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Hosted by Montana Funk, Young Lawyer Rising covers issues pertinent to young lawyers, from newly minted attorneys to lawyers 10 years into practice and beyond. From dealing with the daily grind and career management to social issues and financial, mental, and physical wellness, this show features the voices of young lawyers from across the country sharing their stories and advice to help all lawyers navigate their careers and rise to where they want to be.
What would a law firm built by the founders of Disney, Four Seasons, Amazon, and Zappos look like? Lawyers (and other professionals) aren't in the same "service" industry as those companies, but that doesn't mean we can't benefit from employing their rigorous service mindsets. We give you inspiration and tactics to smooth out your processes, bolster your reputation, and increase your revenue - every episode of Five Star Counsel has actionable tips for you to build the firm that clients rave ...
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Young Lawyer Rising
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Building a Career you Love as a Young Lawyer
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For young lawyers looking to start and build their career, there are several key factors to consider. From finding an area of law that interests you, to seeking out opportunities to gain experience, build your network, and grow professionally, the start of your legal career can be challenging. In this episode of Young Lawyer Rising, special guest T…
Our show has tackled client service by framing it around one big question: "What would a firm created by the founders of Disney, Amazon, and Four Seasons look like?" Today we try to summarize our Five Star Bootcamp by answering that question. Building a law firm requires starting with the business foundations of mission, vision, and values. The mis…
How do you handle client-facing mistakes? As much as we try to avoid them, mistakes are inevitable, even for us perfectionist attorneys. And because they are inevitable, attorneys need to have a plan for how to respond when they happen. My experience working at the Four Seasons provided a great framework for how to deal with mistakes, using "glitch…
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Young Lawyer Rising
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Pro Bono: When to take a case, How to Get Involved, and Common Misconceptions
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In this special episode of Young Lawyer Rising, host Montana Funk is joined by law firm owner and adjunct professor, Karen Lapekas, to discuss the ins and outs of pro bono work. The two cover a wide range of topics, including: What is Pro Bono? Why Does it Matter? When to Take a Case? How to Get Involved? Pro Bono Burnout, Benefits of Pro Bono Work…
There's a common misconception and fear we see in attorneys. Attorneys can fall prey to thinking that becasue they're well-paid and well-respected, they don't need to think about making their service better. Many risk-averse, pessimist, perfectionist attorneys simply fear the potential failure that comes with change and growth. Neither of these is …
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Young Lawyer Rising
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Seeking a Career in Public Interest and How to Stand Out
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You want to help people, and you want to use the law to do it. More and more, public interest law has become a popular career path for young lawyers. But how do you become a public interest lawyer? And what steps can you take to stand out in pursuing a public service legal career? To help answer these questions, Civil Rights Attorney, Public Policy…
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Five Star Counsel Podcast
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S2 E10. Maintaining Your Service Consistency
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Now that you have addressed your standards, and you've implemented processes that should lead to those standards being met, how do you make sure your firm is hitting your standards on an ongoing basis? Standards won't do much for you if they're never being met. I'll walk through the ways you can think about consistency in your service, ways to meas…
Now that we've discussed the components of our firm's service, it's time to think about how we measure successful service. Setting these standards not only helps you track that everything is happening correctly, but helps your employees know if they're doing a good job. Most importantly, it helps ensure a consistent and high-quality experience for …
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Young Lawyer Rising
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Why Lawyer Mental Health and Wellness Matters
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The demanding hours and stressful work environments of the legal industry can often have detrimental effects on lawyers and legal professionals. Mental health issues among lawyers are notoriously prevalent, as are suicide, substance abuse and addiction. So, what exactly attributes to the severe stress, high burnout rates and mental health concerns …
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Five Star Counsel Podcast
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S2 E8. Your People: Hiring, Training, and Managing
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We've built the pieces of the machine for great service, but now it's time to focus on the fuel - your employees. People are the most important thing in your business, and we can't skimp on it. I break this episode down into two main parts: how to hire and how to train and manage. The most crucial single point is in your hiring process - most law f…
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Five Star Counsel Podcast
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Service Delivery in the New Experience Economy w/ Joe Pine
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Have you progressed beyond the dark ages of stodgy, antiquated law practice? If you're listening to this show, I bet you have, but has your service delivery fully embraced the current experience economy? What does that even mean? Our guest, Joe Pine, is here to explain. Joe is a distinguished author, speaker, and management advisor. We focus our ta…
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Young Lawyer Rising
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Some Advice to the New, or Soon to be Lawyer
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Launching your legal career after law school is exciting, energizing, and—let’s face it—discombobulating. And no matter how long you’ve been practicing, there's always something new to learn. In this episode of the 'Young Lawyers Rising' podcast, host Montana Funk is joined by litigation attorney, Erin Rhinehart to discuss: Ways to standout in the …
Now that we've laid the groundwork for building great service, and talked about how to avoid pitfalls, we should really define the scale that we're grading service on. We are, after all, the Five Star Counsel Podcast! So what makes a "Five Star" experience? I'll give some detailed examples of what goes into an exemplary, five star experience for a …
Before we dive deeper into what service is, let's take a look at what service ISN'T. I like to classify these distractions, marketing ploys, and wow-factor missteps as Red Herrings. This is something that you give to your client that doesn't actually move the needle for them. Your law firm isn't a procurement agent, so don't buy stuff for clients t…
What does it mean to have "your process"? How do you make sure that everyone on your team knows what to do, and when to do it? We're getting in the weeds on how to set up your practice so you know what's happening with all of your clients, at a glance. The reason we're spending the time on this is to make sure that everybody on your team knows wher…
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Five Star Counsel Podcast
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Creating Frictionless Payment Experiences w/ Ben Brideaux - Live From Clio Cloud Con
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Five Star Counsel recorded live from Clio Cloud Con 2022 in Nashville, TN! We'll be talking with experts and execs in the legal community about what's next and how it will shape the future of client service. We were joined by Clio's VP of Financial Services, Ben Brideaux to chat about what he sees happening in the payment space around legal service…
Women in the criminal justice system continue to face a number of different challenges and career barriers; especially as it relates to hiring, retention, and promotion. So, why are women lawyers underrepresented in criminal justice? Why do so many women leave the practice of criminal law? And, what can we do about it? Joining the podcast to discus…
Now that we've defined our firm's mission, vision, and values, we need to really hone in on exactly HOW we help our clients and how we measure it. How exactly do we move the needle for our clients and define success? As customers grow more savvy, the legal industry is not immune - potential clients have problems, and they want to know that this exp…
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Five Star Counsel Podcast
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The Top 6 Factors Clients Use When Hiring a Firm w/ Nika Kabiri - Live From Clio Cloud Con
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Five Star Counsel recorded live from Clio Cloud Con 2022 in Nashville, TN! We'll be talking with experts and execs in the legal community about what's next and how it will shape the future of client service. We were joined by data guru and Clio's in-house Decision Scientist, Nika Kabiri, who walked us through The Top 6 Factors Clients Use When Hiri…
Your Mission is your guidance for your future clients as to you act for them. This will guide *their* decision to reach out and hire you and your practice. The idea that your firm can do anything really means your firm can do nothing - you won't stand out. You need to know what you do best, and so do employees and clients. It helps you stand out an…
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Five Star Counsel Podcast
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Parsing Client Service vs. Experience w/ Jack Newton - Live From Clio Cloud Con
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Five Star Counsel recorded live from Clio Cloud Con 2022 in Nashville, TN! We'll be talking with experts and execs in the legal community about what's next and how it will shape the future of client service. We were very excited to be joined by Clio Co-Founder and CEO Jack Newton for a dive into his latest We define and make distinctions between cl…
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Five Star Counsel Podcast
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Live From Clio Cloud Con: 2022 Legal Trends Report w/ Joshua Lenon
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Five Star Counsel is live from Clio Cloud Con 2022 in Nashville, TN! We'll be talking with experts and execs in the legal community about what's next and how it will shape the future of client service. We'll start the week by welcoming Joshua Lenon, Lawyer in Residence at Clio, to discuss the 2022 Legal Trends Report. We'll get a deep dive into the…
When we think about the three-legged stool that makes up each of our practices, we think about the owners (which is probably you listening to this podcast right now), our employees (the staff who helps us build this), and our clients (the people we are serving) We first talked about our vision, which is what guides us as the owners of the practice …
The first three modules of the Five Star Bootcamp address three core building blocks for your firm's success - your firm's VISION, VALUES, and MISSION. This episode covers your firm's VISION. Your Vision is guidance for you, the owner. What are you building towards? This will guide your behavior as you build your practice, even if it's just a pract…
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Five Star Counsel Podcast
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S2 E0: Five Star Bootcamp - The Five Star Method and What Service ISN'T
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We're thrilled to be starting our 7-week bootcamp for your firm’s service, all based on the grand unifying theory of Five Star Counsel. This first module is a high-level overview of our approach to client service, why great service crucial in today's legal market, and how to think of your firm as a three-legged stool - something we'll be incorporat…
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Young Lawyer Rising
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Top Tips for Young Lawyers: How to Survive and Thrive in Your Legal Career
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Are you a fresh grad about to start working as a lawyer, or a relatively junior lawyer still figuring things out? The road to becoming a lawyer certainly isn’t an easy one; and the shift from studying law to actually practicing law can seem a bit intimidating. In this episode of Young Lawyer Rising, guest and litigation attorney Dave Scriven-Young …
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Young Lawyer Rising
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The Need to Support Law Students and Lawyers with Disabilities
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How can the legal profession be more supportive of law students and lawyers with disabilities? In a profession already marked by the hypercompetitive pursuit of performance and achievement, young lawyers often face pressure to downplay their disabilities. In addition, access to accommodations for law students and lawyers with disabilities can be di…
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Five Star Counsel Podcast
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FSC Rewind: Running Your Service Delivery Like Disney w/ Lee Cockerell
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We're on a brief break while we gear up for Season 2 of FSC, but we still want to give you something to think about (or revisit) in the mean time, especially if you missed it the first time around. Service guru Lee Cockerell sat with us for a freewheeling chat about his service career and what we can learn from his time at Disney and beyond. ----- …
As you know, we’ve been on a little break while we put together the next season of the show, and we’re super excited to share a sneak preview of what you can expect when we have our new episodes at the end of September. Season 2 will be different than what you’re used to. We won't have any guest interviews, and no cheeky diversions (well, maybe a f…
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Five Star Counsel Podcast
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FSC Rewind: Building Expert Status w/ Mike Whelan
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We're on a brief break while we gear up for Season 2 of FSC, but we still want to give you something to think about (or revisit) in the mean time, especially if you missed it the first time around. Mike Whelan sat with us to discuss expert status, what it can mean to you, and how to market it. ----- We know that attorneys are respected (and paid) f…
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Five Star Counsel Podcast
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FSC Rewind: Optimizing Your Intake Process w/ Billie Tarascio
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We're on a brief break while we gear up for Season 2 of FSC, but we still want to give you something to think about (or revisit) in the mean time, especially if you missed it the first time around. Billie Tarascio joined us with a boatload of incredible tips for supercharging your intake process. ---- Is your intake process getting your firm the re…
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Five Star Counsel Podcast
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FSC Rewind: Ditching the Billable Hour w/ Jonathan Stark
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We're on a brief break while we gear up for Season 2 of FSC, but we still want to give you something to think about (or revisit) in the mean time, especially if you missed it the first time around. Check out our chat with Jonathan Stark about how (and why) to ditch the billable hour pricing format in your firm. ---- What could your business be like…
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Five Star Counsel Podcast
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FSC Rewind: How and Why to Score Your Leads Using Data w/ Paul Kortman
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We're on a brief break while we gear up for Season 2 of FSC, but we still want to give you something to think about (or revisit) in the mean time, especially if you missed it the first time around. Paul Kortman details out the process for turning your inbound leads into actionable data in this super-valuable chat. ---- Not all leads are created equ…
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Five Star Counsel Podcast
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FSC Rewind: Nailing Your Interview and Hiring Process w/ Molly McGrath
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We're on a brief break while we gear up for Season 2 of FSC, but we still want to give you something to think about (or revisit) in the mean time, especially if you missed it the first time around. Molly McGrath joined us to deliver A TON of invaluable tips for hiring the perfect addition to your firm. Great employees + a great fit = great service.…
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Five Star Counsel Podcast
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FSC Rewind: Growth Strategies Without Going Crazy w/ David Heinemeier Hansson
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We're on a brief break while we gear up for Season 2 of FSC, but we still want to give you something to think about (or revisit) in the mean time, especially if you missed it the first time around. We talked to entrepreneur David Heinemeier Hansson about how to *sanely* grow and manage your firm. ---- Do you find yourself slogging through the days …
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Five Star Counsel Podcast
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FSC REWIND: Increasing Your Speed to Expert w/ Maddy Martin
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We're on a brief break while we gear up for Season 2 of FSC, but we still want to give you something to think about (or revisit) in the mean time, especially if you missed it the first time around. Check out our great Season 1 chat with Maddy Martin about getting your paying clients in front of the expert (you) as quickly as possible. ---- Great cl…
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Five Star Counsel Podcast
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FSC REWIND: Understanding your Firm's Growth Stage w/ Adam Anderson
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We're on a brief break while we gear up for Season 2 of FSC, but we still want to give you something to think about (or revisit) in the mean time, especially if you missed it the first time around. Check out our crucial Season 1 chat with Adam Anderson about growth stages in your business. --- If you want to effectively grow, scale, and improve you…
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Five Star Counsel Podcast
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100. EPISODE 100! Season 2 Preview & Season 1 Recap
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It's Five Star Counsel's 100th episode! We're amazed and thrilled to have shared the last 100 shows with you. We've had truly incredible guests, and we hope you've learned a whole lot along with us. We've used our time thus far to talk through John's big ideas on service, get inspiration and guidance from smart people in the legal field, and contin…
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Five Star Counsel Podcast
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99. Improving and Making the Most of Legal Conferences w/ Mike Whelan
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Why do we attend legal conferences? What makes a great conference? Where do we find the most value? How can we make the most of legal conferences and how do we make the mediocre ones better? After a couple recent conferences, I got to talking with friend of the show, Mike Whelan, about what makes bad conferences bad, and makes great conferences gre…
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Five Star Counsel Podcast
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98. Finding Inspiration for Great Service w/ Ernie Svenson
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Where should we be looking for inspiration when improving service in our firms? If you've been listening for a while, you know, I've spent a lot of time talking about my time with the Four Seasons Hotels, but of course it's not the only place you can get high-end experiences. This week, we're bringing you a conversation between me and Ernie Svenson…
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Five Star Counsel Podcast
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97. Making AMAZING Service Your Firm's Norm w/ Shep Hyken
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Does customer service ever feel extraneous to you? Does it seem like too much effort and too lofty a goal for your busy work week? How can you achieve amazing service and why should you bother? Our guest this week is Shep Hyken, Chief Amazement Officer of Shepard Presentations, and an award winning author, speaker, and consultant on customer servic…
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96. Your People-Focused Law Firm w/ Stephanie Everett
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Are you a believer of the old idea that "the customer is always right?" What happens when that rule comes into conflict with a trusted employee? Is there room for a better, more holistic approach to your firm's service? Our guest this week, Stephanie Everett, is here to advocate for a people-focused, not just client-focused, approach to running you…
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95. The Value of Empathy, Risk-Taking, and Failure in Law Practice w/ Jordan Furlong
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How do you interact with your clients? Is it a clinical, business-only relationship? Could you be more empathetic with your clients? Should you? What is the true value of empathy with your client, both to the client and your business? Our guest this week is Jordan Furlong of Law Twenty One. Jordan is a legal sector analyst and advisor who’s deeply …
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94. Privacy Policies, Automation, and Why You Should Care w/ Donata Stroink-Skillrud
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When's the last time you looked at your website's privacy policy? Do you even have one? Are you automating tedious tasks like this? Our guest this week is Donata Stroink-Skillrud, founder of Termageddon, a company that automates the creation of Privacy Policies, Terms of Service and more, and keeps those automatically updated on your site as your w…
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93. Crafting and Safeguarding Your Online Presence w/ Ruth Carter
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Are you comfortable with your online presence? Can you effectively separate your business and personal personas? Should they be the same? What are the Rules and guidelines for playing online, especially on Twitter? Our guest this week is attorney Ruth Carter of Carter Law and GeekLawFirm.com. Ruth's practice covers IP, social media and internet law…
John is back, delivering some fun, quick-hitting tips, tackling a host of great listener questions. How do you respond to clients who want to go to the front of the line and skip your normal intake process? How to respond when you've screwed up? You mentioning Disney and Four Seasons makes sense when discussing service, but why do you include Amazo…
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91. Thriving With a Dual-Profession Niche Practice w/ Boyd Shepherd
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Do you come from a non-legal professional background? Wonder how you can build a practice that draws from that knowledge you have? Our guest this week is Boyd Shepherd, founder of Legal Dental. Boyd started his career as a dentist, and eventually transitioned to practicing law, focusing his specialty on helping dental professionals with their parti…
This week, we're once again taking a look back at the last nine episodes of the show, recapping the main points, and adding a little more perspective and discussion. We've had such great guests, and want to really sink these lessons and takeaways in, and give you a chance to hear the main points on any episodes you might have missed. 81. The Art of…
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89. The Consumerization of Legal w/ Kim Bennett
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Do you understand what legal consumers actually want? What level of service they need? What potential clients are afraid of? What can we, as attorneys, learn from other non-legal industries? Our guest this week is Kim Bennett. Kim is the founder of K Bennett Law LLC, a boutique subscription legal services law firm that helps small businesses protec…
In March 2022, I attended the fabulous ABA Tech Show in Chicago, and I had a chance to hear from some amazing speakers, and even chat with a few for our show. I asked our guests the same four questions: Describe the topic you’re talking about at the conference Give me one takeaway from your session Tell me one thing you've learned here at ABA Techs…
