Like if I'm not doing something, I'm lost in my mind what cooking and working in the restaurant business provides you. There's no downtime. You don't have time to think. That's why you love doing pre-lit too. Same thing. You can't shut it off. You can't shut off. It's sometimes to a detriment now, right? Because I chasing what I see as success, even though I couldn't even tell you my definition of it. So I don't know if I'll ever get to it. You gotta define it, man.
Welcome to this episode of Bourbon of Proof, where we interview those who have been both successful at law and life. And today we're super honored to have someone that came from coast to coast today. Mr. Joe Volta. How are you, brother? I'm great, man. Glad to be here. And of course, our esteemed co-host, the Morro Fre Jr. Of the Law Offices of Maro Fiori, Jr. What else could be? No, I changed the name of my firm years ago. You're way behind. It's Fre Legal now.
Yeah. Okay. He also stole his logo. If anybody wants to look, shares a logo with like 10 other people. Uh, not 10, but there's at least two companies with the same logo. Yeah. You're a trailblazer. Yes. Yeah. Um, so we're gonna start, as we always do with the poor, and this is a special episode which we're gonna get into, is this is going to be a non-alcoholic episode. And, and Joe's gonna share with us some of his, uh, demons and triumphs. That's right.
And how he's now known as like, lead lawyer in Carolinas for any referrals. 'cause we do a lot of work together of the lawyers send it to through, through Justice HQ and attorney share. So, um. You know, I'm, I'm a big fan of Joe Volta, so I'm, I'm, we're gonna hear your, your story and how you came to where you are today. And, uh, let's go. So we're gonna start with this one called, let's Do It. This is from Free Spirit.
This is a, it's called the Spirit of Bourbon, which is interesting, but it says it's, it's made an American Oak with yellow Dent corn. You would know more about them. Yeah. I, I, I don't know what that means. No idea. Let's do it. You can use it later to strip wallpaper too. I mean, this smells like. My laundry. So when I drank it was only clear liquors. Mm. What is, I couldn't do the dark ones. Maybe you should have Maybe. Yeah, maybe. Maybe I'd still be on the sauce if that's what I stayed.
That is, that is a statement. I've never uttered that I couldn't do the dark ones. Cheers. That smells terrible. Mar always does the brown. Mm-hmm. You know, I've had a lot of non alcoholics and this one is like the least shitty, I'm gonna say. It has like the kind of reminds me of Jameson 'cause I would, when I worked at a bar that was the only free liquor the owners would give us. I don't know this, this tastes terrible. We will not be sponsored by free spirit.
It's, but if you like to, you can send it. We drink. I mean it kind of taste, tastes like a little bit like apple juice a little. It's very spicy at the end. That was what reminded me of the Jameson. Yeah. Well, well Joe, thanks for coming on. I mean, we're here filming in Santa Barbara today. And That's right. Beautiful rainy Santa Barbara. Every time I come here it rains for some reason.
It's like, yeah, I was a little disappointed 'cause where I was, it was raining and I was like, oh, I'm going to California. And I get here. I look at the forecast. It's 55 and rainy. So yeah. Give us an idea of your operation now that you guys got going on. And Caroline, I mean, I think when we first met you were not, yeah. At, you didn't have your own firm at the time. No, we first met, I, I kind of did the Bob Simon approach to Gary Dordick is kind of how we became friends. Right?
I always was bothering you. I've met you on like clubhouse. Clubhouse. Did you do clubhouse? Do you remember this Back when we had clubhouse? Uh, is that like during the pandemic when people would hanging out and stuff? Yeah, I did a little clubhouse. I was, I got banned from there. But that's, we need to, yeah, we need to share that story. Um, yeah, I didn't have any social media and my buddy Justin Wright told me to get on there.
And then, so I met all these attorneys and basically it was shortly after I became an associate and moved to the Carolinas. And, uh, I don't know, I just kinda started meeting tons of, tons of different lawyers and like the way my comp structure was set up was basically like the more. You bring in, the more business you bring in, the better you do financially. You know, I have a wife and two kids and so, you know, that was, I wanted to take care of them. Right.
And that's kind of how it all, you know, came to fruition. So when did you actually leave as an associate and be a part of your firm? Let's see, 2023. I got a really lucrative offer from another firm and I didn't want to, I ultimately backed out of that deal that they were offering me and I started my own firm, uh, 'cause I was bringing in, you know. More cases than my bosses were. And so I had my own firm for three months.
And then, uh, my bo my boss at the time, he had a general practice firm with another attorney that does business law and they basically spun off the practices. And we started our firm in June of 23. Wow. Yeah. So what was that leap of faith like, man, I mean, shit, you had some stability there. Probably a pretty sweet offer and it's like, yeah, it was, uh, it was tough to be honest with you. 'cause I felt bad. Like I. Me at, at my core. Like, I don't like disappointing people.
And so I had to, you know, grow a pair and basically call the guy that offered me this really great, you know, job and tell him, you know, thanks, but no thanks. And it was a really hard thing to do. Um, but I think he respected it. He still sends me work to this day. He, and, um, you know, it was really stressful in the beginning having, I mean, I think I had. At the time when I left and started my own firm, I had like 150 cases. Wow. And trying to manage all that by myself.
And that's the thing that a lot of people don't realize when they start their firm of all like the ticky tack stuff that you have to get in line. Even if it's just a virtual firm and you working at your house, there's still all kinds of products and services that you need to open a company. Um, and I still kind of counsel too. Yeah. You're end up being like. Business of law most of of the time.
I mean, it's just a lot your it, you gotta figure out how to make all your computers work, get all your cloud stuff set up. I mean, it's like even little things of, oh, I need to buy Adobe. Right. You need, you need an Adobe account. Right. So that kind of stuff was, was very difficult. And then when my, my partner at, you know, came and offered me the like to like, let's join up, it kind of, uh, it helped me short circuit some of that, you know, earlier growing pains.
And he's kind of a mentor to me too, so. Yeah. And you, you're seen as more of like, um, a rainmaker. I mean, I know you work the cases. I mean, if you, if you, anybody who works with Joe knows that he's actively working all of these cases from the beginning, but also bringing a lot of them in. Yeah. It's. Wearing a lot of hats. I'm actively trying to fire myself and I don't hold my hat. I like that from all these different positions.
Um, I don't hold myself out to be some crazy, you know, trial attorney that's gotten, you know, major verdicts. I have been to trial, I've taken cases to trial. Um, I've gotten my teeth kicked in at trial. It's a very humbling experience and I've won some trials and I'm actually a published court of appeals. Wow. You know. Attorney, which is very surprising. The opinion's so terrible. I don't even understand it. I mean, that means you gotta be a good writer too.
Uh, apparently, apparently someone thought I was, so, I was, uh, on a plane with Marow last week and I meant to get video footage of this, but when he types on his computer, he's one of the guys that goes like this. Pecking at the Keys. I saw you with your mail as well. Yeah. On that. It might've been the same episode.
I always think, I think to myself, even when I'm pecking around on my keyboard, I said, fuck, I have been pecking around on the keyboard almost every day for 20 fucking five years. You figure I learned how to type by now I, but I, I, I don't how to type, I can't, I can't type without looking at the keys. Mm-hmm. So if I have to transcribe something, it's very, very slow. If I know what, if it's like a stream of conscious, I can type pretty quick, but it's not.
But I will say that my pecking is so fast now since I've been doing it so long that I can type pretty fast. Would you say you're a fast ecker, very fast packer, very fast packer. Very fast packer. Short and fast pecker? Yes. Um, no. I do, I swipe also on my, my iPhone. So I can do one hand while I'm driving. Just my thumb communicate very quickly. Oh, what? Swipe the text. Oh yeah. Do you do that? Its the best. It's the best.
I sometimes, but I. No, I'm more of a, but you know, I travel a a lot with Bob and he gets such a kick out of, I always have a bag full of mail with me. I saw you walking off, it was all rubber banded up and everything. Yeah. Like, what was that about? Such, uh, well, I have to, I go through mail and I separate it into piles, and then I have certain piles that I can take with me. Like if I'm going on a plane, I know that I can take these.
This rubber banded mail and I could go through 'em on my case management software on the plane if there's internet and I can do a lot of work that I need to do. To his credit, he was you, are you on case beer too, weren't you? I'm on kpi. So tomorrow What do you do with the mail though when you're traveling? Like you guys were just in Miami, so what do you do?
He literally gets on a, I'm waiting, so the story of tomorrow is like, I'm one of those guys that gets the airport first and like I don't want to leave it to stress. Yeah, that's a horrible feeling. He's the last one on the plane. And I'm like, where the fuck is he? He's doesn't allowed. He's hanging out. No, I'm not. He's sitting next to me. It's not, I'm not gonna have a attack, but I'm never, I'm not in a hurry. I don't give a fuck. I missed the plane. I'll get the next one.
I'm not in a hurry for nothing. I've never missed a flight in my life. Yeah. No. I'm the last guy to have a heart attack. Should've said that. Tell you that, that I'm not, uh, not in a hurry, but he comes in and like, you know, he puts the one bag up top. I was here, I'll get your other bag. I'll put it up. He's like, no, I need this. And he throws it down and he has to crawl over me to get to the seat. We're sitting next to each other and.
He opens up, he goes, I got my mail and it was a backpack full of mail. It's just, well, I mean, I haven't, it was a Miss Rubber band. I a, it was rubber band though. I mean, I don't know. Everything in my office is scanned and put in files. You know, we have a, I mean, I have a COO and we have all the technology and everything, but I've been, I was sole practitioner for years. I've been practicing law since the nineties. I've been doing this shit a long time.
I have the way I like to do stuff, so. Uh, they don't shred the mail. They give it to me and then after I look at it, then, then we shred it. But you lugged it around Miami? Yeah. At all, tiger. It just depends on where I'm at. If I'm, if I'm outta the office for a few days, I'll take a bunch of it with me. But like, I like to, I look at letter, like I get the stuff from the, let's say for example, what I was doing on the plane.
All the mail I had on the plane were for cases that were within, that were signed up within the last like 30 to 45 days. What are these like letters of letters? So I look at the letters and I look at the letters and there's things I look at, like I look at the name of the, of the insured, you know? Hmm. Mr. Chang. This Chang has good insurance usually. You know what I mean?
So for an example, you know, so my, so then I, I look at them, I go that down that road, I look at people's addresses and I look at their house. Well, first I look at their names based on their house. I look at their names and then I look it up. I look at their. Their address is what? City? Oh, he lives in Arcadia. Okay, now, now we're, now we're talking, you know, so I do stuff like that, 50 policies. So then I start looking at that stuff.
Or then I, or if they're commercial companies, I look up the companies, I read that, um, I look at the insurance companies 'cause I know from the carriers if the cases are one that I need to look at or not. So are you still working files and cases with Not really.
Um, I kind of pay at, I pay attention to like, uh, Sarah Tamis, who's the CO of my office, she always says, you know, she's worked at a lot of firms and she's been in the business a long time, and she says that for someone who's been doing it as long as me and I have the infrastructure and I have supervisors and supervisors and everything, that she's really surprised how engaged I am in the actual practice. Yeah. At the level of where my practice is.
Because I'm very engaged in it, you know, I mean, I'm not checked out of it at all. I really liked the, yeah. And then, uh, Joe, we've talked about this like for years as you all you, you want to be at eventually at a macro level, but right now it's, it's hard to get out of the weeds and also see it from the trees, right? Scaling is extremely difficult, and I mean, I think people make it seem like it's easy, you know, or you look at people who have done it and it seems like it's easy.
I, it's probably, it's harder than working cases. So in my opinion, for me that it's. You know that I've realized like trying to grow a team, teach systems, implement technology, um, it's probably one of the hardest things I've I've ever done in my life. Yeah. And I know you, I know you implement technology. I mean, we're here at the even up summit. Um, I. I know you steal cases off attorney share pretty quickly.
'cause I try to alert you and it's, I know you got a good one from one of our friends, but like what are some things that you could tell listeners or viewers that you could do? You started your firm not even two years ago. Mm-hmm. Some things that you put in that you think were successful. So you wanna know like system wise or getting case wise if you system wise, because getting cases, we'll talk about that. Sure. So system wise, I mean, you gotta have a case management system.
I mean, when I started off with my now partner who was my boss, it was. There was, we did not have a case management system. That's crazy. I mean, know, I still know to this day, there's firms that don't have case. He's very, he's very like you. Like he likes getting the mail. He, you know, I'm trying to move more toward, like, our office is a hybrid model, right? We have a lot of people that never work in the office. Me, for instance, I'm some in the office, some work, you know, from home.
Um, but my partner, he's every day. In the office and he want, we have a couple of people that are every day in the office 'cause he wants them there, to your point, to open the mail, put things in certain files. And we used to have like manila folders or red wells. I have no cases any longer that have those. Yeah. My partner, all his cases still have them. Like you couldn't find, like if I take a case to trial, it's like, alright, I'll just print everything off.
Our cloud, but I, you couldn't find a case file in my office that I'm responsible for. Same. So where, what's your process like? So if it's something like the mail, we have a intake person who sets up the, the file and scans it in, and we use OneDrive and case peer, right? Mm-hmm. Um, and we save everything and we have it all, you know, formatted out with correspondence, intake, paperwork, et cetera. You know, you figure out what's best for you if you're stealing this for an idea.
Um, and then once we have all that set up. Um, basically you have a case manager that like helps or if it's a litigation file, we have a, a real paralegal. I know some people call their case managers paralegals, but we actually have like, you know, trained paralegals that went to school for it. And, uh, then they run the cases with the attorney. That's pretty much how we run it. Love it, man. Let's do the next port 'cause we're, we're gonna open up and talk about.
Um, your sobriety journal and journey, and I'm gonna talk about, one of the things I think you do best is networking and bringing in referrals. So, alright, let's do it. So this is called Ritual zero Proof Whiskey Alternative. So we'll see. It says all oak, vanilla, caramel, and the heat of whiskey without the alcohol or calories. You know, I'm watching my calories. Oh, obviously, me too. Uh, watch them go and it says Good for 12 weeks after opening.
Well, I'm gonna definitely put that on my calendar. You're taking that home with you? Oh yeah. From the conference, right? Yeah. I'm trying to, I'm actually, I, you know, I couldn't find any roundup at Home Depot the other day, so I might take it home with me. Were you trying to get cancer and be a Yep. A claimant against, yeah. They, they, uh, Sano. Yeah, they took the home. They took the roundup off the shelf. I mean, well, this one smells better though. Let's see. Cheers. I don't know.
Let's see. Uh, tastes just like the last one. This one's better. No, this one's smoother. This one's better. Oh man. That last like gulp was pretty hard to like, take down. It doesn't even have alcohol in it. These two are not like. I mean, we've had some other ones that were really bad. These are, they're getting better. Oh yeah, they're better. These are getting, they're, they're not on coffee. We didn't, one that tasted like a fireball when we did it with Mike Bogle.
Dude, these aren't, these aren't, you know, these are only five. I see. Five calories of poor and 10 calories of poor. I wanna know is who's buying this to drink? It is my question. I don't know. Like, I've been sober for 14 years and never have tried and o' duals. 'cause that was like the thing that was out. 'cause I've been sober that long. But like, who does it? Who drinks?
I have a friend, you know, I have a good friend of mine who used to drink a lot, and uh, now he drinks that like n call, like O' duals or there's one called Heineken Heineken Zero. See? Oh yeah, yeah, I'll see that. And uh, he says it really does take the edge off, like when he thinks about drinking. He'll have a couple of those and it's, it's also a hand prop. Some people just like to be in a social situation.
I just wanna ask you this, because for me, when I'm in a social, social situation, I always have to be drinking or have something in my hand. And sometimes I will put a, just put a tonic in there with a lime so I can tell people I'm drinking gin and tonic, but like I gotta dial it down. Sure. So what's that like for you? So, that's funny you said that. That's exactly what I do. Mm-hmm. So when I first started, or when I first got clean in 2010.
So for like people that don't know, so like I had a really bad problem with, with Oxycontin, right? So like that was my drug of choice. Uh, I just, I mean, I started using drugs when I was, you know, freshman in high school. It was kind of like, and then it just matured into, or progressed all the way into that. I always thought that if you did heroin or crack. You had a problem. So like, those were the things that I didn't do. And so I thought what I was doing was fine.
And um, so in 2010 I went to rehab for Were you in law school now or is this No, I was, I have a culinary degree, so I was working and in restaurants, you know, cooking and, um, I had, yeah, so I just had a culinary degree and then I got clean in 2010 and I went back and I had to get. I went back to school and had to get two more years of college and then I had law school, so I went five years straight. And college and law school is actually pretty easy when you're a responsible adult.
You know what I mean? I thought, I thought that college was a complete joke 'cause I was 25 and these kids were like 18. Yeah. And so, I mean, I already had. You know, I felt like I had all my shit together by then. And so it was fairly Were you Maryland at this point? Yeah. Where in Maryland did you go to school? Uh, I went to University of Baltimore and then I got my culinary degree from a community college.
Wow. And now I'm wearing the Steelers jersey here today because Yeah, we need to talk about it. I think we should probably cut this episode short and everyone. Should look at Bob's jersey and you know, just be disgusted. 'cause those colors just don't go well together. As a Ravens fan, he's very envious of the black and gold, especially my boy Jerome Betis, who probably ran over Ray Lewis a few times on. I highly doubt that we need to find some, some cuts of that. Do it take string.
One way goes the other. The betis has a blocker. 20 is he hit hard by whoa, that's big time. You don't see the bus go backwards like that very often. You know, purple is the color of royalty and you know, wow. That's true. Yellow's the color of mustard and mustard is disgusted. I, I don't like the Steelers either because my, my Cardinal's only Super Bowl appearance ever.
Mm-hmm. They lost to the Steelers in the last fucking play of the game that I remember, and I was at the fucking game in Tampa. And, uh, Cardinals haven't even sniffed, uh, the Super Bowl since then. But no, uh, so fuck this. Larry Fitzgerald scored too quickly. Yeah, he did. I remember that. I remember where I was during that. 'cause I was working at Koches Irish Pub in Baltimore. I was cooking at the time. This was 2010? Yeah, it was 2009. Yeah. But it was at 20.
I think the Super Bowl was in 2010 though. Yeah, I hadn't got 2000 season, so that was right at the end of my journey. I was, I was supposed to be off the bar owner. I told this other guy that worked there, 'cause I have more seniority than him, but he was a Steeler fan. He was like, if the Steelers make it, Joe, you gotta work 'cause we're gonna give him off. And I was so bummed 'cause I had finally gotten that seniority and then I hate the Steelers.
Steelers are in the Super Bowl, you know, so it was like a triple whammy. But the bar owner at least put a little, uh, TV in the kitchen for us. So I got to watch the game. You know, and having fun in the back. That, that was like right at the end of my journey. Hell of a game. So are you're, are you crediting the Steelers for helping you reach sobriety? Absolutely not. Ask that. I, I'm a big, um, uh, what is it? Um, Anthony Bourdain fan.
Mm. And I've read some of his books and stuff and he always talks about how the guys in the kitchen are so fucked up. Yeah. So that whole culture said it's a just the worst. Everybody's on drugs, gambling. Dope boo. These are just degenerates. It's, yes. But see, the crazy thing about like the way I am is like, if I'm not doing something, I'm lost in my mind, right? And what cooking and working in the restaurant business provides you, there's no, there's no downtime, right?
Because you, you don't have time to think. Like you just have to, like, the tickets are pouring out and you just have to do them. Right. Like you can't stop to think. And so it's almost like that chaos almost calms my mind. And so that's what I really, really loved about the restaurant industry. That's why you hanging out with people, that's why you love doing pre-lit too. Yeah, same thing. You can't shut it off, man. You, you can't shut off. Like it's, and sometimes to a detriment now, right?
Because I, you know, I'm chasing what I see as success, even though I don't even, I couldn't even tell you my definition of it. And so I don't know if I'll ever get to it. And like, that's, you gotta define it, man. You gotta define it and embraces in my mind, you know what I mean? It's a tough. Sometimes it's a tough place to be. You know what I mean? Uh, well the Oxycontin, I can tell you, I don't think I've told Bob this.
My dad had a, had a, uh, surgery, um, I can't remember what kinda surgery he had. He had a pretty big surgery and they gave him some Oxycontin. This was probably. Seven, eight years ago. Mm-hmm. And he didn't want to take it. My dad was tough. He, I don't want no pain meds, so I stole it out of his house. When I went to visit him, he had it, and it had already been like a month into surgery. I, I wasn't gonna take it. I took it home.
I took one Oxycontin and I was just like, whoa, you just feel this? I was like, now I know why these fuckers teeth fall out. Oh man, I flush it down the toilet. I said, this is nothing I need, need around. I like, because its like, uh, it gives you the most. Euphoric. It's feeling like you're gonna, like you could fly here. Yeah. And like, it's fucking crazy. Every after every surgery I like, I'll do it for one day just to like take the pain away and after I gotta get this outta the house.
But it's, um, but it also, the thing I don't like constipates you dude, and it's like, I remember like, that was the worst part for me is so my gi track is awesome. So it was mine and that's why I was, if I'm not regular for one day, like, fuck this. Yeah. No, my, I've never had that problem. Um, that euphoric feeling is. That's what you're always chasing, and then you just need more and more and more. It was unbelievable, man. I got rid of it.
I think the only way, the only most people are, this is how fucked up I am. So I enjoy having to get surgery because I try to fight the anesthesia even if it's for like a couple of seconds because you get that same feeling if you fight, like when you're, when they're trying to knock you out to go to sleep. And you could feel it like coursing through your body. I don't know. That's how, that's how the, that's what he does. But with like Whippets, it's a long, long time.
My favorite song of all time is Eminem's Drug Ballad. I could like, that's was basically my life from 14 to 25. Wow. I mean, I love talking about it. I don't really, I mean, it is what it is, you know? Um, and like I'm totally, I've actually been sober longer than I used. But How, but how, what was the catalyst? Did you have a low point or just like a wake up moment? I mean, I have people that, friends that were dying.
Um, and I just, I didn't like the person that I had become, you know, and then my, my wife, like really? You know, I wanted to be better. I I, were you married at this point? Uh, no. We got married on, uh, 11, 11. 11 is our anniversary, but at, in 2010, I mean, I've been with my wife since we were 17, and so I met her in 2003 at college.
I mean, if you think of like a drug house or a trap house, like that's what my house was like, and it was, I don't know, I just, I always thought that I was successful even then, and then I just kind of, I don't even remember what it was, but I just had this epiphany of like, this is not success. And so I went to my parents' house, told him I need to go to rehab, and my dad did really well for himself. And you know, I'm a silver spoon kid. Mm-hmm.
And so like, they sent me to rehab and I had like one, I had three months clean and then I relapsed in la, had a Dodger game visiting my friend who was out here. Um, and I, it was the first time ever in my life that I felt like I did something wrong. I never felt like when I was drinking or using drugs that I was doing anything wrong. But that one relapse, I felt like I did something wrong. And so I've never used, I haven't used it ever since that day.
Wow. So what's the rehab journey like when you're in rehab? What does that mean? Well, I mean, I went to a place I wanted to go to some cush place down in Miami or Florida or Boca, where all the, you know, the rich kids get sent and my parents were like, nah, you're gonna go. I went to like a farmhouse in Richmond and it was primarily for recovering gambling addicts.
And my dad knew of this place 'cause they had to fire some attorney that was like stealing money from their, um, office's trust account because my dad's a lawyer, right? Mm-hmm. And so he knew of this place. I was their first drug patient. I went there for like two weeks and it was, you know, hanging out with a bunch of people that were like gambler anonymous. I really learned how to play Monopoly the right way. 'cause they were all like focused on how to do that stuff.
And so, yeah, that's what, what what were what, what icon or what? Uh, symbol. Were you, when you played, I always had the same thing when you played Monopoly. I was like, oh, I, I don't care. I just take whatever I. I mean, if I had to pi, if you're asking me right now what I pick, maybe the hat. It was the first thing that came to my head just now. I was always the iron. I like to put the iron right on the point of the arrow. When you start, it was like, good luck. For me it was the iron.
Okay, see that people were always fighting over the dog or some other things. Gimme the iron. You know, I, I didn't care. Just whatever. Yeah. Lauren, what's your favorite board game? I never asked you this. I know we play a lot of Uno, but that's not a board game. I like to play Uno, but board games, I mean, I used to like to play risk a lot with my friends. That's good one great long game though. Yeah, we used to play risk and then if it's like just for fucking around.
I mean, I like to play Hungry, hungry Hippos. I always lose my kids always lose all the balls. It's too loud, man. My hungry, hungry hippos doesn't have all the pieces anymore. Yeah, they never do. My kids lose most everything on Nolan, but yeah, we like to play Hunger on hippos or they have a. A new one that we've been playing. It's, uh, a bluey game called Keep Uppy, where like they have to keep this. Balloon up in the air. It's Is that interesting game? Is that a game?
Is that a game or you can't, you just buy a balloon? No, it's, it's a board game called Keep You Up. That's what you, your wife said that you guys, the two of you play keep me Uppi. Yeah, yeah, we play that all the time. That's when she's pre first she prays. Oh, okay. I don't have any problems with that department thing. So from GI tracks to uh, keep you uppy. So Joe Volta, no problem. So Joe, you're now year and a half into, what's the name of your firm?
Chandler Volta. Chandler Volta. Chandler Volta. And you guys are in, in Raleigh or right? No, we're based outta Charlotte. Charlotte. I have licenses in Maryland, north and South Carolina. And our associate that we just hired has got licenses in Georgia, Virginia, West Virginia. So we pretty much have like half of the Eastern seaboard, uh, Mid-Atlantic, I think a Mid-Atlantic guy.
So, and uh, but I mean, I would probably say like of our inventory is probably like 60% North Carolina, 35% South Carolina. And. Maybe 5% other, any of those states have like damaged caps or anything like that. South Carolina, they're trying real hard to reform. We won on that Really? Once Recently? Yes. Recently. It had to been in the past day or got like shut down. It was a couple of days ago. Oh God. I was so, Kenny Burger posted something about it.
Um, so they're, I, I mean maybe when is the incorrect word, but, um. South Carolina, they're trying to do some tort reform. So Kenny Barr, so he's a, he's also in Justice hq. There's a good contingent of Carolina lawyers and very active on like, I mean, they were testifying in front of mm-hmm. Um, their state and just showing how bad tort reform is, how they're lying about how much money that they're losing. Yep. It was powerful stuff, man. I can't say better things about, like, about Kenny.
I mean, I met him at ACL E. Just went up to him and like congratulated him on the great, uh, settlement that he had in, in litigation with Nick. Mm-hmm. Where they got the 26 million. And, uh, he was like, here's my number. Call me anytime. And he's kind of like a South Carolina mentor to me because my, my partners only has a North Carolina license. And so I've had to figure all this South Carolina stuff out on my own.
And, um, you know, between him and my buddy Jacob Warren and a, a couple other attorneys, they, I, they let me basically pick their brain. And so we're gonna take the last part of this episode to talk about how you bring in business, how you network, um, and if you do it through. Golf and how, how you're able to do those things. Yeah, so I would say anyone out there that's either starting or they get comped based on how much they collect. Right.
Obviously in the personal injury space, it's a strange space because we're basically on a eight to 10 month, you know, lead time if it's a pre-litigation case, and then you're on year lead time if you're doing litigation. Right. So I started it again with social media, reaching out to just random attorneys that I liked their content, and I would either DM them or get their number and, and call them, or even emails. Mm-hmm. Right?
Because everyone has outlook open on their, on their desktop most of the time, uh, going to events. And then just talking with people. Right. And I think Chris Voss is gonna be here. Mm-hmm. Right? Never split the difference. Um, I use a lot of his techniques with mirroring, um, and letting other people talk and, you know, I don't wanna say, seem interested in what they're saying, um, but having a conversation with people, um, is really helped me to network with other attorneys.
And basically, I, I, I tell lawyers, you know, if you send me cases in the Carolinas. You don't have to do anything and you'll get money in the mail. And I've never once hosed anybody. Um, and so your reputation is everything, right? You, it takes a long time to build it, but a second to destroy it. So, you know, if you're putting that out there, trying to get referrals from people, never hose somebody, 'cause that that'll spread like wildfire, um, and never be good for you. So yeah.
And Joey, you do a really good job of. Just being a good friend to people. Like we're, when we watch football on Sundays, we're texting and talking shit about our teams. Even little things like that make the world of a difference. But you don't have to talk about cases or law. No, just like other stuff, man. Finding an in with people. So like that was like my in with you when I found out. You were a Steelers fan, was like, oh, I'm a Ravens fan. We're in the same division.
Like you can pretty much with everyone on the planet find something that you're kind of, that you have something similar. You know, whether you come from a broken home, they may come from a broken home and you guys can, you know, find kind of some symmetry and you have an in or a reason to talk to them. Right. And you know what, what we've done at our firm is on attorney share. Joe's the top of our waterfall for what I call the Mid-Atlantic. That's how I named it.
So it's like get first look at those cases. Um, but. We usually do at the end of these, what's your bourbon of proof? But since these are two non-alcoholic, I'm not gonna ask you which one's the better one, but now you've been sitting here for 30 minutes or so. What's the end goal for Joe Volta? What's your definition of happiness? You said you didn't know, you said you didn't def defiant, but what would it look like? And then how are we gonna work there?
Man, that's, that's such a tough question that I almost, I really don't want to answer it, you know, I mean, it's. At rehab. I, I used to say, I remember vividly telling someone, I just want to be happy. Mm-hmm. And he asked me that. He was like, well, what is that? What does that mean? Right. I can still see the guy's face. I don't remember the, um. The dude's name, but I can still see his face.
And we were like, I was just staring him back in his eyes, like, I hated this guy for even asking me that. I have on my office for work purposes, like I have written in Sharpie on my, on my Glassdoor, you know, 10 million. I really want to get to be an eight figure firm. But getting back to like, is that someone else's definition of my success or what it is to be successful? Um. So I almost sitting here today am thinking, do I need to reevaluate that? Like, what am I chasing?
Why does it need to be 10 million? Right? Why can't it be five? Or why can't it be 50? Right? Why? What's the limiting belief there? Um, so I, I know that's kind of a, a, to use politics. That's kind of a political answer of saying a lot without saying anything, but I really don't know what, what that looks like. Man, I, I do just want to be happy, but I don't, I don't know what that means, you know? I don't know what that is. And it's, it's part of. My journey, I guess, to figure that out.
Wow. Stress-free happiness. I think if you can work your way back from there and just whatever it looks like for you, man. Yeah, I think professionally looking, it's firing myself from more and more jobs and trusting more and more people to do, you know, certain things and continue to grow the firm, delegate, trust, and be okay that it's not your way. Even if it's 80% good, it's might not be the Joe Volta way, but yeah. It'll help you fire yourselves. Yeah, that's what I'm trying to do.
Yeah. Um, well Joe, thanks for coming on the show. Um, yeah, we have a few sponsors, of course, just HQ attorney share, and we finally got trial guides to publish the, uh, trying disc injury books, which I hope is. For every state. I think Joe's got a copy, even Mars marrow's mentioned in here. I mean it's my, it's in my backpack. Oh really? Read. I read the four word on the plane. This is MA's favorite page.
'cause it shows the dermatome map and he just likes to look at the little bit section over here. Look, it reminds him of himself. Yeah. Yeah. Well, thank you for watching this episode of Bourbon Approved. Thank you to our sponsors. Thank you to Studio three. Thank you to our producers outlier creative agency. Thank you to Megan Moreno, our producer. Thanks to Joe Volta for coming out. Thanks for having me guys.
Thanks for our, I don't think anybody sponsored the whiskey, but if you wanna sponsor the whiskey on the show, please reach out. Especially if you are Whistle Pig or eh h Taylor or anybody, the Buffalo Trace Line Mar, who else do we want to be sponsored by? Old Fitzgerald. Old Fitzgerald. Keep it going. What else do we want? Um, well, obviously, uh, anything at, uh, Lord and what's it? Brown and Taylor. Yeah, I, I just said that, missed that. This guy's not even paying attention. Oh, I am.
He didn't even drink yet and he's falling asleep. I know. Yeah. I don't fall asleep as much as this guy makes it out to speed. Mm. There's some random places. Yeah, they do that. Video talent. I'm impressed. It is a, it's a gift from God. I agree. All right. Do and 17 to the Ravens. Hey, just kidding. We got a quarterback. I don't know about y'all, so we'll check the wire after the show.