I’m going to share with you what I know is the BEST area (niche) of law to practice, for most lawyers. But first, a brief story as background… There was a time when I wasn’t sure I was going to continue serving lawyers. I had a mid-life crisis (or as I like to think of it—a Spiritual Awakening) and I did a deep dive soul-searching inquiry as to what I wanted to be when I grew up. To set the proper context here, this was happening when I had already built two million dollar businesses (one an estate planning and … Continue reading »

I’m often asked how I went from being a stay-at-home mom to a practicing lawyer. Every single time, I have flashbacks of all the separate moments it took to first decide to go to law school, to return to studying full time for the first time in 25 years, all the way to passing the bar and then finally to the decision to be my own boss. None of these were easy decisions at the time, but they feel incredibly liberating in hindsight. When I passed the bar, the job market for lawyers was at an all time low (and … Continue reading »

Whether you are looking for an additional revenue stream for your law practice, or to switch from a law practice area you detest… There is one niche in particular that you should consider, first. It might seem like the last one you’d consider, but stay with us. There’s more to it than meets the eye. What is it? Estate planning. You see, even if you’ve been practicing for years, you can add estate planning to your services. The same goes for being a new lawyer fresh out of law school… It’s actually really easy to incorporate this lucrative and fulfilling … Continue reading »

Many people don’t believe it. Even lawyers are known to scoff at it. But many of you know the truth — you go to law school, spend a small fortune and come out to find the pickings are lean. Looking deeper than 6 figure school loans and the trend of fewer Big Law positions available to absorb the glut of new law school grads every year… Let’s examine the real reason why so many lawyers are broke. “…the number of jobs in small firms has generally been increasing in recent years, and for every job in a large firm taken by … Continue reading »

Recently, I wrote here about the story of Milo Elofson, who is currently a victim of elder abuse at the hands of the legal system, despite the fact that his son Greg was appointed as his guardian. (Thank you to all of who responded to come to Greg and Milo’s aid.) What I’d like to cover today is how to know if your parents or even possibly you could be at risk of this exact same kind of thing. Unfortunately, I see it frequently, not only do most lawyers not have their own legal planning handled properly—their own parents planning … Continue reading »

If you’ve been following along here for any length of time, you’ve seen me write quite often about the need for every adult to have specific legal documents in place. What I haven’t written about quite as much is why legal documents themselves simply are not enough to ensure the well-being and care of your family when something happens to you… OR the clients you serve. Case in point: the story of Milo, a United States Veteran. Milo had a legal document in place giving his son, Greg, written authority to manage his financial affairs in case he could not. … Continue reading »

In this two-part series, I’m going to share how the New Law Business Model can change your practice and your life. Let me start with how it came to be… The New Law Business Model was born after I went out on my own, starting my own law practice, expecting I would follow the model of so many other lawyers and create success and freedom for myself rapidly. Very quickly though, I saw that the old model of law practice is broken. If I followed that model, I would not have anything close to what I considered to be success … Continue reading »

  How do you go about selecting a practice area? In Jim Collins’ book, “Good to Great”, he talks about The Hedgehog Concept, which you can learn more about on his website. Basically, it defines your sweet spot in business as the overlap of 3 circles: Let’s take a look at each one as it relates to finding the best area of law to practice for you. 1.) What are you passionate about? You went to law school to make a difference. It’s easy to lose track of that with those hefty student loans breathing down your neck and a … Continue reading »

Most lawyers think estate planning is boring because of the way they were taught to do it is all wrong. They also don’t understand how profound and necessary a service it is, either. Fact is, estate planning can be life-changing and it’s not boring at all. Let me give you a personal example of how important estate planning is to the families you already serve: When I was in law school, my father-in-law died. He had spent over $3000 on an estate plan so that we, his family, wouldn’t have to deal with the probate court or his ex-wife. Unfortunately … Continue reading »

My life lesson: when I encounter resistance or difficulty, I can do one of two things. I can take it personally (and all the crap that comes with that), or surrender (and flow down the stream easily). This week, I had a client couple coming in who appeared to me to be unhappy with the work we had done for them. To be transparent, some of our systems didn’t work the right way while we were in the middle of a move and restructuring of the firm. And there were things that I personally could have done better to improve … Continue reading »