Lawyers - Maximum Lawyer

In this episode, Jim interviews Maddy Martin, Head of growth and education in Smith.ai, a company known for superior virtual receptionists and intake services by phone. Listen as they immerse into what’s new in Smith; the launch of accurate and quick live web chat, ways to make a successful events for lawyers and all Maddy’s talk about referral marketing in the upcoming MaxLawCon19.

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Topics:

New with Smith.ai
- Smith.ai fast paced
- Launch of live web chat
- 24 7 chat pod that backs up live receptionist
- Same receptionist quality as by phone/Quick and accurate
- Program answers/Automatic response to website visitors or leads during after hour
- Good match/Share link to calendar for consultation or payment page
- After hour chats are free
New chat feature and possible feature of interest
- Chat pod
- Instant real time english-spanish translation
- Transcript chats/Effective translation with no stalls
About Maddy’s talk in Chicago - at the time Jim and Tyson in San Diego “Traffic and conversion”
- “Women in legal Innovation” put on by Above the Law
- Coast sponsoring reception
- Going with receptionist/Experience and in hiring team > what is looked for when hiring receptionists
- Distinguished in hiring
Hiring process
- Use AI and automation
- Initial screening: Hard questions upfront and technical tests/Receptionists work from home
- Should have systems in place to allow to run software/Fast processors/Good communicators/Compassionate > Higher level of customer service than other jobs
- Fast processors/Good communicators
- Need to be compassionate/Higher level of customer service than other jobs/Talking to lawyers
What makes a successful event for lawyers
- Fresh and relevant topics
- Content focused on the business of running a law practice
- Sharing pinpoints and new discoveries
- One to one talk down model and more panels/Dialogue on stage/ClEs
- Actionable and immediate content that can be put into practice right away
- Actionable steps > “Don’t assume people know how to put in practice what you are talking about conceptually or theoretically”
Jim’s points
- > Likes practical over theoretical
- > Maximum Lawyers don’t do CLEs because of requirements needed
- > Maximum Lawyers is practical/Comes from people like Maddy that are willing to share what they know
- Zapier panels
- Helping people speed up own development/learning from success and mistakes of people before them
Continuation of What makes a successful event for lawyers
- Being directed on the Non CLE side/Continuing legal education
- Gaps people have/Non legal education
- Tons of CLE content/Non how in the CLE
- Helping people with their productive, professional and profitable law firm.
Maddy’s talk
- Referrals not being a growth strategy
- Lawyers reliant on this channel/Not approaching strategically
- Guidance > Help identify how to do referrals better > Make referrals oneself > Explore other channels > Supplement referrals with other strategic growth > Identify base on practice area > Much more opportunity is there for referral base growth
- Screening process taking bad leads out allows to:Refer to other practices more efficiently, and build relationships and network to generate referrals/Target

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Thanks so much for listening to the show! If you want to know more about this and keep on maximizing your firm, please join our Facebook Group or like us on Facebook and comment!

You can also go to MaximumLawyer.com or, if you’d prefer, email us at: [email protected]

Do you want to get on the show? Shoot us an email or message us!

The Maximum Lawyer Podcast. Partner up, and maximize your firm.

In this episode, Jim & Tyson interview Jonathan Hawkins, Outside General Counsel to law firms and owner of Law Firm GC. Jonathan is always seeking to avoid lawsuits, has litigated and tried contentious lawyer breakup cases. Listen as they talk about his journey having been through a law firm dissolution himself having an up close the issues that arise and the effects they can have on a law firm and a lawyer’s practice.

Reminder: Early bird pricing MaxlawCon expiring payment last day of February. After that price going up!

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Topics:

About Jonathan
- Business lawyer for lawyers
- Represents lawyers and law firms
- Business related to an issue of a lawyer or a law firm can encounter
More details
- Three types of law clients.
- 1)Counseling
- 2)Project based engagements/Set up partnerships and draft documents “Print ups - Documents all law firm should have”
- 3)Law firms breakup/Mitigation and law practice
- Grew up as a business litigator/Business divorces of other types
- Drafting agreements to avoid fights
- Bargaining work and legal out practice leave for experts to handle
Representing lawyers/Lessons learned watching lawyers
- Father attorney/Handled many law firm brake ups in small town
- Father’s suggestion to look into large city
- Reading articles and cases
- Talking to everybody
- Lawyer friends asking for help
- Seeing lots of law firms from the inside/Different set ups and models
Ideal Client
- Big firm/Big operation
- Small firm attorneys/Project based engagements
- Not big international firms/Have own in house team
Reaching Jim and Tyson’s podcast
- Their podcast fan/Recommends
- Trying to build a team
- Perfect a subscription model
- Put together the value proposition for lawyers
Vision of subscription and level provided > Go back to Joey Vitale’s interview
- Contacting him with daily issues
- Quarter program service
Suggesting Jess Birken’ interview. Interesting subscription model and info product/Provides educational videos before encounter
Suggesting Lee Rosen’s interview. Another subscription model option/Variation of podcast
- Get team together
Farm out mitigation to another firm
Delegating
- Taking on an attorney
- Rather work in business than court
- Working on finding a part time litigator
Mitigation components
- Partner breakup/Each hires an attorney
- Lawsuit files and lawsuit allegations
Getting a full time lawyer
Farming out mitigation/Taking on an assistant/Basic guidance for subscription model
- Educating and communicating value proposition
Drill out in what you are selling/Solution offered/Figure out people
- Firm brings in a young associate
- Gains experience and clients/Leaves and clients go with him
- “Clients always choose who they are going with”
- Provisions put in place/Slow process down
- Give law firm owner time to react
- Set fees in place/Agreement with attorneys
Dean Jackson and Joe Polish > Entire profits of keeping a client/Educating before contact. Jonathan’s Lawyer education
- In person, CLE talks, lunches, periodic emails on various topics or website
- Lawyers spread word out
Podcast idea > Telling story of reported cases/Train wrecks or disolutions between lawyers or how to avoid mistakes (Murder book podcast by Michael Connelly). Contact new attorneys and refer to business

Register for the MaxLawCon19! Reminder: Early bird pricing MaxlawCon expiring payment last day of February. After that price going up!

Please subscribe to our Youtube Channel

Thanks so much for listening to the show! If you want to know more about this and keep on maximizing your firm, please join our Facebook Group or like us on Facebook and comment!

You can also go to MaximumLawyer.com or, if you’d prefer, email us at: [email protected]

Jim’s hack: Listening to James Schramko /Make a green list/Signs for a good client

Jonathan’s hack: “Give up and loose” “Don’t read, don’t listen and don’t watch”/Negatives on the news

Tyson’s tip: Stop spending time on social media

Do you want to get on the show? Shoot us an email or message us!

The Maximum Lawyer Podcast. Partner up, and maximize your firm.

In this episode, Jim & Tyson interview Megan Zavieh, with Zavieh Law. Megan is an attorney with a broad range of litigation experience now focusing on attorney defense in the California State Bar disciplinary system. Listen as they go over her business, her strategies and marketing, information products and ethics.

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Topics:

- About Megan:
  - Everyone of her clients is a Lawyer
  - She represents them in state bars proceedings
  - Applicants for the state bar and general ethics consulting
  - Advice lawyers who are getting creative with the delivery of service
  - Started in Big Law but her work and life weren’t compatible
  - Launched her practice in tending to represent primarily self represented lawyers
  - Consulting services
- Graduated from University of California, Berkeley - School of Law at the age of 21!
- Megan is a Spartan racer

“There is something incredibly empowering about doing something that looks way too hard, or just completely impossible when your standing at the front end of it, and then getting to the end and looking back and realizing what you’ve accomplished. It carries over into everything in life…”

Having lawyers as clients
- They can understand everything quickly
- Intellectual discussions
- Contribute to their own defense
- Partnership in representation
Running the firm away from California
- From Australia, it used to be a red flag
- Now from Georgia, almost never comes in to the discussion
- Very little travel involved
How do Lawyers find her
- Google searches; website
- Referrals: reticent to talk about the fact they have a State Bar problem
- Social media and Podcast
Information products
- Can be almost any consumable media content, that does not involve you talking individually to clients
- Videos, online course, a book, etc.
- Educating people about their legal needs and legal issues
The Playbook: The California Bar Discipline System Practice Guide
- A guide to help people who are representing themselves through the California State Bar discipline process
- A few forms
- Videos
- Forum
- Library
- Unlimited scale
How should people get started
- Megan’s talk: Legal Technology Track: Growing Your Practice Through Digital Information Products
- BRAINSTORM
- Starting techniques and strategies
Feedback from people who’ve downloaded the product
- Need for consulting and guidance
The Podcast
- A Legal Ethics podcast
- Interviews from all sorts of products
- The profession and ethics
Podcasting is an amazing media
- Dive into topics
- Meet great people
- Great conversations

The Maximum Lawyer Conference 2019 is coming!

Thanks so much for listening to the show! If you want to know more about this and keep on maximizing your firm, please join our Facebook Group or like us on Facebook and comment!

You can also go to MaximumLawyer.com or, if you’d prefer, email us at: [email protected]

Jim’s hack: Google released some new tools that allow you to assess how your website is doing. https://web.dev/measure, fixes and scores.

Megan’s hack: Read your Ethics Rule before the end of the year!

Tyson’s tip: Go out and do some research on Alexa. Get involved.

Do you want to get on the show? Shoot us an email or message us!

The Maximum Lawyer Podcast. Partner up, and maximize your firm.

In this pop-up episode, Tyson interviews Paul Lee, the Director of Business Development at The Expert Institute. The Institute connects attorneys with expert witnesses in all specialty areas. Listen as they go over what The Institute does and how it can help lawyers and law firms.

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Topics:

- What the Institute does?
  - Streamline the entire process from the start when a potential client walks through the door; reviews, screening, experts
  - Offices in Dallas, NY and Los Angeles
  - Their team of physicians should be viewed as an extension of your firm
  - Partnership program; unlimited access to their suite of services
  - Focus on experts who work on their specialty; true experts
- Transparent as possible
  - No contracts
  - A technology software that connects lawyers with true experts
  - Research team

All kind of experts

- - The institute will find the best expert for you
- The Challenge Study
  - Extensive check on the experts they provide

Detailed reports on opposing experts

Billing
- Subscription based service
- 6 months trial
- Pricing accordingly
- Payment receipts
Paul’s direct dial 3014992445
The landing page: THE EXPERT INSTITUTE
[email protected]/

Thanks so much for listening to the show! If you want to know more about this and keep on maximizing your firm, please join our Facebook Group or like us on Facebook and comment!

You can also go to MaximumLawyer.com or, if you’d prefer, email us at: [email protected]

Do you want to get on the show? Shoot us an email or message us!

The Maximum Lawyer Podcast. Partner up, and maximize your firm.

In this episode, Jim and Tyson interview Karen Caffrey a licensed professional counselor and a lawyer; Karen went from the practice of law to the practice of therapy mainly counseling lawyers. They will go over the importance of wellbeing and health for lawyers, the mindset of wellbeing, and how that wellbeing can be achieved. Also, how therapy works and how it can help your personal and business.

“You can’t be a good lawyer if you are not a healthy lawyer.”

Karen’s web site: http://www.karencaffrey.com/

What does it mean to be healthy?
It’s multifaceted, there’s a physical aspect, a spiritual aspect, a work aspect and a mental and emotional aspect...

Lawyers are reluctant to go to therapy
Because of 2 things: first, stigma; the fear of how are they going to be judged, and the second is fear on confidentiality.

The business of law and psychotherapy
“The nexus between the business of law and psychotherapy Is a lot of the challenges lawyers face in having a good business of law come from psychological reasons.”

“Who we are as people, directly impacts who we are as lawyers and who we are as business owners doing the business of law.”

Please give us a shout out in the ABA JOURNAL’S ranking of podcasts!

Hacking’s hack: Whenever you can take a day off of the week. Unplug yourself: get away from the phone and the computer, the office.

Karen’s tip: Put your wellbeing on your radar screen and to do this by diaring it. You can dairy it every day, and spend 5 minutes talking about your wellbeing. Prioritize your wellbeing.

Tyson’s tip: Productivity - A website: Activtrak: https://activtrak.com/. It allows you to plug in yourself, your partners and employees, and it shows your productivity level.

Thanks so much for listening to the show! If you want to know more about this and keep on maximizing your firm, please join our Facebook Group or like us on Facebook and comment!

You can also go to MaximumLawyer.com or, if you’d prefer, email us at: [email protected]

Do you want to get on the show? Shoot us an email or message us!

The Maximum Lawyer Podcast. Partner up, and maximize your firm.

In this episode, Jim and Tyson interview Jay Ruane. They will go over his background, his role in his firm and how he managed to grow and improve it, paying special attention to his Adwords experience and strategies. If you want to start using adwords and pay per click or improve your strategy, this episode is for you.

“Start small, figure how it works, and then grow from there.”

The firm

Actually, Jay is more of an administrator of the firm than ever before, but he is still in the business, he does some court appearances from time to time.

Jay's Twitter: https://twitter.com/jayruane

Some of the topics:
The importance of content:
“We’re no longer advertising generic terms out there to drive people to information on our website, because people are finding our website organically based on all the content that we have”

A big mistake:
“One of the biggest mistakes people make, especially when it comes to adwords is thinking that more money is going to get them better results. That’s a misunderstanding of how the adwords auction system works.”

“There’s a tendency to wanna have the widest net, but the widest net doesn’t necessarily catch the fish that you want.”

How to build ads:
“We need to get in the mindset of the consumer. And those are the ones that are going to get clicks; the ads that resonate with the people who are facing the problem that needs a lawyer..”

How do you tell if an ad is working?:
“One of the things we like to use ourselves is, we direct the ad to a specific landing page on our website that is more sales oriented than our organic pages.”

Facebook vs Adwords:
“Facebook is great, but you have to have the right approach to facebook. You can’t expect it to give you the same type of results as pay per click because it’s just not built that way and the people aren’t there for that.”

Marquis Jackson’s episode:
https://maximumlawyer.com/podcast/legal-hope-pop-up-episode/

Please give us a shout out in the ABA JOURNAL’S ranking of podcasts!

Hacking’s hack: The Coaching Habit: Say Less, Ask More & Change the Way You Lead Forever by Michael Bungay Stanier. how to be a good coach in an office setting!

Jay’s tip: Curate your negative list on Google. Go back and take a list of the 100 top baby names for the last 50 or so years. Male and Female. Because a lot people in this field may hear that their friend got arrested for a DUI. If they are not the person who is looking to hire you don’t want to be advertising to them.

Tyson’s tip: Check out Ryan McKeen’s book: Empower Yourself: A Practical Guide to Connecticut Personal Injury Law.

Thanks so much for listening to the show! If you want to know more about this and keep on maximizing your firm, please join our Facebook Group or like us on Facebook and comment!

You can also go to MaximumLawyer.com or, if you’d prefer, email us at: [email protected]

Do you want to get on the show? Shoot us an email or message us!

The Maximum Lawyer Podcast. Partner up, and maximize your firm.

In this episode, Jim and Tyson will check in on what’s going on with both of their practices, talk about MAXLAWCON and go over the Sales Prevention Department List; 10 things lawyers and law firms do that prevent the closing of sales.

First, Jim and Tyson will discuss about case management and catch up meetings, Tyson will go over the importance of synergies in a partnership and then they both will go over the difference between own generated leads and referrals of Personal Injury Attorneys.

Also, they will go over next year’s conference. Lessons learned and a lot of improvements! It’s going to be awesome!

And then, our topic; The list of The Sales Prevention Department:

1. Not having a live and empathetic person answering the phone.
2. Not returning calls or taking too long to call a lead.

“When you think about all the money that you spend to get the phone to ring, to not maximize what happens after when the phone rings it’s just waste of money.”

3. Having a slow sales process.

“They never love you as much as they do on the day that they sign you”.

“If you can stop them from looking for other attorneys, then you have done 90% of the battle. Get them to sign the contract”

4. Being too salesy AKA too much “whiskers”.
5. Brand and generic marketing.
6. Not having the knowledge base for the types of cases you’re advertising for.
7. Not following up on clients after an initial phone call.
8. Hiding the ball or over promising; being disingenuous.
9. Not being crystal clear on what it is that you do: NO REFERRALS.
10. Being afraid of walking away from the table.

Please give us a shout out in the ABA JOURNAL’S ranking of podcasts!

Hacking’s hack: No external information until 11am!

Tyson’s tip: Talk to every person as if you never gonna talk to them again.

Thanks so much for listening to the show! If you want to know more about this and keep on maximizing your firm, please join our Facebook Group or like us on Facebook and comment!

You can also go to MaximumLawyer.com or, if you’d prefer, email us at: [email protected]

Do you want to get on the show? Shoot us an email or message us!

The Maximum Lawyer Podcast. Partner up, and maximize your firm.

In this episode, Jim and Tyson interview Johnnie Finch, a criminal defense attorney who runs his own law firm. They will go over his background, his business, and how it is like to be a lawyer as a member of a minority. Also, they will discuss about his recently published book “Black Lawyer Confidential”.

“I wanted to come up with a book or some type of manual for those who are from small towns or minorities that have never had parents who were lawyers, or ever been in the court system before to try to deal with it…”

Their Firm:
http://johnniefinchesq.com/

The Book:
BlackLawyerBook.com

Johnnie’s Twitter

Please give us a shout out in the ABA JOURNAL’S ranking of podcasts!

Hacking’s hack: https://audiojungle.net/
You can download royalty free music and audio tracks for a Dollar, and you are able to search it by emotions or music type. Great cheap resource.

Johnnie’s tip:
Leave 15 minutes early! For the rest of your life!

Tyson’s tip:
Ride a bicycle in your office whenever you are working or on calls or doing a Podcast!

Please give us a shout out in the ABA JOURNAL’S ranking of podcasts!

Thanks so much for listening to the show! If you want to know more about this and keep on maximizing your firm, please join our Facebook Group or like us on Facebook and comment!

You can also go to MaximumLawyer.com or, if you’d prefer, email us at: [email protected]

Do you want to get on the show? Shoot us an email or message us!

The Maximum Lawyer Podcast. Partner up, and maximize your firm.

In this BONUS episode, Jim gives a talk at SLU Law. He will talk about his early days as a lawyer and his journey as a law entrepreneur who now runs his own immigration law firm, going over his mindset, his business, his firm and his marketing strategies.

“This is a lot of work, but to me it’s worth it and it’s fun. I am having more fun that I’d ever would’ve had, and I’ve had three really big law firms in St. Louis talk to me about coming in to that firm and I’ve turn them down every single time, and I laugh when I do it because I would never be able to do half of my crazy shit if I went to one of those big firms. And if I hadn’t agreed to be the plaintiff in that law suite, I don’t know what would’ve happened, I don’t know how many kids I would have. I don’t know what kind of life I would have; I would have a very different life probably. So I’m very grateful for everything that’s happened and I am exactly where I want to be.”

Jim Hacking

Please give us a shout out in the ABA JOURNAL’S ranking of podcasts!

Thanks so much for listening to the show! If you want to know more about this and keep on maximizing your firm, please join our Facebook Group or like us on Facebook and comment!

You can also go to MaximumLawyer.com or, if you’d prefer, email us at: [email protected]

Do you want to get on the show? Shoot us an email or message us!

The Maximum Lawyer Podcast. Partner up, and maximize your firm.

New with Smith.ai

What makes a successful event for lawyers

Maddy’s talk

Enjoy Exclusive Access To Stage One Of The Maximum Lawyer In Minimum Time Course

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