Stacey Isaacs is the Managing Partner at WorkInjuryRights.Com. WorkInjuryRights.Com is a team of Florida attorneys and staff that are dedicated to providing quality legal service for worker’s compensation claims. With extensive mediation and trial experience, Stacey delivers empathetic and aggressive representation to injured workers throughout Florida. Previously, she worked as a trial attorney at Liberty Mutual Insurance and AIG. In her spare time, Stacey sings in a cover band.
Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:
- Stacey Isaacs talks about WorkInjuryRights.Com and the clients they serve
- What attracted Stacey to a career as an attorney?
- The challenges of fighting for work injury rights
- Stacey’s legal background and her experience being business partners with her spouse
- Stacey shares one of her favorite cases
- How Luis Scott and 8 Figure Firm have benefited Stacey’s practice
- Stacey’s “gut” story and her “glory” story
- What is Stacey’s advice to people who want to start their own law firm?
In this episode…
Work-related injuries can occur at any time. However, many laws and institutions are geared toward protecting insurance companies and employers rather than helping injured workers. This is where Stacey Isaacs and her company come in.
Stacey has been fighting for people’s rights since she was a child. At nine years old, she wrote a letter to Frito-Lay to critique their half-empty bags of chips. Since then, she has transitioned to helping injured workers get justice, creating her own company that is dedicated to giving clients high-level legal services for their workers’ compensation claims. So, what is Stacey’s advice to people looking to make a difference and fight for the rights of others?
In this episode of the Guts and Glory Show, Chad Franzen is joined by Stacey Isaacs, the Managing Partner at WorkInjuryRights.Com, to discuss how she helps her clients achieve compensation for work-related injuries. Stacey talks about the challenges of fighting for work injury rights, reveals some of her favorite stories from her practice, and shares her advice to people who want to start their own law firm. Stay tuned.
Resources mentioned in this episode:
- Stacey Isaacs on LinkedIn
- WorkInjuryRights.Com
- Work Injury Rights: Facebook | Instagram | Twitter
- Chad Franzen on LinkedIn
- Luis Scott on LinkedIn
- 8 Figure Firm
- Bader Scott Injury Lawyers
- Avvo
Sponsor for this episode…
This episode is brought to you by 8 Figure Firm.
Co-founded by Luis Scott and Seth Bader of Bader Scott Injury Lawyers, 8 Figure Firm helps transform your law firm into a 7-figure or even 8-figure firm.
After their own law firm scaled from $3.5 million in revenues to $30 million per year in revenues in just two years, Luis and Seth started the 8 Figure Firm to share their strategies and help other law firms achieve exponential growth.
Visit www.8figurefirm.com to receive a consult call and start scaling your business today.
Episode Transcript
Luis Scott 0:00
I’m Luis Scott, Managing Partner of Bader Scott Injury Lawyers, one of the fastest-growing law firms in the country. And I’m also the Co-founder of 8 Figure Firm Consulting. I’ve successfully built multiple companies by focusing on leadership, operations and culture. Using these principles, my companies have generated close to $100 million in revenue. But before any of this success, I started my legal career as a receptionist, and I worked my way up to becoming managing partner. And each episode of this podcast I sit down with leaders and entrepreneurs who have had the guts to step out on their own and the courage to face adversity. They share with us their tips for achievement, the challenges they have faced and the glory of success. I welcome you to the Guts and Glory Show.
Chad Franzen 0:46
Chad Franzen here, one of the hosts of the Guts and Glory Show. We feature top leaders who share challenges of leadership, the guts it takes to succeed, and the glory of success. This episode is brought to you by 8 Figure Firm Consulting. At 8 Figure Firm, they help law firms to grow to eight figures. Louis Scott was telling me when he started his career, he was working over 80 hours a week to make partner after that he finally started with his own firm and wished he had someone walking him through all the steps to growth. At 8 Figure Firm, they show you how to develop a business that works for you instead of you working for it. Go to 8figurefirm.com to learn more. Today we have Stacey Isaac’s Co-founder and Managing Partner of Work Injury Rights, a law firm devoted to protecting the rights of injured workers. In her spare time she sings in a cover band. Stacey, thank you so much for joining me today. How are you?
Stacey Isaacs 1:35
I’m good. Thanks for having me.
Chad Franzen 1:39
Tell me a little bit about your cover band. What’s your favorite song that you sing? Or what kinds of songs do you guys sing?
Stacey Isaacs 1:44
We do pretty much 80s rock so all the stuff like Pat Benatar, heart, scandal, all that stuff. GoGo’s, I love anything 80s.
Chad Franzen 1:54
Do you play gigs?
Stacey Isaacs 1:56
We do, we did a lot before COVID. But they slowed down, obviously. But we’re getting back in.
Chad Franzen 2:03
Is there one song that you think you just particularly nail?
Stacey Isaacs 2:07
I do have one. It’s a piece of my heart by Janis Joplin.
Chad Franzen 2:11
Okay. Very nice. Yeah, I like that one. All right, so tell me a little bit more about Work Injury Rights. What do you guys do? And what kinds of clients do you guys serve?
Stacey Isaacs 2:20
Work Injury Rights is exclusively devoted to representing injured workers. So anyone that has been injured on their job, we take care of them.
Chad Franzen 2:30
What attracted you to becoming an attorney?
Stacey Isaacs 2:35
This started when I was very little. When I was probably like, nine years old, I used to get the bags of potato chips. And I would look in my head and say, this is half empty. It’s all filled with air. So I wrote a letter at nine years old to Frito-Lay complaint. Response, I got a letter from the CEO and a case of chips. So even back then I was trying to fight for rights.
Chad Franzen 3:04
Very nice. Very nice. What are some of the challenges of fighting for work injury rights, like the most common challenges?
Stacey Isaacs 3:12
Well, the challenge would be the law and the state of Florida is very much geared to protect the insurance company and the employer. So they make it very difficult for the injured worker to even get medical care or get lost wages. It’s a very challenging process that is very much on the side of the employer and the carrier.
Chad Franzen 3:40
So you knew you wanted to become an attorney even back when you were going through your teens, maybe even in your childhood? How did you get into the industry?
Stacey Isaacs 3:51
As soon as I took the bar, I just started putting resumes out there. And my very first job was for a personal injury lawyer that lasted a few months. I met somebody in court who said, “I really think you would like Workers Comp. It’s different. The laws totally different. And I think you’d be good at it.” And I applied for a job working for Liberty Mutual Insurance Company as staff counsel, and I stayed there for quite a few years.
Chad Franzen 4:21
How did your current position or Work Injury Right, your current firm come about?
Stacey Isaacs 4:27
So after spending 11 years working as staff counsel for AIG insurance, they did a massive layoff. In fact, my boss was laid off at the same time that I was. So it was kind of a turning point, because I was already 40. And I just had a bit of soul searching as to whether I could go out and work for somebody else at that age. And I decided that I did not want to do that. And that’s how Work Injury Rights was formulated along with the help of my husband, who I had met litigating cases. We were on opposite sides. When I worked for the insurance company, he represented injured workers. And then here I was getting laid off. And we just said, “We can do this.”
Chad Franzen 5:17
So you met when you guys were opposing each other?
Stacey Isaacs 5:20
Correct. I also met our other partner, William Haro, the same way.
Chad Franzen 5:26
So you’re married, but you’re also partners? What are some of the challenges, and some of the benefits that come with being in a work partnership with a spouse?
Stacey Isaacs 5:39
Well, David would probably give different answers. But from my perspective, I like that I get to see him all the time, because we work really hard. And the work kind of follows you home, because you have to do your clients phone calls after hours and such. So I feel like I would never see him if we didn’t work together. So to me, that is a benefit. Also, he is an endless source of knowledge, since he’s been representing the injured workers longer than I have. And for him, I’m a source of knowledge as to the tactics of the insurance companies, because I was on that side for so long. The challenge is, it’s pretty obvious, working with your spouse can just be difficult in and of itself, because if you do have a disagreement at work, it follows you home. But we’ve navigated it pretty well. And here we are eight years into it, we’re still together.
Chad Franzen 6:36
Not even regarding disagreements, do you have to kind of set like, office hours like this time we talk about work, when we’re watching TV, we don’t? Do you do stuff like that? Or do you not worry about it?
Stacey Isaacs 6:48
That’s a great idea, Chad, that I think I should bring home to him. But no, it’s our thing. We’re always bouncing ideas off each other and talking about it.
Chad Franzen 7:00
What is a favorite story from your practice?
Stacey Isaacs 7:02
I have one client who was very much hung up on, she felt that her injury was caused by her employer making her do things that were really not part of her job. She basically was one of those women who spray fragrances, like at a department store, when you walk through the mall, so she would spray. But on the day, she was injured, they had her restocking boxes of fragrances. And they’re pretty heavy, because they come with many boxes. So she was upset because it was a life changing injury that she felt would have been avoided if they didn’t make her do something she shouldn’t have been doing. So when we went to settle her case, she insisted that one of the terms of the settlement, in addition to the money was that they had to write her a formal apology card. And they actually did it. And it’s just funny to see that in the mediation agreement employer must write an apology to so and so. And that’s the one and only time I’ve ever had an insurance company agree to that.
Chad Franzen 8:11
Very nice, very nice. I’d like to talk about some lessons learned in your practice journey. But first, how did you discover 8 Figure Firm and Louis Scott?
Stacey Isaacs 8:21
I actually have a close friend who is a sorority sister of mine. And she just relocated about a year ago from New York to Florida where we are, and her husband knows Luis and in speaking with David, and I said, you really need to meet Louis. So I go to all the conferences, and I think it would really benefit your practice. And we listened to him. And things have taken off since we started with Luis?
Chad Franzen 8:51
ow has it benefited your practice? Like what are some lessons you have learned?
Stacey Isaacs 8:55
So we completely changed the culture of the firm. Now we’re very much more client based. Their happiness now is our top priority. Whereas before we were just so eager to bring in the volume, so we’re just trying to have a better experience now for the client.
Chad Franzen 9:15
What are some ways that you guys tried to do that?
Stacey Isaacs 9:20
It all starts from the second somebody places a call to the firm. They just get treated with a lot of respect. They get a swag box when they do sign a retainer. It has a lot of cool stuff in it with our logo. We have implemented different strategies, speaking to them every two weeks, which most law firms is unheard of to touch base with the client every two weeks, but that’s what we’re doing and it seems to be working.
Chad Franzen 9:49
Why do you say it’s been working? How has to change things for you guys?
Stacey Isaacs 9:53
So when you look at the metrics of where the cases are coming from when they come in, there are a lot more referrals from clients. So they’ll recommend us to somebody they know. Whereas before, most of the referrals were either from another attorney or just digital marketing.
Chad Franzen 10:14
Since this is The Guts and Glory Show, I’ll ask you to tell to two separate stories. What is one gut story where you kind of overcame something that you maybe didn’t think would be easy at the time? And then what’s it one glory story that you’re kind of just proud of? Start with the gut story.
Stacey Isaacs 10:30
And this should be work related to me?
Chad Franzen 10:33
Or if there’s another one that took a lot of guts, we’re happy to hear that as well.
Stacey Isaacs 10:37
Okay, in terms of guts, I mean, when my daughter was three months old, I was diagnosed with an incredibly rare cancer. And I had to pretty much up and leave Florida and my job and go for treatment in New York because it’s so rare that in Florida, they couldn’t seem to figure out what they were doing. So, I’m a cancer survivor. And I think that alone is pretty gutsy.
Chad Franzen 11:10
Absolutely, absolutely. Congratulations on that. What about a glory story?
Stacey Isaacs 11:17
I think just changing what side I was working on, at 40 years old and literally starting from my dining room table. Like, it was an idea, hey, we’re going to do this. I’m not going to go work for somebody else. I had a little bit of severance. So I had some money coming in. I said, “Let’s just start this.” But most people just don’t start from scratch. I had no cases. I basically hung a shingle. I went around giving baskets to personal injury lawyers with my card, “Hey, refer cases to me.” So the firm literally was born at a dining room table with no cases.
Chad Franzen 11:58
Wow, that’s amazing. So how did your first case come about?
Stacey Isaacs 12:02
I think that one was online. There’s a website called Avvo. Where attorneys, you have profiles, and I don’t know why this guy was on there. I still remember his name. And we’re eight years later, but you remember your first case.
Chad Franzen 12:20
And then when did things start to kind of pick up where you felt like you were starting to gain traction?
Stacey Isaacs 12:26
So after about six months, and I remember, I was afraid to sign a lease for a year for office space, because I didn’t know if it would work out. But after six months, we had our other partner, come aboard and once it was the three of us and the case have started coming in, we really gained some momentum. And it’s grown every single year, even the year of COVID, we somehow grew.
Chad Franzen 12:56
I have one more question for you. But first, can you just tell me how people can find out more about Work Injury Rights?
Stacey Isaacs 13:02
Absolutely. You can go to www.workinjuryrights.com. You can also find us on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter.
Chad Franzen 13:15
My last question? Do you have any kind of advice for people who are maybe working in a firm but would like to start out on their own? Do you have any kind of advice for action steps?
Stacey Isaacs 13:25
I think it goes back to grass roots like I did. I think a great starting point is going around in person and delivering something. It doesn’t have to be big. It could be a cookie, but with your maybe a little folder about yourself and just say. “Hey, this is what I do. I pay referral fees. Can we meet for lunch? Or can we just have a referral relationship?” I think that’s a great place to start.
Chad Franzen 13:52
Okay. Well, hey, Stacey has been great hearing your thoughts and hearing some of your stories and your advice. I’ve enjoyed talking to you. Thanks so much.
Stacey Isaacs 13:59
You too. Thanks, Chad.
Chad Franzen 14:01 So long, everybody.
Outro 14:04 You’ve been listening to The Guts and Glory Show with Luis Scott. If you enjoyed the show, be sure to share. For more information on this episode, please see the show notes at www.gutsandgloryshow.com. And join us next time as we talk to another leader in business that had the guts to overcome all odds for the glory of success.
