The History of Darrell Castle & Associates
Practicing Bankruptcy and Personal Injury
In Memphis Since 1984
Darrell Castle graduated from law school at Memphis State University (now the University of Memphis) in 1979, after which he worked for a large insurance company for several years.
In March of 1984, when he was almost 36 with a wife and month-old daughter, he used his work experience after law school as a basis for starting his own firm.
Together with another attorney and friend, he selected a space on Walnut Grove because it was half way between home and court. It was a small, three room corner office that didn't cost much.
They set a September 1984 launch date, but he opened early - in March - and his friend joined him in September.
First Years
For his first 2-3 years, Castle learned how to run a private law practice. He learned procedures for criminal, divorce, bankruptcy, wills, and personal injury type work. He became familiar with the state, criminal, and federal courts and personnel.
One day a lady came in who needed to do a Chapter 7 bankruptcy. He had never done a bankruptcy before, but he took the case. He admitted that he didn't know much about it but would charge her a very low fee since he was new at it.
He then went to the bankruptcy court clerk's office and was trained step by step right then and there in what he needed to do. Things were simple then.
She told him she wished all lawyers new to bankruptcy would do what he had done, which was admit that he needed training, because he wanted to learn to do it the right way.
When he got his first Chapter 13 client, he did the same thing by going to a paralegal at the court who taught him to calculate plans and figure out what to watch for. He learned shortcuts and memorized car values and could eventually estimate plan payments very close to the calculated one.
When he got his first court date, he had no idea what to expect, so he went to the court hearings and observed for a while. He learned the local rules, the questions to be asked at the meeting of creditors, how to act in court, and that the courts applied the bankruptcy code liberally toward the debtor. The bankruptcy court was forgiving and all the lawyers, trustees and judges worked together to make the system work properly.
New Motivation and Concentration in Bankruptcy
The firm overhead began to grow and Castle needed to increase income. He was still too new to charge too much more, so he concentrated on how to get more business.
He decided to concentrate in one area, and he chose bankruptcy.
He recorded a sincere and earnest message, and advertised the recording in a Commercial Appeal display ad under professional services to run on Sunday. This ad laid out what he could do with each kind of debt.
On Monday morning, people were waiting outside the door. He had to sneak out and buy 10 folding chairs to handle the crowd.
Adding Personal Injury as a Main Area of Practice
Because of his background with insurance, Darrell eventually began to look for personal injury clients.
By 2004, personal injury was becoming a strong second area of practice. Since then, Castle has developed a network of contacts around the country who share information regarding pharmaceuticals and product liability.
These contacts allow him to share information with the best medical and scientific experts in the country.
Darrell Castle on Founding the Firm
About the firm, Castle says, "I started out in solo practice. Now I am also an employer with other lawyers and staff working for me (at one time I had an estimated 60 families deriving their income from all the Castle Law Firms)."
"That was part of my vision for what God had given me. One of my employees died a few years ago and in her obituary her family wrote that she worked for Darrell Castle & Associates and that she wanted that in her obituary because she wanted to help us even after she was gone. Like most of our employees, she loved working for our clients and with her co-workers."
"Being a lawyer has nothing to do with ego or anything like that. It is a duty of lawyer to client. I approach clients as unique individuals and give them the time they need to share their story. I use as much humor as is appropriate. And I have seen changed lives for the better."
To learn more about our firm, see our firm overview pages for the personal injury division and the bankruptcy division. You can also contact us online or call (901) 327-2100.
We are a debt relief agency. We help people file for bankruptcy under the bankruptcy code.
Nothing on this web site is intended to create an attorney client relationship. Such a relationship can only be created through personal contact and a signed attorney/client retainer agreement with the attorneys of the Law Firm of Darrell Castle & Associates PLLC.
