Watch the YouTube version of this episode HERE

Tyson Mutrux breaks down a week of legal industry stories that law firm owners should actually pay attention to, from California's attempt to limit private equity influence over case decisions to some of the boldest law firm marketing campaigns happening across the country. He looks at what makes a campaign memorable, when attention helps a brand, and when clever marketing may not translate into the right cases.

He also covers a major Google Local Services Ads change that can make missed calls more expensive, a Florida attorney facing court scrutiny over a brief suspected of being AI-assisted, and the growing role of AI in pleading and motion drafting. Plus, Tyson touches on Temple football's law firm jersey patch, Morgan & Morgan's challenge to Florida's celebrity advertising rule, and a Google keyword fight between competing firms.

What You'll Learn

• Why California is limiting how private equity can influence case selection and settlement decisions
• What bold campaigns from Demand the Limits, Morgan & Morgan, and KNR reveal about law firm branding
• Why Google Local Services Ads can now cost firms money when calls go unanswered during posted business hours
• How courts are beginning to scrutinize AI-assisted legal writing even when citations are real
• How Tyson uses prior firm pleadings and legal research tools to improve AI-assisted drafting
• What recent jersey sponsorships, celebrity ad disputes, and competitor keyword battles may signal for legal marketing

Timestamps

• 00:00  Legal industry stories worth watching
• 00:25  California limits private equity influence on legal cases
• 02:30  Demand the Limits and the line between memorable and on-brand
• 05:25  Morgan & Morgan, Fashion Week, and community-driven marketing
• 08:55  Google LSA missed-call billing and why coverage matters
• 10:15  Court scrutiny of AI-assisted briefs and legal writing
• 13:45  AI drafting workflows and Temple football jersey sponsorship
• 14:35  Celebrity ad rules and a Google keyword advertising battle

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Full Transcript: 

[00:00] Tyson: Good morning and welcome back to Maximum Lawyer Live. I decided this week, I saw some really interesting stories this week, so I wanted to cover those as opposed to what some of the recent episodes that I've been doing. One that's about a week old that I thought about... Dealing with last week. I want to talk about this a little bit. So Gavin Newsom, Governor Newsom out in California.

[00:28] Tyson: This isn't about him. This isn't a political one. This is just interesting what he signed. He signed it on Sunday, Sunday before last. And it's it's to. deter private equity from making decisions on whether or not to take a case.

[00:45] Tyson: And I thought it was really interesting. So in a nutshell, what the bill does is it allows private equity to invest in marketing. So basically fund the war chest, but they're not allowed to pick the cases. So what is, what they're trying to do is they're trying to prevent, you know, the funders, the private equity from steering, which cases you take and, or, or when to settle. And if you, if you violate it now, here's where it's to me, it seems a little tricky how you would enforce this, but there's a thousand per violation or three X damages. So three times damages on trouble damages on this.

[01:30] Tyson: So, it's, it's really interesting. So let's say like a PE backed MSO, offered you, let's say that they were like, okay, you know, we're putting a bunch of money in this marketing campaign, but then started to make decisions on which ones you could take. That's a violation. And it's a really interesting thing. Because we have multiple things converging at the same time right now. You've got AI, but you also have private equity.

[02:00] Tyson: And those two things, those are massive, massive tides that are shifting. So... That's one story. I thought it was really interesting. I think it was, I don't know how they will enforce that. It's a way of pushing back on private equity.

[02:18] Tyson: I just don't know how they're going to force it. So anyways, so here's another one. This is from Palm Beach. So demand the limits. It's a firm down there, I guess. They wrapped buses with DTL is DTF.

[02:33] Tyson: and they say that what it means is down to fight i don't know if anybody's down in palm beach if you've seen these i would love to see these but they're basically leading into it they want to lead it and apparently it's kind of turned into a controversy they're kind of leaning into it on purpose and they're kind of pairing it with meta ads and tiktok videos and youtube videos and they're sort of skipping that, you know, we fight for you cliche kind of a thing. I think it's interesting. You've got, it's one of those things where like marketing can be really interesting. like being unforgettable doesn't necessarily mean that you're going to get the cases either.

[03:22] Tyson: And it's, it is a, I think this is one of those polarizing things. It's interesting that comes out of Florida who, all of the marketing kind of changed because of Florida, you know, the, the major Supreme court decision back, you know, decades ago at this point. There are some interesting things sometimes coming out of Florida. There's a lot of Florida firms that come into St. Louis, which is kind of interesting too, where they try to market to St. Louis and they don't last very long.

[03:58] Tyson: So it's just a reminder that just because it's a catchy marketing thing doesn't mean it's going to work. I've never heard of demand limits. I think it's a, I think it's a catchy name of a firm. I think I do think that I think demand the limits is a, that's catchy. I think that would stick around. The whole DTL is DTF.

[04:23] Tyson: They, I think it's funny. It's a good way of remembering demand the limits, but, I don't know. I think I'd probably steer away from this because to me, it screams volume injury firm, not try cases. That's what it sort of screams to me, but I'm not hating the marketing. I'm not. I think it's a really...

[04:46] Tyson: Really clever marketing idea. But it wouldn't be on brand for me. It's one of those things where if it's on brand for you and your firm, okay, great. It sounds like it's on brand for them. So for that reason, it's probably a good one for them. But when it comes to a firm like ours, it's not.

[05:10] Tyson: We're litigation heavy, and so the whole DTL is DTF is not going to work. So kind of interesting. All right. Here's one for about Morgan and Morgan. They put a slip and fall collection, quote unquote, slip and fall collection on New York Fashion Week runway September. So it's September tenth.

[05:31] Tyson: So just about a couple of weeks ago. so hospital gown, dog bite denim. so they have this slip and fall collection. and so they, they had, I think it's kind of an interesting thing where, models dressing up at hospital gals, dog bite denim. so that's sort of their, their advertising. And that's it.

[05:53] Tyson: That's clever to me. That's one of those things where you've got this really big event. So you got New York fashion week. and you're pairing that with what you do by, using some of the same sort of props, right? You use that, that they're going to be using hospital gowns, but they're using some sort of an attire, right? where fashion week's all about fashion.

[06:20] Tyson: So I think, I think that's clever. I think that is, that's one of those things that's on brand for Morgan and Morgan. It is, it is not, I it's not the whole DTLs DTF, but I will say DTL DTF, is, is catchy. I will tell you it's a catchier than the slip and fall collection, but I don't, I just don't know how on brain it is. okay. let's move on to another story.

[06:50] Tyson: so K and R in Ohio is putting, student design, distracted driving art on billboards across the state. And they also have a $5,000 memorial scholarship. So it's pretty I think it's a pretty cool idea. So it's sort of a community play and then it buys them. It's one of those things they got covered by several news outlets. across the state.

[07:15] Tyson: I think that's one of those ones where it's probably fairly inexpensive, right? So they've got the scholarship that they're going to be giving out. And then they have this, they get the community involved with designing the art. And then that's what goes up on the billboards. I think that that's pretty clever. And to me, that's something that will likely lead to more clients because it seems that And maybe it's just how I am and who I am.

[07:48] Tyson: Now, there's also the other things that you're going to need. You're going to need a call to action, all that kind of stuff. You need all that stuff. Let's assume all that stuff's there. But to me, that's a sort of marketing that's going to lead to you getting more cases because you're going to be viewed as someone that's in the community, someone that cares about the community, someone that's investing in the community, someone that cares about distracted driving. all that, to me, that's something that's going to lead to more clients.

[08:26] Tyson: I think that's pretty cool. To be honest with you, I don't know what KNR stands for. I just know that that's the story, KNR. They're in Ohio. So I think that's a really interesting one. And then I want to talk a little bit about Google LSAs.

[08:45] Tyson: i may or may not have mentioned this i know i've talked to people about this but i don't know if i mentioned it this is kind of a big deal so October 1st is when google lsa starts billing you for missed calls for during posted business hours if the if the caller stays on for more than you will be charged for a lead that no one ever spoke to. So it's a paid lead you never talked to, and you may never have the opportunity to ever speak to. So you need to make sure that you fix your coverage for the business week, the business hours that you set through Google LSAs, otherwise you're going to be just dumping money down the drain.

[09:36] Tyson: That is a really, really big one. So October 1st, Google LSAs will start billing you for missed calls. It's a really, really, really big deal. So there's, I don't think I want to talk about, I don't have the specifics pulled up, but it's, this is one of those things where we've got these AI, people using AI to draft pleadings and briefs and everything. There's an attorney out of Florida, I believe is where, another Florida story, where he's getting sanctioned and he was given 10 days to respond to the court and explain whether he used AI and to explain essentially why his brief was so bad. And here's what's weird.

[10:21] Tyson: No hallucinated cases. All the cases were real. Every single case was real. But apparently the writing was so bad, the court thinks it was written by AI and they want an explanation. This is the first case that I have seen where you have someone getting in trouble for using AI to draft it without having a hallucinated case. And I see bad writing all the time.

[10:48] Tyson: That's what's crazy about this is that this could just be a bad writing case. You know what I mean? Like this could just be, this person's just bad at writing. And it's funny because in the order, the court says they must explain to the court without using AI, which I think is hilarious. The fact that, the person's not allowed to use AI, whether he used AI or, or why is essentially why his brief is so bad. I think that's really interesting.

[11:22] Tyson: Again, first time I've seen that happen where you have someone getting in trouble for using AI, even though it's not clear that they used AI and there's no hallucinating case. So be careful. Just be very, very careful. Make sure you're reading anything you're submitting. If you are going to use AI to write your briefs and write your motions and all that, you need to have like there's, I think it's called, let me pull up my, my skill. Ooh, my lost lighting.

[11:56] Tyson: So that's no good. it's called dinged off, I think is what it's called. But, there is, you want to have, have skills built in for it so that, you know, it's going to be prepared correctly. So that is really, really important. For those of you that are watching, I don't know what happened to my lighting, but my lighting went out, so that was kind of weird. but so yeah, the, the skill that I have that is in here that I have inside of, or actually it's not a, it's a connector.

[12:34] Tyson: Sorry. I misspoke. It's called ding duff. So it's free ding duff. It adds case law. I also have, I plugged a bunch of our pleadings that we drafted over the years and I had a skill created for drafting.

[12:50] Tyson: So we can actually draft things that are, it's based on our writing and, And it does a really, really good job. It looks on point. If you were to take something that I wrote two years ago compared to something that it writes, it is very similar, but it does a better job. So we don't use it for everything. And I don't recommend that you use it for everything, but it is one of those things that is pretty helpful. so here I want to, I want to mention this one because this is a buddy Grungo, Grungo law bought the Jersey patch on temple football through 2028.

[13:34] Tyson: so that's something we're going to cover. so that, I think that was pretty cool. I want to make sure I covered that. it's the first law firm. Now this is what the article says. First law firm on any division one collegiate Jersey.

[13:52] Tyson: the patch debuted September 5th at Lincoln financial field. I thought that was cool. so very, very cool. to rich out, grungle law. I haven't talked to rich in a while, but hopefully he's doing well. here's another story.

[14:08] Tyson: This is probably the last one I'm going to cover. I've got several. I wanted to knock out, but, Morgan and Morgan, they sued the Florida bar over the celebrity ad ban. So it's Florida rule four dash seven, four dash seven point one five C. It blocks any celebrity voice or image and lawyer ads. They say Florida killed ad campaigns with Shaq, Frankie Muniz, Kyle Busch, Don and John Daly.

[14:36] Tyson: So that's interesting. That was filed in August, but it's the first time I'd heard about it. I think that's a really interesting story. And it's the third Florida story. I apologize for all the Florida stories, but there's a lot of action happening down in Florida. and then i guess the last one so there's the denver pi firm Frank Azar, and then there's Backus and Shanker.

[15:04] Tyson: They had a year-long Google keyword war that they had. They finally settled it by making their marketer pay both firms. I think that's kind of an interesting thing. So Azar said that Backus and Shanker they were using their ads on Azar's name, and it looked like Azar's site. So they didn't have to have a trial on it. So it sounds like the marketing firm had to pay both of the law firms.

[15:34] Tyson: So that's kind of crazy. All right, that's all I have for us this week. Hopefully you have a great week, and we will be talking. See you.