Practice Success

Lisa and Dave are joined by LWP Member Jack Weyers from Family and Elder Law of Mid-Michigan, P.C. Jack came to the practice of law later in life, at age 50. His mother’s diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease when Jack was in college, together with his role as one of her caregivers, inspired Jack to focus on estate planning. In this engaging podcast, you’ll learn about the challenges Jack has overcome since founding his first firm with two attorney partners, who eventually went their separate ways; his experiences with other professional organizations before joining LWP; how he was able to build a solid, cohesive team; his (and his team’s) resistance to implementing and following LWP systems and processes; and the success the firm has achieved since going all-in. Today, Jack’s team includes one attorney, four full-time staff, and a part-time funding coordinator. Revenue is consistent and continues to grow. Jack focuses on relationship management and estate planning while the firm’s operation, thanks to his team, “just kind of happens.” And, Jack has plenty of free time to spend with his young family.

In this podcast Dave discusses Guidr, the new digital platform that is transforming the way lawyers work and interact with clients. Dave describes the origin and evolution of Guidr, how it differs from existing “self-help” legal services platforms, and how it allows estate planning attorneys to reach an audience they otherwise would have missed: younger people (aged 18-55) who often lack the time and money for traditional forms of in-office planning. You will come to understand that Guidr represents a profitable additional service offered by your firm, a perfect complement to your virtual and traditional services, not a substitute for them.

As we have seen in earlier podcasts, the four pillars of success are knowledge, operations, marketing, and mindset. In this episode Dave explains that although each pillar contributes to success, all four are necessary to achieve it. He discusses the challenges most lawyers face in trying to bring the four pillars together, including the surprising fact that lawyers’ training and legal-technical way of thinking actually hinders their ability to develop efficient operations and proper mindsets. Dave shares how he was able to bring the pillars together to build his own multi-million dollar “model” law firm and then use what he learned to create the LWP software, tools, systems, and processes to help hundreds of LWP Member attorneys build successful firms of their own. Finally, Dave notes that while mindset is often the most difficult pillar to achieve, it becomes easier when the other three pillars are in place.

In this podcast Dave focuses on one of the four keys to practice success, mindset (the other three are knowledge, operations, and marketing). You will gain an understanding of what constitutes the mindset for success and why attorneys often struggle to achieve it. Part of the challenge is learning to accept the idea that success cannot be achieved alone. The proper mindset depends on mastering concepts such as “success is about who, not how,” building and training a team that is good at doing what you are not, and adopting LWP’s six core values: open, curious, aware, collaborative, adaptable, and generous.

In this engaging episode Dave shares his personal journey to success, the insights he gleaned along the way, and the foundational elements of a successful practice. You’ll learn about Dave’s experiences growing up in an entrepreneurial household as the youngest of 10 children; his decisions to attend law school and focus on estate planning; the founding of the Estate Planning Law Center; his creation of the iPug Asset Protection Trust and the Medicaid planning industry itself; the co-founding and evolution of Lawyers With Purpose; and more. Dave also explores the four keys to running a successful law practice: knowledge, operations, marketing, and mindset.

In this episode, Dave defines and explores LWP’s three practice success models: the Profitable Law Firm, the Robust Law Firm, and the E-Freedom Law Firm. You will learn what these models have in common (consistent profitability and operational proficiency, for instance) and how they differ (revenue, team size, and the role of the owner/founder). You will also come to understand that each model represents a different form of success, and choosing the model that’s right for you comes down to your definition of success. That is, LWP’s practice success models help you envision and achieve success as you define it.

Dave Zumpano kicks off his series of Practice Success Podcasts, logically enough, by answering a fundamental question, “What is Lawyers With Purpose?” As you’ll see, Lawyers With Purpose is not a nonprofit. Rather, it is a community of ‘purposeful lawyers’ dedicated to helping fellow Members achieve success as they themselves define it. Dave begins by exploring the four universal principles of business success: knowledge, operations, marketing, and mindset. He goes on to explain how the right mindset, which incorporates LWP’s six core values, is the key to achieving long-term success, a purposeful practice, and a satisfying work-life balance.