Founding Partner Podcast

What if the way we bill clients is the very thing breaking the system? In this episode of The Founding Partner Podcast, I sit down with Christopher Anderson, founder of New Leaf Family Law, who’s replacing the billable hour with something few thought possible—a subscription model for family law. Could this be the future of how lawyers serve, earn, and build trust again?

What does it really take to walk away from prestige and bet on yourself? How do two rivals become partners, build a team that never loses a lawyer to another firm, and still keep their humanity in the fight? Is the billable hour dying, or is it stronger than ever in big-ticket litigation? And what do you do when your daughter is born at 3 a.m. and your Eleventh Circuit argument is at eight? This 100th episode dives into the gut calls, the near-misses, and the systems that make a firm outlast its founders. Ready to hear what most don’t say out loud?

What happens when a trial lawyer decides to stop doing everything himself? In this episode, Dan Purtell reveals how letting go transformed his firm from five people to sixty—and why saying no to the wrong cases made room for the right ones. Can a law firm scale without losing its soul? And what happens when AI enters the courtroom? This conversation might change how you think about leadership, growth, and the future of law.

What happens when a successful attorney finally admits he can’t do it all? When letting go becomes the only way to grow? In this in-person episode, I sit down with Kevin Rubin, founder of Rubin Family Law, to talk fear, delegation, and the mindset shifts that turned chaos into culture. How do you build a thriving firm without losing control—or yourself—in the process?

What if the universe really is trying to tell you something—but most of us are too busy to listen? Joe Fried was a cop who never planned on being a lawyer, until a judge pulled him aside and changed his life. He walked away from a lucrative practice, burned the boats, and five hours later got a call that set his destiny in motion. In our conversation, he shares why chasing money is the wrong path, why fear can be your greatest teacher, and how specializing can make you unstoppable. What would happen if you stopped playing it safe and committed fully to one path?

What makes someone leave a stable job, take four bar exams, and then launch a law firm with zero clients just weeks before a global pandemic? In this episode, I sit down with Roya Vasseghi, who did exactly that. We talk about starting over in a new state, why building relationships pays off years later, and the painful reality of partnerships that don’t work out. Her story made me ask: how do you know when to bet on yourself, and what’s the cost if you don’t?

What if the one thing holding your law firm back isn’t more cases, but the way you run the cases you already have? In my latest conversation with Tim McKey of Vista Consulting, we dug into the uncomfortable truth: top firms don’t rely on pixie dust or luck—they rely on vision, culture, and two numbers that most firms don’t even track. Could the difference between a good practice and a great one really come down to just intake conversion and client contact? Listen and decide for yourself.

What do you do when your very first case is one you’re not trained for, unpaid, and the stakes are someone’s freedom? Steven Goldstein leaned in, admitted to prosecutors “I don’t know what I’m doing—help me,” and turned vulnerability into strength. From hustling PI cases by walking Broadway, to playing basketball on the Knicks’ court, to winning a multimillion-dollar “jaywalking case” after a client was wrongfully jailed—his story left me asking: is the real secret to success in law about skill… or about hustle, humility, and connection?

What happens when you stop chasing every client… and start firing the wrong ones?

For 20 years, Jeff Sladkus built a law firm that protects some of the world’s most famous brands. But it didn’t happen by playing it safe. From waking up at 5:30 a.m. every morning to serve Italian fashion houses, to freezing counterfeiters’ bank accounts before they even knew they’d been sued—his story forces you to ask:

👉 Would your business grow faster if you focused less on saying “yes”… and more on saying “no”?

What can a personal injury lawyer teach you about negotiating with insurance adjusters, running a mid-size firm, going viral on LinkedIn, and flying first-class to Europe for $500? In this episode, I sat down with Matt Long — a lawyer who’s just as comfortable in the courtroom as he is at the poker table. His story will make you rethink how lawyers build influence, avoid burnout, and even travel the world. Would you run your practice the way he does?