Marc Yonker is the co-founder of Winters and Yonker, P.A., a Tampa Bay-area legal practice specializing in handling matters concerning personal injury law. Marc, who was born in Louisville, Kentucky, and grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio, as well as Easton, Pennsylvania, ultimately chose to relocate to the Tampa Bay area after earning an associate’s degree and a bachelor’s degree in business and managerial economics from the University of Tampa and the University of South Florida, respectively. Upon securing his bachelor’s from USF, Marc was accepted to the Thomas M. Cooley Law School in Lansing, Michigan, earning his Juris Doctorate in 1993 and gaining acceptance to the Florida and Pennsylvania Bar Associations shortly thereafter.
With his longstanding passion for personal injury law, Marc spent the next six years working as a personal injury attorney for Richard Mullholland & Associates. While Marc found the experience of working for a large personal injury firm to be rewarding as well as informative, he also believed he could be of better service to clients at the helm of a law firm of his own. Along with Bill Winters, Marc founded Winters and Yonker, P.A., with the goal of offering clients a greater level of personal care and support combined with an aggressive approach to personal injury litigation.
In the more than 15 years since co-founding Winters and Yonker, P.A., Marc has played an instrumental role in battling some of the most powerful insurers in the industry while working on behalf of clients seeking nothing more than the compensation they are rightfully entitled to. This unyielding devotion to the Tampa Bay area personal injury law firm’s founding principles has had a profound impact on the countless number of clients who have turned to Winters & Yonker during a time of sincere need.
How did you get started in this business? What inspired you to start this business?
Bill Winters and I were both inspired by the opportunity to build a client-centered personal injury law firm in the Tampa Bay Area. In 2001, we took the first steps toward transforming our inspiration into reality.
How do you make money?
We provide a wide range of legal services, including, but certainly not limited to, services pertaining to the firm’s areas of personal injury law expertise: Slip-and-fall accidents, premises liability, construction accidents, and automobile accidents. Our fee structure varies on a client-to-client and case-to-case basis.
How long did it take for you to become profitable?
Newly founded law firms tend to face a long road to profitability, which is why we were actually ahead of schedule when we achieved profitability after 24 months or so.
When you were starting out, was there ever a time you doubted it would work? If so, how did you handle that?
There were some moments of concern during those first few months, but we were just so focused on our clients that we didn’t have that much time to worry about anything other than delivering the best possible legal outcome.
How did you get your first customer?
We landed our first client when a former colleague of mine referred a friend who was dealing with a personal injury issue that happened to fall within my specific area of expertise.
What is one marketing strategy (other than referrals) that you’re using that works really well to generate new business?
We are very active on databases like Avvo, where we can share our expertise with people who have legal questions as well as those potentially in need of legal representation.
What is the toughest decision you’ve had to make in the last few months?
We’ve always valued a lean business model that allows us to fully focus on serving our clients, but this leads to some difficult decisions when it comes to allocating funds for marketing purposes.
What do you think it is that makes you successful?
At Winters & Yonker, we have always put the client’s needs above all else and have repeatedly proved how our client-centered focus results in the most optimal legal outcome for our clients.
What has been your most satisfying moment in business?
The moment Bill Winters and I agreed to the partnership that led to the establishment of Winters and Yonker, P.A.
What does the future hold for your business? What are you most excited about?
We are most excited about the opportunity to work with any client in need of support — including legal support as well as personal support — during a time of crisis stemming from a serious personal injury.
What business books have inspired you?
I was recently inspired after re-reading Making Your Case: The Art of Persuading Judges, a book written by the late Antonin Scalia and Bryan A. Garner. The insights might be intended for an audience of litigators, but I believe they are also applicable in the broader business world as well.
What is a recent purchase you have made that’s helped with your business?
Over the years I’ve learned the importance of maintaining an appropriate work-life balance, so some of my colleagues and I recently rented a charter boat and spent a day out fishing in the Gulf of Mexico.