Every spring, Ponce Law, a personal injury firm in Tennessee, gives away thousands of dollars to teachers. No strings attached, no injury required. Ponce Law's Outstanding Teacher Contest is now in its eighth year, and yes—it's good for business. But as Michael D. Ponce, the chief executive officer at Ponce Law, explains, that's not really the point.
—Interview by Emily Kelchen, edited by Bianca Prieto
Image courtesy Ponce Law
Give me a quick run-down of the firm’s Outstanding Teacher Contest. What is it, and how does it work?
It’s very straightforward. Any Tennessee resident can nominate a current Pre-K through 12th-grade Tennessee teacher by visiting our contest page on poncelaw.com and filling out the short nomination form. This year, the top five K-12 teachers (based on nominations/votes) each receive $500. The 6th-10th place teachers each receive $100. The outstanding Pre-K teacher receives $250. The school with the most nominations gets $1,000 to support its programs. The top 50 K-12 teachers also receive a special goodie bag from us.
We announce the winners on National Teacher Appreciation Day (May 5th) via social media and in our newsletter. We also host an Outstanding Teacher reception at our law office for the top 10 K-12 teachers and the top Pre-K teacher.
Image courtesy Ponce Law
I assume this is also a marketing tool?
It does help with brand awareness, and it has brought us some referrals over the years. The voting process brings the largest amount of visits to our website of any month, and it’s also a natural way to grow our email database.
But that’s not why we do it.
The real value is in building genuine goodwill and trust. When people see that Ponce Law cares about teachers and education, not just car wrecks or personal injury cases, it humanizes us. It shows we’re part of the community, not just another law firm. That kind of authentic connection creates loyalty and opens doors in ways traditional advertising never could.
How do you measure that?
We track the number of nominations and overall engagement each year, and that growth tells us it’s resonating. We also pay attention to social shares and the feedback we get directly from teachers and parents.
But the metric that matters most isn’t a number. It’s the thank-you messages, the stories from teachers who felt truly appreciated and the sense that we’re making a small positive difference in our community.
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What's the most unexpectedly complicated part of running this contest?
The biggest challenge is the behind-the-scenes work to keep everything fair and organized. We get thousands of nominations; only one vote per email counts. So going through and eliminating duplicates takes time. As well as sometimes people put the wrong name in the wrong box, so we have to adjust those nominations so that we can get a good head count.
Each teacher who gets a nomination/vote will get a certificate. The certificate is mailed/delivered to the school principal so they can honor the teacher. We encourage the teachers to get a picture with the certificate and email it to us so we can give them and their schools a shout-out on our social media.
Kudos for finding a way to recognize teachers not in the top 10.
Teachers are the unsung heroes who create real, lasting impact. Supporting them just feels like the right thing to do. It’s about recognizing those who advocate for the next generation, just as we advocate for our clients.
Raise the Bar’s Take
Community investment can have a much bigger impact than traditional advertising, and you don't need a massive budget to do it. Ponce Law found a repeatable, feel-good program that drives website traffic, grows their email list and builds genuine goodwill—all without running a single ad.
The lesson isn't "run a teacher contest." It's that small firms have a community advantage. If you lean into it, your firm becomes memorable for reasons beyond "we handle cases."
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