Have you been thinking about making the leap from Big Law to having a practice of your own? It can be scary especially when there are so many unknowns to account for. In this episode, we speak with Carolyn Elefant, a law firm owner in Washington DC and a long time advocate of solo and small firm practice and lawyer entrepreneurship. Since 2002, Carolyn’s blog MyShingle.com has helped support thousands of lawyers with launching a practice. She is also author of Solo by Choice, the most comprehensive guide on starting a modern 21st century law practice.

Both Carolyn and I can attest that once you do make the leap the opportunities become clearer. Carolyn’s best advice is to stop over analyzing and JUST DO IT, once you start you can never lose. 

In this episode, Carolyn and I discuss:

• Transitioning from big law over to becoming a solo attorney as an energy lawyer.
• The advantage of being a front runner to step out ahead of opportunity
• The control and autonomy of being a solo attorney
• How technology has dramatically improved accessibility to resources and information
• Maintaining professionalism as a solo or small firm lawyer
• Adapting to a changing marketplace and staying relevant
• Gender diversity in the solo practice arena
• Moving beyond the analysis and planning, to just going out and making it happen

The method in which prospects seek information has resulted in Amazon-ified search results making it difficult to have a conversation that doesn’t just begin and stop at price dropping. 

In this episode I am joined with Jan Roos, bestselling author of The Legal Marketing Fastland and CEO of CaseFuel, a marketing platform that helps law firm owners gain greater visibility into their pipelines, generate more leads, and close more deals. 

In this episode, Jan and I will discuss:

• Amazonify-ing your online search results
• Going “niche” with your content
• Being top of a list verses being the ONLY one on the list
• Niching the “Normal”
• Marketing metrics that matter
• Creating association with groups to connect with Potential New Clients

Part 2 dives deep into proactive measures law firm owners can begin implementing to help adapt their business models during the current evolving landscape. A lot of owners are beginning to come to terms with the fact that they will need to virtualize their practice, and in response some may panic. The transition won’t be an easy feat, but it is possible. In this episode I stress the importance of setting standards, fine-tuning systems, and most importantly how to refrain from negative thoughts while you transform your business in the wake of the Corona Virus pandemic. 

In this episode, I will discuss:

• Typical responses to being confronted with a new or unknown circumstance
• Dealing with data overload provided by the media
• Adapting to the challenges of managing people remotely and maintaining a feeling of control
• Resistance to a change in office culture
• How new working environments will impact work performance in different ways
• See the opportunities to evolve your workplace and identify your top performers
• How these dramatic changes can improve your personal growth and leadership skills
• Maintaining accountability and expectations while acknowledging difficult circumstances
• Setting the standard as the leader and reducing the anxiety you feel inside yourself
• The importance of using a visual communication process (such as Zoom) to create energy transfer
• How to reframe negative thoughts
• Making changes carefully and thoughtfully and how this is a good time to assess your business in 4 key areas: Marketing, Sales, Systems and People

The idea of going virtual is an increasing thought among many law firm owners, especially in the times we are going through with the COVID-19 pandemic. Increased productivity, accessibility, and cost savings is just some of the many benefits of going virtual. The process of transferring to a virtual firm however is where the real challenge lies. In this episode I am joined with Melanie Leonard, owner of Streamlined Legal, a consulting service that offers personalized consulting services, training, and education to law firms who are looking to create efficiencies with the use of practice management software. 

In this episode, Melanie and I will discuss:

• Moving from brick and mortar to virtual law office
• Overcoming the challenges of physical things - faxes; mail; phone lines; etc.
• Overcoming the resistance to creating a virtual law office
• Implementing out of office activity from our in-office activity
• Tech needs
• Video conferencing to manage remote teams
• Creating a work-space in the home
• KPIs for remote employees

In the marketing world we are living at the height of content consumption and the landscape is competitive. Yes, content is still King and it is essential for the success of your marketing strategy. In this episode I am joined with Law Firm Entrepreneur Marc Cerniglia, founder of Spotlight Branding, a marketing firm committed to helping lawyers become unforgettable. Marc has a passion for helping professionals understand the truths and myths about internet marketing and educating them on how to get the most out of their marketing efforts.

In this episode, Marc and I will discuss:

• Why content creation is important
• How to formulate a marketing strategy
• Why it’s impossible for every small law firm to succeed on SEO
• Why law firms are only getting ⅓ of the referrals 
• The 3 ways content is consumed
• Critical marketing systems all law firms should have
• How to create a quick blog post in 20-30 minutes

During the ordinance of Shelter in Place most of us are working remotely and engaging with clients in a way we are not used to. This is especially problematic for lawyers as our brains tend to go into the darkest of places when a problem arises. It’s not that we are negative thinkers, it’s just the way we are conditioned as lawyers. As soon as a problem arises the first place our mind goes is what could go wrong, then we proceed on how to solve it. It is important as business owners that we not only understand what’s happening, but also be proactive to avoid the toxic impact on your clients and your staff. In this episode I will present four things you can do now to stay emotionally and psychologically healthy during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

In this episode, I will discuss:

• What does social distancing mean for our businesses?
• The challenges of working remotely and engaging with people in a way you're not used to
• Understanding what’s happening and being proactive to avoid a toxic impact
• How we are hardwired from our subconscious evolution to believe things in one way or another
• Thoughts brought on by circumstances and the feelings associated with those thoughts
• How the conglomeration of negative thoughts is what leads to catastrophe
• The idea that anxiety is something that is a thought about a future circumstance
• How negative thoughts have a negative impact on the people who are doing the work with you and for you
• Avoiding catastrophic thinking by getting into the habit of thinking about the neutrality of circumstances
• The energy in stepping forward and showing up
• Four things you can do now to keep yourselves emotionally and psychologically healthy through this process

Maddy Martin has spent the last decade growing tech startups from New York to California, and most recently helping law firms streamline efficiencies with inbound and outbound communication. Maddy is the Head of Growth & Education at Smith.ai, a virtual receptionist service for phone calls, web chat, and text messages that combines human intelligence and AI to help small businesses achieve happier clients and more qualified leads.

In this episode, Maddy and I discuss:

•  Business acumen gaps identified in the 2019 Clio Trends Report
•  Variability in lawyer staffing choices, on site and off site
•  2 Keys for deciding how much call volume to buy from an off site provider
•  How NOT to pay for spam or wrong number calls
• Virtual reception service extras, such as collection calls, confirming appointments, court reminders and networking follow up
• Intake support, such as conflict checks and web chat
• The Appearance of a larger firm through strategic use of off-site personnel
• Text-based communications – legal disclaimers as protection
• SMS support to email drop campaigns
• Acceleration of the Client Acquisition cycle

Dina Eisenberg works with firms and solo lawyers to create custom outsourcing and onboarding strategies that convey a firm's values while retaining employees and provides Ombudsman services. Formerly a prosecutor turned award-winning entrepreneur and CEO of Unstoppable Lawyer Playbook (a.k.a. Outsource Easier), Dina’s mission is to help law firms create sustainable, profitable, and happy workplaces. In this episode, Dina and I will speak about the ways in which solo and small law firm attorneys can better outsource their business minutiae in order to crush chaos is business. 

In this episode, Dina and I cover:

• Dina’s prophetic tale and how the failure to systematize decimated one of her family’s businesses
• The dangers of Panic Hiring – what it is and why it doesn’t work
• Where to start the process of onboarding new talent
• Developing trust in your law business – how trust is transactional
• Onboarding versus training
• The devil’s in the delegation
• Overcoming resistance to delegation
• The Critical “Rates” – utilization, realization and collection rates
• Optimizing performance through proper systematizing
• Observational feedback strategies

Jay Henderson is the owner and founder of Real Talent Hiring. His company is dedicated to helping clients take the guesswork out of people performance using their one of a kind objective metric system Real Talent.  Unlike many hiring assessments, the Real Talent Hiring Assessment helps employers evaluate candidates based on performance-focused metrics, which are universal, rather than behavior-based data that can and does change with mood and manipulation.  Jay has helped mega-giants and Fortune 500 companies on down to solo and small law firms improve the quality of their workforces.

In this episode, Jay and I will discuss:

• The 10 Toxic Thinking Patterns and their function in your law firm
• 3 Key Questions for all employees: Can they do the job, Will they do the job, and Will they do the job to your specifications
• 5 Steps to Human Decision-Making Theory
• What differentiates the Real Talent Hiring assessment from the DISC, Kolbe, Meyers-Briggs and other assessment tools
• The weight to be given to an Assessment versus other screening/hiring data
• The interplay between Actions and Results in employees
• Creating sustainable change over time
• Coaching to optimize performance

#001 - Ever wonder how best to use SEO to generate leads for your law firm, and then cultivate those leads through effective intake protocols?  Then, who better to ask that an entrepreneurial lawyer who scaled his law firm from 2 to 38 lawyers in under a decade using the very strategies we discuss.

An accomplished attorney and transformational thought leader, Seth Price is a founding partner and the business backbone of Price Benowitz LLP as well as the founder and CEO of BluShark Digital.  Allison Williams, Law Firm Mentor, interviewed Seth about Search Engine Optimization (SEO), use of SEO as a branding strategy, and converting prospects into paying clients with effective intake protocols.  

To learn more about the Crushing Chaos with Law Firm Mentor podcast, visit: https://lawfirmmentor.net/podcast.

Check out our show notes on the podcast episode page.

To learn more about BluShark Digital, visit:  https://www.facebook.com/blusharkdigital/