Beau Correll Podcast Transcript
Beau Correll joins host Brian Thomas on The Digital Executive Podcast.
Brian Thomas: Welcome to The Digital Executive Podcast. Today’s guest is Beau Correll. From the heart of Frederick County, Virginia, attorney Beau Correll emerged deeply rooted in community values and unyielding commitment. His local legal journey began above a quaint coffee shop in Old Town Winchester with little more than fierce passion, modest savings, and secondhand marketing, the birthplace of the Correll Law Firm.
Today, Correll Law Firm stands unmatched as a premier personal injury law firm in Virginia’s northern Shenandoah Valley. Well, good afternoon, Beau. Welcome to the show.
Beau Correll: Thanks for having me. I really apr- appreciate it, Brian.
Brian Thomas: Absolutely, my friend. I appreciate you. You’re hailing out of the great Commonwealth, as you say Virginia, and I am in Kansas City, so we only have an hour difference today, which is nice, traversing just one time zone.
And Beau, if you don’t mind, I’m gonna jump into your first question. Your origin story is a great one. You started the Correll Law Firm back in 2009 above a coffee shop in Old Town Winchester with little more than fierce passion, modest savings, and secondhand furniture. Today, it’s grown into one of the leading law firms in northern Shenandoah Valley with offices across the region.
Take us back to those early days. What was it like hanging out with your own shingle with almost nothing, and what kept you going before the firm really took off?
Beau Correll: Sure. Well, it was sort of a, a, a f- a fun journey, and it’s a journey of so many entrepreneurs where you start off with just the idea and, and a degree of passion and, you don’t know the mis- you, you, you’re not dissuaded by things because, because you don’t know much.
And so, starting off really early- the, the thing they teach you in law school is how to think like a lawyer, how to analyze a lawyer, but they don’t really teach you how to be a lawyer, you know, let alone a trial attorney. And, I spent a couple months doing a heinous document review.
Then I went to what, what we call a Commonwealth’s attorney in Virginia, but you call a district attorney elsewhere, where you learn how to navigate a courtroom. And, I got thrown in so early when I, when I said, “All right, I’m I’m putting my shingle out, ready to take cases.” I started doing court-appointed cases, and I got on that court-appointed list.
And, small town law is quite the wild ride because you’re gonna handle all kinds of cases. That very first case, the judge said, “Well, welcome to Frederick County Circuit Court. Here’s your first court-appointed case.” And it was a guy accused of lighting a relative on fire. And they, they just truly, truly throw you in.
But s- sometimes you just start off with, with an idea, a passion, putting a shingle out, and the adventure comes later
Brian Thomas: Amazing backstory. Really love that too. As you said in, in your backstory here, it started with this idea, humble beginnings, but a lot of passion. And again, that’s seems typical what we learn in school, right?
Especially in our, our four-year degree or, or in your case, law school. It’s different than the real world. And you got out there, started doing cases court-appointed cases and just a, a, a variety of different things that you saw, and actually your first case was pretty challenging, I’m sure. So I appreciate the backstory.
Beau Correll: Mm-hmm.
Brian Thomas: Beau, you’ve sat in all three chairs. You began as a prosecutor handling grave offenses, from attempted first-degree murder to financial crimes, then moved into criminal defense, and now you take on insurance companies for injury victims. How did each of those chapters sharpen you as a lawyer, and what does having prosecuted and defended let you see in a courtroom that attorneys who’ve only done one side can’t?
Beau Correll: Right. So it, it’s three angles. First, the, the prosecutor role, which I learned, is, is you have to put on at least a little bit of evidence. You gotta, you gotta h- meet your, your burden to start with, including probable cause, on each individual element. And it is, it is a lot of information for a, a few little elements of, of offenses.
This is like the standard criminal case. And the defen- as a criminal defense attorney, all you gotta do in, in representing your client and to try to do the best possible is you gotta make that commonwealth or the government prove their case. And if you find one angle or one thing they didn’t prove, you got a, you got a very good defense.
And then I moved on to plaintiffs’ personal injury work, which I totally enjoy helping folks that, that are hurt and that are navigating the system because it, you know, it’s like you’re, you’re helping folks not be taken advantage of. You wanna get them that fair settlement that, that compensates them for their loss.
And so having seen all three angles, my, my edge is I build the, a ca- a civil case around what I learned as a prosecutor. You gotta put on every element as best you can. You gotta prove the negligence. You gotta figure out- How best to compensate them. And then you gotta, when you’re preparing for trial, you gotta look at it the way a defense attorney would.
What is the one thing that makes my case vulnerable? So, you know, I made a lot of observations in that, and one of the interesting observations, going off a little, little topic here is, if it’s a criminal case, normally get a couple pages of discovery. You know, what, what was the police report, what’s the accusations, et cetera.
And that’s, that’s a liberty interest. Like, an individual can go to, could go to prison for, for committing crimes as, Well, they should if they’re found guilty. But on the other hand i-it’s, it’s sort of a different angle. Is i-it’s on a civil case, you know, even if there’s a lawsuit for $5, there’s, could be thousands of pages of discovery.
I think it’s a, probably a little bit… It should be the other way around, but that’s the way the system works, and there’s a lot more paperwork on the civil side. And you know, it’s, it’s good-bad guys, which is insurance companies. So, you know, at the end of the day, you’re always looking for that client satisfaction and a-and to increase the touch points of that client satisfaction.
And seeing it all from all angles and, and aiming for the best possible representation is, is, is what we aim for at Carrill Law Firm
Brian Thomas: Thank you. Appreciate that. And we don’t typically see that, but you did talk about those three angles. Obviously, as a prosecutor, you know, you have to put up some evidence, probable cause, right?
And as a criminal defense attorney, you talked about needing to make the government prove their case. And then of course, now the civil side, this is where you really are passionate. You’re, you’re helping the little guy out because they are against sometimes some of the bigger, large corporations that have a lot of money in their pockets.
So thank you. Beau, you describe yourself as an entrepreneur and business owner as much as an attorney, growing from a solo operation into a multi-office firm. What have you learned about running a law firm as a business, and what has been the hardest part of scaling without losing the hands-on client-first approach that you built your reputation on?
Beau Correll: Sure. When I … It’s funny, like, when I first started it, it was me, a s- a bull mastiff named Thurston, and a, and a, and a sweet secretary named Jenny, and that was, that was the entire client experience. And Jenny’s since passed. She was a good lady that, you know, set me straight quite a bit. But you know, when I, when I started treating this as a business also in addition to a profession one of the things I looked at is the different touch points that, that clients care about.
What made the earlier iteration of the law firm work? And it was, knowing they’re in good hands, getting update… You know, the number one bar complaint against clients is is attorney communication. So we’re big on updates to our clients, fast answers when they have a question, and basically filling- Feeling valued and respected throughout the entire case.
And so when, when I, distilled what is important to the clients into a system, we wanna make certain we have predictability over time. So, our systems sort of take those earlier elements of the firm, and they’re not only about production, they’re also, like, getting the demand letter or the settlement sheet out of the door.
We wanna build humanity into, into our processes. So yeah, that’s kinda, that’s kinda what we, we’ve built, and that’s, that’s the journey along the way, I suppose. I hope I answered your question.
Brian Thomas: Yeah. No, that’s great. I appreciate that. Love the… Again, always love the backstory where people started out.
Very humble beginnings. You, you said a le- a legal secretary and a dog but you’ve grown s- great over the years, and, and I really like that. But the thing that you’ve highlighted is really taking care of your clients, having that great communication response times empathy, making them feel valued I think is really important.
But again building humanity really into your process. I love that. And Beau, last question of the day, as technology, artificial intelligence, and changes in how insurance companies operate all reshape the legal landscape, where do you see the legal industry heading over the next five to 10 years? And what do victims and attorneys alike need to understand to make sure the little guy still gets a fair shot at justice?
Beau Correll: Well, I, I think when it comes to folks trying to get a fair shot at justice, s- a lot of it’s on the client end at the beginning. It’s either the, the client or the prospective client themselves or a loved one is, you gotta do your due diligence when you hire an attorney. So I think one good starting place is, is to look at the area, look e- the, the, the…
No matter what it is, it could be personal injury or whatever, you wanna look to see who, who in that area has the highest and best ratings, and I would say also recently, too. And don’t just look at star ratings. Anytime I see someone has, like, a five-star rating, I wonder, “Is this even legit?”
Because everyone’s g- got, concerns during the course of representation. But, you know, you gotta do that vetting yourself before you make those calls, and you gotta feel a sense of, of peace. I think, I think in this space, you want a firm that c- truly cares about you, and it sounds kinda, kind of, like it’s been said a lot, and because it’s true, is like, y- you wanna…
You don’t wanna just be a widget on a conveyor belt. You wanna u- you wanna feel understood. And that’s one of the challenges that firms are gonna have, and companies in general, as they lean into AI. So this, this firm has always been open to new technological developments, including AI. AI, i- has expanded in a quantum leap generally and in this space, in, in a sense that’s never been done before.
And now, it is not yet to the level of a great attorney’s research and writing although there’s been some large language models that, that claim they are, but it’s getting there. It’s close. It might be a couple months away. But here’s w- my prediction for the future. Insurance company has been using a system, and branded by different insurers, called Colossus.
So they’ve been using computers to, to read medical records, evaluate claims, and set reserves and offers for decades. But this is gonna put this on steroids. And so it’s gonna be two-sided, and it seems so messed up, but this is, this is my prediction of the future. I think, I think law firms and insurers will have their own AI systems that- Chat with one another and set values internally and start negotiating externally.
This is a threat to the entire legal industry, or especially… And I think you could have that on any case that involves settlement, which most legal matters do that’s not tr-transactional, it’s litigation. So, like, you’re gonna, you’re gonna have these two computer systems talking to one another. So who are the attorneys that will survive?
I believe the attorneys that survive are those that go in the courtroom. There’s not gonna be any kind of Optimus anytime soon going into the courtroom convincing a jur-jury, that someone’s liable or not anytime soon. So I think the opportunity is for people, especially if they’re, they’re young attorneys and, and they’re thinking about starting off their own, or they have been in-house for a long time, so they’ve worked for a big law firm.
In order to survive this next wave, they gotta get to the courtroom, and they gotta do what I did and go wherever you, you have to go to get into that courtroom, and to know how to speak to other people, and convince jurors of the righteousness of your cause. So that is what I believe the, the, the future looks like.
And let me add one final note about AI. Firstly, firms that don’t ad-ad-adopt to it, they’re gonna go the way of the carriage in, in a age of automobiles. Y- it’s gonna be obsolete. Even the way you’re trying cases now are obsolete from people that don’t use any AI whatsoever. But it’s so important that you, you adhere to confidentiality controls.
That’s so, so important. And then in my personal opinion, you only use it for your first draft. No, nothing can ever get out that door of whatever law firm you’re in, and you don’t have eyes on the document, and you don’t manually look at every single thing that goes out under your firm’s letterhead. So as long as those things are adhered to, I think that there, there’s a bright future for everybody that wants to utilize AI in a sound, confidential, and considerate way.
And robots aren’t gonna be walking into Virginia courtrooms anytime soon, and that’s where people should uplevel their skills.
Brian Thomas: Thank you. Appreciate that. Lots to unpack there, but just kinda highlight some things you said, Beau. If you’re looking for an attorney, no matter what your situation, just make sure that you’re doing your due diligence when you hire an attorney, again, no matter what type the issue of situation or the issue.
And of course, find that firm that understands you, truly cares about you and your case. Jumping into AI, you talked about how AI, and I agree, we talk about AI on this podcast all the time has really leapfrogged like no other technology in modern history. But we’re still not gonna replace attorneys anytime soon, and, and I would agree with that.
But the future, I, I, I thought it was interesting law firms, insurers will be leveraging agents. They’ll be doing all that negotiation behind the scenes and, and doing that probably more, much more efficiently. But at the end of the day, you talked about this, the attorneys that are gonna survive will be the ones that go into the courtroom and, and again, plead that case and appeal to the jury.
So I appreciate that. And Beau, it was such a pleasure having you on today, and I look forward to speaking with you real soon.
Beau Correll: Thanks a lot. Appreciate it. Thanks for having me on.
Brian Thomas: Bye for now.
Beau Correll Podcast Transcript. Listen to the audio on the guest’s Podcast Page.
