Judicial Dollars and Cents

Turning Compassion Into a Profitable Legal Practice with Kelsea Eckert

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The cases most lawyers skip? That is Kelsea Eckert's entire business, and it is working.

In this episode, Kelsea Eckert, founder of Eckert & Associates PA, shows how she built a national, high-volume trucking law practice by going after the downtime claims, lost income, and diminished value that insurance companies hope small business owners never ask about.

You’ll learn how to calculate and fight for what you are actually owed after a not-at-fault accident and the exact steps to take in the first 48 hours to protect your claim and cash flow. Most business owners leave serious money on the table simply because they do not know what to ask for.

Kelsea also breaks down the insurance coverage most small business owners do not know they are missing and how genuine care for clients quietly became her most powerful growth strategy.

Profit and purpose do not have to fight each other. Watch the full episode of Turning Compassion Into a Profitable Legal Practice with Kelsea Eckert and steal the playbook.

Kelsea Eckert is the founder of Eckert & Associates PA, a law firm dedicated to helping trucking companies, fleets, and owner-operators recover after not-at-fault accidents. Licensed in Illinois and Florida, she has spent decades guiding transportation professionals through insurance recovery, subrogation, and loss-of-income claims with a practical, client-first approach. A published author and sought-after speaker, Kelsea has shared her insights in Transportation Topics, Landline Media, and Service Truck Magazine. Known for turning complex legal concepts into actionable business strategies, she is passionate about helping law firm owners build practices rooted in both compassion and long-term profitability.

Connect with Kelsea Eckert:

LI: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kelsea-eckert-516a0b3a/?isSelfProfile=false 

Eckert & Associates PA

Website: https://www.downtimeclaims.com/  

LI: https://www.linkedin.com/company/downtimeclaims/  

FB: https://www.facebook.com/downtimeclaims/ 

IG: https://www.instagram.com/downtimeclaims/  

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@downtimeclaims?lang=en 

YT: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3qKAH-ylt6vMqihUAx2ABw    

Judicial Dollars and Cents is a podcast hosted by Anders Partner and Virtual CFO advisor John Scott, focused on helping law firms win high-stakes cases with smarter financial strategy. The show breaks down the key metrics, financial frameworks, and decision-making systems that drive stronger case outcomes and firm performance.

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John C. Scott, CPA, AEP, is a Partner in Tax and a leader in legal industry financial strategy by Anders. He helps law firms win high-stakes cases with smart strategy by delivering clear financial insights, identifying key performance indicators, and strengthening decision-making at every level. With deep expertise in estate planning and financial analysis, John works closely with attorneys and firm leaders to align financial goals with long-term business success and case readiness. His approach brings scalability, flexibility, and data-driven clarity to complex legal environments, helping firms stay focused, prepared, and competitive.

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SPEAKER_00

Welcome to Judicial Dollars and Cents, brought to you by Anders virtual CFO services team from all across the United States. I'm John Scott, and in each episode, we'll shine a light on the financial side of the legal world, turning law firm numbers into impact-driven stories. From taxes and profitability to practice growth and leadership, we sit down with law firm innovators who are shaping the future of the profession. Let's dive in right here on Judicial Dollars and Cents. Hey, welcome back to Judicial Dollars and Cents, the podcast where we dive into the business side of running a law firm. I'm John Scott with Anders Virtual CFO Services for Law Firms. And each week we talk with industry experts who help law firm leaders think differently about growth, profitability, and performance so they can build practices that last. Today we welcome Kelsey Eckert. Kelsey is the founder of Eckert and Associates PA. It's a law firm focused on insurance recovery and downtime claims, particularly for trucking companies, fleets, and owner operators navigating not-at-fault accidents and disruptions to their business. Licensed in both Illinois and Florida, Kelsey's built a national practice helping transportation professionals recover lost income and protect their operations. She's a frequent speaker and published offer with insights featured in industry outlets such as transportation topics, landline media, and service truck magazine. Kelsey is known for breaking down complex legal concepts into practical strategies for business owners that they can actually use. Kelsey, welcome to the show.

SPEAKER_01

Thank you very much, John. I'm happy to be here. I know, I know. But anyway, I just I love small businesses. Uh I just appreciate how much they contribute to our nation. And I appreciate truckers. And so really our focus is on those small trucking businesses, uh, owner operators and those guys and gals that really need um a little more help. So uh the way we I got into trucking or the representing truckers was I would say um back in when I was about 20 years old, I was going to the University of Georgia, and I had this boyfriend back in Illinois, and it was Valentine's Day, and it was a cold and stormy day up in Illinois, but it was nice in Georgia. So I I jumped in my uh little Chevy Chabet um with back in those days, you didn't have a cell phone, you didn't have um credit cards or anything, and I figured I would just go home and surprise him. Uh so I got up into the mountains of Tennessee and got stuck in a snowstorm.

SPEAKER_00

Oh boy.

SPEAKER_01

And yeah, and the nicest ABF driver um was able to basically save me, save the day. And since then I've just had a heart for truckers. I appreciate how much they are, you know, they used to be called the Knights of the Road, um, because nobody else had cell phones or whatever. They had the CB radios, yeah. Uh-huh. Yeah. And so I just appreciate the opportunity to give back. Uh our whole office does. And uh, you know, it's it's it it we feel like we're helping helping uh society and helping the the small guy.

SPEAKER_00

So this is you this is a unique niche of law that you don't see a lot of firms in. So this gap in the market where fleets and owner operators weren't being fully compensated, how did that happen? I mean, you I guess you get a couple of matters, a couple of cases, and it just you become the transportation person or firm.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, as far as I know, uh this is a you know, well, I'll say this. Most attorneys want to do things like personal injury where there's uh big, big opportunities for a um a potential um uh check. So our cases are typically much smaller, but they are big situations for small uh businesses out there. So so we do a lot of cases for a smaller amount of money. So these are cases, you know, we probably have five or six hundred cases going at any one time, and these are cases that are probably only $20,000 to $100,000. So they're smaller things, but it makes the world of difference. For example, let's say you're a truck driver, you have a you're an owner operator, and you're running down the road, um, a car comes along and hits you, suddenly you are down. Um, that car is insured with, let's say, uh progressive. Progressive understands how to fix your truck. But let's say you're down for two mics while you're waiting on the parts and all that. You're an owner operator. You know, you go from that income to paying the expenses. You can get upside down so, so quickly. And and progressive and and most of the other insurance companies out there, they, you know, a lot of the adjusters just don't know, they don't understand downtime or loss of use. They don't understand that they need to pay for it. So we come in, we might not even be handling the repairs on your truck, but we are handling those other things, those uh consequential losses, like your downtime, uh lost income, like your uh diminished value. Your truck is is now you just try to go sell it um after the accident versus before the accident. You know, it's not gonna be worth as much. And so we help calculate all that and get that back for the for the client.

SPEAKER_00

In my experience, progressive is one of the worst at underpaying claims. And so if you can get more money out of them, I applaud you. I think they spent all their money on flow.

SPEAKER_01

There you go. Honestly, we haven't had that much of a problem with progressive, it's typically more the um self-insured trucking companies or some of the self-insured businesses that sit really tight on their pocket book and or their um their wallet.

SPEAKER_00

So let's talk about downtime claims because you're right. Fixing the truck is easy to figure out what it's gonna cost to fix the truck. But for those of us that are maybe unfamiliar with that, how do you calculate the downtime? Is it a lost revenue, net revenue, or how do you do that?

SPEAKER_01

Basically, yes. And so there's not one size that fits all for every uh semi that's out there. Every business makes something different. It's just like all your other listeners, businesses. You know, each each day they might make something different. With each client, they might make something different. So so um, if you're the trucker and you and one day you've got a load that's gonna pay you $2,000 and the next day $500, and the next day $15. You know, there's there's a small group of truck uh uh businesses out there that have what's called dedicated loads, and they might make the same thing day after day after day, but most folks uh are pulling off of a load board, which means they're gonna pick this one. I want to go to California now, I want to go to Minnesota and and that type of thing. So so let's in our scenario where you get hit by the progressive driver, you might not know where you're going to be for the next 60 days. So, how do you do that? How do you calculate that? There's uh, you know, you can't figure out that exact number. So you have to look at a history of what you are making before. And whether that's a month before, three months before, a year before, uh, it it just kind of depends on the situation. But we certainly want to uh create the most reasonable, the highest reasonable calculation for our clients that we can.

SPEAKER_00

So if my typical auto insurance that I have, and it's it's good insurance, and I'm probably overinsured, but if I was the the responsible party here and wrecked this into a semi and put it out of commission, I always thought, well, certainly I would pay for the repairs, but does that same policy cover the downtime as well?

SPEAKER_01

Yes.

SPEAKER_00

Oh, that's good to know.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, yeah. Usually um, you're talking about the liability portion of your policy, and usually that will cover all of those um consequential losses that go with the the damage.

SPEAKER_00

Okay. What is important for a driver in the first 24 to 48 hours after an accident? What should they do immediately to protect themselves and protect their claim?

SPEAKER_01

Uh that's a good question. And and uh before any accident actually happens, get that dash cam in your truck. It is just that that has saved so many cases. Uh and so so and then once the accident happens, securing that that film, because so often, even though there's a dash cam there, it gets overwritten or it doesn't get saved in whatever way. And man, that can do uh that is just everything that needs to happen. So around the accident scene, we actually have a um a checklist of of uh uh what to do, and and we can send this to your your listeners or or viewers.

SPEAKER_00

We can put it in the show notes, that'd be great.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. I mean, it's just a flyer that can can be put in your glove box and um you know, ensure the safety of all, call 911, file a police report. Golly, you know, you might have somebody on the other side that says, uh uh, hey, you know, I'll give you cash. We don't need to file a police report. Never do that. Always get the police report. Um, take photos and videos, secure that dash cam footage, get witness information. If there's somebody there, get their name and their contact information because they are vital. You know, you might have uh a bad driver who admits at the scene that they were at fault, but give them a day or two to figure out that oh, that's a bad thing to admit to, and suddenly, you know, it it changes. Uh so get the at fault parties all their information, file an insurance claim, uh, prove liability. Uh every case has two steps. The first step is proving liability. The second step is proving damages or how much you're out. You could have a million dollars in damages, and if you can't prove that the other side's at fault, you get nothing. Um so document your losses in timeline, mitigate damages, and then if you need legal help, uh call a call a good lawyer.

SPEAKER_00

I I love all those tips, especially the Dash Cam. And any rideshare that you're in typically has a Dash Cam now, and I'm sure that's the reason they have it is to document what actually happened. And I'm gonna suggest that to at least one of my children who is not a seems not to be a very good driver. Um, not sure where that came from, but we'll see. So you uh you have a high volume practice. What case management system do you use to manage that practice?

SPEAKER_01

Uh it's called CMP Case Master Pro. They are uh locally um and they do a lot of uh law firms.

SPEAKER_00

Do they have any AI capabilities? Are they introducing any AI capabilities?

SPEAKER_01

Uh yes, they are. And we've also um we've also done some other things outside AI as well to uh so we are integrating some of our ideas with CMP's um abilities to uh especially when you know when we have our truck driver clients, we want we need a lot of documents from them. We need the police report and their and their uh estimates and and invoices and all and their settlement sheets and all that. And so they send us a dump of information. And so we are currently in the, you know, we currently manage this. Okay, that's a police report. Okay, label it police report, and to be able to have AI do all of that for us and put it in the right spots has uh, you know, we're getting there. We're 80% there.

SPEAKER_00

Well, that that's great. And I think once you once you get closer to 100% and have a little bit of human o interaction to make sure it's categorized right, it's gonna free up some time for your team, which is gonna be great for you to create some capacity. Right. Right. When we look at dealing with an insurance company whose obviously their incentive is to deny and pay as little as they can. What strategies have you learned over the years to get over that hump? Nobody wants to deal with the insurance company, but you all specialize in it. So are there any tips or tricks that you know to help with that?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. Moving on up. Yeah. Right up to the supervisors. Uh you know, insurance companies, like everybody, the every all these big companies these days, they've cut out a lot of the uh management folks. And so you've got the folks that answer the phone, and then you've got the vice presidents, and it seems like, and I'm exaggerating, but but anyway, a lot of times the folks that answer the phone or the baseline adjusters, they might not have the authority uh to ex to um to accept or to offer uh to to resolve the case for something reasonable. So I mean, we we were fortunate we um got to the right person on a GICO file here recently and and got them to write a check paid in full for 96,000.

SPEAKER_00

So that's awesome, and that's great advice. It's the same advice that we see with the IRS. If we have an audit or an inquiry going on, a lot of times the people that you're dealing with don't have the authority to uh to make decisions. And so sometimes in an audit, we'll say, okay, write it up and we'll go to the appeals officer who has the ability to deal a little more.

SPEAKER_01

That's absolutely it's the same thing.

SPEAKER_00

So you have this national niche practice. So I imagine you get a lot of attorneys that refer work to you because you can't be in every state, you can't advertise everywhere or or get your name out there. But the way is that how you get a lot of cases?

SPEAKER_01

Um it's it's multiple ways. It through things like podcasts, we and and radio shows and and um and we we do a lot of blogging and educational work, uh, and then we get some referrals from other attorneys, but then we refer back to those attorneys as well. So in those instances where we can where the other side just will not settle for something reasonable, then we let's say it's in Utah, we will refer that to a Utah attorney to file suit. We stay involved, um, but we make sure that that the case gets managed all the way through judgment and settlement. So yeah.

SPEAKER_00

So is there any advice that you could have to the owner, operator, or the fleet owner about how much coverage they should have and what types of policies they have? You know, so many individuals, not business owners, will take the cheapest policy and they might go to a progressive because it's cheaper. But in the end, if you're underinsured, and I have a little bit of experience with this in my family, where my elderly father-in-law was in an auto accident in his mid to late 80s, and uh it was his fault, and there was some injuries on the other side, nobody died, but he ended up going into his pocket to write a check. So, what's the the typical coverage that an owner operator or a fleet owner should have to sleep at night?

SPEAKER_01

Okay. Yeah, yeah. So a lot of owner operators must have at least a million dollars in liability coverage, otherwise, they'll get bumped off of uh of the roads. And of course, physical damage coverage to cover the repairs to the truck. But one thing that that a lot of owner operators don't really have a lot of, oftentimes, is the uninsured motorist or the underinsured motorist. And if they do, it's the uninsured or underinsured bodily injury. But what is often forgotten is the uninsured or underinsured property damage coverage. And the initials are UMPD and UIMPD. And what that means is you get some some um um little teenager that's come along and they're their old uh Camry that has, I don't know, in California, I think it's $5,000 of minimum coverage or something, anyway, and runs into the truck, causes $40,000 in repairs and say another $40,000 in downtime or loss of use, $80,000 ain't gonna go, you know, that $5,000 policy ain't gonna go far. So nobody wants to file a claim on their own insurance. However, sometimes it's just absolutely vital and very helpful to have. So um that $5,000 can be tapped in addition to their own underinsured motorists property damage coverage of the 75 to make them whole again.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, that's good advice. And there's a lot of uninsured motorists out there in Missouri. You have to prove you have insurance to get licensed, but you can drop it right afterwards and and just you know, it's expensive to to pay for insurance, but it's what you're paying for is the privilege to drive and be responsible.

SPEAKER_01

It's it's pretty bad in Florida as well. You know, definitely bad in Florida.

SPEAKER_00

So you're in the Jacksonville area in Florida, but but you all take cases nationwide, right?

SPEAKER_01

Yes, yes, absolutely.

SPEAKER_00

What's one of the uh most bizarre fun cases that you've worked on in your career?

SPEAKER_01

Bizarre and fun. Oh, well, you know, there are so many okay, so there are very many interesting stories. Um you know, we have gotten more cases from an article that I wrote, can I sue the cow that hit my truck? Um than uh maybe anything. But anyway, it's always a it's always a black Angus cow on a black asphalt road road at two o'clock in the morning.

SPEAKER_00

So it was a bad fence that let that cow out.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And and it was a and and so typically it is one of two things, either act of God, where all of a sudden there's a lightning strike and the fence is um is broken and the cows get out, or it is negligence in some way of the farmer for failing to maintain the gate or the fence or those type of things. And so when we can show that that the farmer was negligent, then we can go after the farmer's um insurance or whatever. And so one time we had a farmer that swore up and down that he kept his his cattle, his all of his animals in fences. And and and this was a case where I think um there were probably eight or ten Angus out on the the road and and our guy hit a couple of them. Um but anyway, he so uh farmer, no, I you know, I keep I maintain all of this. Anyway, we called around to the neighbors nearby, and one of the neighbors said, Oh, Joe, or whatever his name was, his goats are on our porch about every morning. So, and those cows are wandering around in the fields. So, anyway, you get a written statement, or I think it was a uh recorded statement from that neighbor. Um, they paid us the claim, no problem.

SPEAKER_00

You know, I will defend him a little bit. You can't keep a goat in a fence. I don't care if it's a woven wire and extra tall. That goat's gonna figure out a way to get out of that fence. They can crawl through just about anything. My neighbors have goats and they they've got good fencing, and the goats are in my property all the time. The thing is, I like them. I think they're cute, but uh cows are a little different, a little easier to keep in in inside the fence, but but goats not gonna work.

SPEAKER_01

Thankfully, that adjuster on the other side didn't know that about goats. They uh yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Hey, I know you like to travel. And tell me about your your favorite trip and country and and why.

SPEAKER_01

Oh. I have a special heart for the people of the Czech Republic. Uh they certainly went through um a lot during the Cold War. And I started helping uh business men, business women soon after the the wall came down, and we were bringing business executives over to Jacksonville, Florida to learn business ways here. Uh the Jacksonville Chamber was very helpful with that. And I always had some uh Czech guy or Czech girl living in my house. Um and so have just um I've probably been to the Czech Republic 35 plus times. Wow. And um and initially early on, uh I started importing beer barrels from the Czech Republic to the U.S. Were these wooden wooden beer barrels? No, they were stainless steel.

SPEAKER_00

Okay.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Very and and someone here was purchasing them?

SPEAKER_01

Yes, yes. I had a company here purchasing in them for sale with some of the big um breweries. And uh so they were stainless steel. They um they were originally uh in, I guess, meters, and we had to change them here to gallons and and do a little bit of finangling. This is back in the day of fax machines, and and I I looked at some files the other day, and the fax paper, they're it they are absolutely blank. There's nothing, no letters left on that. Um those facts.

SPEAKER_00

It just fades away.

SPEAKER_01

Fades away. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, and and one more thing I want to ask you is growing up in Bloomington, I imagine the fanship between baseball teams was split between Cardinals and Cubs. Well, where do you land in that rivalry?

SPEAKER_01

Well, since you're from St. Louis, I would say I probably l land on the correct side. So, yes, our family, all Cardinals fans. Yeah, do or die.

SPEAKER_00

It's a great rivalry, and I have two children that live in uh regulaville now, hopefully not forever, but uh they uh they overpay for tickets when the cards are in town. So it's been great. Yeah. Before we wrap up, what's a great way for listeners to get a hold of you and your firm?

SPEAKER_01

Oh downtimeclaims.com or 1-800 downtime. And so we have a lot of information on our website uh on downtimeclaims.com, and they can also uh sign up to to receive our uh blog every couple of weeks. We have it's not all about just property damage claims. It's uh we have a lot of guest writers uh writing things that are of the interest and entertaining for the trekking community.

SPEAKER_00

Kelsey, this has been great. I've loved learning about you and your firm. And thank you all for tuning in to Judicial Dollars and Cents. If you enjoyed today's episode, be sure to like, follow, and subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts. It helps us grow and ensures you never miss an episode. We'll see you next time on Judicial Dollars and Cents. Thanks for joining us on Judicial Dollars and Cents presented by Anders Virtual CFO Services. If you found value in today's conversation, be sure to follow or subscribe wherever you get your podcast. To learn more about how Anders helps law firms strengthen their financial foundations and drive growth, visit AndersCPA.com. Until next time, keep making smart decisions that make perfect sense.