Beyond Billables

On today's show I sat down with Brad Vinning, corporate and commercial partner at Sparke Helmore Lawyers. Brad was one of my first ever guests three years ago and after our first podcast Brad went and started his own!

He shared on the journey of starting and marketing a podcast, what he learned and what he gained both for his practice and personally.

We chatted at length about the ups and downs of the last year, how he managed his practice and what we are looking forward to in 2021.

On the show today I had the great pleasure of sitting down with Tegan Boorman. Tegan is an Australian corporate, commercial and intellectual property lawyer who saw a niche market in creating commercial legal agreements for influencer marketing campaigns and collaborations, as well as terms and conditions for social media competitions, online businesses and digital courses. Social Law Co. was established to service that niche market. During the course of her career, Tegan has acted for clients of various sizes, from individuals and small start ups through to companies listed on the ASX. Her industry expertise includes retail, publishing, travel, tourism and professional services. She juggles lawyer life as well as mum life on the Gold Coast, where her young family is based.

How would you bounce back after the business you've worked on for a decade fails (and everyone in the country knows about it)? What if I told you your wife is heavily pregnant, you have to leave the country, you lost investors a packet and you've been wiped out in the process?

For my friend Michael Fox, he put his head down, found a new passion, and got back into the game and is already making a huge success of it.

On the show today I am so glad to share my recent interview with the Co-founder of Fable, former Co-Founder of Shoes of Prey and one-time lawyer Michael Fox. I've known Michael since law school, and have enjoyed many great chats over the years as well as learned a hell of a lot watching his journey. We discussed his exciting new venture Fable, his journey with Shoes of Prey and how he found purpose again and jumped back into the entrepreneurial ring. Michael's story is inspiring and important in these hard times for anyone who might be struggling. Whatever happens in business, you can rebuild and can re-invent yourself in ways that serve others and allow you to live your values.

In this leaders in lockdown podcast I got to catch up with my friend and one of the most entertaining people I know, EJ Wise. EJ is a cybersecurity expert who happens to have also been a lawyer in the armed services for over 20 years so had a very interesting perspective on the present crisis and how to best manage it. We spoke about planning for now and for the future, taking an "ends first" approach, and tactics for better managing on the home front! We also dove into how we can manage the mental health aspects of the crisis and help others around us. As always even in difficult times EJ brought her amazing humour and insight to our discussion.

https://www.wieselaw.com.au

In this leaders in lockdown episode I had the pleasure of catching up with my friend and former podcast guest Fionn Bowd of Bowd Legal. Fionn is one of the deepest thinkers about the legal industry and we were able to have a really interesting chat about the good and bad of the industries response to date. We also discussed where see larger firms heading on the back of the rapid changes brought on by the crisis, opportunities for lawyers to become central decision makers in business, remote work and how new models will be increasingly embraced as firms see they can have success being nimble.

www.bowd.legal

In this leaders in lockdown episode I caught up with my friend and awesome former podcast guest Fiona Nguyen of Girl Friday IP. Fiona and I chatted about IP, Brand and taking the opportunity to fix things we've kicked down the road in our business. We also went quite deep discussing the mental side of managing the crisis at home, how we try and focus internally when external pressures are the hardest and what we see are opportunities in the short term to try and make good medium term change.

https://www.girlfridayip.com/

In this leaders in lockdown show I spoke with "The Remote Expert" and former podcast guest Emma Heuston! Emma's entire business is built on helping businesses work remotely so it was great to chat to her about how she does it, the difficulties of working remotely in the present environment, and what steps businesses of all sizes can take. As a lawyer and business owner Emma has great insight to share on how we can all better manage the juggle.

https://www.theremoteexpert.com/

On our second "Leaders in lockdown" podcast I was so glad to speak with my friend James d'Apice. James is a commercial disputes lawyer in Sydney at Makinson d'Apice who also happens to be the genius behind the "Coffee and a Case Note" video series and podcast. James shared on working from home, managing the juggle with his partner and kids, and the changes that the present crisis might make to the way we work long term.

In this time of crisis our stories are more important than ever. So we wanted to share how many of our podcast guest and friends are handling the stress and change of the present crisis, what they see as changing in their businesses as this plays out, and how they are handling the juggles of work and life.

In the first show I was honoured to speak with Karen Finch, Founder of Legally Yours and great friend of BB. Karen is a remarkable business owner, mum of 4 and hugely positive person who has some great wisdom to share on this show. We chatted about managing family life, our partners, what the legal profession is going to look like for the rest of the year, and opportunities for the future.

https://legallyyours.com.au/