Endeavors AI Podcast
How a Former Deputy Turned PI Attorney Is Using AI to Win Cases
William Franchi (Franchi Law) on building a modern personal-injury & DUI firm in Tampa.
Guest: William Franchi — Founder, Franchi Law (Tampa, FL). Personal injury (serving all of Florida) and DUI defense (Tampa Bay area). Former law-enforcement deputy (six years) before becoming an attorney; came to Tampa to play college baseball before a career-ending injury redirected him toward the law.
Episode summary
William Franchi runs Franchi Law in Tampa — a personal injury and DUI defense firm that has quietly become one of the more thoughtfully built small firms in the market. A former law-enforcement deputy who came to Tampa to play college baseball, William joins Collin to talk about his path from the street to the courtroom, building a modern small firm, and how he's putting AI to work to win cases. (The full transcript is coming soon — for now, watch the complete conversation in the video above.)
Key takeaways
- William's path from college baseball (a career-ending elbow injury and Tommy John surgery) to six years as a law-enforcement deputy, to law school while still on the job.
- Franchi Law serves all of Florida for personal injury and the Tampa Bay area for DUI defense.
- An early adopter of audio/video technology — the firm was "ahead of the curve," which made the shift to remote, statewide PI work seamless when COVID pushed everyone to Zoom.
- Why DUI work stays local (it's mostly in-person court) while PI can be handled statewide.
Episode excerpt (opening)
This is the opening of the conversation — the full conversation is in the video above, and the complete transcript is coming soon.
Collin McKee
Hello and welcome back to the Endeavors AI podcast. I'm Collin McKee, the show's host, and today I'm joined by a guest who, we quickly realized, is nearly my neighbor — William Franchi is in Tampa and I'm in St. Petersburg. William runs Franchi Law, a personal injury and DUI defense firm that has quietly become one of the more thoughtfully built small firms in this market. Before he was an attorney, he spent six years as a law-enforcement deputy. Before that, he came down to play ball at UT and just never left. William, it's good to have you.
William Franchi
Great to be on. I appreciate you having me, and I'm looking forward to this.
Collin McKee
Give the audience the quick version — personal injury and DUI. What does Franchi Law do, and who do you serve?
William Franchi
We really serve all of Florida for personal injury, and the entire Tampa Bay area for DUI. COVID made serving the whole state for PI very simple — we were ahead of the curve on the audio/video technology side, so once everybody went to Zoom it was an easy transition. DUI is mostly in court, in person, so we limit that to the Tampa Bay area.
Collin McKee
You spent six years as a deputy before stepping into the courtroom as a lawyer — and you went to law school while still on the job, with no intention of leaving. Walk us through how that transition happened, and what it taught you that a straight-from-law-school attorney might miss.
William Franchi
Sure. The rationale started with my undergrad at the University of Tampa — actually, I started at Western Carolina before that. In my first couple of weeks at the University of Tampa, I threw my first bullpen and blew out my elbow. I tried to rehab it, ended up having Tommy John surgery, and then re-injured it during rehab. This was 20 years ago, so the surgery was similar to today's but less refined. That set the stage for me to go from planning a career in baseball — playing or coaching was all I knew — to realizing I needed a different path. By the time I hurt it the second time, facing another year-long rehab, I was just done, and ready to move on to something else…
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