340. The Risk That Nearly Broke His Firm — Jay Kelley’s $100M Branding Playbook [Encore Edition]

The Game Changing Attorney Podcast with Michael Mogill

Michael Mogill

Entrepreneurship, Marketing, Management, Business

5.0 • 539 Ratings

🗓️ 25 February 2025

⏱️ 45 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

How can attorneys integrate leadership, strategy, and branding to build a thriving firm? In this episode of The Game Changing Attorney Podcast, Michael Mogill sits down with Jay Kelley, managing partner of Elk + Elk, to explore how one of Ohio's largest personal injury firms has evolved and flourished. Jay shares his unconventional journey into law, drawing from an early love of persuasive speaking he discovered through acting, and how this unique background has shaped his approach to becoming a trial attorney. Here's what you'll learn: How transformative life experiences can shape your practice and lead you to a fulfilling legal career The importance of building a firm culture that is both collaborative and capable of handling serious, complex cases Why strategic brand building and community engagement are crucial for long-term success in the legal industry Law firm leaders who truly want to elevate their impact need to go beyond just winning cases — they need to transform their firms from the inside out. This isn't just about marketing strategies or business development — it’s about embodying authenticity, perseverance, and a relentless commitment to growth. ---- Show Notes: 00:00 – Introduction 02:16 – Jay Kelley's Journey: From Prosecutor to Plaintiff’s Attorney 05:55 – The Power of Listening in the Courtroom 07:35 – Finding Purpose in Medical Malpractice Cases 09:07 – Balancing Being a Trial Attorney and a Law Firm Business Leader 12:46 – Branding a Law Firm: Standing Out in a Competitive Market 17:45 – Community Involvement and Brand Recall Strategies 25:50 – The Difference Between Brand Recall and Credibility 31:52 – Transitioning a Law Firm’s Leadership and Legacy 42:56 – What It Means to Be a Game-Changing Attorney ---- Links & Resources: The Abbey Theatre Arthur M. Elk David J. Elk Cincinnati Reds Columbus Blue Jackets Cleveland Browns USO Dr. Kirk Wakefield Siri John P. O’Neil ---- Listening to this episode but want to watch it? Check it out on Spotify. Do you love this podcast and want to see more game changing content? Subscribe to our YouTube channel. ---- Past guests on The Game Changing Attorney Podcast include David Goggins, John Morgan, Alex Hormozi, Randi McGinn, Kim Scott, Chris Voss, Kevin O’Leary, Laura Wasser, John Maxwell, Mark Lanier, Robert Greene, and many more. ---- If you enjoyed this episode, you may also like: Episode 174 — Joey Coleman — Never Lose a Client Again: Creating Memorable Experiences to Gain an Advocate for Life Episode 137 — Camille Vasquez — Authenticity is the Advantage Episode 119 — Jo-Ná Williams — The Entrepreneurial Attorney: Achieving Freedom by Serving Others

Transcript

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0:00.0	And you see it with some of those lead generation companies or people that pay-per-click certain terms, and that's unsustainable.
0:10.0	That's Jay Kelly, managing partner of renowned Ohio personal injury firm Elken Elk.
0:15.1	You are measuring an ROI that is so transactional and finite that it can't survive.
0:22.4	If you can build a brand, that will lift all of those transactional approaches that you make.
0:28.8	So instead of starting at the goal line, you get to start at the 10-yard line or the 50-yard line.
0:34.8	The better your brand, the shorter you have to go to get a positive ROI.
0:45.5	I'm Michael Logel, founder and CEO of Crisp, the nation's number one law from growth
0:49.6	company.
0:50.3	I've built my business through practice, not theory.
0:53.1	Crisp started with just $500 to my name and has grown to over eight figures in revenue over the last few years,
0:58.4	earning a spot on the Inc. 500 list of the fastest growing private companies in America.
1:02.8	Our approach has been to take everything we've learned about generating massive growth within our own organization
1:07.2	and help the country's most ambitious and committed law firm owners do the same for theirs.
1:11.7	In each episode of this podcast, I sit down with innovative market leaders from the legal industry
1:15.9	and beyond to learn from those who thrive in the face of adversity, challenge the status quo,
1:20.8	and define what it means to be a true game changer.
1:24.0	Today, we're revisiting one of our most popular episodes from the podcast where I sat down with Jake Kelly to discuss what it takes to establish a strong brand identity, as well as building a business that stands the test of time, and what it means to carry on in law firms' legacy.
1:37.5	This is a very risky business, but at the end of the day, you've got to bet on yourself, you've got to bet on your business,
1:44.6	and you've got to reinvest, reinvest, reinvest.
1:49.8	That's coming up on the Game Changing Attorney podcast.
2:00.3	Before we begin today's episode, I want to remind you that we aren't beholden to any sponsors or run any ads on this podcast.
2:06.9	This allows us to present all of our episodes raw and unfiltered.
	...

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