We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Jonathan May. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Jonathan below.
Alright, Jonathan thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’ve love to hear an interesting investment story – what was one of the best or worst investments you’ve made? (Note, these responses are only intended as entertainment and shouldn’t be construed as investment advice)
I am a Christian pastor/preacher/disciple in addition to being a lawyer/law firm owner. The name for The Lions’ Den was a tribute to Daniel and the lions’ den that he was thrown into for worshiping God against the king’s decree whereby people were only allowed to worship the king. Daniel was unphased by the death sentence given to him when God protected him in the lions’ den. However, his accusers were thrown in the den and eaten immediately without God’s protection. The investment that I made is to make my company, branding, marketing and more in direct stated, written alignment with God and Christ. This came with positive and negative outcomes. The negative outcomes were that people call and expect the firm to provide free services because Jesus preached generosity. Unfortunately, that isn’t a strong enough business model and we did not adopt that business model, so we get callers that are disappointed.
However, the positive outcomes have far outweighed the negative outcomes. We have a strong identity in Christ. Our clients often are generous and understanding and we often have common ground with our beliefs that help us support their goals. Additionally, we apply the wisdom provided only by the bible to their situations and analysis, which has created amazing outcomes at times. We teach each other about the bible and learn from our clients as they learn from us. The bible says that “iron sharpens iron” and there is no doubt that we all learn working together. Additionally, we have had great experiences helping all kinds of people, believers or non believers. We love people and we love to teach about Christ. Thus, our identify, our brand and our marketing has been impacted by our investment in associating ourselves with Christ and God. We believe our purpose is much greater than providing legal services and hope to accomplish both our greater purpose and our immediate purpose of providing legal services.
Jonathan, 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?
My name is Jonathan May. I am from central Illinois and love church, people, events of all kinds, food and traveling. I hope to see all of the world. I love and find magnificent and fascinating all animals, birds, insects and Gods creations. I love zoos and hope to have a sanctuary one day with all kinds of animals and birds, only if the animals want to be there. I love helping people and preaching/teaching about how Jesus can change peoples lives. One of my struggles is balancing trying to help so many people, and prioritizing which ones to help first. You always want people to appreciate your teachings or gifts, but I have learned to be happy whether people appreciate what you do or not because I do the actions for God and not for appreciation. I never planned to be an attorney but as a passion always was building my skills as an attorney. I was a communications professor for 11 years and recently retired from teaching. I naturally persuaded often as a child growing up. Unfortunately, I grew up procrastinating too much in school, but benefitted long term because procrastinating builds extremely important legal skills to quickly analyze time management, instantly construct arguments and make quick decisions.
After becoming a professor, I often considered my next opportunity to advance. I realized my best opportunity was to go to law school when my childhood friend, Ali Aliabadi, suggested that we should go to law school together. I loved the suggestion and immediately signed up for the LSAT. Even the name Lions’ Den came from Ali. He and many people around me have helped to shape my education, law firm and many other aspects of my life. Upon graduation, I started a law firm right away with the help of many people, mainly Chris Cook, who helped to guide my analysis of how to approach the legal field. Chris and I went to law school together and I wouldn’t have survived without the opportunity to study with him and learn from him. I wouldn’t be anywhere near where I am at without people giving generously to me their thoughts, ideas, time and more.
I’m feel pride when we help clients in general or achieve success with their legal goals. I also take great pride when we can avoid waste when litigating and create fair deals for everyone involved. Every situation is so different and requires analysis and problem solving. Most cases take many minds thinking together, not one person appling their knowledge. There is power in getting peoples opinions and experiences and then applying it to any situation.
Luckily, we have had great success with reaching clients goals, through precise analysis, research, communication and much more. Each situation is so different and sometimes it takes many different efforts but you hope that the time and efforts lead to success. Success is never guaranteed. I thank God for each success because most areas of law have opponents that are working their hardest in opposition of you.
We provided legal services in many areas, mainly civil litigation, but also real estate, family law, corporate law and many other areas of law.
Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?
It is a tough approach and a large cost, but making sure that you give a client the best work that you can each time, is an approach that has brought a great amount of referrals. In the legal field, not everyone is easy to work with. Especially in Miami where there are a wide range of personalities, it can be very tough. I have had many times where clients didn’t deserve or pay for the quality of service that they receive, but I still do the best I can given circumstances and try to make sure they are left in the best position that I can with the tools that I have. Many clients aren’t familiar with having an attorney. Additionally, each law firm operates differently, so it is easy for clients to assume that their past experiences will be the same as any future experience. Our job has been to communicate the best we can. However, their expectation, which may be created by watching TV shows, movies or the news about Court can create a lot of misconceptions. Also, clients read attorney articles online, which often aren’t updated and clients can strongly misunderstand the law based on those publishings. Also, I have been wrong before many times as well. Lawyers practice law and the law is dynamic, changes and is extremely detailed. It is great to read as much as you can about your case as the lawyer will do also.
Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?
I love using social media to connect with people. With any business, social media is a great tool to educate your audience about your industry, news, changes, or your firm. You want your audience to understand your knowledge and professionalism when viewing your social media. Use videos and explain your products or your services. People will feel much more comfortable after seeing you explain how your business works, etc.
Contact Info:
- Website: http://www.tldaal.com/
- Instagram: lionsdenattorneys
- Facebook: lionsdenlaw
- Linkedin: The Lions’ Den, Attorneys at Law
- Twitter: @lionsdenlaw
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtrg6y4Dab03eBNvLC9dQgQ
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/the-lions-den-attorneys-at-law-miami