SEC offer and I knew the SEC was the best conference around. So, My dad lobbied for me to get me into Vanderbilt. So I was a walk on at Vanderbilt and I, my parents couldn’t really afford the school.
So, I worked hard and I was, it was frustrating cause I felt like, you know, this is my ego talk. I felt like it was better than a lot of their recruits. I was certainly stronger than we’re faster than they were, but I just didn’t get the frontline chance like they got, you know, they wanted to [00:36:00] validate their scholarships first.
And so this is me again with my ego, but. Did pretty well, got to play on special teams first year. I got hurt my middle of the first year. And so I got registered early on and then I came back and the next year in the black and gold game. Spring game, I tore my Achilles, and so I rehabbed from that.
I came back in that fall. I tore ligaments in my hand and I was like, man, I’d never been hurt one time in high school. I was just very fortunate. I don’t think I sat out at one play being hurt in high school, and then then I just, I kept getting injured and nothing. That was pretty traumatic, the, as tear that I had.
But anyway. I just decided at that point I was done with football. And so I just said I’m not having fun with this. And I decided to leave and go to UT Knoxville and which was a mistake in retrospect and to switch schools two years into it. Cause you don’t really make any friends at either place.
You know, it’s just like going to two community colleges in a way. [00:37:00] So finished up at UT and I joined a band there and So anyway, but that it was a great experience. I’m glad I did. I glad I got to travel to other colleges, run, run into Neyland stadium and get booed by a hundred thousand fans that I grew up loving, you know, part of those stadiums.
That was cool. That was really cool. But I just didn’t, I just got frustrated with it. And I, if I was stuck it out, I would’ve gotten to play more. I mean, I left, I was third string. Behind two great players one was a senior one was a junior and I was a red shirt sophomore here Yeah, so I still had three more years.
I could have gotten I probably at least would have gotten some Decent amount of playing time other than special teams. So but I never got to play as much as I really want
Jonathan Hawkins: So, big question. I, I know Vandy and UT, man, and they, big rivals. Who do you root for now?
John Griffith: It’s so funny because my daughter who I just had lunch with two hours ago cheers for university of alabama, which is the weirdest thing [00:38:00] So alabama played at vanderbilt this past year vanderbilt beat him. So I was Wearing my daughter’s Alabama, I’m an Alabama cheerleader dad’s shirt, and I’m with the Alabama fans.
Vandy scores the touchdown, then they intercept the ball and run it back, and at that point I can’t contain myself. I’m in the Alabama session with an Alabama shirt, and Vandy scored, and I’m like, YES! My wife was there, and she said, she’s like, John, these people look like they want to kill you. So yeah, that’s fine.
But I’m a huge UT fan, man. My blood runs orange through and through. I love UT. You know, Vanderbilt hates UT, but Tennessee looks at Vanderbilt, it’s like, you know, it’s like swatting a fly. You know, it’s like, they’re really not their nemesis. Alabama’s the nemesis, you know. That’s the one that both teams get up for.
So, I love Vanderbilt, but I love UT. A little more. I, I shouldn’t be saying that. My Vandy alum friends are going to be ticked if they hear this, but that’s just,
Jonathan Hawkins: is on the [00:39:00] rise. It’s they’re starting to look good.
John Griffith: yeah, yeah, Vandy beat Tennessee in basketball. They did great, but they both got good teams. So go wrong.
Jonathan Hawkins: Yeah.
Jonathan Hawkins: All right. So let’s move on. So, I mean, you really, I mean, you do just about everything. So you play football, you do jujitsu, you know, you, you’re president trial lawyers but you also play guitar. You’ve mentioned that we’ve talked about that a little bit. So long you been playing guitar?
What, what kind of music you know, you in bands, you play live.
John Griffith: Yeah, I’ve been playing since I was in fifth grade. My dad got me uh, a PVT 60 crap guitar with an amp and a distortion pedal. And I had uh, one of those eight cassette players and I had ACDC back in black and I grew up on that and Van Halen and I would just sit there. I would sit in my room on Saturdays sometimes for eight hours a day and I would lose track of time.
I always keep playing the same stuff I were doing. I could play back in black, probably on in a casket when I’m dead. My fingers would still [00:40:00] have the muscle memory play, you know, but I just I love music. It is just I get in a trance sometimes and I just love playing guitar and to me, the guitar is such a mysterious instrument.
I wish that I, you know, one of my dreams is if I had nothing to do and I could do anything in the world I want, I would go to Berkeley School of Music or the Belmont School of Music more locally and just take every guitar class that I could because I just want to learn it. I went to downtown Nashville.
Out to a club one time about five years ago after a lawyer event and I saw this kid It didn’t look like he’s 19 years old and I know enough about music say that dude is Railing on that guitar. He’s phenomenal not just speed but just the different modes He was playing and I went up to him during a break.
I like Man, where did you learn to play like that? And he said, I’m at Belmont. I’m majoring in music at Belmont. And he said, it’s so cool. I could study guitar all day and come practice, do my homework at night. I’m like, what? That dude’s [00:41:00] got it by the, he’s got the world in his hands and he’s having a blast, but he was so phenomenal, but that really impressed me so much.
I’m like, I want to go to the music school. I want to learn to play like that. I love to play, but I’m just playing the same old pentatonic licks, you know, that all these old school rockers are playing. I want to know the guitar, like. People like Joe Satriani and those guys play and all those great guitar players.
Jonathan Hawkins: You know, we were talking, I grew up playing the drum set and, you know, love it. I moved to Atlanta and you know, started taking lessons from, you know, some musicians and it’s, and I was like, yeah, I’m starting to get pretty good. Right. And, there’s this uh, jazz club right near Georgia tech.
And on Thursday nights they’d have this thing called acid jazz. And the leader of it was the drummer and he was, this guy named little John Roberts and he would tour with Janet Jackson. I mean, this dude was unbelievable and all these studio musicians would sit in with him and it was a different grouping every week and I’d go every week. There’s a sort of thing where, [00:42:00] you know, most drum licks on the radio. I can hear them and I know exactly what they’re doing. and then if I can’t, if I see it, I know what they’re doing. This guy, I’d be sitting, you know, two feet from him. And I didn’t know what the hell he was doing. He’s over.
It’s crazy. of thing that I’d be so inspired, also so defeated at the same time. Cause it’s like, I will never be able to do what he’s doing. So it’s just like,
John Griffith: Yeah.
Jonathan Hawkins: You ever feel that way
John Griffith: Yeah I can’t play I’m not like a super super fast Like I can tap like Eddie Van Halen But you know like some of Joe Satriani any of these there’s so many good guitar players today so many of them and I just I’ll play for You know, a couple of days straight and think of my chops are getting better.
Definitely. I can improve greatly. Real quick story. I played in a band in high in college at UT called the woodies. And we toured all over the Southeast. It was one of the most fun things I’ve ever done in my life. We played frat parties, [00:43:00] cruises. And we made, for the day, good money between the four of us.
So anyway, we had a reunion party this year, a reunion concert or gig at Yeehaw Brewery in Knoxville on October 8th, right before the UT Alabama football game. And we played for about 350, 400 people and it was rockin it was so fun and it was so cool because our band had a great chemistry and it just, it didn’t go anywhere.
It is still exactly like it was, except a lot of us, especially me, have gray hair and white hair now, but we took a picture of And in the same pose we did for our, advertising when we were in college. And it was just so cool to see those guys and they’re all doing great. And they’ve all kept up with their music and we’re all probably better musicians now than we were then.
So anyway, it was just, it was a lot of fun. That was a, that was a bucket list thing from October 8th.
Jonathan Hawkins: That’s awesome. So you got a big vision for your firm, you know, growing a big firm, you’re doing jujitsu, you’re doing all this stuff.
How do you find the time?
I [00:44:00] mean, how do you, how do you, how do you do it?
John Griffith: Man, I’ve got great people that you know, I always think that this cup can only hold so many marbles, you know, and so I’ve learned to delegate and elevate. That’s kind of our motto around here. You know, the first thing I did, I got an office manager, Kirby white who works for me and he is fantastic.
He protects my time like a lion. You know, everybody has to go through him. and then uh, we’ve just, the good thing about getting bigger is now we can specialize in different departments that we need and find the time, man. I just One of the things that helped me greatly, and I preach this to all my people, it’s one of my required readings for all my staff and my lawyers, is gosh, Miracle Mornings by Hal Elrod.
And it’s such a simple book. It’s basically just get up an hour early and do these five or these seven things, you know, and it, but it, it’s just the mindset, just being disciplined to do it. And so that really helps me a lot to get my day planned. And I’ve been, honestly, I don’t want to be a hypocrite.
I’ve been slacking a little bit [00:45:00] recently, especially since my trial, I’ve been really, really tired. I mean, these trials take a lot out of me. On the outside, I don’t really realize, I mean, oh, hey man, it’s not as bad as digging a ditch. I agree with that 110%, but the mental pounding that you’re giving yourself for three weeks straight, it just, it doesn’t stop.
It’s 24 7. I can’t think of anything else. I didn’t return any emails. I barely talked to my wife. You know, I always tell my family, Hey, I’ve got this trial coming up. It’s very important. You guys are more important. We’re going to celebrate afterwards, win, lose or draw, but daddy’s going to be gone for two weeks and I love you and we’re going to celebrate when we get back.
And so, yeah, this was really tough because I’m not used to losing and it’s probably the third trial I’ve lost in 27 years, but I’m it was tough. And, but you know, I came home and with that, just with the experience of knowing, Hey, This can happen. I knew going in this is a real possibility. This could happen.
It was a tough case and But I’m not [00:46:00] gonna let it define me I’m not gonna have everybody on the office around the office walk on eggshells like oh John’s upset No, I came in with a great attitude. I’m like, you know what I gathered my office together as the guys it was a tough trial We lost, but you know what I’m thankful for?
I’m thankful I got all you guys. I talked to my intake manager. We had a great number of cases come in. You guys have done your job. Y’all been moving these cases forward. We settled a bunch of cases while I was gone. I didn’t have that luxury before when it was just by myself. You know, it was truly a loss.
At least we cut our losses by having people do what they do so well here. So, truly thankful. I hate it for my client more than anything that we lost that case, but I’m truly thankful as far as the business goes that we are rocking and rolling and we’ve got a good process, a good system that keeps us rolling.
Jonathan Hawkins: So you mentioned you got a big team around you, you delegate a lot. what’s a typical, you know, week for you like now for you now? I mean, are you, obviously you still try cases. Do [00:47:00] you try all the cases? Are you picking shoes? How do you figure out what you’re doing on a week to week basis?
John Griffith: I am still involved in all the trials. I’m usually the lead lawyer in all the trials and I would I’ve tried to work giving that up so I just there’s a certain amount of trials I want all the lawyers to see and it doesn’t have to be just my way I always tell them don’t be like me be yourself, but there are certain minimum standards.
You’ve got to got to meet so I would like to get out of that. I’m just I feel like this is egotistical of me, but I feel like my lawyers My clients need the best lawyer they can get and I feel that some of my lawyers uh, especially some of my lawyers have been with me for a while, I think they have the capability to do just as good a job as me and I’m, training them to get to that point.
But it’s still, it helps to have two, at least two lawyers, it’s a team effort sometimes. I, this last trial I did mostly by myself and it was at times more than I could handle. it [00:48:00] was, my brain was tired and working on overload. So, I’m trying not to be too long winded to answer your question, but I still try these all of the cases and I enjoy trying cases.
I love it. I love the people aspect of cases. I love jury selection. Man, I love that. I love talking to people. I feel like these are my people. These are middle Tennesseans. They’re, I’m a bigger redneck than they are for the most part, you know, and I’m I don’t know, I get maybe a little bit too friendly with them, but I’m, I’m always transparent with them.
I’m always brutally honest with them. I’m asking them to be brutally honest with me, but I’ll tell jurors all the time, like, you know, you said you used to work with a friend of this lawyer, a friend of this doctor, I said, that, can I be honest with you, that makes me really scared of you. I’m a little bit scared.
Tell me, am I wrong to be scared? Tell me why I shouldn’t worry about you being a fair juror on this case. You know, you live by the sword, you die by the sword. I feel like you gotta be just brutally honest with people. And, I think that’s what jurors need, want. You know, they’re, they’re looking for the truth.
They, [00:49:00] they really work hard to get to the truth.
Jonathan Hawkins: So anyway, I mean, I will to grow that, you know, try on cases you enjoy it. So that’s, that’s not going to be something you give up lightly. I mean, other people do it too, but.
John Griffith: I will. Yeah, I think Josh, one of my lawyers, I’m ready for him to try a case. He doesn’t, I don’t think he needs me. Others. Yeah, they’re working that way. And there’s no perfect trials are messy. This last one was a little messy. I mean, it just that’s the way it is. So I don’t expect perfection.
I just want them to follow our procedures. You know, one thing we’re very diligent about Jonathan is every time we have a trial, we sit down meeting like, okay, this is our procedure. How can we improve on that procedure? What work? What didn’t work? What’s something we wish we’d have done better and we always address that immediately and we’ve got one I think one of the best Pre trial procedures there is.
It’s designed to take stress off of us So we’re not just scrambling at the last minute and it really paid off and well It helped my stress in the [00:50:00] last trial some but still didn’t turn out the way I wanted.
Jonathan Hawkins: So you’ve got a really big vision you know, early on in your, firm, you had certain motivations to make it work yet, you know, your family and, you know, kids and all that you had to take care of. So you’ve grown it a lot. You’re doing well. You got an even bigger vision. So what, is it that’s driving you? Why do you want to do it?
John Griffith: Well, I do believe that if you’re not growing you’re dying. We talked about that. I also I saw my father practice and I saw him Decide to retire and it was like vultures dividing a carcass, you know, some cases went to these lawyers, some cases went there. I took a case or two and it was just, it just disappeared.
And I’m like, what a shame. His whole life work is now just nothing but a sign is dwindled to a sign on the front porch, which means a lot, but there’s nothing there. And I thought, man, you know, if you and I were building widgets, I’m just looking at more from a business standpoint, I guess. Yeah. If we’re building widgets and we built up a [00:51:00] 10 million widget factory, that thing would be for sale at 20 to 25 million at the end of the day.
It’s not all about the money, but I’m just saying, I have devoted, you know, almost 30 years to the practice of law that I’ve done five to seven days a week most weeks. And for that just to disappear just seems, I’m doing it in part for a legacy, I guess. I want the firm to live past me. I want it to continue to grow and like, Hey man, I had a part in that, you know, that was part of what I did, but I just don’t want it to, I just don’t want to retire one day and then scatter, you know, people take part of it here and part of it there.
I’d like to see it continue on. That’s why I’ve developed my, executive team and I’ll let them know, you know, Hey, I’m not going to practice forever, but I don’t have any plans on retiring soon. Like a lot of people do. Mainly because I love my job. I just, I love what we do and it’s, I love the game of it. It’s competition. It’s like being on the football field. It’s like being in jujitsu. [00:52:00] It’s like trying out for a band, you know, I hope I’m good enough to make the cut, but same here. I want my lawyers here to know that I’m in part doing that for them too. I plan on transferring ownership to them.
I haven’t figured it out yet, Jonathan, I’m really working hard on that. I’ve got a lot of plans in place that we’re currently doing to motivate them, to give them incentive to stay here because I realized that longevity. And loyalty are very infrequent, but valuable. So, I’m trying to build a place that they love and, that they will continue the culture.
Hopefully that I’ve had a good ground in starting and will keep the same culture here. A culture of giving, a culture of love and respect and honesty and integrity. And superior legal services and excellent client communication. Those are our core values and I just, I want that to endure.
Jonathan Hawkins: Yeah. And, and I think, you know, I also hear you say it, you know, for your younger people at least I have a belief [00:53:00] that with growth comes opportunity for the others behind you. And it’s, if you’re not growing. Maybe you’re not giving as much opportunity to them as, as you could, if you’re trying to grow, at least that’s my sort of thought about it.
So, I do believe the more you grow it and seek to grow it and have the vision to grow it, the more excited they’ll be and the more opportunity they’ll have. And then, like you said, when it’s time to sort of hand it off to them. can take it even bigger.
John Griffith: Yeah, keep it going. Keep rolling.
Jonathan Hawkins: So we’re running out of time here, but for those out there that are, you know, many years behind you, or maybe just starting their firm or, you know, been at it for a couple of years, as you look back on your career, law firms, you know, any advice that you would give them as they’re trying to build something.
John Griffith: Yes. I would say narrow your niche. This is what’s worked for me. Narrow your niche. Don’t try to be a jack of all trades and become an expert in your niche. Always be growing. You know, a lawyer told me a long time [00:54:00] ago, he said, son, don’t waste your time. One of these. You’re in CLEs just to get your legal education hours.
Go to Vegas and see the big boys and learn one thing from them and bring it back and grow on it. And so I did that. I went to see Mark Lanier years ago. I went to see Nick Rowley not too long ago and, you know, Keith Mitnick and those guys. I went to the Trial Lawyers College. To make myself a better lawyer and that that was a life changer by the way that trial lawyers college I went to the ranch jerry spence’s ranch in 13 and that was good.
But I have dedicated my life to being the best lawyer that I can, and I’m still working on it. I still read lawyer books by great lawyers hone my craft and become better, and to watch Courtroom Viewing Network. I’m not obsessed with it, but I just, I continue to make it a part of my weekly practice.
And it’s just the [00:55:00] consistency of making yourself better. every single week. And I always tell my people, guys, three years from now, do you want to be just the same lawyer you are right now? Or do you want to have three years of honing your craft and being a much better lawyer? You’re going to be three years older.
You’re going to wake up the same day. Why not? Look back and say man. I’m glad I did that so you can live like no one else or you can live like no one else Live like no one else now so you can live like no one else later And so I I’m really motivated by things like that and I try to motivate my people To just to make themselves better.
So that’s a long winded answer But I would say pick your path and hone it and become the best lawyer you can especially if you’re working for another law firm Man, you got so many, I tell my lawyers, look, I hope you’re working here 10 years from now, but if you’re not, use me, go to trial and bust your butt and try to make something great happen.
If you lose, hey, it’s on my dime, but at least you’re making yourself better. [00:56:00] Make yourself more valuable in all you do. Round yourself out, try different things. So that’s my message to my people.
Jonathan Hawkins: That’s great advice. It reminds me of that old saying, and you have 20 years of experience or one year of experience, 20 times, right? Like
John Griffith: Keep getting off that merry go round. Same place. Oh, here I am again.
Jonathan Hawkins: exactly. Well, John, this has been great, man. It’s been real fun. And, I’m going to have to see you playing guitar, man. So if you’re ever coming down to Atlanta, let me know. But if I come up to Nashville, you gotta let me know when you’re playing. I gotta see you see your next gig.
John Griffith: We’re not that far apart. I come to Atlanta at least once a year for some baseball. So I would, I really want to take you up on that.
Jonathan Hawkins: Nice. Well, for those people who want to get in touch with you, what’s the best way to find you?
John Griffith: Griffithinjurylaw. com is the best place. We’re here in Franklin. Just look us up, John Griffith, Griffith Injury Law, and we’d love to work with any of your lawyers. We have great referral. Points throughout the country and I just I love increasing that relationship that [00:57:00] networking relationship.
Jonathan Hawkins: Awesome, John. It’s been fun.
John Griffith: All right. Thank you, Jonathan
Thanks for listening to this episode of the founding partner podcast. Be sure to subscribe on Apple podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts to stay up to date on the latest episodes. You can also connect with Jonathan on LinkedIn and check out the show notes. With links to resources mentioned throughout our discussion by visiting www.
lawfirmgc. com. We’ll see you next time for more origin stories and insights from successful law firm founders.
