The Lawyer's Edge

Joe Giovannoli is the founder and CEO of 9Sail, a digital marketing firm that specializes in project-based and ongoing SEO management for service firms. Joe has almost 10 years of marketing experience, having previously held positions at firms and agencies such as Red Clover and Inflexion Interactive.

With 9Sail, Joe focuses not only on providing quality service and results for his clients, but also prioritizing the company culture for his team. Alongside the office pup, Dunkin, Joe is working to make 9Sail the leading provider of search marketing services for law firms in New Jersey.

When building your company, it's important to provide a useful service to your clients and remain attentive to their needs. However, focusing solely on the requirements of your clientele may cause you to forget about the other important component of your business: your team.

9Sail founder and CEO Joe Giovannoli believes that creating an effective company culture revolves around determining your "why." According to Joe, when you work with people whose purpose and motivation aligns with your own, the outcome is a holistic and collaborative process that delivers better results to your clients. This is the foundation that has helped Joe rapidly grow his digital marketing firm to new and exceptional heights.

In this week's episode of The Lawyer's Edge, host Elise Holtzman sits down with Joe Giovannoli of 9Sail to talk about the importance of crafting an intentional company culture at your law firm. They chat about letting clients go who aren't a good fit for your company, how to find the "why" behind your business, and what lawyers need to know about digital marketing. Stay tuned.

Dr. Larry Richard is the founder and principal consultant for LawyerBrain LLC, a consulting firm that specializes in improving lawyer performance through personality science. With LawyerBrain, Larry focuses on building and fostering lawyer resilience, leadership development, change management, and other people-related issues when it comes to managing lawyers.

After practicing law as a trial attorney for ten years, Larry earned his Ph.D. in Psychology from Temple University. Larry is now recognized as the leading expert on the psychology of lawyer behavior.

Finding the right fit for your career can be difficult. On one hand, you want to choose the career path that lives up to the old adage: if you love what you do, you'll never work a day in your life. On the other hand, there is the ever-present doubt: does your perfect job really exist?

If you're a lawyer struggling with these concerns, expert psychologist Dr. Larry Richard may be able to help. He has gathered personality data on thousands of lawyers in order to better understand who is fit for a career in law, and what makes them tick. With his management consulting firm, LawyerBrain LLC, Larry now helps law firms and practices solve their people issues and develop better lawyers.

In this week's episode of The Lawyer's Edge, host Elise Holtzman sits down with Dr. Larry Richard, founder and principal consultant of LawyerBrain LLC, to talk about the personality science behind happy and effective lawyers. Join the conversation as they discuss the personality type that is most common amongst lawyers, as well as the importance of aligning your career identity with the work that you do.

Jonathan Lupkin is a litigator, trial lawyer, and bowtie aficionado who has been practicing law for over 25 years. During his storied career, he's served as Chair of the Commercial and Federal Litigation Section of the New York State Bar Association and has been named one of the Top 100 attorneys in the New York metropolitan area by SuperLawyers. After working at firms both big and small, Jonathan decided to build his own practice, Lupkin PLLC.

Law as a profession can be intimidating, especially for younger lawyers on the scene. There's a lot to learn, challenges to come up against, and arguments to be had. But what if you had more choice than you thought? What if there were more ways than one to practice law successfully?

Jonathan Lupkin of Lupkin PLLC is a big believer in controlling your own destiny. After learning what he didn't want early on in his career as a lawyer in a big firm, Jonathan is an expert at saying no to the opportunities that don't align with his values.

In this episode, Elise interviews Jonathan Lupkin about breaking with the pack and starting his own boutique firm. Tune in as Jonathan discusses his thoughts on big firms versus boutique practices, the challenges he faced when doing things his own way, and the importance of mentorship at any stage of your career.

Elise Holtzman is an experienced attorney, a certified professional coach, and the Founder of The Lawyer's Edge, a boutique firm that provides professional development services to individual attorneys and legal organizations.

Elise has a J.D. from Columbia Law School. She practiced commercial real estate transactional law before shifting her focus to empowering lawyers as they navigate their growing careers.

Do you feel like there's more you need to do to become a partner at your firm, but you're unsure of what they are? Are you looking to grow your firm, but aren't yet comfortable with networking?

Elise Holtzman's boutique firm, The Lawyer's Edge, can help you get the solutions to these problems and more. Elise helps both individual attorneys and legal organizations overcome the fears of business development so that they can achieve personal and professional success.

On this episode of The Lawyer's Edge podcast, Elise Holtzman talks with business networking adviser and Founder of Rise25 and the Smart Business Revolution podcast, John Corcoran, to discuss the business development skills that aren't covered in law school. They dive into how to use social media to your advantage, the best way to manage your time as both a lawyer and a marketer, and some networking strategies for introverts. Stay tuned.

Carrie Fletcher is a leadership and strategy coach with unmatched experience at the intersection of law and leadership. After receiving her law degree from the University of Michigan Law School and practicing at major law firms for 12 years, Carrie decided to switch gears and pursue professional development. She joined Harvard Law School Executive Education, where she was the executive director.

Now, Carrie splits her time between the US and the UK, where she recently earned her Master's in Leadership and Strategy at The London School of Business. Carrie currently works with law firms, corporate legal departments, and other organizations on their leadership and strategic goals.

When was the last time you met a challenge with an open mind and relinquished your attachment to control? Even if you don't consider yourself a risk taker—and most lawyers don't—there can be serious benefits to stepping outside of your comfort zone and embracing new opportunities.

Leadership and strategy coach Carrie Fletcher has experienced these benefits first hand. After transitioning from a decade-long career in law to a new path in professional development, Carrie has learned how to embrace new opportunities. Now, these opportunities have taken her across the pond, and she is currently living, working, and studying with her family in London.

On this episode of The Lawyer's Edge, host Elise Holtzman sits down with longtime friend and leadership development rockstar Carrie Fletcher to discuss the importance of keeping an open mind when it comes to your career. Carrie talks about the benefits and challenges that have come with pivoting from law to leadership coaching, uprooting her life from the US to the UK, and stepping out of her comfort zone. Stay tuned.

Steve Hirschfeld is a founding and co-managing partner of Hirschfeld Kraemer, LLP, an employment law boutique based in San Francisco. He is also the founder and CEO of the Employment Law Alliance (ELA), the world's largest provider of employment law solutions. The ELA's attorneys number more than 3,000 and hail from six continents and over 100 countries. On top of all of that, Steve is an avid vacationer, adventurer, and, more recently, winemaker.

What inspired you to become a lawyer? For many, this decision follows a similar pattern: you are about to graduate from college and, unsure of what else to do, opt for law school. Or, you decide to go into law in pursuit of big paydays.

However, according to Steve Hirschfeld of the Employment Law Alliance (ELA), pursuing law for all the wrong reasons is what leads to burnout, unhappiness, and a lack of camaraderie in your field. That's why he founded the ELA: to facilitate referrals, fellowship, and friendship among lawyers.

In this episode of The Lawyer's Edge, Elise Holtzman sits down with Steve Hirschfeld, founder and CEO of the Employment Law Alliance (ELA), to chat about how to build a happy and successful career in law. Listen in as Steve discusses how food and wine have factored into his success, why he identifies so heavily with the millennial generation, and the importance of prioritizing time off.