In this episode of the Pareto Legal Podcast, Bo Royal speaks with Lawrence Kalikhman, managing partner of Kellickman Reyes in Philadelphia, about what it really takes to build and sustain a successful personal injury practice. With nearly two decades of experience, Lawrence shares hard-earned lessons on intake, operations, community marketing, and leadership, all tailored for attorneys navigating a fiercely competitive PI landscape.

Why Empathy and Efficiency Are the Cornerstones of Intake

For Lawrence, helping clients find relief and regain control is the most rewarding part of personal injury law. That mindset informs every aspect of his firm’s intake strategy.

Rather than just capturing data, intake at Kellickman Reyes is built around empathy and trust-building. The goal: make clients feel seen, heard, and supported during one of the most stressful times in their lives, while efficiently gathering case-critical information.

Takeaway for PI Firms:
Empathy isn’t a “soft” skill, it’s a conversion strategy. An empathetic, structured intake process earns trust early and lays the foundation for long-term client relationships and referrals.

Community Marketing That Builds a Loyal Client Base

Early in his career, Lawrence focused on serving the Russian-speaking community in Northeast Philadelphia. That localized, culturally aware marketing helped the firm build a steady stream of high-trust referrals without relying on mass media spend.

While the firm has since expanded, this grassroots strategy was key to its early success, and still informs how they think about community engagement.

Lesson for Firm Owners:
Start local. Build trust within a specific community and become known as their law firm. It’s an organic way to generate consistent referrals and deepen your firm’s reputation.

Competing in a Crowded Market: Why Operations Matter More Than Ads

Lawrence doesn’t sugarcoat the realities of modern personal injury marketing: you’re often competing against firms spending millions on advertising. To succeed, he argues, you don’t just need great marketing, you need the infrastructure to support it.

That means:

  • A responsive, streamlined intake system
  • Well-documented internal processes
  • A team trained to handle lead volume quickly and compassionately

Key Point:
If your back office isn’t built to support your front-end marketing, you’re going to lose cases. Speed-to-response, follow-up consistency, and quality control are non-negotiable in today’s PI environment.

Becoming a True Firm Leader: Delegate or Burn Out

Lawrence shares a challenge many firm owners face: trying to do it all. From handling cases to managing intake to overseeing marketing, the demands pile up fast, and without delegation, burnout is inevitable.

His solution? Step out of daily casework and into a leadership role. That shift allowed him to focus on long-term growth, team development, and quality assurance.

Advice for Attorneys:
Hire and trust people who are better than you at marketing, operations, and intake. Free yourself to lead and scale.

Reputation Management Is the Modern Referral Engine

With support from Pareto Legal, Kellickman Reyes has grown its online reputation rapidly, collecting hundreds of 5-star reviews in under a year. This was no accident, it came from a systemized effort to request feedback and make the review process simple for clients.

In a market flooded with attorney ads, reviews are the credibility currency that set firms apart.

Pro Tip: Incentivize your team to request reviews after case resolution. Build it into your workflow, track progress, and make it as easy as possible for clients to leave feedback.

Surround Yourself with the Right Team

One of Lawrence’s biggest takeaways: success in PI law isn’t just about being a great litigator, it’s about building a business.

That requires:

  • Operational staff who can handle logistics
  • Marketing partners who understand law firm growth
  • Intake pros who can convert leads to clients

“You can’t do it all,” he says. “Find people who are great at what you’re not, and let them run with it.”

Final Takeaways for Personal Injury Attorneys

Lawrence Kalikhman’s journey offers a playbook for building a durable, growth-ready PI firm. It’s not about flashy ads or chasing every lead. It’s about empathy, systems, and smart delegation.

Key Lessons:

  • Empathy converts. Treat intake as a trust-building opportunity.
  • Start local. Deep community connections can outperform digital ads.
  • Infrastructure first. A strong intake and ops foundation makes marketing work.
  • Lead, don’t manage. Step back from day-to-day legal work to scale your firm.
  • Reputation matters. Make client reviews part of your growth strategy.

Want to upgrade your intake systems or marketing strategy?
Talk to Pareto Legal about how we help personal injury firms grow with smart, scalable infrastructure, online and off.