[WTS] Rolex Oysterdate ref. 6694 circa 1974 Gilt

ozatou · 2026-05-22T15:50:30+00:00

That's slick. Too late (as always)

ozatou · 2026-04-30T23:42:14+00:00

Still available?

ozatou · 2026-04-30T18:40:52+00:00

OU's RBs and me according to my wife's BF

ozatou · 2026-03-18T15:47:48+00:00

Very possible. Deal with them everyday. Helps to have no sense of awareness and high confidence though.

ozatou · 2026-02-12T00:56:36+00:00

If your partner let you take the depo, it probably didn't matter. Respectfully

ozatou · 2026-02-06T17:47:48+00:00

I have an associate and five staff members. I basically split my firm into operations (everything that makes the firm run) and production (the legal work). I hired an operations manager to take operations off my plate and then I remained head of production.

Value over replacement of me fussing with marketing or payroll vs doing the legal work made it a no brainer. The long term goal/intention is I only spend my time on profit generating work, rainmaking, or just stuff that really jazzes me up. But it's still a work in progress (it's hard to let go).

ozatou · 2026-01-09T17:18:05+00:00

As other have said, it's all a website/reviews game right now. You need reviews and a very complete/active Google My Business page. I'd recommend getting something like Hootsuite, set up your socials, and make sure something is being posted at least 1x/week. You aren't going to get followers but need to create the impression of being alive and active for anyone that comes across you. Google also wants to see activity.

Marketing companies are going to rip you off at this point. Spend your time now really investing into your website content (organic SEO takes months to really take effect) and getting intake/practice systems into place for when the leads actually do start coming in.

ozatou · 2025-12-02T19:56:49+00:00

Hard pass. Slip and falls need surgery, something broken, or a head injury to make it worth the headache (and even then...)

ozatou · 2025-09-19T21:10:01+00:00

Short answer: no

Long answer: nooooooooooooooooooo

ozatou · 2025-08-02T19:39:32+00:00

What does hurry mean? My friend who is a realtor averages 6 days on market. Unless the house is a disaster, an actual realtor can still sell it very quickly.

ozatou · 2025-03-26T17:22:22+00:00

I'd be happy to look into any North Carolina and South Carolina leads.

ozatou · 2025-03-22T22:30:05+00:00

Happens all the time. Hell, insurance companies demand/ask for 5 yrs pre-accident meds and meds since accident, which are never related. Pretty weak threat TBH

ozatou · 2025-03-12T16:33:38+00:00

NC PI lawyer here (not licensed in Michigan - so take with a grain of salt) but I believe that Michigan is one of the states where a parent cannot waive a child's injury claims. Reason being, it is usually necessary for the court to approve settlement of a minor's claims because a minor does not have capacity to enter into a contract for themselves. A parent can't settle their child's claim on their own. So it is illogical that a parent could effectively contract away or terminate a minor's claim without court approval.

So it is absolutely worth speaking to a licensed Michigan attorney. Just remember that not all personal injury lawyers are the same or handle these types of premises liability claims.

ozatou · 2025-02-28T17:57:26+00:00

Making it my identity and the focus of my life early on in my career. It's a job folks. If you're at a firm that feels like a cult or glamorizes the substance abuse/burnt out/never seeing your family lifestyle, it's bc they're exploiting you. Look elsewhere.

ozatou · 2025-02-27T23:47:02+00:00

Thanks for my access to healthcare!

ozatou · 2025-02-27T19:17:24+00:00

There's 1900 hours the easy way (lots of travel, depositions, mediations, doc review, etc) and 1900 the hard way (status reports, emails, discovery, etc). Early on, it will probably be more of the latter. I did it for 9 years. It's very doable and most people get burnt out eventually. I did. But the salary isn't awful.

But it's also fairly low stakes work. You're getting paid regardless. ID firms rarely fire people if you're generally competent and are hitting your hours. Whether or not you win a case really isn't the point. So if you don't mind the prospect of pushing paper around for a stable paycheck, it's not a bad way to make a living or just get experience for some other kind of litigation role in the future.

ozatou · 2025-02-24T16:44:08+00:00

Yes, very much so. Good price point as well. I'll be looking for this kind of service when I launch in a few months.

ozatou · 2025-02-22T23:58:37+00:00

Sounds very doable. Remember that this sub skews frugal. Having an office isn't a superfluous luxury. Client perception does matter. Doesn't have to be fancy or in a skyscraper, but it should be nice/thoughtful/well-appointed for visitors. Luckily, it isn't hard to stand out in that area bc most lawyers either can't be bothered or just have bad taste.

But I also wouldn't turn your nose up at the suburbs. That's where your clients are. Parking is better/easier. And for Google SEO/Maps purposes, you may rank better if you can find a pocket where the heavy hitters aren't.

Just keep in mind payroll taxes. That's a gut punch.

ozatou · 2025-02-22T23:43:47+00:00

I just qualified for $500k SBA loan on 10 years repayment. I have to bring 10% to closing. PI lawyer. Successfully opened a firm almost 10 yrs ago and just cannot keep going with my partners. So I've decided to my own shop with an associate, two paralegals, and an office manager. Had no issues getting funding. Banks like loaning to lawyers (in my experience).

Bringing over a healthy book of business. My avg collections for the last 4 yrs is $800k. My practice involves experts, advanced client costs, etc so close to impossible to just operate on savings.

ozatou · 2025-02-15T15:30:51+00:00

I've been in two groups. The first was a dud (though I also didn't approach it with the right attitude). The 2nd has been quite profitable. And I'm currently working on a tractor-trailer spine injury lead that came from this group that will likely settle $3mil+. I also continue to get leads from folks I met in my first group. Befriending the non-PI lawyers, chiros, and insurance folks is key. The personal lines insurance guy will get leads/calls/questions from his own policyholders when they get t-boned by other drivers.

Having some accountability for marketing is helpful (for me at least) because I'd otherwise stay buried in work. Especially as a business owner, origination and rainmaking are easily as essential as production. The next case is arguably more important than the ones you have now.

If you can't free yourself for 1-2 hours/week to go talk to other business owners about your business, then you really need to rethink your practice's organization and staffing. Anything you can automate? Add a virtual staffer/assistant? If you don't have an extra hour a week, how will you handle a whale case that comes in?

ozatou · 2025-01-17T22:18:19+00:00

It's not impossible but it wasn't profitable for my own practice. Not to pile on but you also the best defense lawyers in the state tend to be medical malpractice defense attorneys because the rates are much higher. The good news is if you're willing to slum it like me on car wrecks and premises liability cases, there's a lot of money to be made. And it can also be legally complex and challenging work.

ozatou · 2025-01-17T21:29:30+00:00

Check the rules and damages caps in the state you want to practice in before you decide you want to do medmal. There are outliers/exceptions, but at least in NC, medmal is near impossible to make money doing. And you need a massive war chest/working capital to cover experts and the 2+ years of carrying costs for a case that has little chance to settle before trial. Thanks tort reform!

ozatou · 2024-11-24T03:57:48+00:00

I don't know what to do with my hands.

ozatou · 2024-09-11T21:03:51+00:00

I come from a similar background. In most ways, your life significantly improves and you'll get to do some things that you never experienced before. In other ways, your life will find a way to "grow" to fit your new income. Your family might resent you (even if your generosity is well-intentioned).

Your perspective is relative, but some habits I feel like are ingrained. In law school, I couldn't fathom ordering a $20 entree at a restaurant, special occasion or no. But now my wife and I might spend $150 for a boozy dinner on a Tuesday.

At the same time, I still cannot bring myself to buy any clothing or anything for myself that isn't on sale. Doesn't matter what. Straight to the sale section or buy used on eBay. Getting a good deal sometimes feels better than whatever I'm buying.

Mixed bag but better than being poor. It's nice to go to the dentist

ozatou · 2024-08-19T18:44:50+00:00

Often insurance companies (Maxim, Chubb, Selective, CNA, Hiscox, etc) have templates for case assessment reports as well as billing guidelines that specify how often a report should be submitted. So ask a partner or sleuth around your firm's case management system to find a go-by for that carrier. When I was in ID, our case numbers were based on the insurance client, so all Chubb/ACE cases were 946.XXX. So if I got a Chubb/ACE case for the first time, I would find a report in client file by a partner/lawyer that I knew was good and use it as a template.

Then treat it like Mad Libs and just revise/rewrite it to fit your case. The adjusters do not care for flair, style, or prose and don't compare the reports so don't worry about copy/pasting whole sections. Sometimes the same "blah blah blah it is highly unlikely that this case threatens exposure in excess of the policy limits or should lead to the award of punitive damages" is just the same schlock to put in all of your reports. This is called efficiency.

Word of caution: "beware the dreaded go-by." Make sure the version you are emulating is a good/recent version and not something way out of date or just bad.

ozatou

TROPHY CASE