Friends since childhood, two men earn law degrees and establish large PI firm
David Godsey took an unusual path to operating a law firm, and so did his partner, Justin Martin.
But their grass-roots approach to practicing law has worked, the former insurance company claims manager says. Hence their firm, which they bill as the largest African-American owned personal injury shop in Texas, is poised to get even bigger.
Established in 2007, Godsey Martin is planning to move to larger offices in Dallas and expects to add another 15 attorneys and triple the size of its call center to 100 employees, the Dallas Business Journal reports.
Martin says an increase in serious traffic accidents is driving the firm to grow. Its website, phone number and online advertising with “I just got hit” and “I got hit” branding.
Since its inception, the firm has recovered $400 million to $500 million, he said, and expects to hit the $1 billion mark in another four years.
A growing number of big rigs on the roads in and around Texas have helped drive the firm’s 30 percent annual growth, he tells the Dallas publication:
“There’s a truck wreck every single day out there. There’s a highway that’s jammed up between here and Austin as you go south. Or head to Fort Worth or to the oil fields west of Fort Worth. There’s somebody who lost a leg or has a severe injury, while they were working, within the last 36 hours, because of some unsafe conditions out at the job site. It’s just a reality.”
Godsey says he was also successful in his earlier claims-management work at Progressive Insurance Co. But he decided he wanted to be helping injured individuals get more, rather than teaching adjusters how to persuade them to take less.
So he went to Texas Wesleyan School of Law, earned his degree and eventually established his own firm. Martin, who has been a close friend of Godsey’s since both were in elementary school, also went to Texas Wesleyan and earned a law degree after Godsey persuaded him to do so.
“We want to increase people’s access to legal representation,” Martin told the Business Journal. “We want to reach out further.”
