We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jacob Denson a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Jacob, thanks for joining us today. Let’s jump into the story of starting your own firm – what should we know?

I started my legal career at the Pulaski County Public Defender’s Office in Little Rock, Arkansas. This was very important experience. I was able to see all types of cases from traffic tickets to homicides, and everything in between. This gave me a great deal of confidence and competence. Most importantly, I made life-long friends in this role, and I still speak to many of them regularly. My transition to starting my own private firm was in the later stages of the COVID-19 Pandemic. I officially went into business in 2022. I had a goal of starting a business before 30, and was able to get it done at 29. God’s timing was perfect as always. I had just wrapped up a homicide jury trial with a couple of my colleagues, and soon thereafter gave a resignation letter to my boss. He did not accept that letter, but rather gave me a “part time” job that had been created by our state legislature in response to the backlog of cases that had been created during the pandemic. During this time, I was working in court the same as always, but had a few extra hours on some days to begin setting up my business and figuring out how to get clients. For young people with aspirations of starting their own business, I would recommend having money saved up to live on, and fund the business, or have a job to survive while you set up the new venture. Also, don’t be afraid to leverage a little bit of debt to get your business profitable quickly.

Jacob, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I got into the legal industry in a very serendipitous way. Looking back, it was certainly in God’s plan for me to be an attorney and help people. I attended Arkansas State University for my Bachelor’s Degree in Mathematics with a statistics minor. My grandfather had mentioned to me that the legal field may be something I have a knack for. I decided to sit down with an LSAT study manual for a while between school and my job at that time. I took the LSAT, and received a passing score. I was planning to attend Law School at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, but after a weekend back in my hometown of Sherwood, I decided I didn’t really want to go to law school. I had been gone for 5 years already, and was ready to come home for a while. In that time, I began working at my father’s automotive repair shop. I was working on cars, selling jobs, and helping my dad grow his business. I had worked with him before, but seeing the rewards from our efforts, I believe this is where the business bug bit me. I knew I wanted to start my own business someday too, and sooner rather than later. One day at the shop, I received an email from someone I did not know, and still don’t know. They asked if I had applied to the local law school in Little Rock. I told them I had not. They asked if I was going to. I told them I was not. They told me that I should. So, I went ahead and applied, and was awarded a full ride scholarship. I looked at my Dad and said, “looks like I’m going to law school.” It has proven to be a life changing, and very rewarding decision. Now I get to help people in complicated situations. My current practice largely revolves around DWI (Driving While Intoxicated) defense, criminal defense, traffic ticket defense, and various civil matters for both plaintiffs and defendants. What sets my firm apart is that I personally handle and speak with all of my clients. I want to help them not only resolve their legal issues, but also improve their lives as a whole. I hope that anyone who works with me can see that, and is able to get a great benefit out of our time together.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

A lesson I had to unlearn is related to learning itself. This is sort of a story about the “meta skill” of learning. When I was growing up, and even when I first started my business, I thought the best way to succeed was by studying and preparing until I was “ready.” I researched how to start a successful law practice way back when I was still in law school. I read and read and researched and researched. I kept pushing it off to be ready. I spoke to a ton of lawyers, those employed in various capacities, and those with their own practice. A theme I noticed from those employed was the pain of regret from not just starting. So, I decided to just start as soon as I could. I jumped out without a net. I had some money coming in as a part time public defender, but it was a new world with new expenses and challenges to face. I still learn something new nearly every day, whether it is about business, or about practicing law. As long as I am learning and improving, I know I am doing this thing right. It’s never easy, and a lot of that comes with making tons of mistakes along the way. What I’ve learned from this is that research, study, and preparation, are necessary and great to do, but you won’t really learn and grow until you jump into something with both feet. When you just jump in, you will make mistakes and break things, but as you correct your course, you will learn rapidly, and get better faster. This is true for anything I’ve found. To really grow in your business and in your skillset, you have to take risks, make mistakes, and improve. This is the fastest and best way to really learn and grow.

Where do you think you get most of your clients from?

Getting clients or customers is a key function for every business. Every business needs customers to survive. A law practice is no different. After all it is simply a business that happens to be a law firm. So, how do we solve the customer acquisition problem? We have to engage in marketing to attract new potential customers, and be proficient at sales to convert them into actual paying customers. There is a saying in marketing circles that says, “the business that can spend the most to acquire a customer will win.” I took that to heart. I have engaged in SEO, social media marketing, google pay per click ads, google local service ads, and I’ve even bought leads. In my experience, it takes a blend of all of these things to find the right mix of marketing tactics to keep the phone consistently ringing. Making content and buying ads, all of it. I’ve gotten customers from all of these methods. Based on my analytics, the two most important things for attracting customers to my business have been by having a high ranking website (SEO/Organic) and by collecting 5 star google reviews.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.arkansasdwilawyer.com