Ready to attack 2025? Don’t sit back and wait for your calendar to fill up with other people’s requests for meetings, court dates, and to dos. Now is the moment to grab 2025 by the horns! Listen to Jake reflect on the importance of visualizing your year on the front end so that all you have to do come January is execute. Don’t miss this episode!

Jake takes a look back at 2024 and shares a reflection on the gratitude  generated by the relationships and events within the Freedom Fighter Community.

On today’s episode Jake examines a recent NC Court of Appeals opinion State v. Vaughn dealing with an attack on the foundation of radar results. Challenging the stop for speeding in a DWI case is a grossly underutilized attack point for many defense lawyers. Uncover the framework for speeding challenges through the lens of Vaughn and then sign up for the Attacking Speed in a DWI Case CLE at Campbell Law School in Raleigh on March 7.

On today’s episode Jake looks at amendments to NCGS 20-179.3 which allows a person convicted of a level 2 DWI to apply for a limited driving privilege if certain conditions are met. Given that the biggest consequence that many people charged with DWI face is a loss of driver’s license and driving privileges, this episode has huge implications for the DWI practitioner.

Highlights:

·       Discover the requirements under 20-179.3 that a level 2 DWI offender must meet in order to request an LDP.

·       Learn why the number of interlock violations sent to the DMV and subsequent hearings is about to skyrocket.

·       Uncover the new process for drivers facing an ignition interlock violation in the final 90 days of their privilege.

·       Determine which convictions under 20-141.4 will now require an ignition interlock upon license restoration.

On today’s episode Jake looks at the recent North Carolina Court of Appeals decision of State v. Clark, COA23-1133. In Clark, the Court applied the recent United States Supreme Court decision in Smith v. Arizona (listen to Episode 222 for an analysis of that case) to North Carolina. The Clark Court ultimately found a violation of the Confrontation Clause occurred where a substitute analyst gave expert testimony which was based on a lab report by another analyst who did not testify without independent testing. Walk through the highlights of the Clark case and learn how ChatGPT can be utilized to draft a case brief, write a legal memo, prepare a motion to suppress in Microsoft Word, and create cross-examination questions.

On today’s episode Jake concludes his 4-part guest series on marketing. Today’s guest Camille Stell is the President and CEO of Lawyers Mutual Consulting & Services. Camille is a frequent author and speaker on topics of legal marketing and business development and helps lawyers and law firms with coaching and strategic planning.  On today’s episode, Camille discusses networking. Her take on marketing helps demystify why so many lawyers hate networking events and have trouble producing lasting relationships from such events. To Camille, the value of building your business through your network is the single greatest investment you can make in your firm. If you want to have fun and be productive at your next networking event, then don’t miss a word of today’s episode!

On today’s episode Jake continues a 4-part series on marketing. Today’s guest Joe Ruotolo is the Head of Marketing at Intaker, a legal marketing company focused on helping attorneys utilize technology to stand out. Joe shares some of the cutting-edge uses of AI in the legal space, why attorneys have a hard time evaluating AI software applications, and how AI agents will change the legal landscape in the coming years. If the letters AI are giving you ulcers, then listen to Joe break down in clear and simple terms some of the most practical uses of AI for lawyers in the world today. 

On today’s episode Jake continues a 4-part series on marketing with a stellar lineup of guests. Today’s guest Anna Cates Williams of Cedar Grove Law discusses current trends in legal advertising and website design, finding your voice in the legal marketplace, and a game plan for finding time to develop your law firm’s marketing. Whether you are trying to improve the effectiveness of your Google LSAs or discover efficiencies to improve your intake process and client capture rate, Anna’s incredible wisdom will provide you with immediate steps to improve your legal marketing. Have pen and paper ready for this episode so you don’t miss any golden nuggets!

On today’s episode Jake begins a 4-part series on marketing with a stellar lineup of guests. Kicking it off, Uli Seusterof How to Manage a Small Law Firm joins the show to discuss referral-based marketing. Uli’s tips for generating referral relationships and cases are practical and time tested. If you think that referral marketing is how established law firms build their client base at no cost, then you are wrong on all counts. Learn why Uli thinks that most lawyers do not budget enough time or money to build referral relationships and how to use your referral network to generate more work than you can handle.

Fresh on the heels of discussing the power of creating a resilient community, Jake shares part of a recent meeting of the Freedom Fighters Mastermind Group. During the meeting, Jake outlined the origination of the Freedom Fighters Book Club and how this group has evolved into a more intentional business development meeting of likeminded law firm owners. If you are interested in joining the Freedom Fighters Mastermind Group, reach out to Jake to learn more.