Amanda Hall on Client Care | The AICA Podcast Ep. 2

Jeff Shaw (00:00)

Welcome to the AICA podcast. I’m Jeff. And today we’re excited to welcome Amanda Hall as our guest. Hello, Amanda.

Amanda Hall (00:08)

Hi there, Jeff.

Jeff Shaw (00:09)

So if you have not had the privilege of meeting Amanda yet, Amanda is the managing partner at Amanda Hall Injury Law. It’s got a good little almost rhythm to it. I love that. And she was admitted to practice in both Georgia and Florida. She’s a member of the Georgia Trial Lawyers Association, the American Association for Justice, and the Georgia Association of Women Lawyers. She is frequently recognized as a leader in her field and has been named a super lawyer in plaintiff’s personal injury. Amanda graduated summa cum laude from Wofford College and I believe that’s in South Carolina. Is that right Amanda?

Amanda Hall (00:44)

It is. It’s in Spartanburg, South Carolina, Sparkle City.

Jeff Shaw (00:48)

Awesome. And she earned her JD or Juris Doctor with high honors from the University of Florida, Levin College of Law in 2003. And in law school, super impressive. She ranked in the top five of her class and was inducted into the Order of the Coif. And congratulations, that’s very difficult to do. And Amanda lives in Atlanta with her family and she enjoys traveling, gardening, reading and floral design, very eclectic. And she’s known for her genuine care, sharp legal insight, and relentless drive to win for her clients. So again, Amanda, thank you for joining us today.

Amanda Hall (01:26)

Yeah, thank you for having me.

Jeff Shaw (01:28)

So I’m very curious, you know, people often start out in one part of the law and merge into another, or they start somewhere and they stay there their whole career as it relates to personal injury law. Is that always been what you’ve done or did you have some iterations to get where you are today?

Amanda Hall (01:48)

I’ve just done PI for probably the last eight or nine years. I actually started as a federal law clerk and then I was on the defense side for years and years and years. And so I moved over in 2016 to this side and I’ve been doing that ever since.

Jeff Shaw (02:14)

So almost 10 years now on the personal injury plaintiff side of things.

Amanda Hall (02:19)

That’s correct.

Jeff Shaw (02:20)

That’s awesome. So you, as far as I know and understand of your firm, have really built your firm around the idea of client care. What does that look like in practice? And I love this. How do you keep that compassion at the center of your cases? It would be so easy just to get robotic and take case after case. How have you managed to keep that at the center of your work?

Amanda Hall (02:44)

Well, I actually that’s one of the reasons I love being on this side is because I think that I am a very outgoing and enthusiastic, compassionate person. And so I like to develop relationships with my clients. And so I think what really helps me is I see them as people. And I talk to them a lot, even though as we grow, we have other attorneys here, we have, you know, paralegals, I don’t call them case managers, but you actually, I’m on every email, I call all the clients myself, and you are able to speak with me directly. And sometimes that just helps, they feel more reassured that they know that they can get an attorney on the line if they need to, not every time, but sometimes.

Plus I pick up little tidbits about people along the way. You know, I spoke to a client this morning and he just took his children on a cruise last week. So I’m asking him about that. I have clients that just got engaged. I’m like, congrats on your engagement. And it kind of also helps me distinguish each one because I know a little something else about them outside of just their car accident and what’s going on with treatment or their case.

Jeff Shaw (04:03)

That’s so good. I bet it helps you, you know, as you’re helping them navigate maybe one of the most difficult circumstances they faced in their life to really see how it’s impacted them as you’re advocating for them through that process. I love that.

So in the time that you’ve been practicing personal injury law in Georgia, what has changed the most over the last nine or 10 years?

Amanda Hall (04:19)
I think it’s interesting to see kind of how this tort reform stuff will shake out. So far, it hasn’t tremendously affected how the pre-suitcases are ruling. But then again, a lot of those clients are still treating since the change. And so I think it’s kind of a guessing game to see how it will play out in real life. I thought initially, you know, I would send if somebody’s got health insurance, right, we’re going to try to use their health insurance. And what I’m finding is there’s a lot of pushback because all almost all of my clients will tell me, you know, they may start out going to see a provider on their health insurance, and then there’s some sort of massive issue.

They can’t afford the co-pays, there’s more treatment being recommended, their deductible is huge, they can’t get in with the provider, and it’s kind of shaking out in an odd sort of way because all of them are getting switched to lean-based care. So it’ll be interesting to see how that shakes out.

Jeff Shaw (05:37)

Yeah, that is a big change for sure. And it’ll be interesting too to see if that was the one and only version of tort reform that we’re going to see or if there will be some rolled out in future legislative sessions too.

Amanda Hall (05:53)

I really hope that that is probably the worst of it. I think it was a tough year for legislation for all of us, and particularly for injured folks. And I’m actually hopeful that people will see that, hey, you know what? None of our rates went down. And so it was all kind of a sham.

Jeff Shaw (06:14)

So segwaying, as you’re talking about, insurance and treatment, as you’ve done this practice over the past decade, what is your personal approach to working with medical providers to ensure that your clients are made whole, obviously, if they have been injured in their accident or whatever situation it is that they brought to you?

Amanda Hall (06:16)

I think that it’s really great to work with folks that you actually know and to have a relationship with them personally and professionally. I mean, it just comes into play so many times. I had a situation where I was in a mediation and the client was just done. And the next step was it was going to go to trial and it was a surgical case. And sometimes you just have to be able to like, make a call and say, Look, this is where the client is. And I’ll do this if you’ll do this, because we need to make sure that this client gets something he can’t keep doing that. And I made that call. And, you know, thankfully, it was actually with Dr. Sean, and now he was able to pick up the phone in the middle of mediation. And I get it done for the client.

But sometimes it also to you never know what you’re gonna need, right? And maybe there’s a hold up with a medical record or bill or I get something and I’m like, you know what, I don’t really understand this. Can you explain it to me? And so it’s really important that we’re all kind of on the same page and that you have that access so you can also understand because you’re the one that’s litigating the case.

Jeff Shaw (07:50)

It sounds like, you know, the same way that you describe the way you like to approach working with your clients, that it’s relational and you like to know them and their situations. And that’s the same approach you bring to working with medical providers that are treating your clients of keeping relationship and communication open. great.

Amanda Hall (08:10)

Yeah, absolutely. I think that every, every job and every aspect of life is a relationship business, that makes sense.

Jeff Shaw (08:18)
It does. so outside of the law, what’s a hobby or a passion that you have that helps you stay balanced and sane?

Amanda Hall (08:28)

I am really big on flower arranging. And so I think that it’s really great. I’m known for my arrangements. Sometimes I bring people arrangements if it’s your birthday, or I do it for events sometimes if it’s something that someone that I’m close to, but it just helped me stay grounded because it is artistic and it’s a different side of your brain than when I’m here practicing law but also it you have to sit there and really like think about the flowers and focus on the placement and that kind of like helps you stay present and in the moment and it’s a really great stress relief and so that’s like how I like to start my days on weekends I’ll go I am the first one at Trader Joe’s at 9 a.m. like before it opens to get my hands on the flowers I want.

Jeff Shaw (09:26)

Freshest ones, right?

Amanda Hall (09:27)

Yeah.

Jeff Shaw (09:28)

So do you have a favorite flower?

Amanda Hall (09:29)

Favorite. It really just depends on the season. I like tulips a lot personally, but if I’m arranging something, I really like peonies, roses, hydrangeas.

Jeff Shaw (09:41)

So for anyone listening, if you, if you find yourself in a situation where you need an attorney and you want not only great advocacy, but the potential of getting a floral arrangement, there’s only one I know of and it’s Amanda. So keep that in mind. That’s great. ⁓

Amanda Hall (09:52)

Absolutely, absolutely.
Jeff, you may get a floral arrangement one day, you know? You’re on my list now.

Jeff Shaw (10:02)

I will, I’ll be so blessed.

Amazing. Amazing. So, one thing that we’re really looking forward to hearing on the podcast is kind of a signature story. Maybe one of the craziest or most memorable moments that you’ve experienced in your law practice. Do you have one of those that without obviously violating attorney client privilege, you can share with us.

Amanda Hall (10:24)

Sure, sure. Okay, so this is actually a sad situation, but it was one of those quinky dinks like what? So I had a neighbor who was tragically, he died in a helicopter crash, right? It was him and in two other folks and unrelated, I have a car accident case that I put into litigation and I get the discovery back in and she had written, the defendant had written this entire letter to the judge in relation to her citation saying that, you know, I’m really sorry. I didn’t mean to hit this woman. I just haven’t been with it. My husband was in a helicopter crash.

Jeff Shaw (11:13)

my goodness.

Amanda Hall (11:13)

And you know, I’ve got two kids and he and the details. It was the same crash. It was one of the other passengers and I was like, I don’t know how I feel about this. I don’t know if I should litigate this, but fortunately it got settled right off the bat and they tendered the limits, but it was really odd.

Jeff Shaw (11:21)

What are the chances? Yeah. And you know, it, what a good reminder to, know, it’s, it’s so easy as lawyers that we have the folks we’re representing and that you hear something like this, like you’re reminding me even now, it reminds you of the humanity of everyone involved, right? You might be adversely positioned in a case, but you really don’t ever know what’s been going on or what that person’s going through either. So what, wow, what a story.

What a story. Wow. So as we kind of prepare to close out, I would love for you to share, with any young attorneys. And that’s not to say that we’re not young Amanda, but for any younger attorneys out there.

Amanda Hall (12:13)

My dermatologist makes me look younger.

Jeff Shaw (12:18)

There you go. Maybe you could share that secret or keep it. It’s up to you. either for our younger attorneys or even aspiring attorneys, is there a piece of advice you would give?

Amanda Hall (12:28)

I think that the biggest piece of advice that I would give anyone out there is again, that it truly is a relationship business. And it’s not just this area of law. It’s all areas of law. It’s all areas of life. Be kind to people, meet people. You never know who’s going to help you out in the future. A long time ago, there was…

And this may be like an old wives tale, right? I don’t know if it’s actually true, but they told me I was at King and Spalding. I used to work at King and Spalding. And they said that there was a story about a young attorney. He was always nice to a janitor. And then one day that janitor, his son was, you know, ended up needing an attorney and it turned it out to be like the largest case of this lawyer’s career. And you just didn’t even know, but it was just.

He remembered him and gave him that business because he was kind to him every day and taught to him like a person.

Jeff Shaw (13:28)

So good. Well, I’m Amanda didn’t know I was going to say this, but you know that her, her approach of being relational and kind, even as we’ve been preparing to jump on and record together and I was going through some health stuff and she had to reschedule with me a couple of times was so kind and thoughtful and empathetic. So thank you, Amanda. And I just want to attest and validate everything you’ve said about your approach to your work and to your life.

Yeah, it’s been an absolute joy having you on. thank you.

Amanda Hall (14:00)

Yeah, thank you for having me and I’m glad you’re feeling better and cheers to many more AICA podcasts.

Jeff Shaw (14:11)

All right, well thank you all for tuning in. Have a great day and we’ll see you next time. Thank you.