“Effective leadership in the legal field, in my view, stems largely from the ability to listen. By being attentive to the needs of those around me, I can provide a culture within my firm that addresses gaps and creates a supportive environment.” – Amy Davis.
Effective leadership means understanding the needs of others and implementing changes that create an environment where everyone can succeed. In personal injury law, communication of expectations is crucial to work effectively with clients and colleagues.
Amy Davis, Owner of the Law Office of Amy M. Davis, prioritizes outlining what she expects from her staff and what they can expect from her. This same principle applies to her clients. Before she represents the clients, she wants to understand how they would like to be treated and how they envision interacting with the staff and the attorneys. As an experienced trial lawyer specializing in personal injury and wrongful death cases, Amy aims to ensure that clients feel valued and cared for throughout the entire process.
The Path to Advocacy
Growing up, Amy wasn’t certain about her career path. However, a significant event when she was 12 changed her trajectory. Her grandfather was admitted to the hospital for thyroid surgery, but because of a mistake by the anesthesiologist, he passed away from medical malpractice. This incident made Amy realize that lawyers could help people in difficult situations, as a lawyer was assisting her grandmother in seeking justice for her grandfather’s wrongful death.
As she grew older, Amy focused on sports, particularly basketball, which she started playing at age seven and continued through college. She was competitive and enjoyed the challenges. Academically, she excelled in history and political science classes, and especially in a fascinating constitutional law course. Despite her interest in these subjects, she never considered a career in law because she didn’t know any lawyers and her parents were not in the profession.
In her senior year of high school, Amy began working on political campaigns, a pursuit she continued in college. During her last summer in college, she worked on a campaign for Governor Daniels in Indiana.
After graduating, Amy worked as a legislative liaison at Family and Social Services Administration, a state agency, where she helped develop a legislative agenda for the agency. She was responsible for finding legislators to sponsor bills and meeting with stakeholders about the agency’s goals. This role made her realize that she wanted to help create laws and influence policy.
Soon, she moved to the policy department in the Governor’s Office, where a mentor encouraged her to attend law school to further her career. This support gave her the confidence to pursue that path. Amy applied to Indiana University Law School in Indianapolis, and also considered IU Bloomington but believed finding summer jobs would be more difficult there.
Major Accomplishments and Milestones
Throughout her career as a legal executive, Amy has reached several important milestones that have shaped her approach to corporate law and business operations.
One of Amy Davis’s most memorable milestones was taking the bar exam. On the day her results came out in 2010, she and her husband, whom she met in law school, anxiously refreshed the webpage. Amy saw her name on the list of successful candidates but waited to celebrate until she confirmed that her husband’s name was there, too. That moment brought her immense relief, and she still treasures the voicemail from her mentor congratulating her. Her mentor reminded her that “sometimes you know you’ve done something well, but you still need validation,” – a lesson she values even more after his passing a few years later.
During her second year in law school, Amy secured a job at a personal injury firm. Growing up in a conservative household, she initially had a negative view of personal injury attorneys, often labeling them as “ambulance chasers.” However, her perspective changed when she realized that many clients were genuinely injured individuals facing a complex legal system for the first time. She found fulfillment in helping these clients without charging an hourly rate, as their work was based on contingency fees, making legal help accessible to those in need.
In 2014, Amy achieved a significant milestone when she won a major trial in Vanderburgh County while she was about 35 weeks pregnant with her first daughter. She secured a six-figure verdict after being offered a much lower settlement. This success, along with her continued commitment to trying cases, earned her the Max Goodwin Young Trial Lawyer of the Year award from the Indiana Trial Lawyers Association, a moment made even more special by having her daughter present with her at the award ceremony.
In March 2020, Amy started her own law firm, facing challenges as the COVID-19 pandemic began just 11 days later. Despite the difficult timing, she managed about 15 cases and went to trial the following summer, winning a $5.24 million verdict in Knox County, Indiana. This victory led to her recognition as ITLA’s Trial Lawyer of the Year and launched her onto a national speaking circuit, where she became known as a strong advocate for clients and a successful trial lawyer.
Services Offered by the Firm
At the Law Office of Amy M. Davis, she offers the following services:
| Motor Vehicle Accidents | Car Accidents Motorcycle Accidents Truck Accidents Pedestrians and Cyclists Struck by a Vehicle Multi-Car Accidents |
| Personal Injury | Traumatic Brain Injuries Burns Construction and Workplace Injuries Dog Bites Premises Liability Defective Products |
| Wrongful Death | The firm fights for and supports families who have lost a loved one because of someone else’s negligence or carelessness. |
| Nursing Home Neglect | Medical Neglect Emotional Neglect Social Neglect Neglect of Basic Living Needs Emotional Abuse Physical Abuse Sexual Abuse |
| Sexual Abuse | Sexual Assault Sexual Battery Child Seduction Child Molesting |
Building Relationships Beyond the Courtroom
Staying relevant and adaptable in the constantly changing legal landscape is crucial and the Law Office of Amy M. Davis focuses on identifying how people access information. Since moving into a new space, she plans to set up a podcast studio – not necessarily to start a podcast, but to create short videos that help the public learn about “who they are and what they do.” The firm also aims to maintain an active presence on social media to keep the content fresh.
To improve online visibility, the firm uses SEO strategies but emphasizes authenticity in its messaging. It aims to connect with people personally, rather than coming across as a formal law firm. Amy seeks to extend the welcoming atmosphere she cultivates at home to her professional relationships with clients.
Recently, Amy Davis spoke to a high school group and was impressed by their social media skills, which surpassed her own. She joked about her experience with technology, recalling the shift from dial-up to smartphones. To bridge this gap, she has been reaching out to young people interested in marketing, as they have valuable content creation skills that can draw attention.
Additionally, Amy maintains business relationships with friends in the marketing field and regularly checks in with them about their strategies. While she doesn’t engage in extensive advertising, she participates in the Super Lawyers program, which boosts her online visibility. She was first recognized in 2022, and her firm has been included every year since. This platform helps improve SEO for the site and makes it easier for potential clients to find her.
Balancing Personal and Professional Challenges
Maintaining resilience and passion in the face of business challenges and competition can be tough, especially in emotionally draining fields like nursing home cases and civil sexual assault. Amy Davis’s role involves sharing her clients’ personal stories, while the insurance side often reduces these experiences to mere dollar amounts. This dehumanizing process can be brutal for clients seeking justice for traumatic events, such as a parent’s injury in a nursing home or a sexual assault.
Amy Davis regularly attends therapy, going at least every couple of weeks to support her well-being. This allows her to express her feelings and ensures that her husband isn’t her only source of support. She believes it’s worth the investment to have someone to talk to about the emotional challenges of her work.
To maintain her passion, Amy has a board in her office that displays newspaper clippings of successful outcomes, articles about foundations they’ve established for clients, and photos of the people she has helped. In the center of the board, it says “This is why.” Whenever she feels overwhelmed or questions her ability to continue, she looks at this board to remind herself of the positive impact she has made, and that she does what she does to help her clients, which helps her refocus.
Additionally, Amy Davis leads and participates in a trial skills group that she has been a part of for her entire 15-year career. They meet once a month, usually on the last Friday, to work on cases together and spend the day collaborating and often socializing afterward. They affectionately call it “church for trial lawyers,” as it provides a sense of community and support. Owning a solo practice can feel isolating, and connecting with others who understand the challenges helps combat any feelings of disillusionment that can arise from witnessing the hardships people endure.
The Path to Work-Life Integration
Balancing legal risks with business needs while maintaining a customer-centric approach is an ongoing challenge for Amy Davis. She has learned to be kind to herself and accept that she cannot handle everything at once. There are times when her family must come first and other times when a trial takes priority.
In her work and personal life, Amy surrounds herself with loyal and supportive friends, colleagues, and staff who understand the demands of her busy schedule. She also looks for opportunities to delegate tasks whenever she can. For instance, she uses services for errands like dry cleaning and hires someone to clean her house, which allows her to spend quality time with her family when she is home.
Amy concentrates on activities that help the office progress while collaborating with a team that understands the shared challenges at work. They keep open lines of communication about their lives – not to intrude, but to support each other through the highs and lows.
Multifaceted Approach to Leadership
Reflecting on her career, Amy’s core leadership philosophy focuses on the importance of listening and building relationships. In her practice, she has the privilege of sharing her clients’ stories with adjusters, judges, and juries. To do this effectively, it’s essential to truly understand how their situations have impacted them—physically, mentally, and financially.
Her success has come from being a good listener and forming genuine connections with people. While she doesn’t view her approach as a strategy, she has found that when one consistently gives and genuinely cares about others, positive outcomes follow.
In addition to her legal work, she also coaches and sponsors her daughter’s basketball team, ensuring that families don’t have to pay for uniforms. This involvement in the community shows her support for local sports and initiatives.
Advice for Female Lawyers
As a woman leader, Amy Davis advises aspiring female lawyers who want to make a significant impact in the legal field to overcome self-doubt and imposter syndrome. Many women, especially in a male-dominated industry, struggle with fear and often hold themselves back. It’s important to recognize that even though women now make up the majority of associate attorneys in the U.S., many still associate the term “lawyer” with a male image. Unfortunately, women hold only 28% of partnership positions.
This disparity is one reason Amy decided to start her own practice instead of working for a larger firm, where structures can often marginalize women. She understands that many women also become mothers, and she relates to a friend who said she feels like she has lived nine lives before arriving at the office. It’s essential to be mindful of where to invest time and energy.
Speakers like Reshma Saujani, the founder of Girls Who Code, who talks about imposter syndrome and how it often stems from societal expectations rather than individual inadequacy inspire Amy. Reshma encourages women to pursue their goals as if imposter syndrome were just a made-up concept.
Amy Davis believes in practicing bravery instead of striving for perfection. She surrounds herself with supportive people and treats others as they wish to be treated, helping her navigate challenges. She believes it’s also important to ask questions and seek help when needed. Most people appreciate the chance to assist, and often, many others are looking for the answer to the same question, allowing them all to benefit from the question just being asked. Finally, Amy reminds aspiring lawyers that imposter syndrome is a sign of structural inequality, not personal failure—recognizing that feelings of inadequacy are not real and can empower one to move forward.
“Engage in conversations with those inner voices, recognize they are trying to protect you, and continue taking steps toward your goals,” Amy Davis concludes.
