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This show is sponsored by Leopard Solutions Legal Intelligence Suite of products, Firmscape, and Leopard BI. Push ahead of the pack with the power of Leopard. For a free demo, visit this link: https://www.leopardsolutions.com/index.php/request-a-demo/ ---------------------------------------- David is Co-Founder and CEO of Ackert, Inc. and its subsidiary, PipelinePlus. He is a highly regarded business development thought leader. Over the past two decades, David has pioneered revenue acceleration programs for hundreds of professional services firms around the globe. He is the founder of several groundbreaking ventures in the industry, including Legal Lift, the MLR100, the MLR200, BDI, numerous Managing Partner Roundtables, and the PipelinePlus software suite. His programs have won “Your Honor Awards” in both the U.S. and Canada, and his software has been featured in NLJ's “Technologies on the Rise.” David regularly keynotes at partner retreats and speaks at industry conferences. He also serves as a guest lecturer at USC's Marshall School of Business, Carnegie Mellon University, and at the UCLA School of Law. David is the author of The Short List: How to Drive Business Development by Focusing on the People who Matter Most, published by Greenleaf. He has contributed quotes and articles to numerous media including the Los Angeles Times, the National Review, the Daily Journal, the Wall Street Journal, Above the Law, Attorney at Work, Law.com, The Recorder, and the Los Angeles Business Journal. His Market Leaders Podcast has won several JD Supra Reader's Choice Awards. David volunteers as a Big Brother with the Big Brothers and Sisters program in Los Angeles. He is also the co-founder of Voices in Harmony, a mentoring organization that has worked with at-risk youth around the globe. He co-produced and appeared in the documentary film, “After Kony: Staging Hope,” chronicling mentoring programs he helped to design and facilitate for former child soldiers in Northern Uganda. The film was used as part of an awareness-raising campaign that raised millions of dollars for health and education in underserved Ugandan communities. David's charitable work earned the “Difference Maker” award from one of his alma maters, Ithaca College. David holds a master's in psychology and is a Fellow at the College of Law Practice Management. Links: Order The Short List here: https://pipelineplus.com/theshortlist/ www.PipelinePlus.com https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidackert/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
On today's LawNext: we hand over the podcast to NotebookLM to discuss the state of law practice management technology. If you haven't heard of NotebookLM, it is a generative AI tool from Google that turns your documents into engaging audio discussions. Its output sounds a whole lot like, well, a podcast, with two hosts chatting it up about your documents. To quote Google's own description, “With one click, two AI hosts start up a lively “deep dive” discussion based on your sources. They summarize your material, make connections between topics, and banter back and forth.” So we decided to give it a try. Back in September, LawNext host Bob Ambrogi wrote a four-part series on his LawSites blog called, “The Shrinking Ownership of Law Practice Management Technology.” It was a deep dive into how ownership of law practice management software for solo and small law firms has been consolidated under just six major ownership groups. We loaded the four parts of that series into NotebookLM and asked it to generate its audio overview. What you'll hear today is the discussion it generated, followed by Bob's thoughts on what it produced. The NotebookLM audio is about 15 minutes long, and Bob's comments will come after that plays. It is important to keep in mind that the audio generated by NotebookLM is not simply a summary. The two speakers do summarize key points from Bob's articles, but they also add interpretations and perspectives that are nowhere to be found in the original source material. Here are the articles on which the audio is based: The shrinking ownership of law practice management technology (Part 1 of 4): A Market Dominated by Just Six Ownership Groups. The shrinking ownership of law practice management technology (Part 2 of 4): A Scorecard of Who Owns What. The shrinking ownership of law practice management technology (Part 3 of 4): Future Development and Market Opportunities. The shrinking ownership of law practice management technology (Part 4 of 4): Wrapping It All Up. Thank You To Our Sponsors This episode of LawNext is generously made possible by our sponsors. We appreciate their support and hope you will check them out. Paradigm, home to the practice management platforms PracticePanther, Bill4Time, MerusCase and LollyLaw; the e-payments platform Headnote; and the legal accounting software TrustBooks. Littler, local everywhere. Steno, reliable court reporting with a revolutionary approach ShareFile, Securely send, store, and share files – plus discover document workflows designed to improve your client experience. If you enjoy listening to LawNext, please leave us a review wherever you listen to podcasts.
Vernā is a DEI pioneer. She is a highly sought-after DEI Keynote Speaker and DEI Consultant. She's well-known for captivating audiences with her high-energy keynotes, profound insights, and ability to foster authentic connections and meaningful dialogue. With nearly three decades of experience, her work as an inclusion strategist, cultural innovator, thought leader, and social commentator has guided myriad organizations across the world in dismantling barriers to inclusion and equity across race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, socioeconomic class, religion, and other differences. Her expertise and experience - personal and professional - have been instrumental in guiding workplaces toward embracing and integrating diversity, inclusion, equity, and belonging in all facets of workplace operations. Hailing from Baltimore's working class, Vernā's journey saw her rise to prominence as a distinguished alumna of Barnard College, Columbia University, and Harvard Law School, founder of The Vernā Myers Company, and the inaugural head of Inclusion Strategy at Netflix, where she led a global team in curating and implementing strategies to integrate cultural diversity, inclusion, and equity into all aspects of the company's operations. An accomplished author, Vernā's two best-selling books, “Moving Diversity Forward: Going from Well-Meaning to Well-Doing” and “What If I Say The Wrong Thing? 25 Habits for Culturally Effective People” have garnered widespread acclaim. Her inspiring TED talk, “How to Overcome Our Biases? Walk Boldly Towards Them,” has amassed over 5 million views and has been translated into 27 languages. Collaborating with Ariana Huffington and Thrive Global, Vernā's micro-course, “Confronting Biases,” has been taken by nearly a million learners worldwide and is consistently recognized as one of the top ten LinkedIn Learning courses. Vernā is also the host and producer of the podcast Sundays with Verna, which is available on Apple iTunes and Spotify. Vernā's trademarked quote: “Diversity is being invited to the party. Inclusion is being asked to dance” ® encapsulates her enduring commitment to fostering inclusive environments. The statement has been quoted countless times by DEI professionals and everyday individuals from various industries and all over the world. Vernā's company, TVMC, provides its own brand of DEI online training courses through www.tvmcu.com. The courses, featuring Verna herself, include the energy and no shame, blame, or attack approach she brings when delivering her keynotes and workshops. Among her many accolades, Vernā's impact has been recognized by numerous institutions, including the California Association of Black Lawyers, the Black Women Lawyers Association of Los Angeles Foundation, CODE Crew recognized her DEI Person of the Year (2021), and Diversity Woman named her one of the Top 100 Black Women Executives. Vernā was elected as a Fellow of the College of Law Practice Management, serves as a Board Member of UC Hastings College of Law's Work Life Law program, and received the Diversity Champion award from Pepper Hamilton LLP. She has been honored as one of the “25 Influential Black Women in Business” by The Network Journal and celebrated as a “Diversity Hero” by The Massachusetts Lawyer's Weekly. Earlier in her career, Vernā held pivotal roles, such as the first Executive Director of The Boston Law Firm Group and Deputy Chief of Staff for the Attorney General of Massachusetts. She also practiced corporate and real estate law for six years at Testa, Hurwitz & Thibeault LLP and Fitch, Wiley, Richlin & Tourse LLP.
Each week, the leading journalists in legal tech choose their top stories of the week to discuss with our other panelists. This week's topics: 00:00 - Introductions 09:00 - The Shrinking Ownership of Law Practice Management Technology 23:00 - Will AI Disrupt the Billable Hour? 37:00 - Midlevels hate law firm tech 51:00 - LinkedIn is using your data to train AI. Here's how to turn it off. 53:00 - Going to Mexico? Be careful how many electronic devices you take Sign up for our newsletter to receive the full articles and join our live recording: https://land.lawnext.com/Newsletter
Farrah Pepper is the Chief Legal Innovation Counsel (CLIC) at Marsh McLennan, where she makes things…click. Farrah founded and leads the company's Legal Innovation & Technology (LIT) team, which includes the LIT innovation lab and the legal data discovery program. Farrah has a long history of building and leading in-house and law firm teams to solve business challenges, create enterprise value and reduce risk. Previously, Farrah was GE's global discovery counsel, where she served as the large, diverse conglomerate's first dedicated legal expert on discovery strategy and policy. Farrah created and led the GE Discovery Center of Excellence and reinvented GE's approach to global discovery and data management to drive dramatic savings, efficiencies and risk reduction. Prior to joining GE, Farrah was a litigator in the New York office of Gibson Dunn, where she was a founder and leader of the firm's global electronic discovery practice group. Recent accolades for Farrah include being named a Thought Leader by Corporate Counsel (Women, Influence & Power), a Women of Legal Tech inductee by the ABA's LTRC (Legal Technology Research Center), a member of the Legal 500 GC Powerlist (US), and a fellow in the College of Law Practice Management. Farrah is a lifelong New Yorker and double-NYU grad: NYU College of Arts & Science (B.A., summa cum laude) and NYU School of Law (J.D.). In episode 24 of Careers in the Business of Law: Legal Tech Innovators Series, David Cowen chats with Farrah Pepper about her dynamic career journey from Gibson Dunn to GE and Marsh McLennan. Farrah shares her insights on negotiating for the roles you truly want, the evolution of legal innovation, and the importance of being a "Swiss Army knife" in the corporate world. She also delves into the collaborative spirit of the LDI community and the emerging roles in the legal industry, highlighting the need for creativity, empathy, and a forward-thinking mindset. Farrah's engaging storytelling and vibrant personality make this episode a must-listen for anyone interested in the intersection of law and technology. (00:08) - Meet Farrah Pepper. David Cowen introduces Farrah Pepper as a dynamo, smart, kind, and humorous. Farrah responds with gratitude, joking about having David as her hype man. (01:59) - Farrah's Journey. David highlights Farrah's impressive career, noting her roles at Gibson Dunn, GE, and Marsh McLennan. Farrah shares insights on how careers and companies have evolved, pointing out the importance of conversations over negotiations. (03:21) - The Innovation Pitch. Farrah recounts how she pitched an innovation-based role at Marsh McLennan, moving beyond her previous e-discovery role at GE. She highlights the value of being a "Swiss Army knife" in solving corporate problems. (07:19) - Riding the Waves Together. Farrah uses a surfing metaphor to describe the collaborative nature of the LDI community, highlighting the shared vision and collective effort of its members to ride the waves of change in the legal industry. (12:14) - Legal Data Intelligence Origin Story. Farrah discusses the community-driven nature of LDI and gives props to Omar from Relativity for galvanizing the project. She points out LDI's focus on broad community involvement and its resources, including job descriptions and use cases. (16:20) - Emerging Roles in Legal. David and Farrah discuss new and evolving roles in the legal industry, such as legal chief of staff, legal chief operating officer, and legal data intelligence officer. Farrah shares her excitement about these opportunities and the creative potential they hold. (22:19) - Farrah's Musical Inspiration. Farrah reveals that her house is filled with Taylor Swift and Broadway music, sharing how Taylor Swift's "I Can See You With a Broken Heart" resonates with her and other legal professionals. Mentions: Farrah Pepper: LinkedIn Gibson Dunn: Website GE: Website Marsh McLennan: Website Relativity: Website LDI (Legal Data Intelligence): Website Laura Kibbe: LinkedIn Nirav Shah from Home Depot: LinkedIn Adam Rouse: LinkedIn Jeff Salling: LinkedIn CLOC (Corporate Legal Operations Consortium): Website ILTA (International Legal Technology Association): Website Solid Atlanta: Website Outro Song: I Can See You With a Broken Heart
Society 54 Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer Jill Huse is renowned as a trusted professional services advisor. Jill, a certified Business Coach, is highly regarded for her progressive ingenuity, research-based strategy and, most importantly, her ability to deliver results for clients. In addition to her work with Society 54, Jill is also co-founder and CSO of Society Tech, a technology company that utilizes the proprietary software INform54 to help law firms track and analyze their firm performance initiatives to support strategic growth. Jill's strengths lie in ideation on high-level strategy, leadership development, and coaching attorneys and business professionals on career growth and relationship selling. She has worked in professional services marketing (legal and accounting) for over twenty years. She has an innate ability to identify, encourage, and develop her clients' unique and differentiating professional strengths, and to help clients leverage these strengths to meet and exceed bottom-line goals. Prior to launching Society 54, Jill led the marketing and business development department at one of the most reputable AmLaw firms in the southeast. While there, she structured and guided her team in developing, implementing, and managing award-winning communication, business development, and marketing initiatives. Further, Jill is a tenured member of the Legal Marketing Association (LMA), serving as the 2020 President of the International Board of Directors where she led the efforts to expand LMA to Europe; additionally, she also served as the president of the Southeastern Chapter. Jill is also one of the founding members of Law 2.5, a roundtable think tank focused on the future of the legal industry and how to implement and lead change, and was co-founder and Principal at The Chiral Project which focused on Leadership Development for Women in Professional Services. Jill was inducted into the Legal Marketing Association's Hall of Fame in 2024 for her leadership and contributions to the association and its membership. In 2023, Jill and Heather earned a spot in the Charlotte Business Journal's Fast 50, ranking Society 54 as the 8th fastest-growing private company in the Charlotte region. In 2021, she was inducted as a Fellow into the College of Law Practice Management. And, in 2016, Jill was personally selected as one of the “50 Most Influential Women in Charlotte” by The Mecklenburg Times. Jill is not only well-connected, but she is also highly respected and widely sought for her expertise and paramount perspective in all aspects of professional services marketing. ---------------------------------------- This show is sponsored by Leopard Solutions Legal Intelligence Suite of products, Firmscape, and Leopard BI. Push ahead of the pack with the power of Leopard. For a free demo, visit this link: https://www.leopardsolutions.com/index.php/request-a-demo/ www.theplacementclub.com Links: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jillhuse/ https://society54.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Gabriel Cheong of Infinity Law Group in Quincy breaks down when and how to fire a client related to probate and family court in this podcast, excerpted from MCLE's 9/19/23 live webcast: When & How to Ethically Fire a Client & Withdraw from Representation. The full program is available as an on demand webcast or an MP3 here. Get 24/7 instant access to hundreds of related eLectures like this one—and more—with a subscription to the MCLE OnlinePass. Learn more at www.mcle.org/onlinepass and start your free trial today! Connect with us on socials!Instagram: mcle.newenglandX (Formerly Twitter): MCLENewEnglandLinkedIn: Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education, Inc. (MCLE│New England)Facebook: MCLE New EngalndThreads: mcle.newnengland
Jared talked with a law practice management consultant about her best technology tips. Episode Highlights 05:16 Legal technology and law practice management software 05:54 Reasons law firms should start using law practice management software 07:23 How some law firms keep everything organized 08:55 Different integrations for case management software 13:13 Tips for data security and encryption 15:28 Why CRMs are important for law firms 16:50 Integrating CRM with practice management software to eliminate data duplication 19:05 The increasing number of firms entering the market for data backup solutions 21:04 Remedies for lawyers and legal professionals to avoid burnout and maintain work-life balance, including taking frequent micro breaks and doing exercises or activities Episode Resources Connect with Jared Correia jared@redcavelegal.com https://redcavelegal.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/jaredcorreia https://twitter.com/RedCaveLegal Connect with Laura Keeler http://lclma.org/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/laura-keeler-97879a8
In 2013, when Florida lawyer TJ Fraser set out to find a law practice management solution for his firm, he tested just about every product on the market, he says, but he could not find one that solved the problems he encountered in his day-to-day practice. So, rather than keep looking, he and his team decided to build the solution they needed for themselves. By 2018, they had dubbed the software ZenCase, and in 2021, after continuing to develop and refine it, they migrated their first 50-plus user law firm onto the platform and officially launched it commercially to the legal market at large. On today's LawNext, host Bob Ambrogi is joined by Fraser, who is now the CEO of ZenCase, and Olivia Mockel, its president and COO. Mockel recently moved to ZenCase after several years in leadership roles at other practice management companies, including most recently as CEO of PCLaw | Time Matters, a joint venture between LEAP and LexisNexis. So what makes ZenCase different from other practice management platforms and what types of law firms is it suited for? In today's episode, we'll hear from Fraser and Mockel about all that and more, including how they are incorporating generative AI and their plans for future development. Thank You To Our Sponsors This episode of LawNext is generously made possible by our sponsors. We appreciate their support and hope you will check them out. Paradigm, home to the practice management platforms PracticePanther, Bill4Time, MerusCase and LollyLaw; the e-payments platform Headnote; and the legal accounting software TrustBooks. Legalweek NY 2024, Described as the “one legal event that hits all the marks for information, education, and networking” If you enjoy listening to LawNext, please leave us a review wherever you listen to podcasts.
Jared spoke with a vice president at a case management software company about how niche tools may be the wave of the future, plus AI! Episode Highlights 05:20 The evolution and prospects of case management software for different practice areas 09:08 How lawyers should approach AI in their work 13:25 Misuse of the term 'AI' in legal tech 14:42 Potential mergers and consolidations in legal tech 20:14 Blade Runner 2049 and the similarities of its 'smart robots' to emerging AI technology like chatbots 23:06 The level of feasibility of the 'ceasefire on marketing' concept 24:11 Advice for attorneys looking for case management software Episode Resources Connect with Jared Correia jared@redcavelegal.com https://redcavelegal.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/jaredcorreia https://twitter.com/RedCaveLegal Connect with Chad Sands https://www.cloudlex.com/
Nalini S. Mahadevan is the Principal Attorney with MLO Law LLC and has been in practice since 2003, specializing in Immigration, Estate Planning, and Business Law. Her clientele includes both corporate employers and individuals. Her law practice is City of St. Louis Local Minority Business Enterprise (MBE), Women Business Enterprise (WBE), WOSB (Women Owned Small Business), and Women Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC) certified.MLO LAW LLC is headquartered in St. Louis with two additional offices in Chicago and Atlanta.Nalini's career started off as a corporate lawyer in India before relocating to the United States. She holds an undergraduate degree in Accounting, a Master's Degree in Law from the University of Mumbai, India, an MBA from Washington University in St. Louis, and a JD from Saint Louis University School of Law. She taught Law Practice Management and Immigration Law as an Adjunct Professor at Saint Louis University School of Law.Nalini is extensively engaged in community development and volunteers her time as an advisor to several local non-profits from the Indian community in St. Louis. She recently co-founded a group to empower immigrant women here in St. Louis, called Immigrant Professional Women's Network in STL. One of Nalini's earlier legacies is being one of the founding members of the South Asian Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis (SABA). Nalini is also a mentor with SCORE (a non-profit organization dedicated to helping small businesses get off the ground). As a migrant, woman, and a businesswoman, she understands the challenges that entrepreneurs have when starting a business.She is a well-respected attorney with a great sense of humor making her a frequent speaker for the Missouri Bar, the Missouri Bar Association of St. Louis (BAMSL), the World Trade Center, St. Louis, Chamber of Commerce organizations, non-profit groups, and women business owner groups. Nalini sits on several Boards, providing her expertise and knowledge.Connect with NaliniWebsite: https://www.mlolaw.us/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nalinimahadevan/ General Info: Need help with your law firm's digital marketing? Check out these case studies of some killer results we have gotten for law firms just like yours.Click here to review the case studies: https://lbmsllc.com/lp-attorneys/Click here for a free online presence report and marketing analysis. Connect With Us On Social Media:Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lbmsllcInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/lbmsllc/Twitter: https://twitter.com/lbmsllcLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/local-business-marketing-solutionsAlignable: https://www.alignable.com/fanwood-nj/local-business-marketing-solutionsConnect With Frank Directly on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/fdemming/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@lbmsllc
On July 27, June Hsiao Liebert took office as president of the American Association of Law Libraries, the association that represents more than 3,600 law librarians and legal information professionals throughout the world. The first Asian-American president of AALL, Liebert takes office at a time when some are saying that advances in artificial intelligence could endanger the future of the law library professional. What's her take on the state of the profession today and its prospects for the future? That is the subject we explore on today's show. In her day job, Liebert is the director of information services at the law firm O'Melveny & Myers. Having worked as a chief information officer, library and information governance director, law professor, and legal technology consultant, she has an extensive background in both IT and information management. She is a 2021 Fastcase 50 award honoree, was recently named a fellow-elect of the College of Law Practice Management, and serves as the immediate past co-chair of the Indiana University Luddy School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering Alumni Board. Note that the opinions she expresses during the podcast are hers alone and not those of O'Melveny & Myers. Also, any law-related usage of AI that she refers to in the podcast are done purely for testing purposes using private and secure systems only. Thank You To Our Sponsors This episode of LawNext is generously made possible by our sponsors. We appreciate their support and hope you will check them out. Paradigm, home to the practice management platforms PracticePanther, Bill4Time, MerusCase and LollyLaw; the e-payments platform Headnote; and the legal accounting software TrustBooks. Universal Migrator, the easiest way to move your firm's data and documents from one app to another. Trial Pad, an easy-to-use app to organize, annotate, and present evidence If you enjoy listening to LawNext, please leave us a review wherever you listen to podcasts.
Marcia M. Boumil, Esq., Cristina F. Freitas, Esq., and Debbie F. Freitas, Esq. break down counselors versus co-conspirators in this podcast, excerpted from MCLE's 3/28/23 live webcast: Parsing Out the Line Between Counseling Your Client & Being a Co-Conspirator. The full program is available as an on demand webcast or an MP3 here. Get 24/7 instant access to hundreds of related eLectures like this one—and more—with a subscription to the MCLE OnlinePass. Learn more at www.mcle.org/onlinepass and start your free trial today!
Being a liaison between different practice areas is what the Law Practice Management Section is all about. Catherine Stock and Gabriela Cubeiro talk with section Chair Joy Murao about her mission to offer resources and education to lawyers in need of technology to suit modern legal practice. Joy highlights the Technology Demo Lab, which helps lawyers understand the problems they face in legal practice and discover new solutions. Learn more at: Law Practice Management and Technology - California Lawyers Association
Being a liaison between different practice areas is what the Law Practice Management Section is all about. Catherine Stock and Gabriela Cubeiro talk with section Chair Joy Murao about her mission to offer resources and education to lawyers in need of technology to suit modern legal practice. Joy highlights the Technology Demo Lab, which helps lawyers understand the problems they face in legal practice and discover new solutions. Learn more at: Law Practice Management and Technology - California Lawyers Association
Today Kevin and Laura talk speak with Joy Murao. We talk about the importance of training, big law vs. boutique law firms, the idea of going to law school in 2023, H1B visa's, Kim Kardashian, Chat GPT and much more!Joy Murao is a legal technology pioneer with a career spanning over 25 years in Big Law and Corporate Legal Departments. Now as Founder and CEO of Practice Aligned Resources (PAR), Joy brings innovation and education to the broader legal arena to include government agencies, small to mid-size law firms and service provider organizations.Throughout her career, Joy has made significant contributions to the legal field. She played a pivotal role in developing and overseeing the Practice Support Departments at prestigious law firms such as Latham & Watkins and Paul Hastings. With her expertise, she has hired and managed over 200 direct reports, supported firm-wide practices areas including litigation cases, global M&A projects and employment class actions, while also shouldering the responsibility of training and educating lawyers and paralegals within these firms. Joy's influence extends beyond her own ventures, as she actively contributes to various professional organizations. Currently, she serves as a Section Executive Committee Chair for the California Lawyers Association, specifically in the Law Practice Management & Technology section. Additionally, she holds a position on the Global Advisory Board for the Association of Certified Ediscovery Specialists (ACEDS). Recognized for her dedication to fostering a strong legal community, Joy has actively collaborated with Women in eDiscovery, ILTA, the Relativity Users' Group Advisory Board for Los Angeles and various paralegal organizations. Through her involvement in these organizations, she has helped bring professionals together and facilitate the exchange of knowledge and best practices.Joy's educational background includes a BA in English from UC Santa Barbara and a Paralegal Certificate from the University of San Diego. She has utilized her expertise to create and teach legal technology courses at the Paralegal Training Program of UCLA Extension. Moreover, Joy leads engaging discussions on legal technology through podcasts and webinars, providing valuable insights to the legal community.With her extensive experience, leadership, and commitment to the advancement of legal technology, Joy Murao has made a profound impact on the legal profession and continues to drive innovation in the field.
In this episode, Steve Fretzin and Marcia Wasserman discuss:Challenges law firms are facing today that they've never had to before. Managing generational differences to the benefit of both parties. Where to start when everything seems to be going sideways. The benefit of a peer advisory group. Key Takeaways:Managing expectations for both the law firm managers and the younger lawyers is key to making sure everything is being accomplished at the right profitability. Clients are also getting younger, not just new attorneys. Understanding how the younger generations think can be crucial for your law firm success. It doesn't take a certain personality to be a leader - it takes listening skills, vulnerability, and transparency to your vision. If you delegate more, you will be more effective in what you are best at. "It's getting the lawyers who manage the firms to understand that things have changed and they are not able to do it the way they've always done it." — Marcia Wasserman Get a free copy of Steve's book “Sales-Free Selling” here: www.fretzin.com/sales-free-selling Thank you to our Sponsors!Overture: https://overture.law/Moneypenny: https://www.moneypenny.com/us/Get Visible: https://www.getvisible.com/ Episode References: Measure What Matters by John Doerr - https://www.amazon.com/Measure-What-Matters-Google-Foundation/dp/0525536221ProVisors - https://provisors.com/ About Marcia Wasserman: Marcia Watson Wasserman is the Founder and President of Comprehensive Management Solutions, Inc., which provides “C.O.O. to Go”™ law practice management consulting services to boutique and midsize law firms. Her expertise includes operational management reviews; management and leadership development and training; succession planning; strategic planning; retreat facilitation; law firm start-ups and mergers. Marcia serves as a coach, mentor, and accountability partner to Managing Partners, Attorneys, and Legal Administrators. Marcia also leads multiple law firm Managing Partners' and Legal Administrators' Roundtables, focused on thought leadership and sharing best practices. She is a Fellow in the College of Law Practice Management and the author of 2 books published by the ABA. Connect with Marcia Wasserman: Website: https://www.comprehensivemgmt.com/Email: mwasserman@comprehensivemgmt.comLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marciawwasserman/ Connect with Steve Fretzin:LinkedIn: Steve FretzinTwitter: @stevefretzinInstagram: @fretzinsteveFacebook: Fretzin, Inc.Website: Fretzin.comEmail: Steve@Fretzin.comBook: Legal Business Development Isn't Rocket Science and more!YouTube: Steve FretzinCall Steve directly at 847-602-6911 Show notes by Podcastologist Chelsea Taylor-Sturkie Audio production by Turnkey Podcast Productions. You're the expert. Your podcast will prove it.
Jared Correia talked to experts in the space about law practice management software + its value to law firms. Episode Highlights 06:09 Impressions of AI in the legal tech field right now 08:09 Thoughts on AI's impacts on legal technology 10:35 The ability of taking a look at the wider picture when dealing with cases 14:21 Importance of secure, safe, and private use of AI and the potential of AI in document automation 17:03 How case management software has been impacted by the shift to virtual or hybrid practices 19:56 Benefits of centralized case management and the role of legal software in facilitating remote work and collaboration 22:45 How artificial intelligence can increase efficiency and the consideration of its role in determining legal fees 23:55 The significant role of lawyers despite advanced AI 26:51 The part that Clio's legal trends report on modern payment solutions plays in their case management software Episode Resources Connect with Jared Correia jared@redcavelegal.com https://redcavelegal.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/jaredcorreia https://twitter.com/RedCaveLegal Connect with Joshua Lenon and Christopher Lafferty joshua.lenon@clio.com clafferty@getcaret.com https://www.clio.com/ https://getcaret.com/
John Hellerman is the founder of Hellerman Communications, an award-winning corporate communications agency positioning professionals and their clients to win business, manage reputations, and navigate crises.John is a visionary thinker and thought leader specializing in content strategy, crisis and litigation communications, and social influencer relations. He has been called a “Superstar,” “PR whiz,” and “top media relations pro” by PR News, Law Practice Management, and PRWeek magazines.John is Chambers-ranked for his crisis and litigation communications expertise. Recently, he was named a Global 500 consultant by LawDragon, was recognized in The National Law Journal's inaugural list of “50 Business of Law Trailblazers & Pioneers,” and was named Agency Executive of the Year by PR News. Under his leadership his firm has been named “Boutique Agency of the Year” and “Small Agency of the Year” by Bulldog Reporter, and “Best PR Firm,” “Best Crisis Management Firm,” and “Best Social Media Consultant” nationally by The National Law Journal.Connect with John on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnhellerman/Visit Hellerman Communications' Website: https://hellermanllc.com/On This Episode, We Discuss…The Power of Thought LeadershipHow to Support Your Firm's Business Development EffortsChanges to the Public Relations IndustryHow Social Media Can Impact Your Firm
In this episode, Steve Fretzin and Merry Neitlich discuss:The evolution of branding over the last 20 years. Finding your brand essence statement and recognizing how you stand out from others in your space. Keeping your branding consistent throughout your entire online presence. The difference between brand, marketing, and business development (and how they all interact). Key Takeaways:Keep your website current (no more than 3 years old) so it is relevant and Google will see it. Have your tagline - make it relevant and tell clients how you are different. You first want to find out what your differentiator is, then build your brand. You need to look introspectively to understand what it is that you stand for and your unique selling point. There should be an overlap between your personal brand and your firm's brand. If they are not related, it can cause a disconnect for your clients. Consistency is the key. You need to hold yourself accountable to your brand, marketing, and business development efforts for them to be effective and work for you. "A brand is not just an ad. A brand is not just a tagline on your website. A brand is how you operate and everything that you do." — Merry Neitlich Thank you to our Sponsors!Overture: https://overture.law/Moneypenny: https://www.moneypenny.com/us/Get Visible: https://www.getvisible.com/ Episode References: Branding Is the Strategic Backbone of Law Firm Marketing - https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/branding-is-the-strategic-backbone-of-84058/ The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell - https://www.amazon.com/Tipping-Point-Little-Things-Difference/dp/0316346624 About Merry Neitlich: For over 25 years, Merry Neitlich has been a successful business development and branding consultant to attorneys and law firms. She works with both firms and individual attorneys to drive revenue by turning branding into a strategic asset. Merry has been inducted into both the Legal Marketing Hall of Fame and the College of Law Practice Management. Connect with Merry Neitlich: Website: https://emconsults.org/ Email: merry@emconsults.orgPhone: 949-260-0936LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/merryneitlich/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/extreme-marketing/ Connect with Steve Fretzin:LinkedIn: Steve FretzinTwitter: @stevefretzinInstagram: @fretzinsteveFacebook: Fretzin, Inc.Website: Fretzin.comEmail: Steve@Fretzin.comBook: Legal Business Development Isn't Rocket Science and more!YouTube: Steve FretzinCall Steve directly at 847-602-6911 Show notes by Podcastologist Chelsea Taylor-Sturkie Audio production by Turnkey Podcast Productions. You're the expert. Your podcast will prove it.
Every great trial lawyer will tell you that the key to success in litigation is finding the story in a case. But when a case involves mountains of digital evidence, finding that story isn't always easy or economical. That's the problem the global legal services firm Novus Law aims to address. Marking its 20th anniversary this year, Novus Law uses an award-winning process, derived from lean manufacturing principles, to find and document the story in litigation and investigations, and to do it more accurately, more efficiently, and more quickly than can be done through traditional legal processes. It is the only company to have twice won an InnovAction Award from the College of Law Practice Management. Today's guest is Ray Bayley, the cofounder, president and CEO of Novus Law. He founded the firm in 2003, after having been managing partner of PricewaterhouseCoopers' North American business process outsourcing organization and a member of its 15-member management committee, responsible for overseeing its $9 billion, 70,000-person U.S. operations. He is also the former CEO of a business process outsourcing company with large-scale operations in India. In a conversation with host Bob Ambrogi, Bayley discusses what makes the Novus process unique and shares some case studies of how the process has benefitted law firms and corporations. Thank You To Our Sponsors This episode of LawNext is generously made possible by our sponsors. We appreciate their support and hope you will check them out. Nota, the online business banking platform designed specifically for solo and small law firms. Paradigm, home to the practice management platforms PracticePanther, Bill4Time, MerusCase and LollyLaw; the e-payments platform Headnote; and the legal accounting software TrustBooks. Sage Timeslips, trusted by solo and small firms for nearly four decades, offers robust functionality, customizable reports, and the ability to capture time and expenses on the go. If you enjoy listening to LawNext, please leave us a review wherever you listen to podcasts.
For today's episode, Jared welcomes legal tech expert Peggy Gruenke who discusses the advantages of using cloud-based accounting systems like QuickBooks Online and integrating them with Law Practice Management software. She highlights the importance of maintaining accurate data and the need for training law firms and bookkeepers to use these systems effectively. Peggy emphasizes the focus on financial management, tracking revenue and expenses, and monitoring KPIs such as billing and collections rates. She advises engaging a professional to assist with law firm accounting and finance for increased efficiency. Episode Highlights 04:23 Debate between QuickBooks Desktop vs. QuickBooks Online and the advantages of using a cloud-based software system 07:01 The ease of transitioning from QuickBooks Desktop to QuickBooks Online. 09:57 Integrating accounting software and case management software, such as Clio and QuickBooks Online 11:00 The learning curve for law firms transitioning to new software and training needed by office managers 13:27 Building custom financial reports, particularly for compensating lawyers, and running trust account reports, including the trust three-way match report. 18:23 Tracking Work in Progress (WIP) and analyzing contingent work and hourly work for revenue generation 19:45 The importance of reviewing bank accounts and finances due to the increasing number of fraud incidents. 21:19 Key Performance Indicators (KPIs): Tracking accounts receivable, billing, and collections. 23:51 Utilization rate and its importance in law firm management 25:52 Expense tracking and focusing on growing revenue rather than cutting expenses 27:26 When should law firms engage a professional for financial management and advice? Episode Resources Connect with Jared Correia jared@redcavelegal.com https://redcavelegal.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/jaredcorreia https://twitter.com/RedCaveLegal Connect with Peggy Gruenke https://cpn-legal.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/peggygruenke
We're back with another stop on our tour through The Small Firm Roadmap Revisited. In these episodes, we dive into each of the six areas of business integral to building client-centered, efficient, and profitable small law firm. Do you know how your clients experience your firm? Designing client experience isn't something that will happen on its own, you need to be intentional. Today, Stephanie talks with Nkoyo-Ene Effiong, Director of Law Practice Management for the State Bar of Georgia, about Healthy Clients. Learn what that means and tips for how you can do that in a healthy way. Links from the episode: If today's podcast resonates with you and you haven't read The Small Firm Roadmap Revisited yet, get the first chapter right now for free! Thanks to Posh Virtual Receptionists, Clio, & LawPay for sponsoring this episode.
We're back with another stop on our tour through The Small Firm Roadmap Revisited. In these episodes, we dive into each of the six areas of business integral to building client-centered, efficient, and profitable small law firm. Do you know how your clients experience your firm? Designing client experience isn't something that will happen on its own, you need to be intentional. Today, Stephanie talks with Nkoyo-Ene Effiong, Director of Law Practice Management for the State Bar of Georgia, about Healthy Clients. Learn what that means and tips for how you can do that in a healthy way. Links from the episode: If today's podcast resonates with you and you haven't read The Small Firm Roadmap Revisited yet, get the first chapter right now for free! Thanks to Posh Virtual Receptionists, Clio, & LawPay for sponsoring this episode.
Silvia Coulter is a Co-founding Principal of LawVision. Silvia is widely regarded as one of the legal industry's most experienced sales, key client planning, and leadership experts. Her experience includes working as a former strategic account executive and sales leader at a Fortune 50 company, a chief marketing and business development officer at two global law firms, and a consultant and facilitator to firms across the globe. Law firm leaders rely on Silvia's experience and assistance with leadership development, strategic account analysis and planning, and business development strategy. She is a co-founder of the Legal Sales and Service Organization (Legalsales.org), a Past Elected President of the Legal Marketing Association, and an elected Fellow of the College of Law Practice Management. Silvia is the co-founder of BizDevGals, a certified businesswoman enterprise, to help women in professional services to achieve their revenue goals. She is a frequent speaker and facilitator at law firm retreats and legal industry meetings. ---------------------------------------- This show is sponsored by Leopard Solutions Legal Intelligence Suite of products, Firmscape, and Leopard BI. Push ahead of the pack with the power of Leopard. For a free demo, visit this link: https://www.leopardsolutions.com/index.php/request-a-demo/ Links: https://lawvision.com/consultants/silvia-l-coulter/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/silviacoulter/
Managing a law practice doesn't have to be as hard as many lawyers make it. I've gotten some interesting questions about this topic, so in this episode, you'll learn more about how to make major improvements more easily. Show Notes The 80/20 Principle: The Secret of Achieving More with Less, by Richard Koch Richard Koch on Mastering the 80/20 Principle (Tim Ferriss' podcast interview with Richard Koch) 80/20 Sales and Marketing: The Definitive Guide to Working Less and Making More, by Perry Marshall Effortless: Make it Easier to Do What Matters Most, by Greg McKeown Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less, by Greg McKeown The ONE Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth About Extraordinary Results, by Gary Keller Loom (free for up to 25 videos of no longer than 5 minutes) Voxer (the frictionless way to communicate without having phone calls) SweetProcess (link to get 28-day free trial) My Loom video on why SweetProcess is a better deal in terms of cost My Substack email newsletter: The 80/20 Principle (not just for lawyers). My Law Firm Systems Workshop (enrollment is open now) Join the '80/20 Inner Circle' - a discussion group for business-minded lawyers. Thanks to Our Sponsors "ChatterBoss is an incredible remote executive assistant company that helps solopreneurs and small businesses grow quickly and save money. Your dedicated ChatterBoss assistant can help you with case management, billing support, email optimization, social media, process building, automation, and more. They even have on-demand paralegals and legal assistants. The service is customized to your budget and is on-demand, so you can work with your assistant as much or as little as you need throughout the week. The minimum monthly spend for a dedicated executive assistant is only $200/month. The best way to get started is to schedule a free consultation and find out exactly how the service works. Click this link to schedule a free 30-minute call, and you'll get a special 15% discount when you sign up with ChatterBoss." Smith.ai is an amazing virtual receptionist service that specializes in working with solo and small law firms. When you hire Smith.ai, you're hiring well-trained, friendly receptionists who can respond to callers in English or Spanish. If there's one great outsourcing opportunity for your practice, this is it. Let Smith.ai have your back while you stay focused on your work, knowing that your clients and prospects are being taken care of. Plans start at $210/month for 30 calls, and pricing starts at $140 for 20 chats, with overage at $7 per chat. They offer a risk-free start with a 14-day money-back guarantee on all receptionist and live chat plans, including add-ons (up to $1000). And they have a special offer for podcast listeners where you can get an extra $100 discount with promo code ERNIE100. Sign up for a risk-free start with a 14-day money-back guarantee now (and learn more) at smith.ai. EPISODE CREDITS: If you like this podcast and are thinking of creating your own, consider talking to my producer, Danny Ozment. He helps thought leaders, influencers, executives, HR professionals, recruiters, lawyers, realtors, bloggers, coaches, and authors create, launch, and produce podcasts that grow their businesses and impact the world.
For today's episode with Joshua Hostilo, Blake Roberts, Marie Burgess, and Igor Selizhu, we discuss legal technology through case management software. Each guest suggests using automation and work plans to increase efficiency, as well as native language support and other features to improve the client experience. They also highlighted the importance of mergers and acquisitions in the field and advised attorneys and law firms to stay aware of changes such as non-lawyer-owned law firms. Episode Highlights Their best New Year's Resolutions failures - 2:34 How lawyers can use law practice management software and recession-proofing a law practice. - 6:40 Improvements in case management software for a better client experience. - 11:58 Benefits of utilizing case management software for law firms. - 15:53 The future of law management software. - 14:42 Adding automations in the case management software - 21:11 Impact of mergers and acquisitions in the technology space. - 24:29 Their favorite case management report and why. - 30:18 Essential integrations for case management software. - 32:19 Episode Resources Connect with Jared Correia jared@redcavelegal.com https://redcavelegal.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/jaredcorreia https://twitter.com/RedCaveLegal Connect with the Guests https://filevine.com/ https://lawmatics.com/ https://joinparadigm.com/ https://smartadvocate.com/
www.anchorlegalgroup.comStephen D. Lentz, Esq. is the founding attorney of Lentz Law Group, PLC, former Senior Counsel at East Coast Trial Lawyers, PLC, and a co-founder of Anchor Legal Group, PLLC. Stephen D. Lentz guided his Virginia Beach based firm to become a boutique business and estate planning practice, serving clients in the areas of corporate formation, complex business transactions, entertainment law, intellectual property, non-profit law, foundation, and church/ministry representation. He has counseled corporations and non-profit organizations in both the United States and around the world.In addition to his legal practice, Stephen has served as an adjunct professor at Regent University School of Law, where he taught Wills, Trusts & Estates, Law Practice Management, International Business Transactions, and Entertainment Law. He also served as Adjunct Faculty of Regent University's Graduate School of Communications where he taught Media Law, Policy and Ethics.Mr. Lentz is currently representing national and international organizations in structuring their growth, corporate governance and navigating compliance and tax laws. He offers consulting and legal advice to organizations, sometimes in conjunction with other organizations and professionals, on matters relating to religious protection, general corporate matters and succession planning.
We are so grateful that Matthew Homann with FIlament stopped by The Ripple Effect Podcast. He and Steve have been great friends for a lot of years and we area so honored he came on the show to share some of the incredible work he and his team are doing. From hosting really innovative meetings through his company Filament to his incredible annual "Thinksgiving" events, his efforts to create positive Ripples in the world never stop. He will simply blow your mind in this interview! Here's a bit more about Matt: Matt Homann is the founder and CEO of Filament, a meeting-focused business that is rethinking the ways people think, meet, and learn together better. An accomplished keynote speaker and creative facilitator, Matt has worked with legal, accounting, financial services, nonprofit, and healthcare professionals around the world, as well as with executives from companies including Google, Purina, McDonald's, HP, Microsoft, IBM, British Petroleum, DuPont and the US Military. In his previous life as a lawyer he earned a reputation as a tireless advocate for legal innovation, alternative fees, and client-focused service. He was named one of the 50 most innovative people in law by Fastcase, a "Legal Rebel" by the American Bar Association, and is a fellow of the College of Law Practice Management. Matt has suffered from "Idea Surplus Disorder" as long as he can remember. He's the founder of and former CEO of Invisible Girlfriend and Invisible Boyfriend, a startup that pioneered virtual companionship and that was featured on The Today Show. He's also the inventor of Thinksgiving: a collaborative event that pairs deserving nonprofits with innovative teams from smart companies for a day of creative problem-solving. Matt lives in St. Louis with his wife, Jessica and daughter, Grace.
What you'll learn in this episode: Why a growth mindset is the key to making effective change Andrew's tips for beating resistance and making changes stick Why lawyers need to adapt their professional approach to become effective coaches and mentors How to choose the right executive coach What lawyers of all levels can expect to gain from coaching About Andrew Elowitt: Andrew Elowitt JD MBA PCC worked for over twenty years both in law firms and as the head of a corporate legal department before becoming a practice management consultant and professional certified coach. He is the Managing Director of New Actions LLC, a firm that specializes in talent, strategy and leadership development for law firms, businesses, and government agencies. His work focuses on the people side of legal practice: how lawyers manage, lead, thrive, change, and find satisfaction. He is regarded as an expert on the use of coaching and emotional, social and conversational intelligences in leading and managing legal organizations of all sizes. Andrew is a Fellow in the College of Law Practice Management, an International Coach Federation Professional Certified Coach, Vice Chair of the ABA Law Practice Division Publications Board, and founding member of its Lawyer Leadership and Management Board. He is the author of numerous articles and is regularly invited to conduct workshops and retreats for his clients and to present programs to bar associations. Additional Resources: New Actions: www.newactions.com Elowitt's LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/andrewelowitt Transcript: Coaching is a powerful tool that can help lawyers in all stages of their careers become more effective leaders, mentors, and professionals. The legal industry has embraced coaching over the last 10 years, thanks in no small part to the work of Andrew Elowitt, founder of coaching firm New Actions and author of books “The Lawyer's Guide to Professional Coaching: Leadership, Mentoring, and Effectiveness” and “Lawyers as Managers: How to Be a Champion for Your Firm and Employees.” He joined the Law Firm Marketing Catalyst Podcast to talk about how lawyers can face and overcome their resistance to change; why a growth mindset is necessary for lasting transformation; and how lawyers should choose the right coach. Read the episode transcript here. Sharon: Welcome to the Law Firm Marketing Catalyst Podcast. Today, my guest is Andrew Elowitt. Andrew is the managing director and founder of New Actions LLC. His firm provides high-level coaching, practice management consulting and retreat facilitation services to law firms and other professional service firms. He is a former lawyer and corporate executive. He's also an in-demand speaker. He is a very accomplished author who has been on the podcast before with one of this coauthors, Marcia Wasserman. We'll hear all about his journey today. Andrew, welcome to the program. Andrew: It's great to be back, Sharon. Sharon: It's great to have you. Thank you so much. Tell us about your journey. How did you get to where you are now? Andrew: I had been practicing law for 15 years, first in firms and then I went in-house. It wasn't something that hit me suddenly at 15 years. I realized I was a good lawyer and I was well-compensated, but my passion for the law, for legal practice, was ebbing. I wanted to do something more. I wasn't sure what it would be, but I definitely wanted to have a second act. So, I got to that point 15 years in, like I said, and it was a matter of some awfully good luck. My best friend's weekend hiking buddy was a senior organizational development consultant who was putting on learning opportunities for an eclectic mix of people. I had known him socially, and I was introduced to him. I talked about what he was doing with the learning groups. He had a clinical psychologist, a college professor, an educational consultant, and a woman who did film editing and writing, so a lawyer in the mix made it all the more eclectic. Once I started that learning group, I was fascinated. It was like all the lights going on on the Christmas tree in Rockefeller Center. I went, “This is so interesting. I want to do this.” Then I started to train, and I probably read more in those first two or three years that I was training with my mentor than I had practicing law in the prior 10 years. Then I made the transition into doing organizational development consulting. We were working with a lot of tech companies in Silicon Valley. Over time, slowly, I started to pick up more professional services firm clients, lawyers, accountants. A lot of my friends from the legal world were now in managerial positions. We'd get together and they'd say, “Andrew, we're having this problem,” and I'd give them advice. After about six months, they said, “You know what? We'll pay to have you go into the firms and help us with these things.” I went, “Oh my gosh, there's a niche here.” So, I started working with lawyers then. At that time, which was the early 2000s, coaching in the legal world was not well understood. People thought I was a life coach. They had all kinds of misgivings, and I had to overcome that initially in making the transition. At this point, coaching is very well known and respected and utilized, not fully utilized, but utilized in the legal profession. Sharon: Do you think that's more in California? When I talk to people in other areas of the country, they don't really know what coaching is. They're going, “Coaching, what's that?” Andrew: Yeah, occasionally I get that. I don't think there's a big geographic difference anymore. Maybe on the coasts there's more understanding of coaching. The legal community has followed the business community. The business community was a much earlier adapter and user of coaching. You certainly saw that in the tech companies. One of the reasons why was because you had a lot of younger, relatively inexperienced managers coming in, and they needed help. Brilliant people, great subject matter experts, but they didn't know how to manage, especially managing people. That's one of the reasons why there was a lot of traction for coaching in tech centers, both on the west coast and the east coast. Law has followed that, and I think it's a matter of what the business models are for businesses versus professional services firms. As you know, partners or senior attorneys have their producer/manager dilemma. They're the ones that are on the factory floor grinding out the equipment or the product. At the same time, they need to manage, but do they have the time? There's a built-in tension there. Do I step away from billable hours to do the work? Do I step away from client development to do the managerial piece? It's a built-in dilemma. You don't see that on the business side. On the business side, with the executives I work with, which is anywhere from 40% to 60% of my practice, they are managers. Their job is to manage the people that report to them and to collaborate with the people in their organizations. It's different than in law firms. Sharon: Law firms are their own animal. One of the ways is exactly what you're talking about. You have tension. What do you tell people who come and say, “I love the business side and I like client development, but I don't like the law. I don't like to write briefs. I don't like to read them. What can I do?” Andrew: First of all, that resonates with me because that was my feeling about the law. I know I was a good technician, but I much rather would have been negotiating. I think that's one of the reasons why I was happy going in-house. I got to be the client, and I was more involved in the business affairs of my organization. For those people, I think it's great that they have wider interests. The people who like client development, they're the future rainmakers in a firm. The people who like doing the managerial piece are really important. Now, there's a problem because they may be very good at it, but firms are still slow in rewarding and incentivizing people to take on those managerial roles. One thing we've seen in big law, the largest law firms in North America and around the world, is the emergence of professional managers. People that may or may not be lawyers are now doing the administration and the leading of firms. There can be challenges to that. In a lot of jurisdictions, you can't have nonlawyers, people that are not certified as lawyers, being equity holders in a law firm. That makes the compensation and incentivizing issue a lot more complicated, but I think we'll see more of a continuation in that direction. It's great to have people in firms that are interested, passionate, experienced and competent in management. It makes a big difference in the bottom line. Sharon: I had forgotten how it's become so professionalized on the business side in many ways. I can't remember; it'll come to me later. I was trying to remember when I was at Arthur Andersen. There was such a big dichotomy between fee earners, non-revenue generators and revenue generators. I always felt like, “What are you talking about? We bring in this much.” Anyway, you said you were doing training in organizational development or coaching. Andrew: It started out with organizational development. That was the focus of our learning group. It was great for me. I was with people more senior than I in terms of work experience, not necessarily in terms of age. We started with a couple of learning groups in Los Angeles. Then my mentor, Don Rossmoore, got invited to Xerox's Palo Alto Research Center, PARC, to lead learning groups there, so we had other professionals and executive coaches that were in-house for Xerox. We had people from Apple, Hewlett-Packard, Sun. It was the whole list of tech companies. This is back in the 1990s. It fast-tracked me to have all those people available to learn from. Our last learning groups morphed into a consulting group that was a bit informal. Very different from law firms, where everything is very structured. This was, “Do you have the availability? O.K., we'll work together on this engagement.” I learned a tremendous amount there. We were usually dealing with larger issues throughout an organization. What I found in doing that was I loved the strategic part, the systems part of that, but it really comes down to implementation. When it comes down to implementing the changes we're recommending, that goes back to the individual. Often the individual executives and managers were having difficulty implementing the changes they knew they needed to make, including changes in the organization, changes in the team they were leading, or changes in themselves. It's the individual. That's where I really began the transition into coaching. I didn't think I was very good at it initially. I still feel that way. I had to unlearn a lot of qualities and approaches that made me a good lawyer, but not necessarily a good coach. For example, as a lawyer, you need to be prescriptive and directed. You're there to provide a solution. A client comes to you with a problem, then, “O.K., well, this is what you should do.” That doesn't necessarily work well when you're coaching. It's better to work more collaboratively with your coach-ee to help them come to their ideas and figure out what they need to do. I had to stop myself. I had to restrain myself from jumping to solutions and saying “Here's the roadmap. Here are steps one through five. Do them.” That was me at the beginning. I had to sit on my hands and zip my mouth and go, “I have some ideas about this, but I'd like to hear from you first. What do you think would be a good approach?” It's bringing them more into the picture. That was one of the biggest and hardest changes for me, but I found I really liked working with executives. There's something about working with people one-on-one I found very satisfying, far more satisfying than working with people one-on-one in the legal capacity. I went in that direction with executives and lawyers and a few other service professionals from time to time, but I wouldn't identify myself in those positions. That's pretty much the journey that I took. Sharon: Do you find that you have to put on a different hat when you're working with a lawyer, and then another hat when you're working with an executive? Andrew: That's a great question. It depends on the lawyer and the executive. Sometimes I have to put on a different hat with the same person from one session to the next depending on where they're at. With lawyers, Sharon, it's usually a matter of the issues we're dealing with. On the executive side, it's pretty much pure management and leadership skills. Lately with the pandemic, resilience and finding a healthy work/life integration are huge, huge issues. For the last two or three years, that has been a theme in almost all of the coaching I've done. On the legal side, it's different. It's not pure management and leadership. At the younger levels of an attorney's career, we're more often focused on issues of productivity, time management, work-flow management. They are on the receiving end of delegation and feedback, so a lot of it is helping them learn how to receive delegation and feedback and how to help them make the people giving them the feedback and delegation even better. It's a sweeping generalization, but I think it's true that lawyers don't have a lot of formal training in managerial skills. Some who came to the law after working in another area may have that. Some who took management classes in college or grad school, they may have some familiarity. But basically, when it comes to people management, lawyers don't know a lot. They are replicating the ways they were managed, which means they may be using managerial and leadership approaches that are two generations old, which are not great with millennials and Gen Z. So, a lot of is helping people learn how to manage. Now, I said I started with people at the lower level. As you get higher, then it is learning those managerial skills, delegating, giving feedback. How do you hold the people that work with you accountable? How do you collaborate with other people? As you go further up, it becomes more client-facing, so it's about developing those client relationships. Then we get into business development. I'm not a business development specialist, but I'm very good at helping attorneys that have support for client development within their firm and may even have dedicated client development people. They know what they should be doing, but they're not doing it. It's the classical example of the knowing-doing gap. This is something that's not unique to lawyers. There's something we know we should do, but do we get around to doing it? No. That can be the case with a lot of lawyers when it comes to business development. I'm very good at helping them understand what's holding them back. Typically, it's nothing external; it's nothing in the firm or the environment. It's something in them. We acknowledge what the inner obstacle is and we work past it and through it. I have a good record of getting them into gear and getting them developing clients. Finally, when we get to partner-level, practice area heads and executive committee members, then it's a lot about leadership and management. That's where there's the most similarity to the business side or the executive side of my practice. Sharon: Do you work with people at all different levels, depending on where they are when they contact you or the firm brings you in? How does it work? Andrew: For firms, it's virtually all levels. Large firms will bring me in. I'll work with their professional development or talent development people. Most often, they have a high-potential associate and there may be a couple of things that they're struggling with. As I think most of your listeners will know, it's expensive to find new people and onboard and train them. You don't want to lose that human capital. So, coaching can be very helpful and cost-effective in helping those people overcome the problems they may be having. It may be something like time management. You have an associate who's starting to trend late on their deliverables. It's the work they need to get to partners. It's overly simple to say, “Oh, they need to work harder and faster,” or something like that. It may be an issue—it often is—where they're not doing a good job of pushing back against the people giving them work. There are lot of people all over the world and there are a lot of associates. They're hesitant to say no to a partner when a partner hands them a piece of work. What they end up doing is overloading themselves because they are overly optimistic about what they can achieve in a given amount of time. So, helping them learn how to push back is a way of dealing the time management issue. Sharon: I can see how it would be very hard to say, “I don't have time,” or “No,” to a partner. That must be very, very hard. Andrew: There's a skill and art to it, a lot of finesse. With some partners even more finesse. Sharon: Is there resistance? It seems like there would be. Maybe I have an old image of it, but it seems like there would be people who say, “I don't need coaching,” or “I've failed if I have coaching. Andrew: Happily, there's less and less of that. That sense of failure, I don't run into that much anymore. Usually with younger associates, they may feel like, “I should know this. This is a flaw in me. I'm not doing a good job of this.” Often, they're their most severe critics, so I make it very clear to people I coach that I'm not there to fix them. Seldom am I dealing with somebody who really has a risk of being fired from a firm. It's usually developmental. Usually, they're worth investing in, and the firm is spending money to help them become more productive and a tighter part of the firm. The one thing you did mention is that some people think, “I don't need coaching.” I'll initially talk to a prospective coach-ee—and this works on the executive side or the legal side. I qualify them, which sounds like turning them into objects, but it's coach-speak for talking to them to see if they're coachable. Not all people are. Most are very earnestly interested. They want the help. They're stuck. They don't know what to do, but they know they need to do something. Occasionally, you'll find somebody who points the finger at everybody else. They say, “I'm not the problem. It's their problem, if you could just help them.” That's not going to be a good coach-ee. The other thing you look for is a growth mindset versus a fixed mindset. People with a fixed mindset think, “This is all the intelligence I have, all the social skills I have. What you see is what you get. I'm not going to change. There's not a lot of room, if any room, for improvement.” Why spend time, energy, money on dealing with a person or trying to help a person who is saying, “This is where I am and I'm O.K. to be there”? There's no upside potential. You want people with a growth mindset who are curious, who are saying, “I want to learn how to do this.” It's a challenge. You want people who can say, “I've really messed up doing this. I can tell you about the last three failures I've had.” That level of self-awareness and candor makes for a great coach-ee. Sharon: I'm thinking there are some similarities. Sometimes a partner will say, “I know how to do it. I did it this way. They can learn how to do it this way.” Can that change? They may be resistant, or maybe they're not coachable. What do you think about that? Andrew: There's often a degree of resistance in making changes. There's a reason why we are the way are at a given moment. Often, it's because something has worked well for us in the past, and that's fine. It makes sense to me. It got you to where you are. Why change it? You don't want to take that risk. But that mindset ignores the fact that our world is changing really quickly. Let's use the example of working virtually. There were people that said, “No, I only want to have face-to-face meetings.” This goes for coaches and their coaching sessions as well as clients and people in their firm. But the world changed, and all of a sudden, we got a lot better working virtually. Sometimes you do run into people who are resistant. If you're coaching them, you can start to work with them on resistance. You can say, “I can see why this would work for you. I can see the track record. I'm curious. What do you imagine might happen if you tried doing this differently?” I will lay out a scenario of what different would look like. When you start to engage them in that conversation, that's where you listen and hear what their fears are, what their expectations are, why their fears may be justified. Often, they're not. They're thinking something horrible will happen, and you can say, “There is that risk, but here's the opportunity. What do you think?” So, you can subtly, gently shift them. Sharon: It sounds like you have opened up people who were closed when you walked in. Andrew: Yes, all the time. Sharon: I know you went to the Institute of Management Coaching. Andrew: No, my training didn't include IMC. In terms of management training, I did get my MBA from Marshall School of Business at USC. The learning group supplemented a lot of that. A lot of it was self-study, but I also took workshops and got certified in Essential Facilitation. That was something I found extraordinarily helpful and is a big part of the work I do. There was also action science, which is, again, organizational development oriented. It helped me to understand the dynamics of organizations. The other thing in terms of training was my coaching training. One thing about coaching that is very different from lawyering is how you become a lawyer. Typically, you're doing your undergraduate work; you're going to law school; you have to take the bar exam. There are a lot of steps, a lot of certifications, that help with quality control. On the complete other side of the picture, we have coaching. You want to be a coach? Go to your stationery store or big office supply place, get cards printed up that say “coach,” and you're a coach. There's very little in the way of, at least, governmental oversight. The last I checked, which was a few years ago, I think the only state that said anything about coaching in their laws was Colorado. It said that coaching is not considered a mental health profession, so it was excluding coaching. Nothing about what you have to do to be a coach. So, it's incumbent upon coaches to get training. There are a few organizations that sanction training and offer certification. I'm an International Coach Federation Professional Certified Coach. Boy, is that a mouthful! ICF is probably the leading and most well-known organization for certifying coaches. It's not the only one anymore, but it is an effort to raise the standards of the profession and to make sure that people who are using coaches get somebody who knows what they're doing. Sharon: Did you have to take some training and go through at least one class? Or could you just send in your money? Andrew: That's a great question. There are some organizations where basically you're paying to be on an online list of certified coaches in the area. That exists. I shake my head in dismay about that. As far as I see it, you have to go through an approved training program. Mine was Newfield Network. It was a nine-month program. I think we met three times for three or four days in person. There was a lot of virtual work, albeit this was so long ago that it was by telephone in between. It was rigorous. There are several good coaching programs. ICF approves them. They have lists of them. What we're seeing more of, both on the executive side and in law firms, is that they want people that are certified coaches. Certification of a coach doesn't necessarily mean they're the right coach for you or they're a great coach, but it does mean they've taken it seriously enough that they put time and effort into it. They know what they should be doing. Hopefully, they're also doing it. Sharon: You've been a lawyer and an executive, but being a lawyer, I can see how that gives you so much of an advantage. I'm thinking about how many times we've had to write a press release and weren't exactly sure—we did know, but we're not lawyers. It gives you an advantage. Andrew: Yeah, it does help. Especially in the past, it helped a great deal. If you look at studies of lawyer personalities versus the general population, lawyers typically are slower to trust other people. It makes sense. It's not a bad quality to have considering how we need to protect our clients' interests. But I found that lawyers and administrators in law firms are very happy that I have a legal background. There was this one moment relatively early in my career where I was sitting across a managing partner's desk. He was starting to explain to me realization rates, and I held up my hand and said, “It's O.K.” He stopped and went, “Oh, that's right. You've practiced.” His shoulders sank down a couple of inches, and he sat back in his chair and said, “That's so nice that I don't have to go through all that explanation.” Understanding the context of what goes on in a law firm helps a tremendous amount. So, that is good. With that said, not everybody has to have a legal background. But I think some of the most effective coaches I know do have that background. Sharon: I can see how that would make you very effective, especially being on the other side of the desk in any capacity. If you were a lawyer at one point, you know about doing the work and getting the work. There's a difference there. I love the name of your firm, New Actions. That's what all of this is about, right? Andrew: You nailed it, Sharon. Especially when I started the firm, there was, like I said, a limited understanding of what coaching was about. Coaching can be these wonderful dialogues and interesting conversations you have with a coach-ee. What you want to do is get results—at least, that's my philosophy—and the results are helping people make changes. Where they are doing is not satisfactory for some reason. They may be unclear about a direction. They may need new skills. They may have difficultly working with people in the system of their organization or getting past that knowing-doing gap we talked about. It could be all those things, but people have to start taking new actions to get new results, better results. That's where the name came from. Sharon: Do you think results last? Maybe they try the new actions once or twice and say, “Oh, that's different,” but then they forget. Maybe I'm personalizing it. I'm thinking you forget. Andrew: Yeah, as I said earlier, there's a reason why people do the things the way they do. It's easy for people to revert back. That's one of the problems we find with training in a business or a professional firm environment. I'm sure you experienced that in doing trainings with lawyers and seeing they've learned all this new stuff. They'll do it for a couple of months, but without reinforcement, people do start to revert back to old behaviors. The six-month mark is my ballpark estimate. I liken it to having taken a foreign language in high school. You don't take it in college. You don't go to that foreign country. You don't use the language. You lose it. It certainly happened with me. That is a problem. The difference with coaching is there is a reinforcement. Sometimes we do spot coaching or laser coaching. It may be three sessions. When it's really short, we're probably dealing with a specific issue or problem, but most executive coaching goes for six months. That's our target area. Often, it may extend a little bit longer than that. In the first part of the coaching, you're understanding the person, why they're doing what they're doing. Then you move into what they could be doing differently. In the middle third—and this is very rough as to the time—they're practicing the new skills, the new behaviors. They're understanding what works for them and what doesn't. The last third is really more practice. It's integrating those skills so they become second nature, almost automatic. That's where what you learn in coaching can become sticky, if I can use that term. After you finish coaching, it's going to stick with you. I was just thinking of this while on LinkedIn. A former coach-ee of mine posted that he got a promotion, and I sent him a congratulations. I got back a comment saying, “Thank you so much for your coaching. I'm still quoting you.” I coached him about four years ago. That was the kind of gratification I was talking about earlier, the difference between being a lawyer and being a coach. I don't remember what I said or what he's quoting, but it stuck with him. He's using it, and he's in a global world now. That made me very happy. I had a big smile for the rest of that day. Sharon: As a lawyer, when should I consider getting a coach? What would I be dealing with? What should I look for? Andrew: O.K., two different questions. Often, the lawyers I'm working with, their firms have contacted me or they've been instrumental. With that said, one positive trend I've seen is that younger lawyers are saying, “I would like a coach. I need a coach.” Lately a lot of them are saying, “I'm overwhelmed. I'm stressed. I have too much work for my ability to handle it. I need to get better organized.” They're initiating that. The first step for a lawyer at any stage of their career is that you're dissatisfied with the way things are. You may have a good idea of where that's coming from. You may sense, “I want to stop doing whatever I'm doing now,” but knowing what you want to stop doing is different from knowing what you need to be doing differently. The analogy or metaphor I use is think back to being on the playground. We had monkey bars, I think they were called. Those were the horizontal bars that went across. You grab one and then you swing to the next one. What you learned early on as a kid was that if you don't have some forward momentum, you get stuck. Then you would end up letting go and dropping to the ground. In making changes, you have to be able to release the hand that's on the back bar. Sometimes in coaching, it's unlearning what you were doing. If an attorney finds themselves in that position, that's where coaching might help. It's not a panacea. It's not perfect for everybody. I'm a good coach, but I'm not the right coach for absolutely everybody. Rapport is very important. Fit is a very important thing. Typically, when I work with somebody, I qualify them and they're qualifying me. Do they want to work with me? It's important that you feel a degree of comfort with your coach. As I've gone on, I think you can be too comfortable with a coach. You want a coach who can challenge you and be honest with you and be able to say, “No, I'm not saying this,” or “No, I don't think is working for you,” or “Hey, it sounds like there's an internal contradiction in what you're saying to me.” A lot of coaching is helping people get past their blind spots. We all have blind spots. That's not a failure. I think it's wired into us. Having another person there, especially an experienced person who can help us see what those blind spots are once you recognize you have them, that opens up a lot of possibilities for taking new actions. Sharon: You mentioned in some writings that you've helped people with difficult conversations. There are a lot of difficult conversations. Can you give us some examples in law? Andrew: There are two conversations that come to mind. One I alluded to earlier, which is pushing back on partners. Just recently I co-presented at a professional development consortium summer conference. It was a program on helping passive and timid associates learn to push back and manage up. For all the talk about law firms being flat organizations—and it's true; they do have fewer layers than a lot of business organizations—they're still pretty hierarchical. Younger attorneys can be overly deferential and very uncomfortable in saying no or pushing back. It can be a lot of different things. I don't have the bandwidth to handle work, like I mentioned earlier. How do you say that? This can especially be a problem if you have one associate who's getting work from multiple partners. Then it's like, “Well, I'd like to do your work, but I'm slammed.” That can be a difficult conversation for an associate. In helping them, one learns that they need to do that and it's O.K. for them to do that. Actually, if they're just a passive person who's not providing that information to the people who are giving them work, they're harming the firm, harming clients potentially, and definitely harming themselves. That is something that's come up a lot lately, at least enough that the presentation we did this summer was very well received and attended. It's something that professional development managers and directors in big law are hearing from their associates. That's one area. The second difficult conversation is around feedback. This is difficult in a way because it's not done enough. Often, in the rush of doing tasks and taking care of client matters, lawyers don't hit the pause button and spend time with the people who report to them and give them feedback on how they did. I remember this when I was a lawyer. You would finish a transaction. Rarely did we have the time to do a debrief. What worked well? What didn't? “This was great what you did. It really moved us forward. This is what you could have done differently that would have helped. Next time, maybe you can do it.” Feedback conversations are often missing. The other thing in feedback conversations is that they can be very top-down and done with a lack of curiosity about what was going on with the associate. Those conversations can take a more collaborative tone, become more of a dialogue, be less about the problem. “Here's the problem that came up on this case. We were slow in responding to every filing the opposition brought to us. Let's get curious about why that happened. What can we, not just associates, but all of us as a team do differently?” Those sorts of conversations. The hardest ones, Sharon, are obviously the conversations between partners in terms of strategy, direction, and compensation. Those are given to be difficult, and I do get pulled in to help. I'm a facilitator in those. I don't have a dog in the fight. I'm just trying to help people understand one another's perspective. What facts they're looking at, what their rationale is based on, trying to change it from a legal argument with pros, cons and who's going to win to more, “Let's look at the whole business of the law firm. Let's see what's good short-term and long-term for all of us, not just part of us.” Sharon: Each of these are very interesting scenarios. I give you credit for even being able to endure them, especially the first one. Covid probably changed this, but I do remember a partner saying, “What do they think evenings and weekends are for?” I always think of how partners would say, “This guy didn't make it in terms of client development. It was clear they weren't going to become a partner. I coached them out.” I always think about, “What did you say? How did you do that? Andrew: I'm not sure what coaching somebody out necessarily means. Let's stop here and think about lawyers as coaches. This is one of the things in my first book that I went into in some detail in one of the chapters. The skills for being a good lawyer, when you line them up against being a good coach, there's not a lot of overlap. Lawyers, to be good managers and leaders, they need to take off their lawyer hat at times. If they're coaching, which is a very potent, effective way of managing your people, you have to not approach it as lawyers. For an example, as lawyers, we often ask closed-ended questions. We're getting to the facts. In coaching, open-ended questions are much better. You want to see where the conversation is going to go. You want to learn more about what's going on with the other person. In coaching, you also have to be listening very attentively, not thinking about, “What am I going to say in response to this?” Again, I'm going back to one of the shifts I had to make when I made the transition. As a lawyer, I'm thinking, “This is what I'm hearing from opposition. Now, how am I going to counter that argument? What am I going to say next? How do I want to navigate this conversation?” It's more oppositional in that way. You really do have to take off the lawyer hat at times to be effective. Sharon: Your first book, “Lawyers as Managers,” talks about that. Am I remembering that correctly? Andrew: That's the second book with Marcia Wasserman. The first one was “The Lawyer's Guide to Professional Coaching: Leadership, Mentoring, and Effectiveness.” That was, I think, back in 2012. It's available now. I think you can find used copies on Amazon. The ABA still has it as an e-book. Coaching in the last 10 years has certainly changed within law firms. At the time it was written, it was to help lawyers and firm administrators understand the potential of coaching. I'm happy to say I think that potential is increasingly realized. I wouldn't say my book is responsible for that solely. Absolutely not, but it was one piece that helped. In “Lawyers as Managers,” Marcia and I look at the role that lawyers need to take as people managers. Lawyers are generally good managers when it comes to technical aspects. You give a lawyer a spreadsheet, they're probably pretty good at dealing with it. Things like budgets. When you come to the more interpersonal stuff, like client development, lawyers aren't as good. When it comes to people management, there really was a lack of understanding. Marcia originated the idea. We were at a meeting, and she said, “I'm looking for some materials on leadership and management for lawyers. Do you have any?” I said, “I have a few articles I've written for bar associations, but most of the stuff out there is general management and leadership. It's tailored for the executive committee, the business community.” A couple of months later, we had the same conversation. I said, “Marcia, we're going to have to write the book,” and she agreed. Little did she know what she was getting herself into. That, I will say, is the definitive book on people management for lawyers. Sharon: To end, can you tell us about one of the difficult conversations you've had? I don't know how many times I've stopped myself and just said, “I can't do it,” or “I'll go around it.” Andrew: I'll speak in general terms. Again, I'm going back to when I was first making the transition to coaching. I found a great deal of difficulty in having uncomfortable conversations where I had to deliver bad news. I had to tell somebody what they were doing was not working at all. It wasn't even neutral. It was really harming them and other people. In short, they were really messing up. I was very gentle. I was bypassing. I was softening, diluting, sugar-coating messages that needed to be heard. I realized that I was playing nice. I didn't want to upset the other person. I didn't want to feel my own upset in doing this, so I wasn't providing value and the proof that they were making the changes they needed to make. This was maybe in my first two or three years of coaching, and I started to realize this isn't good. I was stuck and working with my coach at that time. I realized I had to let go of my personal discomfort if I was going to be more helpful to my clients, and I started to make the change. Now, I am honest. Sometimes people will say, “Can you predict or guarantee any results?” and I go, “No, absolutely not. Coaching at heart is a partnership. We're working together. I can't fix you. I can't wave a magic wand. It's on both of us. I'm here to help you, but just like I can't wear your clothes, I can't do everything for you. We're going to work together.” I do make three promises. One, I listen. I listen very attentively to what my coach-ees say and what they're not saying. The second thing is I am honest. I am very honest. I will not hold back in terms of what I'm hearing or the impact it's having on me. If a coach-ee is saying something and I'm not believing them, I'll say that. I need to. If I think something is B.S., it's the same thing. If I think they're fooling themselves, same thing. There are times where I have to deliver tough feedback. The third promise is I'm compassionate. I don't beat people up in the process. I won't sugar-coat, dilute, or bypass. I deliver the message, but I understand they have feelings. In giving them this feedback, it may affect their emotions and their own identity as a person and a professional. I'm aware of it and sensitive to that, but I still get the message across. I figure that in the first two or three years of my coaching, I was sugar-coating. For the last 22 years, I think I have a good record of being straight with people and getting results. Sharon: Andrew, I'm sure you do get results. Thank you so much for being with us today. Andrew: It's been a pleasure. I've enjoyed it immensely. Thank you, Sharon.
A well-managed law practice is both profitable and enjoyable. In this episode, we'll review the key elements required to turn your practice into an easy-to-run, enjoyable business. Show Notes The Law Firm Systems Workshop (start learning as soon as you register) My 'Inner Circle' - a private online discussion group for solo & small firm lawyers. Thanks to Our Sponsors "ChatterBoss is an incredible remote executive assistant company that helps solopreneurs and small businesses grow quickly and save money. Your dedicated ChatterBoss assistant can help you with case management, billing support, email optimization, social media, process building, automation, and more. They even have on-demand paralegals and legal assistants. The service is customized to your budget and is on-demand, so you are able to work with your assistant as much or as little as you need throughout the week. The minimum monthly spend for a dedicated executive assistant is only $200/month. The best way to get started is to schedule a free consultation and find out exactly how the service works. Click this link to schedule a free 30-minute call, and you'll get a special 15% discount when you sign up with ChatterBoss." Smith.ai is an amazing virtual receptionist service that specializes in working with solo and small law firms. When you hire Smith.ai you're actually hiring well-trained, friendly receptionists who can respond to callers in English or Spanish. If there's one great outsourcing opportunity for your practice, this is it. Let Smith.ai have your back while you stay focused on your work, knowing that your clients and prospects are being taken care of. Plans start at $210/month for 30 calls and pricing starts at $140 for 20 chats, with overage at $7 per chat. They offer a risk-free start with a 14-day money-back guarantee on all receptionist and live chat plans including add-ons (up to $1000). And they have a special offer for podcast listeners where you can get an extra $100 discount with promo code ERNIE100. Sign up for a risk-free start with a 14-day money-back guarantee now (and learn more) at smith.ai. EPISODE CREDITS: If you like this podcast and are thinking of creating your own, consider talking to my producer, Danny Ozment. He helps thought leaders, influencers, executives, HR professionals, recruiters, lawyers, realtors, bloggers, coaches, and authors create, launch, and produce podcasts that grow their business and impact the world.
Mala M. Rafik of Rosenfeld & Rafik, PC, in Boston and Susan Letterman White, JD, MS, of Letterman White Consulting in Quincy discuss why visible leadership matters when it comes to creating a more fulfilling law practice in this excerpt from MCLE's 5/10/2022 live webcast, Finding & Building Meaning in Your Law Practice. The full program is available as an on demand webcast or an MP3 here. Get 24/7 instant access to hundreds of related eLectures like this one—and more—with a subscription to the MCLE OnlinePass. Learn more at www.mcle.org/onlinepass.
The hybrid workplace is here to stay. What are the ethical issues and solutions for distributed workforces practicing from various locations? The panel discusses the impact of a virtual or hybrid workplaces on work-life balance, interpersonal relationships, and career development in this podcast, excerpted from MCLE's 1/24/2022 program: Ethical Issues & Solutions for Practicing in a Hybrid Workplace. The full program is available as an on demand webcast or an MP3 here. Get 24/7 instant access to hundreds of related eLectures like this one—and more—with a subscription to the MCLE OnlinePass. Learn more at www.mcle.org/onlinepass.Speakers:Stacey A.L. Best, Lawyers Concerned for Lawyers, Inc., BostonJayne R. Reardon, Illinois Supreme Court Commission on Professionalism, Chicago, ILFrederic S. Ury, Ury & Moskow LLC, Fairfield, CT
Many law practice management software vendors have been working to provide one-stop shop platforms that meet all the basic needs of a law firm, thereby streamlining processes formerly served by multiple vendors. Sharon Nelson and Jim Calloway discuss all the latest trends and happenings (including the Affinipay's MyCase acquisition) with industry expert Niki Black. She talks through processes for choosing software for your law firm and explains how to find the functionality that will best meet your needs. Niki Black is an attorney and the Legal Technology Evangelist at MyCase.
Many law practice management software vendors have been working to provide one-stop shop platforms that meet all the basic needs of a law firm, thereby streamlining processes formerly served by multiple vendors. Sharon Nelson and Jim Calloway discuss all the latest trends and happenings (including the Affinipay's MyCase acquisition) with industry expert Niki Black. She talks through processes for choosing software for your law firm and explains how to find the functionality that will best meet your needs. Niki Black is an attorney and the Legal Technology Evangelist at MyCase.
Jennifer Whigham talks with Lawyerist's legal tech advisor, Zack Glaser, about the components to a successful law practice management system. If today's podcast resonates with you and you haven't read The Small Firm Roadmap yet, get the first chapter right now for free! Thanks to Albatross Legal Workspaces, Postali, and Posh Virtual Receptionists for sponsoring this episode.
Jennifer Whigham talks with Lawyerist's legal tech advisor, Zack Glaser, about the components to a successful law practice management system. If today's podcast resonates with you and you haven't read The Small Firm Roadmap yet, get the first chapter right now for free! Thanks to Albatross Legal Workspaces, Postali, and Posh Virtual Receptionists for sponsoring this episode.
Laura Keller of Mass LOMAP offers best practices management tips for running a thriving law practice in this podcast, excerpted from MCLE's 12/17/2021 live webcast, How to Make Money & Stay Out of Trouble. The full program is available as an on demand webcast or an MP3 here. Get 24/7 instant access to hundreds of related eLectures like this one—and more—with a subscription to the MCLE OnlinePass. Learn more at www.mcle.org/onlinepass.
What you'll learn in this episode: What law firm culture is, and why it affects clients as much as it affects staff Why law firms should look at their policies with fresh eyes post-pandemic How firms can use technology to enhance communication When it makes sense for firms to use a hybrid work model, offer hoteling, or open smaller satellite offices How to maintain firm culture when staff is remote About Marcia Watson Wasserman Marcia Watson Wasserman is a published author and co-author of the books: Law Office Policy, Procedures, and Operations Manual – Seventh Edition (ABA 2022), and Lawyers as Managers: How to Be a Champion for Your Firm and Employees (ABA 2017). She is a Fellow in the College of Law Practice Management, one of an elite number of consultants who have earned this honor. Marcia serves as Columns Editor on Law Practice magazine's editorial board and is a member of the Publishing Board of the ABA's Law Practice Division. Additionally, Marcia frequently presents law practice management topics for legal and business conferences while also contributing articles on law practice management to leading legal publications. Prior to founding Comprehensive Management Solutions, Inc. in Los Angeles, Marcia served for over 15 years as Chief Operating Officer and Executive Director for several national and local law firms, including an AmLaw 200 firm. Earlier in her career, she served as Director of Law Firm Services and Director of Client Advisory Services for two, mid-sized CPA firms in Southern California. Additional Resources: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marciawwasserman/ Website: www.comprehensivemgmt.com Law Office Policies, Procedures, and Operations Manual, Seventh Edition Lawyers as Managers: How to Be a Champion for Your Firm and Employees Transcript: After decades of incremental change, the pandemic forced many law firms to embrace technology, rethink work traditions, and evaluate their culture almost overnight. According to law practice management consultant Marcia Watson Wasserman, these changes have been a net positive, even though they've raised new questions about how to manage a law firm in the post-pandemic landscape. She joined the Law Firm Marketing Catalyst Podcast to talk about how firm culture trickles down to clients; what technology firms should be investing in; and how firms can embrace remote work. Read the episode transcript here. After decades of incremental change, the pandemic forced many law firms to embrace technology, rethink work traditions, and evaluate their culture almost overnight. According to law practice management consultant Marcia Watson Wasserman, these changes have been a net positive, even though they've raised new questions about how to manage a law firm in the post-pandemic landscape. She joined the Law Firm Marketing Catalyst Podcast to talk about how firm culture trickles down to clients; what technology firms should be investing in; and how firms can embrace remote work. Read the episode transcript here. Sharon: Welcome to the Law Firm Marketing Catalyst Podcast. Today, my guest is Marcia Watson Wasserman, Founder and President of Comprehensive Management Solutions. Her company provides COOs with to-go law practice management consulting and coaching services to boutique and midsize law firms and their managing partners. Marcia is also coauthor of several books on the subject of law firm management. Her most recent book, coauthored with consultant Cynthia Thomas, is the seventh edition of “Law Office Policy, Procedures, and Operations Manual,” published by the American Bar Association. Today, we'll look at how efficient law office management facilitates good marketing. Marcia, welcome to the program. Marcia: Thanks for having me, Sharon, Sharon: So glad to have you. As I was saying, it's such an accomplishment to have not only coauthored this book, but to have a list of books you've coauthored. Tell us about your career. You have an impressive track record in the area of law office management. Tell us about your career track. Marcia: It all started accidentally when I was an undergrad at UCLA. When I was a sophomore, I saw a job on the job board. It was a part-time job working for an attorney. I took that job and learned how to be a legal secretary and a paralegal. I was the backup bookkeeper and office manager and eventually became Executive Director of several law firms back in the 1990s. I was also COO of an AmLaw 200 firm. I decided I wanted to be an entrepreneur and that consulting was far better suited to me, so that's what I started doing, consulting to law firms. For the last 20 years, I've led a managing partners roundtable of boutique and midsize law firms and enjoy doing that, too. Sharon: I remember when you started it. That's how long we've known each other. Even before that, but I do remember when you were starting that. Tell me about law firm culture. How does that affect employee satisfaction, and how does employee satisfaction affect or facilitate good marketing? Marcia: I want to quote a law firm futurist, Jordan Furlong, because he says it so well. Culture is what people at the firm actually do every day. In harsher terms, it's what people get away with. Culture is what actually happens. So, what type of culture you have has an impact on who you hire, whether people are happy, whether they stay with you and how you communicate with clients. If you don't have motivated employees, your clients are not going to be happy with you. If you have people phoning it in and not really dedicated to serving clients, it's going to have a huge impact on your clients. If you have a great positive culture, then you not only have good employees, but you have clients who are drawn to you as well. You become known for your brand and people seek you out because it's an important part of your own attempts at business development and marketing. If you have a good culture, it gets known. Suddenly, you're on the best law firm list for employees and your client base expands. Sharon: Is that the way law firms should review and assess their current policies? Especially post-pandemic, when everybody's ramping up again, how should law firms assess their policies and procedures? Marcia: They need to look at them with fresh eyes. You may have done something for many years because it made sense, but after the pandemic, when law firms discovered we could work virtually—least most positions could—you need to look at every single thing you do with fresh eyes. There were certain things that were temporary, governmental regulations that you had to put in place because of the pandemic, like mask wearing and cleaning and not allowing clients to come to our offices. Now a hybrid workplace is the new normal. We'll see how that plays out over time, but people reevaluated what they wanted, which has an impact on culture and has an impact on clients. It isn't just the firm that has that in mind; it's the clients as well. Clients don't necessarily want to get in the car for an hour and drive to you. I heard family lawyers and estate planning lawyers say, “Oh no, it will never work. They're used to coming in. It's a very close relationship, and they want to come to the office. We have to have these really nice, big offices for them.” The reality is that's not what the clients necessarily want. The clients can do a Zoom or a Facetime or whatever works for them, and they're very happy to have a relationship with you that way. There may be a time and place where they do want to meet with you in person, but not necessarily as much as lawyers would have assumed they would. So, you have to have policies in place that take all of those things into account. Demand has changed as to what clients' expectations are. Some of it has to do with the age of your clients. A lot of this is generationally driven, namely the younger lawyers and staff and clients who are Gen Z or Millennials, who have a very unique spin on what work and work/life balance means. If they're a client, they want to work with a law firm that understands that, so you'd better be marketing appropriately to your clients, know who your clients are and have the right people there. A Gen Z client or even a Millennial will not necessarily want a near-retirement Baby Boomer as their attorney, so you've got to pay attention to relationships. There are certain policies you have to have that are formal, like leaves of absence and antidiscrimination, but if you're looking forward, what do you want your firm to look like? Make those policies to take into account a hybrid workplace. Be culturally and otherwise diverse and have fun things in your policies, too. Have a fun committee, whether it's virtual fun or nonvirtual fun. It makes a difference. Sharon: I know a lot of companies learned how to use technology because they were forced to learn how to use technology, whether it's a law firm or a different kind of business. They said, “This will never work with virtual or a hybrid law firm.” What kind of technology have firms been implementing? How are they going to be doing this differently? What have they learned during the pandemic, and how are they going to be operating differently in terms of technology? Marcia: There's so much available with technology. Even the Zoom we're doing today, if the pandemic had happened 10 years ago, we wouldn't have had a good medium like this to communicate. Communication is so important, and technology is right there with us, leapfrogging ahead of what the law firms were expecting. I know of immigration law firms and certain plaintiffs' firms that are using chat boxes and fillable forms. That's how they do their prescreening; they've designed their software to prescreen potential new clients. It makes it a little more seamless for the client. They can go on to somebody's website and fill out a form, so they don't waste time waiting for somebody to call them back. They're able to immediately get that information to the firm. Somebody reviews it and gets back to them much more rapidly at the intake stage. There are document management systems that some firms were lazy about; they didn't want to make the investment. If you have those systems in place, you can share documents with clients much more easily. When you're setting up workflow and processes, usually firms look at it totally from an internal viewpoint of what's easy for them. They need to be outward-facing and think, “How will this work for our clients? How can we be more efficient so that our fees are fair, we can get things done faster for our clients and we can share documents with our clients?” Even if you've got a brainstorming session with a client on Zoom, you can use a whiteboard on Zoom or whatever other software you're using. You're able to communicate that way and use technology to enhance communication that you wouldn't otherwise have. Sharon: That's an interesting point about the fact that if the pandemic had happened pre-Zoom, I wonder if it would have lasted as long. Everybody would have pushed to be able to get back into the office. It's an interesting question. I saw some ads recently for law firm marketers. They talked about the fact that it was a hybrid environment and I thought, “If you had suggested that 10 years ago, five years ago, the employers would have said, ‘Forget it! We're not going to do it that way.'” Marcia: There are still employers who are behaving that way. I know of law firms that said, “We're important because we're employment lawyers and our clients really need us; hence, everyone needs to come back to the office one month into the pandemic. We'll spread people out and do our best to do what we can do, but everybody needs to be back in the office. My legal secretary has to be outside my door to do the things I need. It can't be done remotely.” The firms that took that position lost a lot of their lawyers and staff who said, “No, it's not safe, and that's not what I want to do.” Sharon: In terms of lawyers working remotely or in hybrid environments, is that going to remain, especially with younger lawyers? Have they seen the way it might be and said, “I'm not going back to what it was”? What do you think? Marcia: Some of it depends on where you live. In a congested area like Los Angeles, where both of us live, yes, hybrid will happen because people realize, “Wow, I don't have to be in a car two or three hours a day commuting. I'm so much more productive. I can get more work done. I can be with my kids. I can have more of a balanced life.” The younger lawyers are driving that and demanding it and saying, “As long as I'm getting the work done, what does it matter?” Now, when hybrid comes in, there's a time and place where getting together makes sense. If you're onboarding new people, you can do it virtually; there are best practices for doing it, but there's a lot to be said for a brand-new person to come in and actually meet people and get walked through things. There's a time and a place for a team meeting. If there's a group of people that work together on a particular client and an important event is coming up, a trial or whatever, it makes sense for them to be in the office the same day. Even though a lot of clients say, “We don't need to come in,” there may be a client that wants to come into the office, and that's also the time the team should be there. But I'm seeing a lot more willingness to let people adjust their schedules, and everybody's a lot happier. It depends. Your older lawyers who are accustomed to coming to the office all the time swear they can't work at home; they just can't do it, so they've been going into the office throughout the pandemic. There are younger lawyers, too, who say, “I have roommates; I have a one-bedroom; I can't work and live in the same place. I don't have enough space. I can concentrate better in the office,” and they've been going to the office the entire time. The great majority of them say, “Hey, I want some balance in my life. This is really working, and as long as I get the work done, give me the autonomy and the authority to get it done my way, as long as I'm meeting deadlines.” A lot of that has to do with how well your communication systems are in place. I do hear that people are worried about losing their culture because everybody's operating more in a silo. So, you have to work at that. Sharon: How do firms have to operate differently? You mentioned communication. How about telecommunication? Do law firms have to strengthen or change their management policies around that communication? You have to work harder, I presume, to keep a culture. Marcia: You do, and that's why firms are having things like happiness committees where they come up with events, virtual or otherwise. There are firms I know that have done walks on the beach during the pandemic just to keep people engaged, or they had everyone met at a park and bring their own lunch and stay socially distanced just to see one another. I know a few firms that had retreats at remote locations during the pandemic. They had everyone take Covid tests and made sure they were O.K., and nobody got sick because they were very careful about what they were doing. A lot of it depends on what your culture was to begin with and how friendly an environment you were. Are you a new firm? Are you a firm that's been institutionalized for 40, 60 years and you're used to doing things one way and you don't like change? Lawyers don't like change anyway, so you need to manage a little bit differently, and communication is an important part of that. Everyone likes to be communicated with in a different way. Some people are happy to text one another and use Slack, and other people want to use video more. Every circumstance requires a different situation for communicating, both as to what the individuals' preferences are and the circumstances of what you're communicating about. People shouldn't just endlessly do Zooms. Everybody is burned out on Zoom. Meetings should be intentional. They should have agendas. There's a time and place for people to meet in person, and a time and place to have a group Zoom meeting or a one-on-one. Sharon: I like the idea of the fun committees and walks on the beach. Those are great ideas in terms of keeping something cohesive during the time when you're supposed to be spread apart. I've read about law firms opening more branch offices, little satellite offices of one or two people. Is that happening, or is that an exception? What's the scoop on that? Marcia: I'd say, again, it depends where you live. If you're in a small town where everything is close by in Middle America, you don't need it. But in suburban areas that are spread out, yes, I'm definitely seeing it for a variety of reasons. One is to serve clients. It's to open an office closer to where your major clients live so they don't have a big commute to come see you. That's one reason. One firm I know, the senior partners live in the suburbs and they don't want to drive to the home office all the time, so they opened a branch near where they live to make it convenient. Now they don't have to come to the main office all the time. Another firm I'm aware of—and this happened a lot—when people were working virtually, many of the employees, staff and the lawyers decided they were going to move because they wanted more space. They moved farther away, in some cases another county away. We have L.A. lawyers who've moved to Orange County and San Diego County. We have lawyers from the west side who had a small apartment and said, “No, I want something bigger for my family.” They bought a house out in the suburbs, an hour and a half drive from their office. Suddenly the firms are finding out about it later, after the fact, and saying, “O.K., what can we do to keep these people?” One firm I know has downsized their main office in L.A. and built a big branch because so many of their people moved into the area where they've opened the branch. The branch office is probably as large as the main office now. They did it to accommodate people's lifestyle and commute and to make sure their employees were happy. Sharon: Are you seeing established law firm offices in Century City or downtown shrinking their spaces? Marcia: Absolutely. They're doing more hoteling. It depends where they are in their lease. If their lease came up during the pandemic, almost universally they've reduced their space. If they still had time to go, they put up with it or renegotiated with their landlords to extend the term and make it less expensive, or they gave up some of their space. A lot of people are subleasing space. I have a client that is looking to move into subleased space because their lease is up. Just in their own building, they've had offers from several different law firms to move into subleased space. These other law firms—that are well-established law firms—have too much space. They're doing a lot more hoteling for lawyers, just like CPA firms have done for a long time and commercial real estate brokers started doing a number of years ago. It was always, “Oh no, lawyers can't do that.” Well, lawyers can do that. If you want to work at home three days a week and be in the office two days a week, if you don't need your own dedicated office with your plaques on the wall, you can have an office or a conference room. There's scheduling software that firms are buying that accommodates this. The receptionist has scheduling software so that when people come, it arranges an office for them, and they know where to go. That's another place where technology is helping, so you don't have three people showing up to share the same office on the same day. Sharon: When you say these are things that other industries have been doing for a long time, I worked for a large accounting firm 25+ years ago and they were starting hoteling. I guess it takes a pandemic to get the world to move. Tell us more about the book. I was looking at the information about the book on the jacket, and it looks like you can tear it apart, make your own templates and really use the book. Marcia: The main part of the book is an employee handbook. It's a multijurisdictional handbook because we weren't writing it for California or New York. We have readers in the ABA who live in Canada and elsewhere in the world, so we tried to make it as general as possible, while reminding people that you'd better make sure what the laws are before you adopt a policy that won't work where you are. We made that part of the book available online in Word format so you can take it if you don't have an employee handbook. It covers all the legal things you have to have about antiharassment and overtime and those kinds of things, but it also covers how to deal with technology and cybersecurity. We reached out to SMEs to write some of the chapters for us. Sharon: SMEs being? Marcia: Subject matter experts. My coauthor and I certainly aren't IT/technology/cybersecurity experts. That's such an important area. We reached out to four individuals from two companies who actually wrote that chapter for us, which includes model cybersecurity guidelines and policies for law firms. You can just take that and put in your handbook. That's one part of the book, and the book has been around since 1982. The original book was written by a lawyer in L.A. named Bernie Ralston. Bernie was a mentor and a friend to me along the way. I met him through Bar Association volunteerism over the years, and he would refer clients to me. Bernie is just about 100 years old, and he's still licensed to practice law in California and does arbitrations. I don't think he does a lot of work anymore; it's probably pro bono. He was the one who came up with the idea of doing this book, and here we are at the seventh edition. It's pretty special. Sharon: Wow! The seventh edition must have a lot of changes from the last version in terms of how you deal with post-pandemic issues and how you deal with cybersecurity. That has become such a huge area. Marcia, thank you so much for telling us about this. You've given us a lot of food for thought and ideas about where we can get answers, such as your book. The templates sound like a fabulous benefit for law firms. Once again, thank you very much. We greatly appreciate you being here today. Marcia: Thank you, Sharon, for giving me the opportunity to speak with you.
Business attorney Andrew Legrand is planning to go rafting in the Grand Canyon for 21 days during September, and will be completely out of touch with his law firm for a full month. How can he be sure that everything will continue to run smoothly while he's gone? Listen and find out. (spoiler alert: he relies on well-documented systems) Show Notes Andrew Legrand's Law Firm Website Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, by Carol Dweck Solo By Choice, by Carolyn Elefant How to Start and Build a Law Practice, by Jay Foonberg Ray Abadin's website (former president of the Florida Bar Association) Zapier (cloud-based automation service) Clio (most popular Law Practice Management software) Code, And Other Laws of Cyberspace, by Lawrence Lessig (explains how laws are just like software code) Phantom Ranch, Grand Canyon SweetProcess (the procedure-documenting software used and recommended by Ernie) Craig Ball (forensic examiner, tech-savvy attorney) BTW, I'd love to get your feedback or hear about your questions (which I'll answer in upcoming episodes). And if you download my free Solo & Small Firm Lawyers' Guide to Working Smarter I'll follow up and send you a few helpful emails to make it easy for you to take actions that lead to important results in your practice. Oh, and if you're interested in radical improvement for your law practice, check out my new Working Smarter course. Thanks to Our Sponsor Smith.ai is an amazing virtual receptionist service that specializes in working with solo and small law firms. When you hire Smith.ai you're actually hiring well-trained, friendly receptionists who can respond to callers in English or Spanish. If there's one great outsourcing opportunity for your practice, this is it. Let Smith.ai have your back while you stay focused on your work, knowing that your clients and prospects are being taken care of. Plans start at $210/month for 30 calls and pricing starts at $140 for 20 chats, with overage at $7 per chat. They offer a risk-free start with a 14-day money-back guarantee on all receptionist and live chat plans including add-ons (up to $1000). And they have a special offer for podcast listeners where you can get an extra $100 discount with promo code ERNIE100. Sign up for a risk-free start with a 14-day money-back guarantee now (and learn more) at smith.ai. EPISODE CREDITS: If you like this podcast and are thinking of creating your own, consider talking to my producer, Danny Ozment. He helps thought leaders, influencers, executives, HR professionals, recruiters, lawyers, realtors, bloggers, coaches, and authors create, launch, and produce podcasts that grow their business and impact the world. Find out more at EmeraldCity
This special spotlight episode of Behind the Lines: The Houston Lawyer Podcast corresponds with the Section Spotlight feature of The Houston Lawyer magazine. We are featuring the Houston Bar Association's (HBA) Law Practice Management Section in this episode. The spotlighted program is a hybrid (online and in person) CLE presentation provided by the section in March 2022. The CLE, entitled "The Best of the ABA Techshow 2022," was presented by Ruby Powers. The ABA Techshow is an event where lawyers, legal professionals, and technology experts convene once a year to share ideas, talk trends, and improve the legal profession. Ms. Powers attended the entire conference and spoke on two panels. Her presentation provides the key takeaways from the three-day event and highlights the useful tips that law practice managers can instantly put into place. Ms. Powers refers to some slides and websites in her presentation, and listeners can find those on the HBA's The Houston Lawyer webpage: www.hba.org/thehoustonlawyer. Note that because the podcast contains a recording of a live event, there is some unavoidable background noise. Ruby Powers is the owner and managing partner of Powers Law Group Immigration Law Firm in Houston. She is an active member of the HBA Law Practice Management Section, and she is on the Editorial Board of The Houston Lawyer magazine. "The Law Practice Management Section Provides information and resources to HBA members about building and managing law practices more effectively and successfully while maintaining the highest standards of the legal profession. CLE-approved programs focus on both fundamental principles and emerging trends related to building and enhancing client relationships; office management and supervisory issues; effective use of legal technology; billing and accounting practices; and professionalism." (Law Practice Management (hba.org)). John Meredith is the 2021-2022 Chair of the Section.Thanks to Ms. Powers, Mr. Meredity, and the Law Practice Management for sharing your program with Behind the Lines: The Houston Lawyer Podcast listeners. Listeners who are also HBA members are eligible for 45 minutes of Texas CLE credit. Visit Continuing Legal Education (hba.org) for more information.
E. Leigh Dance Corporate legal and compliance leaders turn to Leigh to help them improve performance, develop strategy, promote the value of legal/compliance, advocate for their business, lead remote global teams, organize their retreats and assist with particular needs. Leigh is known for her in-depth international experience, and her unique understanding of both buyers and sellers of legal services globally. Her entire career experience is multinational, including more than 20 years living and working in both the US and Europe. Leigh speaks English, French and Italian. Law firms retain Leigh and ELD International to: improve strategies and actions in select groups and geographic markets; organize client-facing programs to raise profile and build relationships with legal services buyers; and conduct research with buyers worldwide, to improve marketing and BD initiatives. Founder and Executive Director of the exclusive roundtable group, Global Counsel Leaders Circle, Leigh develops and moderates many of the Global Counsel Leaders programs, including those of the prestigious Leaders Circle. From 1999-2009, LexisNexis Martindale-Hubbell (LNMH) retained Leigh to organize and facilitate Counsel to Counsel: A Forum on Best Practices in Delivering Corporate Legal Services, an initiative she co-founded. She has participated in hundreds of corporate counsel roundtables in 23 countries on all continents. Building on a financial services and public policy background, Leigh was a VP at JP Morgan Chase for 7 years, where she had management and director assignment in product management, marketing, business development and new business launches, across 20 countries. A recognized thought leader, her articles on the role of the General Counsel, legal risk, regulatory challenges, governance and compliance have been published in The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, American Lawyer, Legal Week and other publications. Since 2015, she has been the Global In-House columnist for ALM's Corporate Counsel. Leigh's book BRIGHT IDEAS: INSIGHTS FROM LEGAL LUMINARIES WORLDWIDE, a collection of essays, is available on Amazon. Leigh has an MBA (high honors) in International Management and a BA, International Relations (honors). In 2012, she was inducted as a Fellow in the College of Law Practice Management and in 2016, she was a judge in the British Legal Awards. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/freeman-means-business/support
This show is sponsored by Leopard Solutions Legal Intelligence Suite of products, Firmscape, and Leopard BI. Push ahead of the pack with the power of Leopard. For a free demo, visit this link: https://www.leopardsolutions.com/index.php/request-a-demo/ As CEO of Fishman Marketing, Inc., Ross helps law, accounting, and other professional-services firms dominate their chosen markets and generate increased revenue. Regularly hired to rebrand prominent firms or overhaul their websites, Ross is known internationally for strategic marketing and differentiation, and the development of the profession's most-effective websites. Fishman Marketing has launched eye-catching marketing programs for 200+ firms from Boston to Bucharest. Fishman Marketing has received countless international marketing awards for innovative and revenue-producing branding campaigns, including national first-place honors from the Legal Marketing Association for 17 consecutive years. Ross was also the first legal marketer inducted into the LMA's International Hall of Fame. A Fellow of the College of Law Practice Management and a Kentucky Colonel, Ross is known as an “educational and entertaining” presenter who has keynoted more than 500 retreats, webinars, and Ethics CLE programs on six continents (see rossfishman.com). A prolific writer, Ross has published 500 bylined articles and blog posts and ten popular marketing books, including the definitive book on law firm strategy and branding, “We're Smart. We're Old. And We're the Best at Everything.” and (2) the best-selling “The Ultimate Law Firm Associate's Marketing Checklist.” Subscribe to his entertaining blog at fishmanmarketing.com/blog. Ross was a litigator before becoming a big-firm Marketing Director and Marketing Partner. He received a B.A. in Speech Communications, cum laude, from the University of Illinois, and his J.D. from Emory Law School. Links: https://www.fishmanmarketing.com/ Speaking demo video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ie9nu7Xdr1Q "250 of the Best and Worst Law Firm Brands and Websites in 2 Minutes.” https://www.linkedin.com/in/rossfishman/
Tim Corcoran is a keynote speaker, author, legal commentator, and the Principal of Corcoran Consulting Group. Tim is also a Trustee and Fellow of the College of Law Practice Management, former President of the Legal Marketing Association and a member of its Hall of Fame, an American Lawyer Research Fellow, a Teaching Fellow at the Australian College of Law's Master in Legal Business program, and a frequent presenter at lawyer retreats and legal conferences. Tim's mission is to guide law firms and leaders through the profitable disruption of outdated business models — including compensation. With over two decades as a senior corporate executive and a deep understanding of the psychology and economics of change, he knows how to navigate challenging discussions masterfully using actionable advice. In this episode… Many compensation models were put into place generations ago — and haven't been updated since. Why is it so important to adjust your compensation plan with the evolving industry, and how can you transition? The market is changing, forcing law firms of all sizes to demonstrate their expertise in order to sell against steeper competition. Nowadays, compensation should be based more on an individual's skillsets and contributions — rather than seniority. Although a compensation model is not a one-size-fits-all approach, your firm should be looking to reward innovation and talented employees who are winning more work for the company. Fortunately, Tim Corcoran says adjusting a compensation plan is not as complicated as you might think. In this episode of The Lawyer's Edge Podcast, Elise Holtzman is joined by Tim Corcoran, Principal at Corcoran Consulting Group, to talk about the best ways your firm can update its compensation model. Tim discusses the outdated compensation methods — and why it's important to evolve with the market, changes that impact how law firms should compensate, and where to begin when looking to update your model.
What's a Law Practice Management System? What's the purpose of using it? How does it help a firm or a lawyer in their day-to-day workflows and business operations? These are just a few of the questions that Jared, along with his guests, Joshua Lenon of Clio, Dr. Cain Elliot of Filevine, Matt Spiegel of Lawmatics, Tomas Suros of AbacusNext, and Karrtik Rao of Moxtra answered. Together, they discuss the most compelling feature-based argument for a law firm to adopt a case management software as well as how a law practice management system can help in integrating lead management and utilizing data. Highlights The guests for today's show: Who are they? - 1:15 Sharing their New Year's Resolutions: Should you do it or are they cliche? - 2:52 The most compelling feature-based argument for a law firm to adopt a case management software or move to a different one. - 8:09 The stats or KPIs that law firms should look for now. - 15:27 How does law practice management software effectively connect lawyers and staff to the law firm data that they can utilize? - 19:38 Why is having their own payment tools advantageous for lawyers and law firms? - 21:56 Can a law practice management system do a better job of integrating lead management and how? - 27:31 Law practice management software supporting the client interaction workflows. - 30:46 Episode Resources Connect with Jared Correia jared@redcavelegal.com https://redcavelegal.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/jaredcorreia https://twitter.com/RedCaveLegal Connect with Joshua Lenon, Cain Elliot, Matt Spiegel, Tomas Suros and Karrtik Rao https://www.abacusnext.com/ https://moxtra.com/ https://www.clio.com/ https://www.filevine.com/ https://www.lawmatics.com/
With multiple recent 8-figure jury verdicts in difficult cases, Sean Claggett is truly on a roll. But nothing Sean has accomplished is an accident. It is the culmination of his own personal journey to re-invent himself as a master trial lawyer and to pioneer the use of data-driven decision-making to maximize his results. Join us for our conversation with Sean as we explore his uniquely successful approach to winning at trial.We begin with a discussion of Sean's background and journey to becoming a trial lawyer. He recounts how he gave up trying cases and moved on to other things, before deciding to recommit himself to trial practice. With his newfound commitment, Sean spent several years learning as much as he could about trial strategy and technique and rehearsing his approach with regular focus groups. Armed with newfound confidence, Sean re-entered the courtroom and has had unparalleled success.Along the way, Sean explains how he adopted a data-driven approach to preparing for trial, using so-called "big data" metrics to identify his best trial cases, determine his likely win ratio and guide his approach to asking for money.The results speak for themselves.About Sean ClaggettSean Claggett is an established Las Vegas personal injury attorney and handles difficult cases across the country. Sean founded Claggett & Sykes Law Firm in 2005, and is the firm's lead trial lawyer.In 2017, Sean was recognized by his fellow trial lawyers of the Nevada Justice Association as Nevada's Trial Attorney of the Year.PROVEN TRIAL SUCCESSIn 2016, Sean had the fourth most influential verdict in the United States according to Courtroom View Network, stemming from a slip and fall at Lowe's in which his client suffered a TBI after she slipped, fell, and knocked down a three-foot yellow warning cone. Lowe's top offer before the verdict was $1,400,000.00, and the referring plaintiff attorney offered to resolve the case for $1,749,999.99. The jury returned a verdict in the amount of $16,430,000.00.Sean's trial success continued with two verdicts in 2018 in the amounts of $20,000,000.00 and $3,382,000.00. Sean's verdict of $20,000,000.00 was recognized as the fourth most influential verdict in the United States according to Courtroom View Network, stemming from a negligence case against an HOA for failing to maintain its swing set. The HOA's top offer before trial was $400,000.00, and the referring plaintiff offered the HOA to resolve the case for $949,000.00. The plaintiff in the case suffered a TBI.Sean's trial success continued in 2019 as he obtained a verdict of $645,814.33 in which there was a 16-day gap in treatment after the initial wreck, and then, after eight months of physical therapy treatment, there was a three and a half year gap in treatment before the plaintiff obtained further treatment for his back injury. The top offer from the defense was $50,000.00, and the referring attorney agreed to accept $180,000.00 to resolve the case prior to trial.Later that year, Sean received an honorable mention from Courtroom View Network as having one of the year's most impressive trials for his work on a medical malpractice trial where his client suffered a TBI. Sean asked for $63,000,000.00 in closing arguments and the case settled before the jury returned a verdict.In 2020, Courtroom View Network named Sean to its “Who We're Watching” list. Courtroom View Network says that after more than a decade of capturing trials for its streaming network, the lawyers on this list are its best of the best of the decade and are the lawyers that other lawyers should watch if they're looking to improve their craft.In 2021, Sean obtained a $38,750,000 verdict on behalf the mother of an 11-year girl who was killed by a garbage truck while crossing the street in a marked crosswalk. The top defense offer before trial was $1,000,000.EDUCATIONSean is a proud graduate from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. In 2000, he received a Bachelor or Arts in Political Science. Soon after, he graduated cum laude from UNLV's William S. Boyd School of Law in 2003. During his time at the Boyd School of Law, he was a staff editor of the Nevada Law Journal as well as a member of the National Moot Court team. As a law student he won the Society of Advocates oral argument competition.After graduating from Boyd School of Law, Sean was employed at a high-profile criminal defense law firm. After working for this firm for over two and a half years, Sean made the decision to start his own firm. On January 1, 2005, Sean opened his own law firm with a single client and one employee. Today Claggett & Sykes Law Firm has over 40 employees, including 15 attorneys.AWARDSIn 2009, Sean was elected by his peers to serve on the board of the Boyd School of Law Alumni Association. Sean has served as both the Vice President and President of this board. In 2010, Sean was named Alumni of the Year for the Boyd School of Law, which is the highest and most prestigious alumni award given by the school.Sean has also been recognized by Legal Aid of Southern Nevada for his Pro Bono work he has done over the year and also acts as an arbitrator for personal injury cases throughout the Las Vegas area. Additionally, in 2013, Sean became an adjunct professor at UNLV Boyd School of Law, where he currently teaches Law Practice Management.Sean spent several years as a dean and as a faculty member of a trial college where he taught thousands of other trial lawyers from across the country. Sean has been recognized by many attorneys as one of the top trial attorneys in Nevada and was named Trial Lawyer of the Year in 2017 by his peers. It is no wonder that attorneys all over the country have requested him to consult or co-counsel on cases that are proceeding to trial.Sean's success as a trial lawyer has allowed him to expand his philanthropic passion. Sean and his firm have donated both time and money to charities such as the Challenged Athletes Foundation, HELP of Southern Nevada, Three Square, Child Seekers, March of Dimes, Greg Maddux Foundation, Boy Scouts of America, and Boys and Girls Clubs of Southern Nevada, just to name a few.In his spare time, Sean enjoys cycling, playing and coaching baseball, traveling, and spending time with his wife and two kids.About the Elawvate PodcastThe Elawvate Podcast – Where Trial Lawyers Learn, Share, and Grow is where the practice of trial law meets personal growth. To succeed as a trial lawyer and build a successful law firm requires practice skills, strategic thinking and some amount of business and entrepreneurial savvy. Elawvate is a place to learn and share skills and strategies for success.But it is also a place to dig deeper and achieve personal growth.Those who succeed as trial lawyers at the highest levels cultivate character, principle, integrity, leadership, courage, compassion and perseverance. We learn and draw inspiration from those who have achieved this success.For more about Elawvate, visit our website at www.elawvate.fm. You can also join our Facebook Group at Elawvate | FacebookFor more information or to contact the hosts, see:(Rahul Ravipudi (psblaw.com) (Ben Gideon | Gideon Asen LLC)
Deborah is the founder, CEO and Strategy Architect of Content Pilot. Her vision has always been to elevate professional services organizations through smarter strategies, dazzling execution and a service ethic that starts with passion and ends with love and care.As a former head of two large law firm marketing departments, Deborah brings a leader's in-house perspective to every engagement with a professional services firm. Having conducted many hundreds of client interviews, she also brings the client's voice to every design, content and technology assignment.Deborah was inducted into the LMA Hall of Fame in 2008 and the College of Law Practice Management as a Fellow in 2007. She is also on the inaugural list of National Law Journal's “2013 Top 50 Legal Business Trailblazers & Pioneers” and proud to be included in LawDragon's Top 100 Legal Consultants every year since it began. In 2021, Deborah was recognized on LawDragon's Global 100 Leaders in Legal Strategy and Consulting.Watch Deborah's TED-style talk called #TheSunnySideofShame on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7GmmX-RX4Rc#CivilDiscourse #Conversation #Solutions #ToddFurniss #TFIP #Author #Speaker #Expert #TheSixtyPercentSolution #Ideas #Empathy #Perspective #CommonGround #Society #Business #UnitedStates #Access #Education #Competition #Consumer #Provider #Doctor #Deborah #McMurray #CEO #Strategy #Architect #Content #Pilot
Jared interviews Ruchie Chada, Rohit Parekh, Nikhita Iyar, Claude Simpson, and Joshua Lenon about the Law Practice Management Software being used by several law firms today. Each guest shares not only about the latest trend in law practice management but also what they think about the future trends in law practice management software. Highlights Introducing the guests of today's show. - 1:20 The main focus of today's topic. - 2:03 Icebreaker: How's your vacation? - 3:12 The latest trend in law practice management. - 10:31 Moving towards automation by using a case management system. - 15:34 What are the future trends in law practice management? - 18:29 Technology leads law practice management to be predictive, rather than reactive. - 23:58 The hidden gems: What are the most overlooked features of case management software? - 27:55 Episode Resources 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey Connect with Jared Correia jared@redcavelegal.com https://redcavelegal.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/jaredcorreia https://twitter.com/RedCaveLegal Connect with the Guests https://www.smokeball.com/ https://matter365.com/ https://moxtra.com/ https://smartadvocate.com/ https://clio.com/
Ida Abbott is the President of Ida Abbott Consulting, a consulting firm that has served employers, individuals, partners, and law firms since 1995. Most of her current work focuses on three areas: supporting retirement transitions by helping firms create dignified retirement processes and helping individuals design happy, fulfilling futures; promoting mentoring and sponsorship; and advancing women into leadership. Due to 40-plus years of valuable contributions as a lawyer and consultant, Ida was elected as a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation and a Fellow of the College of Law Practice Management, among so many other leadership positions she holds. Ida's best-selling book, Retirement by Design, was named one of the six best books on retirement and aging by the Wall Street Journal in 2020. Ida Abbot has been recognized nationally and internationally as a thought leader and innovator in developing, retaining, and managing legal talent. In this episode… Are you thinking about the prospect of retirement — whether it's in the near or distant future? Do you want to know how to process and plan for retired life effectively? According to retirement expert Ida Abbott, contrary to popular belief, the transition into retirement typically isn't like riding into a sunset. Instead, the process of retiring is long, difficult, and emotionally-taxing. However, there are many ways to prepare for a new way of life in retirement and help soften the transition financially, emotionally, and mentally. In fact, that's exactly where Ida comes in: to help people plan for retirement, regardless of age, socio-economic class, or career path. So, how can you start to prepare for retirement today to create an easier transition down the road? In this episode of The Lawyer's Edge Podcast, Elise Holtzman sits down with Ida Abbott, the President of Ida Abbott Consulting, to discuss the importance of planning for retirement. Listen in as Ida talks about her background in the legal profession, why people often avoid thinking about — and planning for — retirement, and some key factors to consider now before retiring later. Stay tuned!
Gina Rubel is the President and CEO of Furia Rubel Communications, an award-winning, woman-owned public relations and marketing agency that specializes in high-stakes public relations, reputation management, crisis planning, and incident response support for lawyers and law firms. Gina founded Furia Rubel in 2002, making it the first Pennsylvania marketing and public relations agency with a niche in the legal industry. Gina has written two books on public relations for lawyers and currently works with clients in 28 states and five countries. She founded and co-chairs the Philadelphia Bar Association's Law Firm Risk Management Committee and was recently inducted into the College of Law Practice Management as a fellow. Gina is also the host of the popular podcast, On Record PR. In this episode… We've all heard this argument before: law is a practice, not a business. There is often a heavy resistance in the legal industry when it comes to marketing and public relations, but, according to Gina Rubel, this can be detrimental to the future of your practice and your present business. Gina is the President and CEO of Furia Rubel Communications, one of the top legal marketing agencies in Pennsylvania. After starting her career in law as a judicial clerk and later diving into litigation, she noticed that there was a space in the industry that needed to be remedied: communications. Join Elise Holtzman on this episode of The Lawyer's Edge as she sits down with Gina Rubel, the President and CEO of Furia Rubel Communications. Gina talks about her transition from a career in law to a career in communications, her strategies for crisis and reputation management, and the importance of internal training when it comes to public relations. Keep listening.
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