The Practice Playbook Podcast with Susan Guthrie

By Susan E. Guthrie LLCBusiness Entrepreneurship Management

The Practice Playbook Podcast with Susan Guthrie episodes

October 08Great Mediator. Struggling Practice? Here’s What You’re Missing with Natalie Armstrong-Motin on the Practice Playbook Podcast #476
You can be an excellent professional, mediator, or lawyer and still struggle to build a successful practice. It may be one of the most frustrating truths about these professions, because knowing how to carry out your craft and knowing how to build a business around it are two entirely different skill sets. That is why we are tackling the questions heard most often from practitioners about what might actually be missing and why they are struggling so much.
Joining Susan Guthrie on this week's episode of The Practice Playbook Practice is Natalie Armstrong Motin. She has helped mediators, arbitrators, and other dispute resolution professionals build and market their practices for over three decades, and draws on her new book, Build Your Mediation Practice: The Complete Marketing and Business Development Guide for Mediators and Arbitrators, to walk through them.
Where do the cases come from? Do I really need a niche? How do I market myself without feeling like I'm selling myself? Why am I doing all the things and still not getting traction? And when the phone rings or the email lands, now what?
If these questions have been coming to mind, then this episode has the answers. This conversation is much more than marketing. It explores why building a practice requires a fundamental shift in mindset, why trying to be everything to everyone may be costing you business, and why becoming known isn't about constantly talking about yourself. Whether you're building your first mediation practice, transitioning from another professional career, or wondering why an established practice isn't growing the way you want it to, there's something here for everyone.
What You'll Learn
Why being a businessperson who also mediates, rather than a mediator trying to grow a business, changes how you think about virtually everything else
How niching down can make it much easier for the right business to find you
Why the best marketing is listening to people and serving them before they ever need to hire you
How long transitioning a litigation practice into a mediation practice really takes, and why consistency matters more than going viral
What prospective clients should experience before they ever enter your practice room
Why a successful practice is built through hundreds of small decisions about who you serve, how you show up, and what people experience when they finally find you
About Our Guest
Mrs. Armstrong-Motin, Founder and Managing Director of Marketing Resolution, is the author of “The Essential Guide to Marketing Your ADR Practice”. She is frequently invited to speak around the globe on the successful marketing strategies of the resolution and legal industry. As a personal consultant to many of the premier providers in the ADR industry, her company, Marketing Resolution, has designed and developed hundreds of campaigns for private practices, firms, educational institutions, authors, organizations and associations around the world.

Mrs. Armstrong-Motin has received certificates in both Mediation and Arbitration from the Institute of Conflict Management and International Mediation from both Tulane University School of Law and Humboldt University School of Law in Berlin Germany. She has received more than 150 hours in training in numerous national and international mediation, arbitration and communication courses. Mrs. Armstrong-Motin’s professional education background is in conflict resolution, sociology and criminal psychology.

She is currently working with the American Bar Association Dispute Resolution Section, ADR Institute of British Columbia, and the Association for Conflict Resolution in the USA. She was Vice President of the Southern California Mediation Association and Chair of the Membership Committee, a member of the Board of the London Club. Mrs. Armstrong-Motin has served on the Board of the California Dispute Resolution Council. For the American Bar Association’s Dispute Resolution Section she served as Vice-Chair of Practice Development Committee and as the Co-Chair of the Standing Committee for Practice, Business and Skills Development.

Website: https://www.howtomarketmymediationpractice.com/
Book: Build Your Mediation Practice
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/marketingresolution
The Business Plan Playbook, Second Edition
The Business Plan Playbook, Second Edition is now available!
This new edition introduces the Living Practice Plan™ and helps lawyers, mediators, dispute resolution professionals, consultants, coaches, and other service-based professionals examine the practice they have inherited, reacted into, or intentionally designed.
Pricing is one part of that larger design. Your fees connect to your services, client experience, delivery model, visibility, systems, technology, revenue goals, and capacity. The Second Edition helps you look at those pieces together so you can build a practice by design, not by default.
Learn more at intentionalpracticedesign.com.
Join the Practice Accelerator
The Practice Accelerator is the place to work through the ideas from The Practice Playbook Podcast and The Practice Playbook Series in a supportive online community.
For $99/month, members receive:
→Three live working sessions every month

→Coaching from me in the community board and in every group session

→The Business Plan Playbook, Second Edition, as a printable PDF

→An Accelerator-only implementation guide with every new Practice Playbook Podcast episode

It is designed for lawyers, mediators, arbitrators, dispute resolution professionals, consultants, and other service-based professionals who want practical tools, accountability, and support as they build by design, not by default.
Learn more at susaneguthrie.com/accelerator.
Take the Practice Design Assessment
Not sure where to begin?
Take the Practice Design Assessment to see where your practice may be inherited, reactive, or intentionally designed, and where one intentional redesign could create the greatest relief, clarity, or momentum.
Start the assessment at intentionalpracticedesign.com/assessment.
Meet Our Creator and Host: Susan Guthrie
Susan E. Guthrie is one of the most respected voices in law, mediation and conflict resolution today. A nationally recognized family law attorney and mediator for 35 years, she is now a top professional coach and consultant helping dispute resolution and legal professionals build thriving, modern practices.
Susan recently appeared on The Oprah Podcast, expanding her reach to an even broader audience and highlighting her role as a trusted expert in divorce, communication, and modern conflict resolution. She is also the creator and host of The Divorce & Beyond Podcast, ranked in the top 1% worldwide, with millions of listeners and a global following.
As Past Chair of the American Bar Association Section of Dispute Resolution, Susan continues to shape the future of the profession while training and mentoring practitioners around the world.
Connect with Susan E. Guthrie
Website: https://susaneguthrie.com
Books: https://susaneguthrie.com/books
Practice Playbook Series: https://intentionalpracticedesign.com
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/susaneguthrie
Instagram: @susaneguthrie and @practiceplaybookpodcast
If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to subscribe to The Practice Playbook Podcast on your favorite platform, leave a 5-star review, and share the episode with a colleague or professional friend who would benefit from this conversation. Your support helps us continue bringing practical insights, forward-thinking strategies, and meaningful conversations to lawyers, mediators, arbitrators, and entrepreneurial professionals looking to build stronger, smarter, and more sustainable practices.
And as always, please remember that this podcast is presented for informational and educational purposes only. It is not intended as legal advice, business advice, or professional advice of any kind, and listening to this podcast does not create any attorney-client or professional relationship.
1 hr 13 min
September 24Stop Growing a Practice You Secretly Want to Escape with Susan E. Guthrie on The Practice Playbook Podcast #475
Growth is not always the next right move. Sometimes more clients or more visibility are not what you are actually looking for. In fact, perhaps you'd actually want less of them.
When a practice feels off, the instinct is often to reach for more marketing, more referrals, or more revenue. But growth is not automatically repair. If what a practice needs is some repair, growth only multiplies what is already there, and more clients will not fix an unclear scope, underpricing, or a practice that runs on reaction instead of design.
In this episode of The Practice Playbook Podcast, Susan Guthrie asks listeners to imagine their current practice with twice as much demand, and to notice whether that feels like energy or dread. Drawing on her own years in a litigation practice and her work with colleagues, she explores why so many professionals who ask for marketing help really need a practice assessment and redesign first, why marketing can open the door but cannot change what happens after it opens, and why AI can speed up pieces of a workflow but will never fix its design.
In This Episode
Susan discusses:
What a feeling of heaviness or dread around more demand may be telling you
Why more clients will not fix an unclear scope, underpricing, a reactive or an over-customized practice
Why marketing can bring more people to the door but can't fix what happens when you meet
How practitioners in the early days of practice should think differently about taking on more work
The subtle signs your practice needs redesign, from exhaustion and wrong-fit referrals to workflows
Why redesign before growth does not mean tearing everything down to the studs
How come implementation, not planning, is the hard part
Practical Question from This Episode
What would happen if your current practice got twice as much demand?
Picture twice as many inquiries, referrals, consultations, and clients, each expecting the same level of access you give right now. Does that feel like energy or tension? Excitement or dread? If the thought of more feels heavy, not hopeful, it is not resistance to success. It is wisdom waving a red flag.
Free Listener Resource
Growth Readiness Check
This free resource helps you apply the central question from this episode to your own practice. Use it to explore what kind of growth would feel exciting, what would feel heavy, what more demand might amplify, and what may need redesign before you pursue more clients, visibility, referrals, or revenue.
Download the free resource from the episode page on the website at susaneguthrie.com/podcasts
Practice Accelerator Resource
Redesign Before You Grow Map
Inside the Practice Accelerator, members receive the deeper companion resource for this episode: The Redesign Before You Grow Map.
This implementation tool helps you move beyond noticing and make the first decision about what needs to be redesigned. When more than one thing needs attention, it helps you decide which one is the best place to start, and it is not always the biggest one.
The free resource helps you see the issue. The Accelerator resource helps you work through the redesign.
The Business Plan Playbook, Second Edition
The Business Plan Playbook, Second Edition launches September 29.
This new edition introduces the Living Practice Plan™ and helps lawyers, mediators, dispute resolution professionals, consultants, coaches, and other service-based professionals examine the practice they have inherited, reacted into, or intentionally designed.
Pricing is one part of that larger design. Your fees connect to your services, client experience, delivery model, visibility, systems, technology, revenue goals, and capacity. The Second Edition helps you look at those pieces together so you can build a practice by design, not by default.
Learn more at intentionalpracticedesign.com.
Join the Practice Accelerator
The Practice Accelerator is the place to work through the ideas from The Practice Playbook Podcast and The Practice Playbook Series in a supportive online community.
For $99/month, members receive:
→Three live working sessions every month

→Coaching from me in the community board and in every group session

→The Business Plan Playbook, Second Edition, as a printable PDF

→An Accelerator-only implementation guide with every new Practice Playbook Podcast episode

It is designed for lawyers, mediators, arbitrators, dispute resolution professionals, consultants, and other service-based professionals who want practical tools, accountability, and support as they build by design, not by default.
Learn more at susaneguthrie.com/accelerator.
Take the Practice Design Assessment
Not sure where to begin?
Take the Practice Design Assessment to see where your practice may be inherited, reactive, or intentionally designed, and where one intentional redesign could create the greatest relief, clarity, or momentum.
Start the assessment at intentionalpracticedesign.com/assessment.
Meet Our Creator and Host: Susan Guthrie
Susan E. Guthrie is one of the most respected voices in law, mediation and conflict resolution today. A nationally recognized family law attorney and mediator for 35 years, she is now a top professional coach and consultant helping dispute resolution and legal professionals build thriving, modern practices.
Susan recently appeared on The Oprah Podcast, expanding her reach to an even broader audience and highlighting her role as a trusted expert in divorce, communication, and modern conflict resolution. She is also the creator and host of The Divorce & Beyond Podcast, ranked in the top 1% worldwide, with millions of listeners and a global following.
As Past Chair of the American Bar Association Section of Dispute Resolution, Susan continues to shape the future of the profession while training and mentoring practitioners around the world.
Connect with Susan E. Guthrie
Website: https://susaneguthrie.com
Books: https://susaneguthrie.com/books
Practice Playbook Series: https://intentionalpracticedesign.com
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/susaneguthrie
Instagram: @susaneguthrie and @practiceplaybookpodcast
If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to subscribe to The Practice Playbook Podcast on your favorite platform, leave a 5-star review, and share the episode with a colleague or professional friend who would benefit from this conversation. Your support helps us continue bringing practical insights, forward-thinking strategies, and meaningful conversations to lawyers, mediators, arbitrators, and entrepreneurial professionals looking to build stronger, smarter, and more sustainable practices.
And as always, please remember that this podcast is presented for informational and educational purposes only. It is not intended as legal advice, business advice, or professional advice of any kind, and listening to this podcast does not create any attorney-client or professional relationship.
58 min
September 10Your Fees May Be Building a Practice You Don't Want with Susan E. Guthrie on the Practice Playbook Podcast #474
Your fees are not just how you get paid. They may be quietly building the practice you are trying to escape.
Every fee structure creates consequences. Hourly billing, flat fees, subscriptions, packages, phased fees, and hybrid models do more than determine revenue. They shape client expectations, boundaries, scope, workload, value perception, risk, and sustainability.
That means the real pricing question is not simply, “What should I charge?”
The better question is:
What kind of practice does this pricing model create?
In this episode of The Practice Playbook Podcast, Susan Guthrie looks at pricing as one of the most powerful design choices in a professional practice. She explores what underpricing may be building, why hourly billing can reward inefficiency and punish expertise, how AI is weakening the link between time and value, and why alternative fee models only work when the service design underneath them is clear.
This episode draws from Susan’s work in The Flat Fee Playbook, The Business Plan Playbook, Second Edition, and her upcoming ABA book, FUTURE PROOF: Designing a Legal or ADR Practice for the AI Era. Together, they point to one essential truth: pricing is never just pricing. It is part of the practice you are building.
In This Episode
Susan discusses:
Why fees are practice design choices, not just financial decisions
What underpricing may reveal about scope, value, confidence, and sustainability
How hourly billing can reward time instead of expertise
Why AI is changing the relationship between time, work, and value
What flat fees, subscriptions, packages, and hybrid models require in order to work well
Why clearer pricing requires clearer service design
How to ask whether your current pricing still belongs in the practice you want to build
Practical Question from This Episode
What kind of practice does this pricing model create?
Choose one fee, one service, one offering, or one engagement type and look at it with curiosity. Is it building clarity or confusion? Good boundaries or scope creep? Sustainability or resentment? A better client experience or a more reactive practice?
Free Listener Resource
What Is This Fee Building? Mini-Audit
This free worksheet helps you look at one fee or pricing model and identify what it may be creating inside your practice. Use it to explore what the fee promises, what it requires, what it makes easier, what it makes harder, and where one small design change may create more clarity.
Download the free resource from the episode page on the website at susaneguthrie.com/podcasts
Practice Accelerator Resource
Pricing Model Redesign Map
Inside the Practice Accelerator, members receive the deeper companion resource for this episode: the Pricing Model Redesign Map.
This implementation tool helps you move beyond noticing what a fee is building and begin redesigning one pricing model around value, scope, boundaries, client expectations, delivery, AI impact, and sustainability.
The free resource helps you see the issue. The Accelerator resource helps you work through the redesign.
The Business Plan Playbook, Second Edition
The Business Plan Playbook, Second Edition launches September 29.
This new edition introduces the Living Practice Plan™ and helps lawyers, mediators, dispute resolution professionals, consultants, coaches, and other service-based professionals examine the practice they have inherited, reacted into, or intentionally designed.
Pricing is one part of that larger design. Your fees connect to your services, client experience, delivery model, visibility, systems, technology, revenue goals, and capacity. The Second Edition helps you look at those pieces together so you can build a practice by design, not by default.
Learn more at intentionalpracticedesign.com.
Join the Practice Accelerator
The Practice Accelerator is the place to work through the ideas from The Practice Playbook Podcast and The Practice Playbook Series in a supportive online community.
For $99/month, members receive:
→Three live working sessions every month

→Coaching from me in the community board and in every group session

→The Business Plan Playbook, Second Edition, as a printable PDF

→An Accelerator-only implementation guide with every new Practice Playbook Podcast episode

It is designed for lawyers, mediators, arbitrators, dispute resolution professionals, consultants, and other service-based professionals who want practical tools, accountability, and support as they build by design, not by default.
Learn more at susaneguthrie.com/accelerator.
Take the Practice Design Assessment
Not sure where to begin?
Take the Practice Design Assessment to see where your practice may be inherited, reactive, or intentionally designed, and where one intentional redesign could create the greatest relief, clarity, or momentum.
Start the assessment at intentionalpracticedesign.com/assessment.
Meet Our Creator and Host: Susan Guthrie
Susan E. Guthrie is one of the most respected voices in law, mediation and conflict resolution today. A nationally recognized family law attorney and mediator for 35 years, she is now a top professional coach and consultant helping dispute resolution and legal professionals build thriving, modern practices.
Susan recently appeared on The Oprah Podcast, expanding her reach to an even broader audience and highlighting her role as a trusted expert in divorce, communication, and modern conflict resolution. She is also the creator and host of The Divorce & Beyond Podcast, ranked in the top 1% worldwide, with millions of listeners and a global following.
As Past Chair of the American Bar Association Section of Dispute Resolution, Susan continues to shape the future of the profession while training and mentoring practitioners around the world.
Connect with Susan E. Guthrie
Website: https://susaneguthrie.com
Books: https://susaneguthrie.com/books
Practice Playbook Series: https://intentionalpracticedesign.com
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/susaneguthrie
Instagram: @susaneguthrie and @practiceplaybookpodcast
If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to subscribe to The Practice Playbook Podcast on your favorite platform, leave a 5-star review, and share the episode with a colleague or professional friend who would benefit from this conversation. Your support helps us continue bringing practical insights, forward-thinking strategies, and meaningful conversations to lawyers, mediators, arbitrators, and entrepreneurial professionals looking to build stronger, smarter, and more sustainable practices.
And as always, please remember that this podcast is presented for informational and educational purposes only. It is not intended as legal advice, business advice, or professional advice of any kind, and listening to this podcast does not create any attorney-client or professional relationship.
57 min
August 27The Invisible Rules Running Your Practice on The Practice Playbook Podcast #473
"That's the way we've always done it" might be the most expensive phrase in your practice, even when you never say it out loud. Susan Guthrie explores the practice rules professionals follow without ever consciously choosing them, from availability and referrals to pricing, customization, and the very definition of success.
The last two episodes of The Practice Playbook Podcast explored whether your practice is working for everyone but you and what your calendar reveals about your business model. This week, Susan goes one layer deeper into the patterns shaping practices that were never consciously chosen, but simply inherited.
Using a relatable (and timely) suitcase story as the through line, Susan walks through five areas where inherited rules quietly take over: availability, referrals, pricing, customization, and success. The message isn't that inherited rules are wrong. It's that they deserve to be examined, kept, revised, or released, so the practice you're building is the one you actually intended.
What You'll Learn
How invisible rules decide what you say yes to, what you charge, and how available you feel you have to be
Why constant availability isn't the same thing as excellent client service
How a referral-based practice can quietly shift from intentional to passive
Why most pricing decisions are inherited rules dressed up as choices
The difference between client-centered service and over-customization that exhausts you
Why your definition of success may belong to someone else's practice, not yours
A simple one-sentence exercise to start identifying your own inherited rules
Free Episode Companion Resource:

This week's companion resource will help you work through all five areas from this episode: availability, referral sources, pricing, customization, and success and identify the inherited rules behind each one.
Download the worksheet at susaneguthrie.com/podcasts
Join The Practice Accelerator
Susan's Practice Accelerator is now open as a monthly membership subscription! Designed for professionals who want more than just ideas, the Accelerator delivers structure, strategy, accountability, and a community of forward-thinking professionals who are serious about building sustainable, successful practices.
If you have ever wondered if you would benefit from professional coaching, this is your opportunity to test the waters with Susan at an accessible price point.
Members receive:
One monthly live Implementation Hour webinar with Susan in her signature practical and easily implemented insights and strategies for building your practice.
Two live monthly group Practice Lab sessions with Susan. A place to bring your questions to receive expert advice and insights from colleagues on the same journey.
Bi-Weekly Premium Resource that accompanies the latest Practice Playbook Podcast episode that supports you in implementing the golden nuggets in the episode.
And much more for only $99/month. Use code "PPP" for $10 off your monthly subscription!
Visit https://susaneguthrie.com/accelerator to join now.
Meet Our Creator and Host: Susan Guthrie
Susan E. Guthrie is one of the most respected voices in mediation and conflict resolution today. A nationally recognized family law attorney and mediator for 35 years, she is now a top professional coach and consultant helping dispute resolution and legal professionals build thriving, modern practices.
Susan recently appeared on The Oprah Podcast, expanding her reach to an even broader audience and highlighting her role as a trusted expert in divorce, communication, and modern conflict resolution. She is also the creator and host of The Divorce & Beyond Podcast, ranked in the top 1% worldwide, with millions of listeners and a global following.
As Past Chair of the American Bar Association Section of Dispute Resolution, Susan continues to shape the future of the profession while training and mentoring practitioners around the world.
Connect with Susan E. Guthrie
Website: https://susaneguthrie.com

Books: https://susaneguthrie.com/books

Practice Playbook Series: https://intentionalpracticedesign.com

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/susaneguthrie

Instagram: @susaneguthrie and @practiceplaybookpodcast
If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to subscribe to The Practice Playbook Podcast on your favorite platform, leave a 5-star review, and share the episode with a colleague or professional friend who would benefit from this conversation. Your support helps us continue bringing practical insights, forward-thinking strategies, and meaningful conversations to lawyers, mediators, arbitrators, and entrepreneurial professionals looking to build stronger, smarter, and more sustainable practices.
And as always, please remember that this podcast is presented for informational and educational purposes only. It is not intended as legal advice, business advice, or professional advice of any kind, and listening to this podcast does not create any attorney-client or professional relationship.
29 min
August 13A Full Calendar Is Not a Business Plan with Susan Guthrie on the Practice Playbook Podcast #472
A full calendar can feel like proof that a practice is working. The phone rings, the referrals come in, the consultation requests land in the inbox, and from the outside, that looks like success. But inside the practice, a full calendar can hide a lot. In fact, a full calendar is not the same as a healthy practice.
In this solo episode, Susan Guthrie continues the lead-up to the launch of The Business Plan Playbook, Second Edition, by turning to one of the clearest places a practice tells the truth: the calendar. She breaks down what a full calendar can actually be hiding, why revenue alone does not tell the whole story, and why the real question is not whether the calendar is full, but what it is full of.
Susan walks through a practical 30-day calendar audit designed to help identify what the calendar is rewarding, what it is ignoring, and where one pattern might be ready for redesign.
What You'll Learn
What a full calendar can actually be hiding, from underpricing to wrong-fit clients to weak systems
Why traditional business planning can miss the point when it only looks at revenue goals
How to figure out what your calendar is really rewarding, and whether that matches the practice you want to build
How to study your last 30 days and identify one calendar pattern that's ready for redesign
Free Episode Companion Resource:
The First Redesign Priority Worksheet

This week's free companion resource walks you through mapping the last 30 days of your calendar, scoring each block of time with a simple plus, equals, or minus, and identifying the one pattern taking the most and returning the least. It takes about fifteen minutes with your actual calendar in front of you, and it ends with a decision, not just a reflection.
Download the worksheet at susaneguthrie.com/podcasts
Join The Practice Accelerator
Susan's Practice Accelerator is now open as a monthly membership subscription! Designed for professionals who want more than just ideas, the Accelerator delivers structure, strategy, accountability, and a community of forward-thinking professionals who are serious about building sustainable, successful practices.
If you have ever wondered if you would benefit from professional coaching, this is your opportunity to test the waters with Susan at an accessible price point.
Members receive:
One monthly live webinar with Susan in her signature practical and easily implemented insights and strategies for building your practice.
Two live monthly group Office Hours sessions with Susan. A place to bring your questions to receive expert advice and insights from colleagues on the same journey.
Weekly Premium Resource that accompanies the latest Practice Playbook Podcast episode that supports you in implementing the golden nuggets in the episode.
And much more for only $99/month. Use code "PPP" for $10 off your monthly subscription!
Visit https://susaneguthrie.com/accelerator to join now.
Meet Our Creator and Host: Susan Guthrie
Susan E. Guthrie is one of the most respected voices in mediation and conflict resolution today. A nationally recognized family law attorney and mediator for 35 years, she is now a top professional coach and consultant helping dispute resolution and legal professionals build thriving, modern practices.
Susan recently appeared on The Oprah Podcast, expanding her reach to an even broader audience and highlighting her role as a trusted expert in divorce, communication, and modern conflict resolution. She is also the creator and host of The Divorce & Beyond Podcast, ranked in the top 1% worldwide, with millions of listeners and a global following.
As Immediate Past Chair of the American Bar Association Section of Dispute Resolution, Susan continues to shape the future of the profession while training and mentoring practitioners around the world.
Connect with Susan E. Guthrie
Website: https://susaneguthrie.com
Books: https://susaneguthrie.com/books
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/susaneguthrie
Instagram: @susaneguthrie and @practiceplaybookpodcast
If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to subscribe to The Practice Playbook Podcast on your favorite platform, leave a 5-star review, and share the episode with a colleague or professional friend who would benefit from this conversation. Your support helps us continue bringing practical insights, forward-thinking strategies, and meaningful conversations to lawyers, mediators, arbitrators, and entrepreneurial professionals looking to build stronger, smarter, and more sustainable practices.
And as always, please remember that this podcast is presented for informational and educational purposes only. It is not intended as legal advice, business advice, or professional advice of any kind, and listening to this podcast does not create any attorney-client or professional relationship.
18 min
July 30Is Your Practice Working for Everyone but You? on the Practice Playbook Podcast #471
Have you ever looked at your practice and thought, this should feel better than it does? Not because you hate the work. Not because you're bad at it. In fact, the opposite is often true: you may be very good at the work, you may care deeply about your clients, and you may have every outward sign of success, and still feel like something is off. That's the question we tackle in a special series about intentional practice design, kicking off with this episode.
Intentional practice design is built on the idea that a thriving practice is not inherited, improvised, or assembled one urgent decision at a time. It is intentionally designed. Drawing on 20-plus years running a family law litigation practice, Susan Guthrie breaks down the three forces shaping every practice, inherited patterns, reactive patterns, and intentional choices, and walks through the signs that a practice is asking for redesign.
A practice that feels off does not mean you chose the wrong work. It may mean you've outgrown an inherited model, or that reactive decisions have quietly piled up, or that the practice still reflects a former version of you. That is not failure. It is growth, it is information, and it is leadership, because the practice you lead should be something you build by design, not something you simply end up inside.
What You'll Learn:
Why a practice can look successful on the outside and still feel wrong on the inside
The difference between inherited patterns, reactive patterns, and intentional choices
The central clarity question: would you build your practice the same way if you started today?
Common signs your practice is asking for redesign
A simple three question exercise to find where your practice needs to change
Free Episode Companion Resource: The Practice Design Assessment
This week's free companion resource is the Practice Design Assessment, a seven minute interactive tool at intentionalpracticedesign.com that looks at five dimensions of a practice, including pricing, delivery, client experience, positioning, and AI governance.

Take the assessment at IntentionalPracticeDesign.com
Join The Practice Accelerator
Susan's Practice Accelerator is now open as a monthly membership subscription! Designed for professionals who want more than just ideas, the Accelerator delivers structure, strategy, accountability, and a community of forward-thinking professionals who are serious about building sustainable, successful practices.
If you have ever wondered if you would benefit from professional coaching, this is your opportunity to test the waters with Susan at an accessible price point.
Members receive:
One monthly live webinar with Susan in her signature practical and easily implemented insights and strategies for building your practice.
Two live monthly group Office Hours sessions with Susan. A place to bring your questions to receive expert advice and insights from colleagues on the same journey.
Weekly Premium Resource that accompanies the latest Practice Playbook Podcast episode that supports you in implementing the golden nuggets in the episode.
And much more for only $99/month. Use code "PPP" for $10 off your monthly subscription!
Visit https://susaneguthrie.com/accelerator to join now.
Meet Our Creator and Host: Susan Guthrie
Susan E. Guthrie is one of the most respected voices in mediation and conflict resolution today. A nationally recognized family law attorney and mediator for 35 years, she is now a top professional coach and consultant helping dispute resolution and legal professionals build thriving, modern practices.
Susan recently appeared on The Oprah Podcast, expanding her reach to an even broader audience and highlighting her role as a trusted expert in divorce, communication, and modern conflict resolution. She is also the creator and host of The Divorce & Beyond Podcast, ranked in the top 1% worldwide, with millions of listeners and a global following.
As Immediate Past Chair of the American Bar Association Section of Dispute Resolution, Susan continues to shape the future of the profession while training and mentoring practitioners around the world.
Connect with Susan E. Guthrie
Website: https://susaneguthrie.com
Books: https://susaneguthrie.com/books
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/susaneguthrie
Instagram: @susaneguthrie and @practiceplaybookpodcast
If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to subscribe to The Practice Playbook Podcast on your favorite platform, leave a 5-star review, and share the episode with a colleague or professional friend who would benefit from this conversation. Your support helps us continue bringing practical insights, forward-thinking strategies, and meaningful conversations to lawyers, mediators, arbitrators, and entrepreneurial professionals looking to build stronger, smarter, and more sustainable practices.
And as always, please remember that this podcast is presented for informational and educational purposes only. It is not intended as legal advice, business advice, or professional advice of any kind, and listening to this podcast does not create any attorney-client or professional relationship.
39 min
July 16From Startup to Anthropic: How Descrybe Is Changing Professional Practice on the Practice Playbook Podcast #570
AI in the legal world is often met with fear instead of curiosity, but Susan Guthrie has a different take: used with the right skepticism, it doesn't replace professional judgment, it frees practitioners to use more of it. That shift is exactly what's playing out with Descrybe, the legal research tool that's gone from a free startup product to one of Anthropic's official launch partners for Claude for Legal in just eighteen months. Susan sits down with the co-founders of Descrybe, Kara Peterson and Richard DiBona to unpack how that happened, and what it means for the future of practice.
Kara first joined Susan on the podcast back in December of 2024. Since then, Descrybe has added many new features, including a Citator to evaluate good law versus bad law, a deep research tool called Descrybe LM, and an advanced brief checker, all while earning national recognition, including being named one of the ABA's Legal Women of Tech.
Together, Susan, Kara, and Richard, explore how Descrybe evolved from startup to industry leader, why the Anthropic partnership matters, what AI-powered legal workflows look like today, and where authority-based search and option generation are already changing how practitioners and mediators work.
What You'll Learn
Why Descrybe becoming an official Anthropic launch partner for Claude for Legal is a milestone for access to justice, not just for one company
How Descrybe grew from a free case law search tool into a full suite that includes a Citator, a deep research tool called Descrybe LM, and an advanced brief checker
Why healthy skepticism, not blind trust, is the right way to work with AI, and how treating hallucinations like an "Easter egg hunt" keeps you sharp instead of anxious
How searching by authority instead of by keyword surfaces the cases practitioners actually cite, not just the ones that match the words
Why option generation is one of the most valuable uses of AI for mediators, and how it can help polarized parties find middle ground faster
How Descrybe's data-first approach lets the same verified legal data work across Claude, ChatGPT, Perplexity, and other platforms practitioners already use
Meet Our Guests
Kara Peterson, Co-Founder & CEO: Kara leads marketing, partnerships, and strategy. She brings a background in technology and social impact and a deep belief that access to information is a social justice issue. She was named to the ABA Women of Legal Tech 2024 list.
Richard DiBona, Co-Founder & CTO: Rich leads product and engineering. He built the structured primary-law corpus and reasoning architecture that powers DescrybeLM. He is widely recognized as a leading expert in the application of AI to legal research. Descrybe has earned multiple industry awards for the platform he built, including the American Legal Technology Awards, the Anthem Award, and recognition from the Legalweek Leaders in Tech Law Awards and the Webby Awards.
Website: http://descrybe.com
Free Episode Companion Resource: The Modern Legal AI Starter Guide
A practical guide to help you start putting Claude and Descrybe into practice, with prompts and a simple workflow you can use right away. Visit susaneguthrie.com to download.
Join The Practice Accelerator
Susan's Practice Accelerator is now open as a monthly membership subscription! Designed for professionals who want more than just ideas, the Accelerator delivers structure, strategy, accountability, and a community of forward-thinking professionals who are serious about building sustainable, successful practices.
If you have ever wondered if you would benefit from professional coaching, this is your opportunity to test the waters with Susan at an accessible price point.
Members receive:
One monthly live webinar with Susan in her signature practical and easily implemented insights and strategies for building your practice.
Two live monthly group Office Hours sessions with Susan. A place to bring your questions to receive expert advice and insights from colleagues on the same journey.
Weekly Premium Resource that accompanies the latest Practice Playbook Podcast episode that supports you in implementing the golden nuggets in the episode.
And much more for only $99/month. Use code "PPP" for $10 off your monthly subscription!
Visit https://susaneguthrie.com/accelerator to join now.
Meet Our Creator and Host: Susan Guthrie
Susan E. Guthrie is one of the most respected voices in mediation and conflict resolution today. A nationally recognized family law attorney and mediator for 35 years, she is now a top professional coach and consultant helping dispute resolution and legal professionals build thriving, modern practices.
Susan recently appeared on The Oprah Podcast, expanding her reach to an even broader audience and highlighting her role as a trusted expert in divorce, communication, and modern conflict resolution. She is also the creator and host of The Divorce & Beyond Podcast, ranked in the top 1% worldwide, with millions of listeners and a global following.
As Immediate Past Chair of the American Bar Association Section of Dispute Resolution, Susan continues to shape the future of the profession while training and mentoring practitioners around the world.
Connect with Susan E. Guthrie
Website: https://susaneguthrie.com
Books: https://susaneguthrie.com/books
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/susaneguthrie
Instagram: @susaneguthrie and @practiceplaybookpodcast
If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to subscribe to The Practice Playbook Podcast on your favorite platform, leave a 5-star review, and share the episode with a colleague or professional friend who would benefit from this conversation. Your support helps us continue bringing practical insights, forward-thinking strategies, and meaningful conversations to lawyers, mediators, arbitrators, and entrepreneurial professionals looking to build stronger, smarter, and more sustainable practices.
And as always, please remember that this podcast is presented for informational and educational purposes only. It is not intended as legal advice, business advice, or professional advice of any kind, and listening to this podcast does not create any attorney-client or professional relationship.
54 min
July 02The Two Words Sabotaging the Practice You Actually Want with Stephen Seckler on The Practice Playbook Podcast #569
There are two words that can make you excellent at your work and quietly sabotage the practice you actually want, and most professionals say them without noticing. A colleague floats an idea, and before they finish the sentence, you are already building the response that starts with "Yes, but."
Stephen Seckler calls it the yes, but reflex, and he has spent a career helping lawyers and dispute resolution professionals catch it before it costs them the relationships, the work, and the practice they keep saying they want.
Susan Guthrie sits down with Stephen Seckler, career and business development coach for lawyers, host of the Counsel to Counsel podcast, and author of Think Like a Lawyer, Act Like an Entrepreneur, published by the American Bar Association. Stephen spends his days helping skilled professionals get out of their own way. What Susan loves about his thinking is that he is not asking anyone to become someone they are not. The same instincts that make you sharp in a negotiation or precise as a neutral are the ones that can stall your growth the minute you step into building a practice.
Together they get into where that line sits, how artificial intelligence is testing it right now, and why so many professionals end up with a full calendar of work they never actually chose. It is about the small shifts that move a practice from reactive to chosen.
What You'll Learn
Why the "yes, but" reflex makes you effective in a deal or a courtroom and quietly undermines you the moment you start building relationships
Why you do not have to change who you are or how you think, only how you act when you are building a practice rather than practicing in it
Why risk is not the enemy, avoiding it on reflex is, and how that same shift is exactly what our professions need around AI right now
How to let the technology do the sorting while your judgment and critical eye stay the real value in the room
Why most practices grow reactively, filled with whatever work shows up, and how to start choosing the work that actually energizes you
Why marketing is not advertising or selling, and how a series of small, genuinely helpful touches is what gets you the call
Free Episode Companion Resource: The "Yes, But" Audit
A one-page reset to help you catch the reflexes that keep you reactive and start choosing the practice you actually want. Download the resource here: https://susaneguthrie.com/podcasts
Meet Our Guest
Stephen Seckler is a career and business development coach for lawyers and the host of the Counsel to Counsel podcast. He is an attorney who has dedicated his entire legal career to heaping other attorneys find greater professional satisfaction in or out of the law. Stephen is the author of Think Like a Lawyer, Act Like an Entrepreneur, published by the American Bar Association. He sits on the board of the ABA Career Center and on the editorial board of the ABA publication GPSolo.

Website: http://www.seckler.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephenseckler/
Book: Think Like a Lawyer, Act Like an Entrepreneur
Join The Practice Accelerator
Susan's Practice Accelerator is now open as a monthly membership subscription! Designed for professionals who want more than just ideas, the Accelerator delivers structure, strategy, accountability, and a community of forward-thinking professionals who are serious about building sustainable, successful practices.
If you have ever wondered if you would benefit from professional coaching, this is your opportunity to test the waters with Susan at an accessible price point.
Members receive:
One monthly live webinar with Susan in her signature practical and easily implemented insights and strategies for building your practice.
Two live monthly group Office Hours sessions with Susan. A place to bring your questions to receive expert advice and insights from colleagues on the same journey.
Weekly Premium Resource that accompanies the latest Practice Playbook Podcast episode that supports you in implementing the golden nuggets in the episode.
And much more for only $99/month. Use code "PPP" for $10 off your monthly subscription!
Visit https://susaneguthrie.com/accelerator to join now.
Meet Our Creator and Host: Susan Guthrie
Susan E. Guthrie is one of the most respected voices in mediation and conflict resolution today. A nationally recognized family law attorney and mediator for 35 years, she is now a top professional coach and consultant helping dispute resolution and legal professionals build thriving, modern practices.
Susan recently appeared on The Oprah Podcast, expanding her reach to an even broader audience and highlighting her role as a trusted expert in divorce, communication, and modern conflict resolution. She is also the creator and host of The Divorce & Beyond Podcast, ranked in the top 1% worldwide, with millions of listeners and a global following.
As Immediate Past Chair of the American Bar Association Section of Dispute Resolution, Susan continues to shape the future of the profession while training and mentoring practitioners around the world.
Connect with Susan E. Guthrie
Website: https://susaneguthrie.com
Books: https://susaneguthrie.com/books
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/susaneguthrie
Instagram: @susaneguthrie and @practiceplaybookpodcast
If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to subscribe to The Practice Playbook Podcast on your favorite platform, leave a 5-star review, and share the episode with a colleague or professional friend who would benefit from this conversation. Your support helps us continue bringing practical insights, forward-thinking strategies, and meaningful conversations to lawyers, mediators, arbitrators, and entrepreneurial professionals looking to build stronger, smarter, and more sustainable practices.
And as always, please remember that this podcast is presented for informational and educational purposes only. It is not intended as legal advice, business advice, or professional advice of any kind, and listening to this podcast does not create any attorney-client or professional relationship.
55 min
June 25Why the Best Business Relationships Have Nothing to Do with Business with Philip Fornaro on the Practice Playbook Podcast #568
The best business relationships have nothing to do with business. Not at the start, not in the room, not over coffee or at a conference. Phil Fornaro, attorney and podcast host, calls what he has built relationship capital, and with a client conversion rate approaching 100%, he has the results to prove that leading with the relationship instead of the business is not just a nicer approach, it is the smarter one.
Susan Guthrie sits down with Phil Fornaro, attorney, founder of Fornaro Law, and outside general counsel to founder-led businesses. He is also the host of the podcast Light Bulb Moments: It's All About The Energy. When Susan was a guest on his show, Phil said two words at the end of their conversation that made the light bulb go off: relationship capital. She knew right away it needed to be an episode of The Practice Playbook Podcast.
Together they get into what relationship capital actually is, why most professionals are not building it intentionally even though they think they are, and how the shift from transactional networking to genuine relationship investment changes everything about how a practice grows. This is not a conversation about networking tips. It is a conversation about rethinking one of the most valuable assets in your professional life.
What You'll Learn
Why relationship capital is a compounding asset that grows in value over time, just like money in the S&P 500
Why the moment you walk into a room thinking about business, you have already lost the relationship
How the follow-up, done in person and in a specific way, is where relationships are built or lost
Why trust begins with your ears, not your elevator pitch or your credential list
How to stop waiting for connection opportunities and start creating them, from small dinners to a thirteen-year networking event
Why authenticity is not optional, and how people can always tell when you are performing instead of engaging
Free Episode Companion Resource: The Relationship Capital Audit
A 10-question self-assessment that gives you an honest picture of where your relationship capital stands right now, plus one clear action you can take immediately.
Download the resource here: https://susaneguthrie.com/podcasts
Meet Our Guest
Philip Fornaro is the founder of Fornaro Law, where he serves as Outside General Counsel to founder-led businesses navigating complex, high-stakes decisions. For nearly three decades, he has worked at the intersection of legal strategy, business judgment, and relationship capital - helping clients create clarity and move forward with confidence.
He is also the host of Light Bulb Moments: It's All About the Energy, a podcast featuring conversations with entrepreneurs, leaders, and professionals about the moments that shape how they think, lead, and grow.
Philip believes the most valuable asset people build over time is relationship capital - the trust and alignment that compound when thoughtful people connect.

Email: [email protected]
Website: http://fornarolaw.com
Podcast: http://lbmpodcast.com
Join The Practice Accelerator
Susan's Practice Accelerator is now open as a monthly membership subscription! Designed for professionals who want more than just ideas, the Accelerator delivers structure, strategy, accountability, and a community of forward-thinking professionals who are serious about building sustainable, successful practices.
If you have ever wondered if you would benefit from professional coaching, this is your opportunity to test the waters with Susan at an accessible price point.
Members receive:
One monthly live webinar with Susan in her signature practical and easily implemented insights and strategies for building your practice.
Two live monthly group Office Hours sessions with Susan. A place to bring your questions to receive expert advice and insights from colleagues on the same journey.
Weekly Premium Resource that accompanies the latest Practice Playbook Podcast episode that supports you in implementing the golden nuggets in the episode.
And much more for only $99/month. Use code "PPP" for $10 off your monthly subscription!
Visit https://susaneguthrie.com/accelerator to join now.
Meet Our Creator and Host: Susan Guthrie
Susan E. Guthrie is one of the most respected voices in mediation and conflict resolution today. A nationally recognized family law attorney and mediator for 35 years, she is now a top professional coach and consultant helping dispute resolution and legal professionals build thriving, modern practices.
Susan recently appeared on The Oprah Podcast, expanding her reach to an even broader audience and highlighting her role as a trusted expert in divorce, communication, and modern conflict resolution. She is also the creator and host of The Divorce & Beyond Podcast, ranked in the top 1% worldwide, with millions of listeners and a global following.
As Immediate Past Chair of the American Bar Association Section of Dispute Resolution, Susan continues to shape the future of the profession while training and mentoring practitioners around the world.
Connect with Susan E. Guthrie
Website: https://susaneguthrie.com
Books: https://susaneguthrie.com/books
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/susaneguthrie
Instagram: @susaneguthrie and @practiceplaybookpodcast
If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to subscribe to The Practice Playbook Podcast on your favorite platform, leave a 5-star review, and share the episode with a colleague or professional friend who would benefit from this conversation. Your support helps us continue bringing practical insights, forward-thinking strategies, and meaningful conversations to lawyers, mediators, arbitrators, and entrepreneurial professionals looking to build stronger, smarter, and more sustainable practices.
And as always, please remember that this podcast is presented for informational and educational purposes only. It is not intended as legal advice, business advice, or professional advice of any kind, and listening to this podcast does not create any attorney-client or professional relationship.
1 hr 1 min
June 18Your Client Already Knows You Use AI. Now They Want to Talk About the Bill with the Subscription Attorney, Mathew Kerbis on the Practice Playbook Podcast #567
This episode is about what happens to legal and dispute resolution pricing when AI does in twenty minutes what used to take a full day, and why the subscription billing model may be the answer. Clients know their lawyers are using AI, and they want to know why that is not showing up in what they are charged. It is a fair question, and most practitioners do not have a good answer yet.
Here is the part that should get your attention: if you use a tool that cuts your time in half and bill as though you did not, that may not be a client relations problem. It may be an ethics one.
Susan Guthrie sits down with Mathew Kerbis, The Subscription Attorney and CEO of Practi, and what makes this one worth your time is simple. Mathew is not theorizing about subscription pricing from the sidelines. He runs a subscription law firm. He knows what these pricing conversations actually feel like, what scope management looks like day to day, and what it takes to get clients to genuinely prefer this model over the clock.
Together they get into the ethics questions clients are already raising, how a subscription practice really works from the entry-level price to the tiers to the flat-fee add-ons, why putting your pricing on your website now helps AI tools recommend you, and what the next five years look like for the practices that decide not to adapt.

Free Episode Companion Resource: Are Your Fees Keeping Up With How You Actually Work?
Download the resource here: https://susaneguthrie.com/podcasts
What You'll Learn
Why billing by the hour while using AI is a professional responsibility question, not just a business one
Why your clients are not paying for your time, they are paying for your judgment, your access, and your outcomes
Why it is bad scope definitions, not bad pricing, that quietly sink subscription practices
How just two or three clients and a 60-day evaluation let you test this model without rebuilding your practice
Meet Our Guest
Mathew Kerbis, The Subscription Attorney and CEO of Practi, is a national award winner dedicated to revolutionizing the legal profession by helping attorneys abandon the billable hour for the subscription model, and leverage automations and artificial intelligence to serve clients affordably at scale. After 10 years of practice and four years running his law firm, he co-founded Practi as the business model solution for Al-powered lawyers. He is also a frequent public speaker, host of the Law Subscribed and Legal Al Live podcasts, and instructor of highly-rated CLE courses.
Mathew's free notebook, 276 curated resources powered by NotebookLM: https://notebook.practi.ai
Practi: https://www.practi.ai
The Subscription Attorney law firm: https://subscriptionattorney.com
Law Subscribed and Legal AI Live podcasts: https://lawsubscribed.com and https://legalailive.com
Matthew on LinkedIn: Kerbisverse
Join The Practice Accelerator
Susan's Practice Accelerator is now open as a monthly membership subscription! Designed for professionals who want more than just ideas, the Accelerator delivers structure, strategy, accountability, and a community of forward-thinking professionals who are serious about building sustainable, successful practices.
If you have ever wondered if you would benefit from professional coaching, this is your opportunity to test the waters with Susan at an accessible price point.
Members receive:
One monthly live webinar with Susan in her signature practical and easily implemented insights and strategies for building your practice.
Two live monthly group Office Hours sessions with Susan. A place to bring your questions to receive expert advice and insights from colleagues on the same journey.
Weekly Premium Resource that accompanies the latest Practice Playbook Podcast episode that supports you in implementing the golden nuggets in the episode.
And much more for only $99/month.
Visit https://susaneguthrie.com/accelerator to join now.
Meet Our Creator and Host: Susan Guthrie
Susan E. Guthrie is one of the most respected voices in mediation and conflict resolution today. A nationally recognized family law attorney and mediator for 35 years, she is now a top professional coach and consultant helping dispute resolution and legal professionals build thriving, modern practices.
Susan recently appeared on The Oprah Podcast, expanding her reach to an even broader audience and highlighting her role as a trusted expert in divorce, communication, and modern conflict resolution. She is also the creator and host of The Divorce & Beyond Podcast, ranked in the top 1% worldwide, with millions of listeners and a global following.
As Immediate Past Chair of the American Bar Association Section of Dispute Resolution, Susan continues to shape the future of the profession while training and mentoring practitioners around the world.
Connect with Susan E. Guthrie
Website: https://susaneguthrie.com
Books: https://susaneguthrie.com/books
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/susaneguthrie
Instagram: @susaneguthrie and @practiceplaybookpodcast
If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to subscribe to The Practice Playbook Podcast on your favorite platform, leave a 5-star review, and share the episode with a colleague or professional friend who would benefit from this conversation. Your support helps us continue bringing practical insights, forward-thinking strategies, and meaningful conversations to lawyers, mediators, arbitrators, and entrepreneurial professionals looking to build stronger, smarter, and more sustainable practices.
And as always, please remember that this podcast is presented for informational and educational purposes only. It is not intended as legal advice, business advice, or professional advice of any kind, and listening to this podcast does not create any attorney-client or professional relationship.
56 min