Guest John Reed is a former practicing attorney and the founder of Rain BDM, a marketing firm that helps lawyers build exceptional relationships. Hear how professionals learn and play “the referral game.” 

Asking for referrals may not feel natural, even a bit awkward. But like any marketing campaign, it can be planned, initiated, and tracked. And it can be fun and rewarding. Don’t try to make a relationship “transactional,” just go out and meet and help people. Let it be more relaxed and natural. 

Hear about the “four questions” and a personalized “grid” plan that can get the ball rolling when you meet another attorney. If you’ve struggled with building intentional relationships with other attorneys and expanding your network, you’ll want to hear this free “relationships 101” lesson from a proven, experienced pro. 

• With new clients, take the time to set expectations and explain the process. Assumptions and miscommunication can lead to lower satisfaction when a client’s uninformed expectations don’t meet reality, even with a successful outcome
  
• Starting with a clear explanation of the process can lead to more favorable outcomes. Will the case go to trial, our would a settlement be better? How much would one route cost vs. another? Give clients the big picture. Real life is not a television TV drama.
  
• Is your marketing attracting the clients you want? Casting the widest net isn’t always the best choice. Explain who you are and what you do honestly. And then live up to those promises. (And for Heaven’s sake, get your tech in order. Clients today expect at least that: Hear the common tech shortfalls that turn clients off.)

This episode is kind of about marketing, but kind of about operations, but also kind of about AI, because tech is coming for every aspect of your legal practice. What developments will drive your firm forward, and what’s smoke and mirrors?

Lawyers who’ve been in the business long enough have gone from reviewing cases on paper and in books, maybe even yellow legal pads, to the Internet revolution, to online research and filing, to today’s AI revolution. Is AI remaking the practice of law, or just the next progression? (Spoiler, it’s kind of a big deal.) 

“I don’t know that we’ve ever trained lawyers how to buy technology in the first place,” Lambert says. Now add the complexity of AI, a tool you have to train, guide, and trust. Hear about the evolving world of legal tech, even developments you probably haven’t heard of, and the evolution of the profession, including the potential for non-lawyer ownership and private equity. Don’t fear or ignore the revolution, embrace it.

• A manager struggles to help an associate manage tasks and produce work on time, could tools help through redundancies and accountability.
  
• Daily “standups” or “scrums” can help legal teams clear logjams and stay on track. Christopher offers a concise explanation of how time management and accountability systems drive productivity.
  
• Assuring clients you have their best interests at heart is vital, especially when they think you’re “part of the system.” What are “The Four Agreements” and how can they help you understand clients and communicate? Ask, listen, and explain.  

If you’re at a smaller or mid-size firm, you don’t get a pass on marketing. You still need to reach potential clients. But you’ll have to do it on a smarter, scaled level. Guest Erika Steinberg spent decades developing marketing strategies for large firms, then she formed her own company, CMO2go, which helps smaller and mid-size firms develop and execute marketing strategies that fit their budgets. 

Don’t feel overwhelmed by the word “strategy” or be intimidated by the very idea of marketing. Strip it down to the essentials and take it step by step. A good marketing brainstorming can help you not only focus your strategies but also understand your firm’s goals and target audience. 

Are you committing the sin of “random acts of marketing?” Find out on this episode of the Un-Billable Hour.

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• After a new client comes on board, within a week, your team needs to check back in. This is your chance to delight. If there’s an issue, a misunderstanding, or a question, this is an opportunity fix it. Delighting a client is always better than simply satisfying a client.
  
• The right team answering incoming calls is vital. But how do you outsource that? How do you pay someone and where do you find them? And when is it time to hire your own, in-house, full-time employees to convert those calls to clients?
• Modern times lead to modern solutions. Today’s buy now, pay later tools can help your firm retain clients by helping them manage payments. Alternative fee arrangements work, and innovative payment methods can remove barriers to attorney/client relationships.

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She started by asking questions about how lawyers make money and build wealth. What does it actually mean to make partner at a firm? And she came to the conclusion that there had to be more, that she could do better on her own, knowing full well, as she says, running a law firm is “not for the weak of heart.”

In addition to driving the elder law and estate planning firm Flourish Law Firm she co-founded with her best friend, she’s also the host of the podcast “The Wealthy Law Squad.” She learned from corporate law that getting a salary and spending it on lifestyle isn’t wealth. Wealth is investing, creating tools that generate passive income, and building net worth. 

What can you invest in today that gives you the financial freedom to do whatever you want later? A “wealth mindset” is about creating freedom, not being chained to the golden handcuffs of a paycheck. What are you working toward?

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• When you attend a legal tech conference such as ClioCon, how do you keep from being overwhelmed by the firehose of information and new tech tools. AI? E-discovery? Vendors? Marketing? It’s a lot.
  
• Working in a rural area, it can be difficult to find and hire new attorneys. Step up your recruiting marketing and consider that with today’s remote tools, maybe your next hire doesn’t have to live in your region. 
• When hiring a non-attorney salesperson, how do you prepare them? Trying to teach them “the law” can be both irrelevant and perilous. Listening to potential clients and demonstrating how your firm can solve their problems is what matters.  

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With services available in Latin America, close to the United States, Amalga Group helps legal services providers and law firms with tasks such as record retrieval, paralegal services, discovery, transcription, and legal assistance. By employing teams in Latin America, employers get a similar time zone and a close cultural fit. 

AI is making great strides accomplishing routine tasks such as contract review, document retrieval, billing, and summarization. But AI can’t (yet) match the human capacity for making ethical decisions, understanding and solving nuanced problems, and finding creative answers.

Hear where Gould sees AI making gains and where it falls short and how law firms still need trained staffers to ensure accuracy and professional results, and how firms can adopt a hybrid model that leverages the capabilities of both AI and human near-sourced staffing. What will the new model look like, and how will successful firms meld tech and people? 

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• How do you implement origination percentages when a new attorney joins the firm. What’s important is clarity, making sure everyone knows who originated the case (and how, including prior websites, phone numbers, and relationships) and how those payments will be calculated.
• What if your new hire has a few existing cases in the pipeline? Can a new hire continue to work independently to wrap up existing cases on the side? Would these cases involve your professional liability policies or include the new hire using the legal software your firm pays for? 
• On any team, different members prefer different communication channels. But it’s important to develop consistent policies. Consistency matters because in a law firm, speed of retrieval trumps speed of information flow. The ability for any member to see the entire case at a glance is vital.

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As Barrett says, that “little red light” can seem like the devil. It’s hard to avoid looking camera shy and stiff. But she taps into 20 years of on-camera experience to coach and guide attorneys. Being on camera doesn’t come naturally, it takes training and practice. 

Barrett’s lessons apply across the board, whether you’re a lawyer offering an expert opinion, a law firm marketer producing content, or an attorney coaching clients to appear on video in recorded depositions. 

Think it’s not important? The reality is that today we’re all pretty much on camera all day. You are how you look, and connecting with your audience matters. When the camera turns its eye on you, do you look genuine and engaging, or do you look like you’re reading a hostage note? Improving your video skills is no longer an option.

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• The Un-Billable Hour takes on a very real move away from the “billable hour.” As Christopher says, the billable hour “is the worst thing that ever happened to law.” Clients pay for results, not time. Examine alternative fee structures as technology changes the practice of law.
  
• Young lawyers looking to maximize lifetime earnings have choices. Big firm partnership track or solo practice? Ask yourself if you have the “fire” under you to build a practice from nothing, because there’s no ceiling on earnings when you build your dream. But if that’s not you, maybe the big law firm path is right.
• No matter where you are, knowing where you want to get to is hard. Christopher explains how charting a career path takes a real, conscious effort, and it can change over time. Make time for contemplation and move with purpose. 

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Guest Carrolee Moore is the CEO and chief strategist at the Podcast Pitching Society, a firm dedicated to matching experienced experts to influential podcasts hungry for guests. Connect to listeners in your target audience, listeners who don’t know (yet) that they want to work with you. And pay you. 

Moore helps clients stand out as thought leaders, experts, and trend setters. If you’ve been listening to The Un-Billable Hour (celebrating its 200th episode right here), you know the value of podcasts. Maybe you’ve been that captive audience listening on your commute or your morning jog. Learn to become a sought-after guest and to turn those appearances into revenue. 

These are tips some traditional marketing agencies don’t want you to hear. Don’t hide your business or your expertise. You have wisdom to share, so get out there and shout. Reach new audiences that want to hear from you and hire you.

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• Growth is the big issue firms repeatedly face. Set reasonable expectations and know what you want. Is it revenue growth? Why? Is it a lifestyle? What does that look like? Growth without a destination in mind is a fool’s errand. As Christopher says, “Clarity of purpose aligns everything.”
• It’s vital to start planning for the future when you know your firm is at capacity, but you just can’t justify hiring more staff (yet). You feel pressure to expand, but you’re afraid of overextending. Make a detailed plan, don’t guess, and trust the process.
• Burnout. There’s no reason or excuse for it. Burnout stems from unreasonable expectations for yourself and others. Know your limits. Running yourself into the ground to meet unreasonable demands helps no one. Not you, and not your clients.

It starts with understanding the “hemispheres” of the brain and understanding yourself and how you think. The world is moving from a “left brain” logical type of approach to a more holistic, creative approach, tapping unconventional, big picture skills. The narrow approach learned in law school and practiced in the past is due for an upgrade. 

There’s a lot going on. Will AI make you more productive, or will it jam you up? Understanding today’s legal landscape and the new era of work demands your attention. 

Lear digs into how fast things are changing. AI is rewriting the very tech we use, and you can’t escape it, only keep up. Take a new look at the future of work, and, equally important, the future of money, outside funding, and the practice of law as a business. 

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EPISODE NOTES: 

In this episode’s discussions around the Community Table:

• A law firm owner finds an associate candidate who seems like a good “culture” fit and has great qualities. There’s potential, but not the experience and skills for this position. Does the firm take a chance and invest, find another role for the candidate, or look for a more polished attorney?
• What to do with an employee who doesn’t fit the office culture and struggles to communicate with coworkers? Even worse, efforts to develop communication skills fall flat. Can this ever work out? Christopher’s insights will surprise you.
• Where do you stand on the old mantra “hire slow, fire fast?” The panel challenges assumptions and adages that somehow seem to hang on.

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REFERENCES MENTIONED:

“Extraordinary Attorney Woo,” Wikipedia

Malcolm Gladwell’s Revisionist History podcast

Clio Legal Trends Report 

Cliocon 2025

AI has been put to work in a lot of “lawyer-adjacent” areas of law such as web design, intake, and billing, but Brittenham recognized the need for a model that helps lawyers practice actual law. 

He says AI won’t replace lawyers, but it may change how lawyers are viewed. If AI can automate mundane tasks, such as drafting paperwork, attorneys may be able to get back to their traditional role of a true “counsellor,” providing meaningful guidance.

Hear about what’s coming in the future and, more importantly, what’s here now. Start slowly, learn the state-by-state rules, and see where you can get in the game. If you’ve been curious about AI and how it will change the practice of law, you’ll want to catch this episode. 

• To meet client demand, firms are exploring alternative fee structures, such as flat-rate billing. Clients are paying for results, not hours. Today’s tech, including AI, can make your firm more efficient and settle cases faster. Hear how you can experiment with different fee structures and where they may, or may not, work. 
• Do you need a real receptionist, or can you get by with an outsourced, virtual one? There can be advantages. Clients today expect more, including 24/7 availability. Virtual receptionists can be available around the clock, and modern technology can offer lower costs, greater capacity, and add-ons such as multiple languages.
  
• As your firm’s footprint expands, you may consider opening an office in a new territory. Dig into the pros – and many cons – of expanding your reach and the creative alternatives to physical office space (even sending a ride-share company to pick up distant clients and bringing them to you).

Fretzin, an accomplished author, business strategist, and podcaster, works with law firms big and small to help them prioritize goals, build their business, and achieve measurable, repeatable successes.

Business development is more than buzzwords such as “branding” or “marketing,” it’s about the entire, intentional path to creating a business that is always growing, always producing. It’s the process of becoming the lawyer that everyone knows and everyone goes to: a rainmaker. As Fretzin says, “Be that lawyer.” 

Hear about “sales-free selling” with a thoughtful, insightful approach to learning what clients need before you start pitching a service. Develop a checklist, a map, for building your business that you can put to work today. Developing a business can be confusing, with a lot of moving parts. Fretzin explains how it all comes together.

• Grappling with a marketing refresh? Start with understanding you are an experiment of one. Asking someone else what’s working for them is a doorway to blind alleys. There is nobody just like you, so explore all options, ask yourself what you want to get out of it. You can’t copy what someone else does. 
• Learn and live “The Five Commandments of Marketing.” Have a call to action, know what you want to get back for the marketing spend, evaluate your results, learn from the outcome, and commit to the full process (don’t skip a step).
  
• Hiring a marketing agency is tricky. Manage the agency. Don’t let them take over. Hold them accountable with weekly meetings and reports. Make sure the agency has worked in your field and knows your market. Understand where your money is going, what amount of your spend buys marketing and what pays the agency.

Guest Jim Heininger, “The Rebrand Man,” founded and leads the firm Rebranding Experts. He is an experienced, highly successful brand consultant and brand activator. Branding, he says, is your strategic business accelerator, a “jet pack to success.” 

Don’t confuse branding with marketing. It goes deeper. Who are you? What’s your culture? What do people think about when they hear your firm’s name, and what do they expect from you? Hear how far you can go with your brand (and how far you should). 

Whatever you do, take a few minutes to soak up this insightful consultation with a branding expert who will get you thinking about who you are, what you stand for, and everything from your firm’s name to your message and culture.

• An attorney realizes she’s waited too long to fire someone and knows there may be repercussions. But sometimes, the cost of keeping a problematic employee outweighs the consequences of letting them go. What’s best for the firm? What if you can’t fill the position and work piles up?
• Nothing stays the same, even in marketing. Attorneys question the value of “pay per click” online advertising. Hear what firms are seeing, especially in Google ad words. Is the “golden age” of pay per click over? As rules change, you are one algorithm change from trouble. Communicate with your marketing team and diversify.                       
• Imagine if you had to move to a new city, or if you simply wanted to. If it’s not a corporate gig, and you’re hanging out a shingle, it takes some work to ramp up. Network, network, network. Develop a marketing plan that ensures your name gets out and clients can find you. 

Cliocon 2025

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Managing a business and your business taxes is more than handing over a stack of receipts to an accountant once a year. Many business owners don’t know enough about the tax system and miss opportunities to maximize earnings through intentional tax strategies throughout the year. Look at the future, not the past, when you think about taxes. 

Payroll, cash flow, metrics, records all matter and all fit together every day, not just at the end of the tax year. This requires a shift in your mindset. Keep more of your money, reinvest it in your business, and get more out of life. 

Tax strategy is not just for billionaires, it’s for you. Understand incentives baked into the tax code and how you can use tactics including the switch from sole proprietor to LLC or S Corp structures. Think this isn’t for you? Wait until you hear how much money, real money, you can save. Hear the actionable things you can start doing today.

• PLA? Professional law firm administrators. What you need to know and what they do. It’s not an office manager and it’s not an administrative assistant. Hear why you might need a PLA. As your firm grows, are you spending more time “running the business” than attracting clients and winning cases? Maybe you need a PLA. 
• While we’re at it, how about a non-attorney salesperson. Someone who is passionate will build your firm beyond simply sales. Propelling your brand is as important as getting a signature on the dotted line. Compensation, goals, motivation, there are so many factors.
• Understanding the difference between “wealth” and “money” is critical to your business. Money spent builds client lists (SEO, advertising, Google ranking), but building a referral network through a solid reputation builds wealth that never stops. One takes cash, one takes time, effort, and commitment.

Guest Karl Maier is a CFO and a business advisor at Abunden. He specializes in helping growing business manage systems and cash flow and putting it all into measurable terms. As you grow, you must know if the cash flow is growing. Maier helps businesses spot problems they aren’t facing today but may need to confront six months down the road.   

A growing business can appear profitable in the short term and still face a cash flow problem down the road. Paying staff and keeping the lights on as you grow requires cash and timely client payments. It’s a delicate game. You need to be sure clients are paying, and sometimes that’s elusive. 

If you’re a growing firm, or you want to be a growing firm, this episode will get you thinking. And it should. Nobody gets excited about spreadsheets – especially lawyers – but if you’re intent on growing your business, you must do this. 

• Getting the most out of your next networking event means actually networking with new people, not simply socializing with the people you already know. It’s OK if you don’t love networking events, but you do need to go to them.
• Your next networking event starts before you get to the door. Do some research, get in touch with the leaders of the program prior to the day. Introduce yourself in an email and let them know how eager you are to meet them and others.

• Consider making your own name tag, something that clearly communicates who you are. Maybe even wear a distinctive article of clothing, something that makes it easy for others to remember you. “She always wears yellow,” or “He has the red pocket square.” (And please, carry business cards!)
  

• Knowing how to network isn’t a given. If you’re in a leadership position at your firm, take a moment to teach younger associates how to work the room and develop connections. They don’t teach this in law school. 

Guest Andrea Liebross is the founder of her own firm, Andrea Liebross Coaching. She believes setting and achieving big audacious goals are best tackled through the implementation of solid systems, real goals, and the right (and ambitious) mindset. 

Are you getting where you want to go? Too often, we set our own limits. We stay safe and we stay small. We do things the way we’ve always done them because it’s safe. Hear how setting “big” goals and stretching your thinking helps you become “future you.” Give yourself permission to find out what you really want and where you want to be. And then make a plan to get there. 

Learn about Liebross’ “Think Big Toolkit” and the five components that can help you become “future you.” Don’t wait for things to happen to you, make the things you want happen.

• New year, new plan. And that’s the key: plan. Don’t stumble blind into 2025, instead hear what the experts say about reviewing the previous year and setting goals for the new one. Don’t keep doing the same thing and expecting different results.
  
• Sometimes your ship needs a rudder. If you need a COO, an “executive officer,” to manage the practice, part-time help is available. Experienced administrators take a load off your shoulders and teach others how to set a course and get where you want to go.
• What to do when an associate can’t manage retainers and payments? Being a good lawyer is only part of the job, making sure the firm gets paid is the other part. Sometimes an associate isn’t good at communicating financial information with a client. But if you’re a business owner, you have a responsibility to make sure the firm makes money.

How do you look at the path to building your firm and your wealth? It’s not intuitive. It takes thought, effort, and time. How’s your cash flow, and how much time do you spend thinking about it? Sometimes as a business owner you get so caught up in the day-to-day that you may not be spending enough time working on your financial picture. Hear how finance, scale, and cash flow management can build your business. And make no mistake, a law firm is a business. 

Hear about the small things you can do within your business that make your business work for you.

There may be no greater return than investing in your own business. Never doubt what you can do if you believe in yourself and your business. Hear how you can allocate capital more effectively for greater returns from your own business. As Laubscher says, “You don’t have to be a Rockefeller to do what the Rockefellers do.”

• There’s a time to take stock and reset. Understanding what you value and your internal motivations will help you guide your law firm’s growth. Think about what gets you out of bed and into the office each day. For most, it’s more than money. Know the difference between growing and truly building. Purpose and intentional goals matter more than billing.
• It’s the holiday season, and who doesn’t want to take off work for an extended period to be with friends and family. But for law firm owners and leaders, the question is how? Set the pieces in place that will allow you to turn over the business to employees, such as an established chain of command and communication expectations. Try a test period to see how things go when others have to step up and run the office.
• And finally, let’s talk about recognizing and coming to grips with “red flags” from a job candidate. Sometimes … you just know. 

This is a free lesson in media and public and personal relations, from being the “go-to” for news reporters, mastering marketing communications, and acquiring new clients through personal relationships. This is all about meeting and exceeding your business goals. Falk is a frequent author, speaker, and an industry-leading communications consultant. 

How do you shape a news story that boosts your case? Who are you trying to reach in the media, and how do you get out front? How do you keep your firm top-of-mind? How do you present yourself at networking events? 

Even if you’re a secret introvert, this episode is for you. You can “get out there” and build your business, make connections, attract referrals, and tell your story. Learn techniques to prepare and benefit from networking events from the minute you walk in the door. These are valuable tips you won’t find anywhere else (hint, it includes the two things you must bring to any event).

• Returning Guest Danielle Hendon, CPA, founder of 4 Corners CFO, explores what lawyers and law firms should, and should not, be doing in the fourth quarter of 2024. Learn the common mistakes firms make as the year winds down. 
• Take the time to understand the story your business “numbers” are telling you. Do you see where your business is going and what you should be thinking about as you forecast for next year? Be intentional about your growth. Don’t let things “happen to” your firm, make them happen. 
• It’s OK to spend as needed at the end of the year, especially if you’re thinking of taxes. But you’ve got to be looking ahead, too. What’s important, how do you manage a budget, understand what’s budgeting and what’s forecasting? Don’t spend just for short term tax advantages, plan for the unexpected too. 

Guest Richard “Rich” Dukes Jr. has gone paperless. So has his entire South Carolina law firm. Today’s tech drives efficiency whether that’s in document review, witness preparation, or even courtroom presentation. 

Hear how Dukes evaluates each evolution of tech tools, how he decides if they will truly elevate his productivity, and how easy they will be to introduce to his colleagues and incorporate them into his practice. 

Time is an attorney’s most valuable commodity. Technology can give you more time. Coming next, AI. Dukes has some ideas of where artificial intelligence may upend the next generation of legal tech tools. Put down the pen and pad and start working smarter today. 

• The ROI of hiring. It’s important. You may think hiring someone, say a paralegal, will cost you money. Successful firms won’t consider hiring someone if they don’t already know they’re going to make money. Firms use benchmarks to weigh the cost of a new hire against anticipated additional revenue. This is math, not “gut feeling,” and you can do it! Listen to find out how.
• Dive into the results of a legal industry “secret shopper” study by Clio. The scientific data shows law firms stink at answering calls, responding to emails, and even monitoring chatbots. The first rule of success? When a potential client knocks, open the door. Can AI help?
• How do you incentivize a high performing team? What kind of rewards are appropriate? And if your team is already firing on all cylinders, what else can you incentivize? Hear how you can help high performers earn more and grow by finding new tasks where they can take over and excel.  

Are you still charging for time? Why not base your pricing on your experience, your wisdom, your education, the outcomes your clients want, and everything you bring to the table. Clients don’t want your time, they want their problems solved.

It’s not “the way we’ve always done things,” but Jardine explains why change is inevitable. As technology, notably AI, accelerates the practice of law, why should a lawyer charge less – fewer billable hours – for achieving results faster and more efficiently? 

The move to value-based pricing isn’t like flipping a switch. It will take effort, and it will involve your entire team, from HR to marketing, to lawyers and paralegals. But in a changing world, sticking with the old ways may not be an option. This fascinating conversation will ignite your curiosity and challenge you to think differently. 

• Growing pains. As you bring on new clients, it can be hard for an overburdened team of lawyers and paralegals to manage client communications. Hear how texting can help bridge communication needs, how a virtual receptionist can fill gaps, and how a standing schedule of update calls and a task assignment system can ensure clear communications between lawyers and clients.
  
• ·What is the “rhythm/parking lot” method for managing client communications? Combined with allowing clients to schedule their own appointments online and chat functions, this system can take pressure off your staff.
• Be honest and direct with your clients. Set expectations and ask clients if your expectations and theirs align, so they know how the case will proceed. And if a client “emergency” arises, be sure your staff asks the right questions and fully understands the situation so they can provide clear details to the attorney.
  

Danielle Hendon is the founder and CEO of 4 Corners CFO, bringing the benefit of “big business” financial analysis to entrepreneurs and business owners at a cost they can afford. She and her firm are “fractional CFOs,” providing the analysis and planning you need to stabilize your business, develop consistent revenue models, and grow with a goal in mind. 

Hendon helps businesses, like yours, evaluate where they are, how things are doing, what your “real profit” is, and how to set and move toward goals. 

Allocating overhead, hiring, understanding gross and net profit, and growing with purpose is all doable. Hear about “bottom-up budgeting,” understanding cash flow forecasts and how a CFO, even a part time CFO, can help spot red flags and build the pillars that will lift your business. 

• Adding a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) program for your law firm? Hear the struggles one small firm is facing as it looks to automate CRM duties. Start with knowing what you need, how you’ll keep up with clients and follow up on leads. Software is just a tool. Without a plan, it’s useless. Start with a “sequence of contact” (and no BS). 
• “Misfiring” when you hire a new associate can be a headache (and expensive). How do you make sure it’s a good fit before you hire, instead of learning you made a mistake later? Treat recruiting as marketing. Start with a clear message. Know what you want and tell people. 
• Are you offering discounts? Here’s the thing: people don’t always want discounts; they want value. A good deal isn’t about money, it’s about service. Give clients more, don’t charge less. Make them feel special. (Do you know what a lagniappe is?)

Start with knowing that when you hang out a shingle, you run a business. You just happen to be a lawyer. Lots of lawyers have gone through what you’ve gone through. How do you turn your passion for the law into a profitable business? 

Hear how you can focus on the fundamentals of running a real business. Law firms are simple, at their core. Don’t overthink it. Lawyers have been running businesses for a thousand years. Learn the core nuggets that will drive your business. No fads, just the honest realities of business. No excuses. 

Learn how your firm can serve you, instead of you sacrificing for your firm. Get fired up, take charge, and get ahead.

• A firm owner dealing with discipline problems stemming from her firm’s understaffing is frustrated. Feeling they have the upper hand, some employees are taking advantage of the situation. How can the owner regain control?
• What’s the best way to staff up? In-office, remote, or even offshoring some tasks? Christopher and guest Joey Seeber of Level Legal share tips about building a team, from in-house to offshore. 
• An attorney wants to know if he should borrow to expand his firm in a competitive market. It’s OK to borrow money, but only if you start knowing how you plan to pay it back and what you expect in return. 
• Evaluating the results of an affinity or educational marketing plan when there’s no direct call to action. It all comes down to new client acquisition and the Five Commandments of Marketing! 

LaLonde is a corporate trainer who focuses on engagement within law firms. She has more than 30 years’ experience in corporate training and helps firms focus on the involvement, commitment, and enthusiasm workers feel for their workplace. 

Surveys show only 30% of American workplaces are considered “engaged.” So, there’s room to grow if you know how important engagement is to your firm’s success. How eager are employees to get to work each day? How valued do they feel? Are you focusing on billable hours at the expense of your team’s wellbeing and sense of purpose? 

LaLonde explains how she targets law firm burnout and underperformance through her Hierarchy of Engagement, a pyramid of workforce factors including pay, performance, and perks; work/life balance; and a shared purpose. Learn key tips you can put to work at your firm today to nurture engagement and achieve peak performance.

• A lawyer who’s falling behind wants to know why her leads are down. Should she focus on “branding” or “marketing,” and what’s the difference? While they are both part of attracting new business, they aren’t one in the same. 
• Branding is important. Be authentic. Who are you? What are your values? You can’t fake it, you live it. And you don’t make it up as you go, you intentionally think about who you are and develop a consistent look, tone, feel, values, and mission across your firm. 
• Messaging, marketing, and a clear call to action is something different. It costs money. Pay per click, local service ads, billboards, and more are about delivering a compelling message that drives potential clients to call you. Learn the “Five Commandments of Marketing.”   

It’s no secret, the legal profession is a field filled with stress. Deadlines, precision, scheduling, marketing, and running a business. It’s a lot for anyone to handle. Gisèle helps her clients improve their well-being, increase productivity, and maintain a sustainable practice.

It’s great to set goals, even ambitious goals, at the start of every new year. But don’t forget to take a moment to make a plan for yourself and how you’ll keep going, day after day, with so much weight on your shoulders. 

Hear how Gisèle used her own experience and a lot of professional research and training to develop a coaching method that helps stressed professionals enjoy their life and stay healthy. “You can have all the success in the world,” she says, “but if you’re not going to be around to see it, how much success is that truly going to be?” Do you feel stressed? Exhausted? Isolated? Do you know the symptoms of burnout? This is a podcast for you. You are not alone. 

• Who should a solo attorney hire first? You’re building your firm. Who’s the next person you add to add (and you want avoid the wrong hire)? For starters, what do you need? Where are you wasting time? From there, “hiring is marketing,” it’s crucial you attract the largest pool of great candidates. 
• How do you prepare a job candidate for your hiring process? Start by being transparent. It’s that easy. “Hey, here’s our process, it may be different from what you’ve done before.” The important thing is to find what’s not only right for you, but what’s right for the new hire. And if they start by questioning your process, move on. 
• How do you introduce your “second in command” to your team? Maybe that’s the wrong question. “Second” in command suggests you still want people to report to you. You don’t. The whole idea is to offload daily decisions so you can focus on strategy and bigger things. There’s no “second in command,” there’s the “here’s the new person in charge for all of you.” Your language can sabotage your intentions. 

Guest Bo Royal is co-founder of Pareto Legal and has worked with several Fortune 1,000 companies and scores of law firms. He specializes in helping small and medium sized law firms build their business and strengthen their intake process. 

Data tracking and quality matters. Follow the trail, understand how the marketing funnel is working and where to get prospects in the door and sign that retainer. Intake is about nurturing inbound leads – the results of your advertising and marketing – and turning them into clients.

Intake can make or break all of your marketing and sales efforts. Don’t build a “leaky bucket.” You worked hard, and spent a lot, to develop leads. This is an important episode that can help you go that last mile from generating interest to capturing revenue. Track the “journey” of every prospect. It’s not luck, it’s a process. 

• AI is all the rage in the public media, but how are lawyers using it in real life? For starters, it can help you with written communications. Tone down an angry brief or client communication. Write advertising or blog communications. Even create Excel formulas. (But remember, it’s a tool, not a replacement for your skills!). 
• How do you convey the value of a paid consultation? Help clients understand what they get by paying for a professional consultation. Sometimes it starts with an explanation that every case is different, and only a paid consultation can explore all available options before hiring an attorney. Tell prospects what they can expect from you and your conversation is more than a sales call.
• Marketing is important. And it’s expensive. How do you know when you’re getting the right ROI? It takes some math. Do you know how much you’re spending and how many paying clients are a direct result?

Plus, the risks and rewards of posting your firm’s phone number prominently. Sometimes putting your number out there generates spam and time-wasting calls when a simple online scheduling tool could be more efficient. What’s right for you?

Watson started his consulting dynasty with a dream and twenty bucks in his pocket. He’s now the successful owner of several businesses, including a half billion-dollar registered investment advisory, and he’s the founder the National Referral Network. He walks the walk and provides solid insights. 

Learn to think like an entrepreneur, not a practitioner. Don’t set artificial limits on your business. This is a deep dive, and it may force you to think. It’s about culture, goals, hiring, and about directing your firm and your future with purpose. If you’re on a treadmill running daily operations and chasing leads, you may be letting your business and your opportunities slip away. Separate good growth from bad growth, cut the mundane tasks, and energize your firm today. 

• We start with an attorney who wants to balance hiring and firm growth. What happens when you hire “too much” team for the work or have “too much work” for the team? It’s a delicate dance. Start with a business plan and control the one thing you can, the number of cases you accept. It’s OK to say no to a new potential client. (Plus, find out what Christopher calls a “bull$#!* plan”).
  
•  What happens when you haven’t explored new ways to market and you fall behind? No use crying over spilt milk, but honestly, get on it. You start from where you are. Understand what you’re doing, what’s working, and what’s failing. A swift kick in the pants may get you motivated.
  
• And how do you help a long-standing employee establish some metrics, mainly a minimum billable hour requirement? Be straightforward, but it’s a balancing act. Sometimes you gotta be cruel to be kind (in the right measure).

The legal world has become a digital jungle. Virtually everything is digitized. But untangling the bits and bytes and preparing them for courtroom presentation takes know-how and careful thought. There is no longer simply “acceptance” of technology; instead, technical competence is expected. 

The trick is finding the perfect point where tech meets the human touch, allowing lawyers to best serve clients and to meet needs and understand things that go unsaid. From eDiscovery to AI, the tools are out there. But the human application of those tools makes the real difference. How well do you understand your role as a human in a high-tech world? What makes you stand out? Hear some great tips about using the right tech while bringing your own special touch to surprise and delight your clients.

• It’s a new year. The “Dos and Don’ts of New Year’s Resolutions.” It’s OK to set goals, heck, it’s great. But be reasonable, mindful even. There is no “magical thinking” that everything will change if you wish it. Review your past, understand yourself, share your vision. And if you need an unbiased opinion, ask someone.
• The dreaded sales slump isn’t cause for panic. If something has changed, your conversions fall off a cliff, take a deep breath and a logical approach. Don’t dash around like a squirrel in the road. You’ll find the flaw and correct it.
• Building your team isn’t easy, but if you take an open approach, you can do it. Interviewing a prospective team member is a marketing process – from both sides. You want to learn as much as you can about each other. If you have to spend some time and money getting it right, there’s nothing wrong with that. 

We’re talking on this episode about how today’s emerging tech trends impact every aspect of your law firm – from client acquisition, to producing results, to generating profit – with guest Colin Levy, an author, speaker, and leader in the world of legal tech.

But just buying a tech package won’t deliver value. Incorporating today’s new tech tools, understanding how they work, and truly understanding them (and then actually using them) is what drives value. Take the time to understand what you need, what problems you’re solving, then seek out the tech that actually gets you to your destination. 

Things are changing, and the rate of acceleration is accelerating, and we’re just getting started. Imagine AI drives the pace of change even faster. Before our eyes, technology is redefining what it means to be a lawyer.

• Building an effective landing page is critical to making the most of your pay-per-click marketing dollars. Getting “clicks” is one thing, but then what? Hear how to craft a landing page that drives visitors to the next step: hiring you. Go beyond “call now.” Show why you’re the lawyer for the job. What makes you different?
  
• Referrals can be a big part of building your business, but getting them takes careful marketing and effective business relationships. It’s a two-way street. Be a friend to have a friend. It comes down to communication: if done well, it can be your cheapest marketing tool
  
• Building your business strategically helps you manage cash flow. If your practice area is too broad, you may be spreading your time across too many channels. And that can lead to cash shortfalls throughout the year. Understand what your business is really about and focus on that.
• You’re thinking of breaking away from a firm and starting your own practice? Hear some real-world advice from lawyers who have been there, done that.

Guest Jared Correia helps law firms understand available technology and separate what’s helpful from what’s simply bright and shiny. 

Correia looks at software from several angles: Intake, e-signature, customer relationship management, and performance monitoring. All are important, but how do they fit together? Ask yourself what you like about the software you have, and what do you hate, then what do you want, and finally what do you need.

Most firms probably don’t need all the hardware they have in the office, including the servers and data storage. The cloud – data management by firms that specialize in secure data management – is the future.

Learn the secrets of the “Core Four” of software: Productivity; Accounting; Case Management Software; and Customer Relationship Management. Hear how these bedrock systems are the foundation of any successful firm. Wait … what about what about AI?

• A firm owner needs a computer policy for employees both in-office and working from home. What policies should she have for damage to the firm’s computers and client security? There’s insurance for physical damage. More important is protecting client data if a laptop is stolen or hacked. How can you protect client confidentiality, both for staff in the office and working from home? Is a contract IT team the answer?
• How do you split tasks between two admins? Hear how you can divide tasks to match each employee’s area of excellence. Carving out niches so each employee delivers maximum value creates a foundation for growth. 
• You’ve hired a new employee, but they aren’t catching on. How much time do you allow before you know it’s not working, and you need to let them go? There is a reasonable period to expect results. It’s OK to be patient and retrain as needed, but don’t carry dead weight.

Law school may not fully prepare graduates to practice law, and the old apprenticeship model – learning on the job – has fallen apart as new lawyers are expected to produce billable hours from the start, and clients expect to pay for results, not teaching new lawyers.

After practicing law for years, Shayesteh founded AltaClaro, an online platform built to train law school graduates how to actually practice law by applying practical skills training in a structured, online environment. Attorneys deserve better, and so do clients. 

Hear how AltaClaro’s approach combines experiential learning techniques to help attorneys build skills and confidence in a low-risk environment. Lawyers learn, do, and review at their own pace with practice documents, contracts, and clients. Then they go through each exercise with a live, experienced, vetted professional.  

New attorneys get the skills they need, and firms get the fully trained associates they want.

• We start with an attorney who wants to create a fair referral compensation policy for his associate, a “grinder” who does everything asked. Recently, through a contact, the associate started bringing in new business. How does a firm set up a referral fee schedule? What’s fair to the associate and the firm?
• How to create effective, inviting “meet the attorney” videos as a relationship-building step with potential clients. What to include? What topics? How personal? Where do you post them on your website, or do you control when a potential client sees these? 
• When it’s time for a managing attorney or a director of operations, start by understanding the duties of each position and the experiences needed. One position requires a background in law; the other needs experience running a business (that includes facilities management, finance, and the overall operation of your office). 

Be memorable. Share what makes you special. 

SEO is often portrayed as sorcery, but it’s not. It’s math, it’s work, and it’s attention to detail. Learn about the “Four C’s” of online marketing and what makes your firm stand out when a potential client types a need into a search engine: Content, Capital, Collaboration, and Code. 

Dreyer explains what makes websites work, what makes content special, and how putting yourself out there as an expert in a specific area drives referrals and attracts attention. 

A focus on SEO doesn’t work overnight. It’s a long-term play, but the benefits build on themselves and stock a client pipeline that can grow your firm as your reputation and visibility compound your efforts. Trying to “game the system” doesn’t work. There’s no substitution for sincerity, authenticity, and hard work. 

Hear how you can get started and stay focused (and some common mistakes you can avoid) from an industry expert with a history of helping firms find new clients. 

• We present an extended conversation with guest consultants Robert Leitner and Philip Fairley as they guide a lawyer ready to grow her personal injury and Social Security law firm and discuss how to hire the right people for a developing case load. Does she need another legal assistant, or a medical records clerk, or an intake professional? 
• With some practices – such as the “work now, collect later” world of PI and Social Security – it’s possible to “grow broke” by pouring too much capital into the business while waiting for payment. These are complicated issues as one attorney struggles to do everything from adding new cases and practicing law to marketing, growing, and even managing human resources. Some staffers add to overhead, and some are virtual ATMs building your firm’s revenue. 
• Learn how customer relation management tools convert leads into clients. Efficiency could unlock the cash flow you need to build your practice and add attorneys or support staff. Plus, the importance of a truly targeted marketing platform.

How do we frame, understand, and implement the best of AI’s capabilities? Lawyers need to tread lightly, even as AI is becoming increasingly important in the field of law. Data is often “dirty,” unstructured, not built to serve. A properly “trained” AI program organizes these fields into useful information.  

Guests Evyatar Ben Artzi and Gila Hayat are co-founders of Darrow.AI. Darrow’s AI-powered Justice Intelligence Platform scans real world data to detect harmful events, determine the number of potential victims, predict the legislative outcome, and assess the financial value of a case to help firms locate and organize potentially important cases. No more chasing your tail or casting the widest net possible.

Across the law, from financial misconduct to environmental protection to pharmaceuticals, there is data out there that creates patterns if you know where and how to look. Properly managing raw data may allow firms to find new clients and tell better stories more efficiently. Producing results starts before a case even walks through the door. 

•  Our first topic is how to use vacations – including your own breaks – to affirm company culture. How do you get away without fully abandoning ship and leaving your team to fend for itself? You encourage team members to take vacations to renew and regroup, but what about you as the leader of the firm? Company culture starts at the top.
•  Prevent your email and calendar from running your life and set your own priorities. Don’t let your email own you, and certainly don’t let your team run your life. You run your life. You run your firm. (It’s harder than that sounds
  
• When is it appropriate to let an employee know the relationship isn’t working and it’s time to part ways? And, what’s an appropriate severance package
  

 Plus, let’s talk about how to grade support staff. Set expectations and reasonable goals so staffers know what’s expected and you know what to expect.

Guest Hugo Gomez founded and leads Abogados Now, a digital marketing company that helps connect attorneys in the U.S. with the Spanish-speaking communities around them. This is about more than hiring a translator, this is about understanding different cultures and reaching out to them. Go beyond adding a “Google Translate” button to your website. What works in English often doesn’t work in another language. Even in Spanish the language and nuances vary from country to country, community to community. 

Think it doesn’t matter? The Spanish speaking market is the fastest growing segment in the U.S., and nearly 1 in 5 people in the country have connections to Spanish speaking communities. The numbers don’t lie. It’s a massive market. But it’s not easy, and it takes experts who understand the cultures. Reaching out, effectively, to the Spanish speaking markets in your area can be your competitive edge. 

Learn the steps you can take to establish an entirely new arm to your marketing and the services you provide and the people you help. Learn about adding a layer of authenticity, understanding, and honest representation. What works, where do you present yourself, and how do you reach these markets?

Our first question turned into a collaborative discussion around the Community Table with input from several other lawyers. How does a longtime attorney with her own firm finally shake things up, turn operations over to someone else, and focus on strategy and the practice of law? It’s hard to let go of control, even with a consultant pitching in.

How do you market when money is tight, cash flow is low, and you need more dollars in the door? Start by knowing your practice. What’s the underlying issue, what kind of ship are you leading? From there you can spot opportunities and focus on revenue and marketing.

Thinking of making a pivot or expanding from your current area of practice to boost revenue? Consider what you enjoy doing and think about what areas of the law generate consistent, timely cash flow. 

Guest Luis Scott is the owner and managing partner of Bader | Scott Injury Lawyers. In addition to running a firm responsible for millions of dollars in verdicts and settlements, Scott devotes time to consulting with other firms to help them grow their own revenue. 

Based in Atlanta, Scott understands a competitive market for client acquisition, but also for employee acquisition. How do you find, hire, and retain the best team? Hear how Scott and his firm identified and hired employees, then turned the best into leaders, freeing senior partners to focus on strategy. The bigger a firm grows, the more important a strategic, mindful approach becomes. How big do you want to grow? Three million in revenue? Eight million? Bigger? 

Scott explains how he structures a firm and positions leaders and employees for success. Founders of any firm are only one person. After a threshold, there’s nothing more they can do by themselves. That’s where it’s vital to develop leaders who can oversee individual parts of the business, everything from litigation to HR to marketing. 

If you lead a law firm of any size, consider this episode your own, personal consulting session that will help you organize and focus your efforts on growing your revenue and expanding your reach. (Plus, you’ll learn “The Five Ps” of law firm management.)

• Interview questions to ask that help you understand an applicant’s true motivations. Questions that dig a little deeper. And how to accept those answers at face value.
• Ever had a terrible experience hiring someone? There are tools to help you avoid mistakes, but you have to learn how to use them. But there are no silver bullets. Go boldly, but tread lightly. 
• Dealing with a new hire who won’t complete required training? Can you really require someone to learn, and if they won’t, is that grounds to terminate the relationship? This question quickly drifts into some interesting territory. 
• And finally, how long can you keep a new attorney at your firm before they need to start returning a profit to the firm? Maybe while they learn the ropes, you can at least have them do something that delivers value. (You can only wait so long). 

Guest Sam Mollaei is passionate about creating scalable law firms and helping others understand and implement his blueprint for going big while disrupting the traditional law firm model. He challenges firms to embrace automation, innovation, offshoring, and move beyond the old fashioned face-to-face, brick and mortar route. 

Mollaei employs the latest tools to beat the high cost of paid search, create efficient client intake processes, overcome SEO snags, find new ways around labor inefficiencies, and accelerate business development. And he’s just getting started as developments in artificial intelligence such as ChatGPT continue to evolve the business of law. 

Hear how Mollaei teaches firms to ride the wave instead of chasing it. Changes are coming fast, and everything is on the table. There’s a lot to learn, but adapting to this new environment is not an option, it’s the future. Be a part of it or be left behind.

• Getting from “yes” to “signing the check.” How to accelerate and bullet-proof your sales cycle. Getting the client to go from agreeing to hire you to actually turning over that retainer.
• Vaccinating the recruiter. Preparing a third-party recruiter with responses to a prospective employee’s objections. How do you arm a recruiter for a prospect’s “Yeah, but I heard they …”  
• Stalking a specific type of client? Go where they are. If you’re the best in a niche field, where do you find the clients who need you, and how is that different from asking for referrals? And, Facebook vs. LinkedIn, your marketing dollars.

Guest Philip Fairley is the founder of The Rainmaker Institute, a legal marketing firm dedicated to generating leads, and then turning leads into clients through a data-driven approach. You’re more than an attorney, you’re a business owner. Run that business. Develop repeatable processes for turning each call into a client. It’s not about more leads, it’s about more clients. 

Let’s Talk Trends: 

• It’s about video. Think multiple platforms, YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn, email embeds. Every environment serves different needs.
• It’s not about more leads, it’s what you do with the leads. Answer your phone, return messages, be human. Do you have a “Director of First Impressions?”
• When on the phone, go beyond setting an appointment. Listen. 

Automation, specialization, and drilling down into what you do and how you communicate with potential clients builds your business. Tell clients what makes your firm – what makes you – special.

• Why did your quarterly revenue plummet? Before you panic, look for anomalies like production capacity, weird payment timing, and changes in Google search algorithms. Fix what’s broken, but be rational. (What’s “Demand-Based Marketing?”)
• Stop personally handling every little issue and designate tasks across your team. How to set boundaries and ween staff off your direct involvement in routine matters. Trust and empower your team.
• How to use daily meetings – “huddles,” “scrums,” and “standups” – to facilitate peer management, teamwork, accountability, and productivity.

• How to say no to some cases (without losing clients). It’s great to “niche down” to your expertise, but never say no. Say, “I know someone who can help.” Be both – the lawyer and the referral source.
• When it’s time to grow into a new market, everything starts with location. Do the research, know the territory, and establish the “look” that meets client expectations.
• Considering a new location? Clients will come to you, but your team is equally important. Your office location matters as much as your expertise, both for clients and team members.

Guest Robert Ingalls calls himself a “recovering attorney.” While he had a law degree and his own firm, Ingalls wasn’t happy and wanted to do something else. He landed on creating his own legal-oriented podcast … and something clicked. If he found value in creating a podcasts, so might other attorneys.

His company, LawPods, podcasting for lawyers, was born.

Ingalls knows you may be a great lawyer but don’t know anything about podcasting. With his experience, both in the field of law and in content production, he helps lawyers sound good, stay focused, and create a podcast people want to listen to again and again. Ingalls polishes and presents the best you.

How do you start? Find out on this episode of the Un-Billable Hour.

Production is the lynchpin of your firm. Acquiring new clients and ensuring profit are the bookends, but we must produce. To do that, we need to recruit.

Finding the right people for your firm, whether it’s a contract hire or a full-time position is, at its heart, marketing. What’s your story? Do you know how to make your firm attractive to new hires. Do you understand what candidates are selling. It’s a two-way street. Learn how to create a process that makes candidates sign on with you, and also do their best work for you.

A quick match can be more of a time waster than a longer, thoughtful process.

You may be surprised at how the COVID pandemic’s shift to remote working created a wider pool of candidates. If someone doesn’t have to be in your office, you’ve got more to choose from. But it comes with new challenges as well. Nothing stays the same.

• Sometimes when it comes to your brand and marketing, doing everything is doing nothing. What is it you want to be known for?
• On the fence about hiring support staff? Do the math. Would more staff create more business, better reviews, and happier clients? The next step could be more profit.
• Gamification – cash rewards for individual and team goals (even promotions) – can energize your team. Retain your best players. And what about offshoring some tasks?

• Is hiring a temp I’ve already worked with previously a mistake?

• • “It’s not personal,” it’s personnel. I need a body, even if s/he won’t stay with me. Is this reasonable?
  • Sometimes, a contractor (even one you already know and know won’t stay with you) is the answer. Mr. Right vs. Mr. Right Now.

• How do you test the “seriousness” of a job candidate?

• • Are you dealing with a real job candidate or just a person out fishing and wasting your time? Or is this 007 work from a competitor checking you out?

• Should I be overlapping an exiting employee with their replacement? 

• • Trying to squeeze out a bad employee while simultaneously onboarding a good employee – can this be done? And will keeping a less-than-perfect employee onboard, while offboarding and bringing in a new person, help?

Acquisition, from cold lead to paying client, is the important stuff. Marketing is one of three pillars of a successful firm: finding and signing new clients. Guests Erik and Elliot Alicea, co-founders of Empirical360 legal marketing, have a passionate focus on law firm marketing built on ROI, return on investment. Get real bang for your marketing buck.

Automation may not be your best bet when it comes to generating cold leads. The process differs from referrals, you need to be personal. People only look for a new lawyer when they are in trouble, so be compassionate, be human. Reach out. And by all means, answer the phone.

Learn to measure the return on your marketing dollar. There should be accountability and measurable results. Know what it’s costing you to land every new client. How do you know if you got your money’s worth? And when you get a lead, hey, that’s not the end. Get the contract signed, that’s work.

(Plus, if you had only ONE channel for marketing your firm, which would it be? Can you guess the answer?)

Guests Anthony Seale and Isabel Parker understand today’s tech better than most, and they never stop innovating. They’ve seen law firms that embrace technology and process management to improve not only the bottom line but also client satisfaction. Get better results and happier clients with tech. Listen to younger associates, ask what you don’t know. You are never too successful to get on this train. But where to start?

In this episode:

• Resistance to today’s tech advancements is futile (and it’s costing you money).
• Listen to younger associates and tech experts.
• Make more money, make clients happier, and be better by incorporating the best of today’s newest technologies and efficiencies.

• How to focus your practice. If you’re not known for something, you aren’t known for anything.
• The one thing all clients in every business want: A better life. How do your services make my life better?
• The steps you must take after firing an employee. It’s not just about the employee, it’s also about the clients.

• Law is intense, and you love your business. But are you trying to do everything?
• Trust the team you’ve hired. You can do too much, and you’re not that special.
• Make the best use of your time, don’t micromanage. It’s not sustainable and it’s not profitable.
• Learn about “calendar blocking,” building space for success. The habit you must learn.

Guest Corine Rogers, a Clio systems and efficiency master, has a vital message: You can’t do everything, and you aren’t that important. Help your law firm build business operations systems, then trust your team.

“Systems” are the repeatable ways you delegate tasks to others you trust. You selected your team, but do you let them do what you hired them to do? Do they believe that you believe in you? Get out of the way.

Start with the tasks that you simply don’t like. Baby steps. Don’t fall victim to drowning in the mundane and the things that aren’t the best use of your time.

You can’t create more hours in a day. So free yourself to do more of what you are best at and let others inside your business do the other tasks. In this important episode of The Un-Billable Hour, we hold up a mirror to help you see what you are doing to yourself if you can’t let your team shoulder some of the load. Plus, what doing your laundry can teach you about your business.

• How to Determine if a New Hire Is a Success in the First 90 Days
• How To Master the Process of Employee Contract Negotiations
• How To Improve Your Job Offer to a Potential Candidate

Acquiring new clients, moving cases through the process, reaching successful outputs, and applying the right business metrics that help you understand your business performance all require the right technologies. Did you know, even the simple habit of waiting until the end of the day to enter your billable time can cost you money? There’s a tech solution for virtually every aspect of your legal business.

Tech is racing forward. The COVID-19 pandemic changed the way we work. Maybe you are being left behind. It’s more important than ever to understand what changed. Payments, marketing data, key points, cloud tech, it’s all a new game. Practice management and success today is about data, how you understand your value, your pricing, key performance indicators, and, ultimately, your profitability. From intake to case management to corporate success, tech is what’s driving the legal profession.

Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it – Ferris Bueller

Signing a prospective client starts the instant you pick up the phone. Clients are won or lost in those critical first moments. If you’re waiting to respond to calls or putting people on hold, you may be bleeding contracts. Prospect interest drifts away in minutes, while the average law firm takes more than three days to return an initial call. Is that your firm?

It’s not just getting prospects to call, it’s about converting them to clients. Reiman, says, “Treat your leads like Fabergé Eggs.” They are precious and fragile.

Reiman, a leader in legal coaching and law firm development, helps firms efficiently manage leads and turn an inquiry into a signed, paying client.

In this episode:

• The art of being “nice.” The caller is in a tough spot. Respond quickly and show empathy.
• The value of in person appointments and appointment reminders.
• Explaining why you’re the right lawyer. What makes you special.
• How much follow up contact is too much, and too little.
• The right time to explain your fee (and how to ask for the money).

Bonus: Reiman urges firms to give him a call (602-828-4415) for a free “secret shopper” experience where he’ll call as a prospective client, then provide tips and areas for improvement.

• How can a law firm effectively use the non-attorney salesperson in a way that meets client expectations?

After this important episode, you’ll want to look around your office. What do you see? Passwords taped to keyboards, thumb drives and scribbled notes left on desktops overnight, email exchanges that keep expanding as more people are looped in? Protecting that data both from thieves and ransomware attacks is every bit as crucial as your clients’ secret formula or business plans.

As chief technology officer for the data security firm ActiveNav, Hale is surprised how many organizations are swimming in unsecured Dark Data. Just because you aren’t hearing about a security breach at a small law firm doesn’t mean it’s not happening daily. Learn to shine a light on your Dark Data. This may be one of the most eye-opening podcasts you listen to this year.

• What do I need to consider to bring the firm’s outsource bookkeeping in-house?
• How can I utilize job boards more effectively to find quality candidates?
• What is the best way to script internal messaging to my team about a firing?

Guest Monica Levi is a lawyer and former corporate HR executive who channels what she learned into leadership coaching for attorneys. This episode of the Un-Billable Hour is about you. Learn to listen to yourself, understand your worth, and go after what you want in life, whether that’s managing your own law practice, working within a corporate setting, or doing something entirely different.

Lawyers especially feel the pressures of time management, productivity, and reacting and responding to everyone else’s needs. No wonder so many attorneys are struggling to find satisfaction. It’s hard to set boundaries and gain control of your time and goals. But you can do it.

And if you’ve got questions and want to be part of the discussion, join us at The Community Table, a live round table Q&A with host Christopher Anderson and guests here!

• How can I minimize the damage of an upcoming employee resignation?
• How do I decide which size cases my firm should pursue?
• How do I handle two employees that need to be hired/transferred?

Guests April and Tyler Roberts are co-founders of NOMOS Marketing. They dig into what makes a law firm unique, building on aspects that forge stronger connections with clients. Lean into what makes you unique.

Too often, firms focus on the same, bland messaging. They don’t know what they stand for, so they follow the crowd. Instead, build a real brand. When people need an attorney, they are going through a scary period. Learn how making your firm more personal generates trust and helps clients envision the successful outcome only you can deliver.

(Plus, the one thing any lawyer or law firm can do right now, today, to improve marketing results).

• How should I structure a bonus plan for my client intake specialist?
• How should I construct a pro hac vice agreement with an out-of-state law firm?
• How should I market my newly created educational course to my potential clients?

Learn to delegate. Be a visionary. Be an entrepreneur. Build a brand, scale up, and succeed.

If you’re already leading a firm, take the next step. Offload tasks to others who share your values and hold them accountable. Build your business by doing what you’re best at and assigning others to do the things you don’t love.

For anyone running their own firm and wants to grow, this episode may be one of the most important podcasts of the year.

• How do I decide which candidate to hire for the office manager position?
• How do I attract quality candidates to my small firm when we’re competing against larger law firms?
• How do I hold people accountable in a way that doesn’t create a lot of extra work for me?

Guest Brett Trembly is cofounder of Get Staffed Up, a growing firm that provides talented, English-proficient, remote professional legal support staffers from around the world. Some 700 law firms around the U.S. profit from offshore legal support.

Look beyond the limited – and highly competitive – talent pool in your region. Limit costs by working with staffers in countries with less expensive economies.

Never considered offshoring? Now’s the time, as technologies and attitudes about remote work open new ways to expand your business, tackle new projects, and delegate support services so you can focus on results that matter.

• How do I promote an employee to a part-time position without upsetting the current full-time coworker?
• Did I make a mistake hiring a friend?
• How do I overcome my reluctance to hand over the drag-in duties to a new hire?

Special thanks to our sponsors LawClerk, Alert Communications, LawYaw, and Scorpion.

Seeber reflects on what went right and what went wrong when assembling teams. At his company, Level Legal, he focuses on culture and fit by identifying core values and living by them: “Give a damn. Get it done right. Show respect.” Everything starts with the interview, asking important questions that align with the organization’s values instead of checking boxes.

What interview questions are you asking? Do they connect to your values? Before you seek a new team member, do you understand what makes your organization work? Hear how Seeber focuses on indicators of success and learned the difference between a “job description” and a “role description.” As he says, “look beyond the resume.”

Special thanks to our sponsors LawClerk, Alert Communications, LawYaw, and Scorpion.

Featured on this episode:

• How do I format my invoices so they convey value?
• How can I better teach systems to my team?
• What should I do when a job candidate has a few red flags?
• What is the most efficient way to have my virtual assistant write out processes and procedures?

Special thanks to our sponsors LawClerk, Alert Communications, LawYaw, and Scorpion.

Levin’s firm Ready Set Launch applies corporate brand management principles to personal and corporate relationships. It’s the stuff they don’t teach in law school but is a pillar of any successful law firm. 

Hate networking? Learn to overcome. Think you are doing a great job at networking? Maybe you aren’t. Levin helps professionals make new and maintain lifetime connections. Keeping in touch is foundational. “Let’s do lunch” and “keep in touch” have become meaningless phrases, but the art of maintaining relationships has never been more important. Go beyond social media, events, and transactions and start getting real with steps you can take right now. Today is the day.    Special thanks to our sponsors LawClerk, Alert Communications, LawYaw, and Scorpion.

Featured on this episode:

• How should I market two different areas of focus for my law firm?
• How do I find the right call intake employee to hire?
• What is the best use of marketing dollars when starting a practice in a new state?
• What are the pros and cons of training a new hire vs. hiring an already-experienced candidate?
• How do I deal with understaffing as I’m about to go on maternity leave?

Special thanks to our sponsors LawClerk, Alert Communications, LawYaw, and Scorpion.

Guest Jason Hennessey of Hennessey Digital built his company through reverse engineering the Google algorithm. He’s a respected leader in law firm marketing and offers valuable tips you can put to work today. 

Learn core principles successful firms use to climb Google search rankings. Embrace the variables that help them adapt and shape their marketing to reach more potential new clients. 

Hennessey’s book, “Law Firm SEO” explains how search engine optimization works and empowers firms when they look to hire a marketer. The book is written for the layperson, explaining in plain language the principles of SEO. If you don’t want to do it yourself, at least hold the teams you hire accountable. 

Confused by SEO vs. Paid Search? It comes down to understanding marketing spend and outcomes. Learn what potential clients are looking for and how to hook them. 

Plus, insights into website functionality, purposeful content strategies, and brand awareness. Attract more prospects and convert them to clients. 

Special thanks to our sponsors LawClerk, Alert Communications, LawYaw, and Scorpion.

Guest Chad Burton is a highly-regarded legal practice futurist. Through his work with Modern Law Practice and CuroLegal, he works one-on-one with practitioners to help them understand what they need and how to engage existing solutions to move them forward. Understanding the capabilities of today’s tech isn’t intuitive. It takes work. 

Burton shares insights into emerging trends in 2022. Hear what he thinks will happen with non-lawyer owned law firms and the introduction of non-lawyer licensed legal practitioners in specific legal sectors. 

Other trends include alternative business structures (ABS) such as LegalZoom, Elevate Services, and fee-splitting providing legal services to a vast pool of underserved Americans. He also offers thoughts on outsourcing routine work through emerging enterprises such as Lawclerk, UpWork, and GetStaffedUp, not only outsourcing tasks but offshoring them.

Special thanks to our sponsors LawClerk, Alert Communications, LawYaw, and Scorpion.

Building your practice starts before you ask for a client’s business. It’s about your brand, what you’re already known – and respected – for. Hear how developing expertise, building knowledge, public speaking, and thought leadership earns you the business before you even make the call. 

There’s a lot to work on here, from giving every case your all, to learning to see the challenge from your client’s perspective, to creating lasting relationships. It’s not easy, and it’s not fast. But a thriving law practice is not about luck. It’s about hard work that never ends. Learn valuable lessons from a true business leader.

Special thanks to our sponsors LawClerk, Alert Communications, LawYaw, and Scorpion.

Then it hit her. There’s nothing wrong with the legal profession, what’s wrong is the way lawyers run their practice. Author of the new book, “The New Law Business Model: Building a Lucrative Law Practice That You (And Your Clients) Love,” Katz teaches lawyers how to reinvent their practice, build enduring client relationships, and bring the love back to lawyering. 

Learn the difference between “money debt” and “time debt.” Explore new ways to engage clients and show them the value you provide. Stop doing things the old way and focus on superior client outcomes.

Special thanks to our sponsors Law Clerk, Alert Communications, LawYaw, and Scorpion.