The Free Lawyer

A lot of lawyers hit every milestone they thought they wanted, only to feel a quiet resistance to the work they built their career on. In this conversation, one attorney explains what she did when that resistance became impossible to ignore.

Gary sits down with real estate attorney and broker Sara Naheedy to unpack what it looks like to redesign a legal practice around who you actually are. After more than a decade in litigation, Sara walked away and built her own firm centered on mediation, empathy, and living on her own terms. It's a candid look at what it takes to bet on yourself and reclaim your career from the inside out.

Key takeaways:

• Recognize the resistance you feel toward daily work as valuable information, not weakness
• Get clear on your why before making any move so intentional action can replace exhausting motivation
• Reframe client relationships as long-term investments rather than one-off transactions
• Position yourself as a legal advisor who listens first, not just another attorney who talks at clients
• Anticipate that rebranding an established reputation takes more work than building one from scratch
• Invest in coaching and honest outside perspective to see what you cannot see in yourself
• Build a financial safety net before you leap so courage is grounded in real preparation

About the guest: Sara Naheedy is a California real estate attorney and licensed broker with over 15 years of experience. As founder of Sara Naheedy Law APC, she has built a practice around mediation, empathy, and efficient resolution instead of litigation. She is also the author of Stack the Legal Odds in Your Favor.

If this conversation resonated, subscribe to The Free Lawyer wherever you listen and leave a quick review so more attorneys can find the show. When you are ready to design a practice built around your own why, visit garymiles.net or reach out to Gary directly at [email protected].

TIMESTAMPS

[00:00] Opening reflection on the profession
[02:31] Sara's defining moment to launch
[06:18] Choosing empathy over aggression
[08:13] What sets Sara apart
[10:21] Fears of starting from scratch
[13:24] Advice for the stuck lawyer
[16:10] How client expectations are shifting
[18:44] The role of coaching and networking
[23:17] Can lawyers actually be happy
[25:52] The first step to your own terms

GUEST BIO

Sara Naheedy is a California real estate attorney and licensed broker with more than 15 years of experience helping landlords, tenants, buyers, and sellers navigate transactions, mediation, and dispute resolution. As founder of Sara Naheedy Law APC, she has built her practice around a simple conviction: most real estate conflicts can be resolved efficiently, humanely, and without ever setting foot in a courtroom. She is the author of Stack the Legal Odds in Your Favor, a legal self-help resource with a foreword by Dr. Ron Paul. When she is not working with clients, she is likely outside with her dogs, on a pickleball court, or on a yoga mat, exactly the life she built her practice to protect.

Would you like to learn what it looks like to become a truly Free Lawyer? You can schedule a complimentary call here: https://calendly.com/garymiles-successcoach/one-one-discovery-call

Access this free tool to identify your productivity time drains and move to purposeful strategy- 

https://upbeat-trailblazer-9238.kit.com/7c3c667ff1

Check out the Elite Lawyer's Productivity System 

 https://www.garymiles.net/productivity

You can find The Free Lawyer Assessment here- https://www.garymiles.net/the-free-lawyer-assessment

Would you like to learn more about Breaking Free or order your copy? https://www.garymiles.net/break-free

There is a painful gap between the long, exhausting hours attorneys work and the low billable output that actually makes it onto our timesheets. 

Many high-performing attorneys assume a thin timesheet is a personal failure of discipline or willpower, but Gary Miles explains why trying to outwork this problem is the most expensive wrong answer in a legal practice. Through the example of an experienced attorney named Marcus, the episode highlights the three productivity drains that erode focus. To combat these drains, Gary introduces a practice shift that supports Marcus’ transformation of his daily output from 4–5 billable hours to 10.3 captured hours while finishing the day with calm, clarity, and zero burnout. 

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

• The first 90 minute focus strategy

• The 3 small interruptions that you call productivity, but actually are consistent setbacks

• How one lawyer went from a daily output of 4–5 billable hours to 10.3 captured hours

Go to the next level with more from The Free Lawyer episodes: recover more of your hours without adding more time to the clock

• Listen on Apple Podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-five-figure-leak-how-to-recover-billable-hours/id1614507857?i=1000762377833 

• Or Spotify https://open.spotify.com/episode/41MFYpdAmiP5ipObf72qIC?si=f881c727b1d54454 

Use this free diagnostic tool to help you identify your specific time drains and move from reactive chaos to purposeful strategy. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://upbeat-trailblazer-9238.kit.com/7c3c667ff1⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠

Learn more about Breaking Free (the book) and order your copy ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.garymiles.net/break-free⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

First-generation attorney, Jamaal Jones shares how to succeed in health law, manage client relationships, and scale a law firm without the billable hour.

This episode of The Free Lawyer, host Gary Miles speaks with Jamaal Jones, founder of Jones Health Law, about what it takes to transition from an entry-level attorney doing document review to running a successful health law practice. Jamaal shares candid stories about the realities of launching a firm with no initial network, transitioning away from the traditional billable hour, and protecting the business of medicine. Jamaal outlines key strategies for delegating effectively, maintaining firm culture through rigorous hiring, and seeking out mentorship regardless of how long you've been practicing.

Listen to this episode for:

• How to leverage limited resources and temporary income streams to build a client base from scratch.

• Insights into defending providers long before appeals are filed.

• How fixed pricing creates income predictability, aligns attorney-client goals, and prevents bill shock.

• Implementing strict response timelines with your team and clients to build long-term trust.

• Practical guidance on establishing intentional calendar boundaries so your business serves your life instead of consuming it.

To learn more about Jamaal Jones and his firm, visit Jones Health Law.

Connect with Gary Miles:

Use this free diagnostic tool to help you identify your specific time drains and move from reactive chaos to purposeful strategy. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://upbeat-trailblazer-9238.kit.com/7c3c667ff1⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠

Learn more about Breaking Free (the book) and order your copy ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.garymiles.net/break-free⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠

Corner offices and impressive incomes, yet there is a deep dread that keeps surfacing on Sunday nights. 

Gary Miles details why traditional metrics of legal success frequently lead to burnout and empty victories for high performing lawyers. Perfectionism, constant availability, and relying on external validation create what Gary calls “golden handcuffs." Handcuffs that keep accomplished lawyers feeling trapped in the very success they built. 

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

• The 3 core pillars you need to transition into internal authority and personal validation.

• Take action on practical daily habits that don’t require more time from your day.

• And resources to build the roadmap to unlock the cage of unsustainable success.

Go to the next level with more from The Free Lawyer episodes: defining internal authority and what it looks like in action.

• Listen on Apple Podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/whats-your-freedom-score-find-out-in-10-minutes-363/id1614507857?i=1000733678200 

• Or Spotify https://open.spotify.com/episode/7Bm5Joo1904Sk18CuFVIhR?si=c41f7460c63d4525 

Use this free diagnostic tool to help you identify your specific time drains and move from reactive chaos to purposeful strategy. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://upbeat-trailblazer-9238.kit.com/7c3c667ff1⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠

Learn more about Breaking Free (the book) and order your copy ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.garymiles.net/break-free⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

You built the practice. You earned the success. So why does it feel like the firm is running you instead of the other way around? If you are quietly wondering whether you have become the bottleneck inside the business you created, this conversation will hit a nerve.

In this episode, Gary sits down with Raquel Gomes, founder and CEO of Stafi, to talk honestly about what it actually takes to grow a law firm without losing yourself in the process. From her early lessons in Brazil to the breaking point that launched her company, Raquel offers a clear-eyed look at delegation, team building, and what freedom actually looks like for a high-achieving attorney.

Key Takeaways:

• Identify which tasks on your plate truly require an attorney and which are quietly costing you billable hours
• Recognize the limiting beliefs around money, success, and balance that keep brilliant lawyers stuck in the weeds of their own firms
• Treat remote and offshore team members as full members of your firm to unlock real law firm growth
• Use a personality and behavioral assessment, not just an interview, to predict which hires will actually thrive in the role
• Reframe community and outside perspective as essential, not optional, for sustainable lawyer leadership
• Apply Raquel's exercise of listing your daily tasks, attaching a dollar value to each, and asking whether you should really be the one doing them

About the Guest:Raquel Gomes is the founder and CEO of Stafi, a virtual staffing company that has helped over 420 law firms reduce attorney burnout through skilled remote support from Latin America. With a background in psychology and an International Business MBA, she brings a rare blend of human insight and operational rigor to the conversation about modern law firm management.

If this episode resonates, share it with a colleague who needs to hear it. Subscribe, leave a review, and pick up a copy of Breaking Free on Amazon for a deeper look at the invisible chains holding accomplished lawyers back, and the keys to unlock them.

[00:00] — Buried by the firm you built
[02:26] — Lessons from a Brazilian entrepreneur
[06:03] — The breaking point that built Stafi
[08:05] — Confronting the limiting beliefs
[11:05] — Growth partner, not staffing provider
[14:34] — The psychology behind a good hire
[17:24] — What 420 law firms keep discovering
[21:17] — Where remote talent is heading next
[26:20] — Advice for the lawyer who feels off
[28:19] — What freedom actually looks like
[32:27] — One step to take tomorrow morning

Raquel Gomes is the founder and CEO of Stafi, a virtual staffing company that helps law firms reclaim their billable hours through skilled remote professionals based in Latin America. She serves attorneys and firm owners who want to grow without sacrificing their personal lives, offering an integrated model that includes assessment, onboarding, and ongoing coaching for every team member placed. With a background in psychology and an International Business MBA, Raquel has built Stafi into a company supporting more than 420 law firms with over 600 team members worldwide. A Brazilian immigrant, mother, and entrepreneur, she built Stafi to prove that career success and a fulfilling personal life are not competing forces.

You can find The Free Lawyer Assessment here- https://www.garymiles.net/the-free-lawyer-assessment

Would you like to learn what it looks like to become a truly Free Lawyer? You can schedule a complimentary call here: https://calendly.com/garymiles-successcoach/one-one-discovery-call

Would you like to learn more about Breaking Free or order your copy? https://www.garymiles.net/break-free

Access this free tool to identify your productivity time drains and move to purposeful strategy- 

https://upbeat-trailblazer-9238.kit.com/7c3c667ff1

Check out the Elite Lawyer's Productivity System 

 https://www.garymiles.net/productivity

Stop doing work that is 2 levels below your pay grade and calling it delegation.

This episode of The Free Lawyer tackles a productivity killer that many law firm partners have: the midnight redo. Many partners find themselves completely rewriting associate drafts late at night under the guise of maintaining high standards. However, host Gary Miles, reveals that this isn't a delegation or character flaw, but rather an authority and design problem rooted in keeping standards trapped inside your own head. By continually rewriting work instead of providing clear, externalized criteria upfront, partners stunt associate growth and create a firm growth ceiling tied strictly to their own personal availability. 

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

• Three actionable structural shifts to help busy attorneys transition from redoing to true leadership

• Three justifications lawyers don’t realize their hiding behind that keeps them doing work late into the night

• And how to maximize the capacity of their team by teaching the firm’s standard of excellence

Go to the next level with more from The Free Lawyer episodes on this topic: the importance of building companies that don’t rely solely on the owner's physical work and emphasizes leveraging a team of associates

• Listen on Apple Podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/226-how-can-law-firm-owners-increase-profit-and/id1614507857?i=1000661135819 

• Or Spotify https://open.spotify.com/episode/3B2jx5neJGFtq3bUvtU6Um?si=YqZoMaQ4TLu-RaNa52vS3Q 

Use this free diagnostic tool to help you identify your specific time drains and move from reactive chaos to purposeful strategy. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://upbeat-trailblazer-9238.kit.com/7c3c667ff1⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠

Learn more about Breaking Free (the book) and order your copy ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.garymiles.net/break-free⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠

You built your firm to give yourself freedom. So why does it feel like you've never been more trapped? If your alarm goes off at five, your laptop comes on vacation with you, and the only way the work gets done is when you do it yourself, this conversation will land hard.

In this episode, Gary sits down with Simone Fulmer Gaus, co-founder of Fulmer Sill and author of The Set-Up, to unpack why most lawyers stay stuck even after they leave the firm that was burning them out. Simone shares the Texas highway breakdown that cracked her open, the near-payroll-miss that forced her to stop lying to herself, and the five-pillar framework that has since grown her firm more than twenty times in revenue without burning out the people inside it. If you are tired of being the bottleneck in your own practice, this is the blueprint.

"If the foundation is breaking, it doesn't matter that you're putting fancy paint on the wall. Marketing is a tactic. The foundation is whether your team is ready when the cases come in."

Key Takeaways

• Recognize the trap: most lawyers rebuild the same broken model in their own firm with themselves at the center
• Stop fixing the surface: marketing, hiring, and software cannot repair a weak foundation
• Build on five pillars: People, Pipeline, Process, Product, and Profitability
• Reframe pipeline as the full client journey, not just a marketing funnel
• Build the firm as something separate from you, so it can outlast you and grow beyond you
• Ask the harder question first: what do you actually want, not what success is supposed to look like
• Start tomorrow by sorting every part of your firm under the five pillars to see where the chaos really lives

If this conversation resonated, share it with a colleague who needs to hear it, and take a moment to follow the show and leave a review so more attorneys can find it. You can connect with Gary, explore coaching, and grab a copy of Breaking Free at garymiles.net. Practice law with purpose. Live life with freedom.

[00:00] Why the firm feels like a trap
[02:00] The Texas highway breakdown
[05:00] Warning signs Simone missed
[07:00] Why surface fixes never work
[09:30] The Set-Up five-pillar framework
[14:30] What the future of firms looks like
[18:30] The one thing lawyers ignore at their peril
[20:30] The lie before the breakthrough
[24:30] Freedom on a Tuesday morning
[28:30] One step to take tomorrow

Simone Fulmer Gaus is co-founder of Fulmer Sill, a nationally recognized personal injury and mass torts law firm in Oklahoma City, and the author of The Set-Up: Build What Matters. Fix What's Broken. Finally Make Your Law Firm Work. After seventeen years of complex litigation pulled her away from the life she wanted, Simone walked away to build something different and developed a five-pillar framework that has grown her firm more than twenty times in revenue. She speaks at CLEs and industry events on sustainable firm growth, leadership, and what freedom actually looks like for a law firm owner.

Access this free tool to identify your productivity time drains and move to purposeful strategy- 

https://upbeat-trailblazer-9238.kit.com/7c3c667ff1

Check out the Elite Lawyer's Productivity System 

 https://www.garymiles.net/productivity

Would you like to learn more about Breaking Free or order your copy? https://www.garymiles.net/break-free

Would you like to learn what it looks like to become a truly Free Lawyer? You can schedule a complimentary call here: https://calendly.com/garymiles-successcoach/one-one-discovery-call

Take The Free Lawyer Assessment (10 minutes, completely free):

https://www.garymiles.net/the-free-lawyer-assessment

What you'll get immediately:

✓ Your Professional Freedom Score (out of 300 points)

✓ Breakdown across Internal Authority, Sustainable Excellence, and Authentic Practice

✓ Personalized action plan in your inbox

✓ Specific steps you can take this week

Lawyers, stop being your own secretary and reclaim your evenings. Your best legal thinking is not at 7 PM.

Your law practice doesn’t have to feel like a cycle of playing catch-up. The problem was never your willpower, it’s your structure. This episode helps elite lawyers choose system architecture over discipline.

In this episode of The Free Lawyer, we work through the fallacy that time management is about squeezing more into your day. True productivity is about reclaiming daylight hours for the work you do best. Gary Miles exposes the financial and mental toll of lawyers acting as their own administrative support, client relationship management, and case manager. If you are constantly being your own secretary, you are actively draining the energy needed for the high-value legal judgment that actually moves cases forward.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

• How to stop planning to 100% capacity, focusing instead on flexible systems that work with a lawyer's natural focus and energy.

• The exact framework to separate routine inbox management from the complex strategy analysis.

• Moving past neat calendars to advanced time blocking built to withstand real time, chaotic legal fires.

Go to the next level with more The Free Lawyer episodes on this topic: use this productivity system to manage cases better and reclaim your work day. Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts or Spotify  

Use this free diagnostic tool to help you identify your specific time drains and move from reactive chaos to purposeful strategy. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://upbeat-trailblazer-9238.kit.com/7c3c667ff1⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠

Learn more about Breaking Free or order your copy ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.garymiles.net/break-free⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

You're the one everyone calls. The one who has the answers, solves the problems, and holds the whole thing together. And deep down, you know that's exactly what's keeping you stuck.

In this episode, Gary sits down with leadership strategist Kristen McAlister to tackle one of the most costly traps in law firm management: building a practice so dependent on you that it can never truly grow, and you can never truly breathe. This conversation is a practical roadmap for any managing partner or firm owner who wants to stop being the bottleneck and start building something with real enterprise value and real personal freedom.

Key Takeaways:

• Separate income from enterprise value. Most lawyers optimize for the wrong one, and it quietly limits the future of their firm.
• Apply the "Do It, Delegate It, Delete It" framework to reclaim hours every week without sacrificing quality or client service.
• Understand that the founder trap is an identity issue as much as a management one. You have the key. The question is whether you are willing to use it.
• Recognize that decoupling yourself from your business and decoupling your business from yourself are two different things, and both are essential for law firm growth.
• Start with one honest list of everything you are doing that you do not enjoy and are not best suited for. That list is your first delegation roadmap.

Kristen McAlister is a leadership strategist, keynote speaker, and co-owner of Cerius Executives, where she helps founders and CEOs build non-owner dependent organizations that generate lasting enterprise value. She works at the intersection of leadership, law firm growth, and personal freedom, and she brings a rare combination of strategic rigor and real-world business ownership to every conversation.

If this episode challenged the way you think about your practice, subscribe wherever you listen and leave a review. It helps more lawyers find this show. Visit garymiles.net to learn more about Gary's coaching work and The Free Lawyer® movement.

[04:37] — Balancing multiple roles sustainably
[09:16] — Letting go of control
[13:02] — Starting at the finish line
[17:33] — The chief problem solver trap
[23:01] — Income versus enterprise value
[28:09] — Why lawyers resist asking for help
[31:18] — What freedom actually looks like
[35:24] — You hold the key

Kristen McAlister is a leadership strategist, keynote speaker, and co-owner of Cerius Executives, specializing in helping business owners build organizations that are not dependent on any one person, including themselves. She advises founders, managing partners, and CEOs on how to accelerate enterprise value and create genuine personal freedom through intentional leadership team design. Kristen is also the host of the She Owns It! podcast, where she highlights women redefining success on their own terms. She has decoupled her own firm from her daily presence and protects every Friday as a non-negotiable personal day. You can reach her at ceriusexecutives.com.

Check out the Elite Lawyer's Productivity System 

 https://www.garymiles.net/productivity

Access this free tool to identify your productivity time drains and move to purposeful strategy- 

https://upbeat-trailblazer-9238.kit.com/7c3c667ff1

Would you like to learn what it looks like to become a truly Free Lawyer? You can schedule a complimentary call here: https://calendly.com/garymiles-successcoach/one-one-discovery-call

You can find The Free Lawyer Assessment here- https://www.garymiles.net/the-free-lawyer-assessment

Traditional time-management tools were built for corporate employees with bosses, not the load-bearing owners of a legal enterprise. This episode of The Free Lawyer, addresses a frustrating reality for most managing partners and successful attorneys: why every productivity system we try eventually fails.

Gary Miles explains that the true culprit behind abandoned calendars isn't a lack of discipline, but a deeply embedded definition of professional worth tied to constant availability and personal heroics. Rather than trying yet another superficial app, Gary introduces a mental shift focused on diagnosis before the solution, starting with reclaiming the first 90 minutes of the day.

This episode provides a blueprint for elite attorneys to maintain high performance while shifting the weight of the practice onto a system rather than our own exhausted hands.

Use this free diagnostic tool to help you identify your specific time drains and move from reactive chaos to purposeful strategy. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://upbeat-trailblazer-9238.kit.com/7c3c667ff1⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠

Access the full Elite Lawyer's Productivity System ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.garymiles.net/productivity ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Get the Values Alignment Guide ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://upbeat-trailblazer-9238.kit.com/1604bbf4cb⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 

Take the Free Lawyer Assessment ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠garymiles.net/the-free-lawyer-assessment⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 

Learn more about Breaking Free or order your copy ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.garymiles.net/break-free⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 

Schedule a complimentary discovery call: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://calendly.com/garymiles-successcoach/one-one-discovery-call ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠ ⁠⁠