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.

Register to MaxLawCon19, June 6 and 7 in St.Louis.

Please subscribe to our Youtube Channel

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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

Register for the MaxLawCon19!

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]

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

In this episode, Jim & Tyson interview Talitha Gray Kozlowski, a lawyer who specializes in bankruptcy and is the Co-Founder of Lawclerk.Legal, a firm that helps small firms to elevate the practice of law by engaging talented U.S. freelance lawyers to assist you on an as needed basis. They will go over her business and her new company, built from scratch. Listen as Talitha shares all about this new venture; how to make it possible and how to focus your time and energy so as to improve your life and practice.

Register to MaxLawCon19, June 6 and 7 in St.Louis.

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

Please subscribe to our Youtube Channel

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Topics:

• About Talitha
  • Bankruptcy lawyer in Las Vegas
  • Co-Founder of Lawclerk.Legal
• About Lawclerk Legal and how Talitha got there
  • LawclerkLegal > A marketplace that connects busy attorneys with freelance attorneys
  • Have over one thousand four hundred freelance attorneys/Do written work
  • Developed to:
  • 1)Help low and small firms elevate the practice of law
  • 2)Provide access to specialization, better products for clients at lower costs and all the business side increasing products
  • Started with six offices, and one in DC/Lobbying
  • Legal business broken/Improving the quality of practice of law
  • Nine members broke off and opened small shop in Las Vegas
  • Specializing in distinctive areas of law and better serve clients
  • Missed expertise of additional areas of law and sets of hands
  • Law clerk idea/Small firm taking on bigger cases
  • Access to huge talent of other attorneys
• Moving away from day to day practice of law and growing something else
  • Corporate bankruptcy are unique practice
  • Helping companies re think about their business
  • Three co-founders/Two with same background
  • Many years thinking how businesses can improve and how other attorneys can improve as well
• What partners do to make it work
  • Long time together practice
  • Mutual respect
  • Willingness to advocate for their position
  • Very good communication
• Case > Process for assignment/An Immigration lawyer in St. Louis - Person in Washington facing deportation after having been caught with bag of weed/Someone in Lawclerk research immigration consequences of that conviction
  • As user friendly as possible/Attorney’s time is their most critical resource
  • “To post project need research invocations of a bag of weed in Washington”
  • Setting application period, fee price for project>controlling ultimate cost, initial draft, deadline for final draft, area of law and general description of what has been looked for with no confidential information
  • Hitting post of conflict information/Security site
  • Freelancers application/Selection/Provide information/Signment of confidentiality agreement
  • Time card and product/Payment tendered
• Off the ground: Getting lawyers to want to trust and getting them into system to do work
  • “Markets are delicate and have to balance both sides”
  • Internally testing and marketing
  • Once an  attorney has posted one project they begin to post multiple projects/See value
  • Pool of talented attorneys looking to practice law differently
  • Platform offers freelancers flexibility for unique situations
• Data on how the job posting attorney builds the client for the law clerk like an average of charge percentage wise or dollar wise”
  • Location/Reasonable market value
  • At Lawclerk ⅓ for freelance attorneys, ⅓ for profit and ⅓ for overhead
  • Build out freelancers somewhere towards low end of couple of associates/Own big profit and big value for clients
• A case > A lawyer hiring a law clerk to write a brief/Another law clerk to write opposition/Ready for oral argument of the issue - Other scenarios
  • Critical feedback on briefs to prepare oral arguments
  • Discovery front/Attorneys getting interrogatories from opponent council/Off to client to fill out/Framing up with appropriate objections and responsive to request
  • Good way to get through discovery in a cost effective manner
• Ethic issues/Term clerk
  • Freelance attorneys work in a paraprofessional capacity/Model Rules both 5.3 and 5.4/Can legalize paraprofessionals to provide work as long as under supervision
  • Lawclerk is compliant with all fifty states ethical rules
  • Totally safe on unauthorized practice of law issues/Ability to have incredible specialization
  • Supreme Court > Able to upcharge for the contract paralegal work, for freelance attorney work and contract attorney work as long as dealing services with reasonable market rates
• Interesting success stories
  • Military spouses moving in high frequency
  • Mechanism in finding meaningful employment
• Practicing law in different states
  • Type of work been done
  • Federal practice
  • Finding somebody in one’s jurisdiction
  • Pool of freelance attorneys
• Balance running practice and building side business
  • Scaling practice
  • Plan and schedule

Register for the MaxLawCon19! Reminder: Early bird pricing MaxlawCon expiring payment last day of february/After that price going up - Interesting topics and soon coming up Michael Lander on Linkedin

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 audio from book Marketing Rebellion by Mark Schaefer /Automation/Interaction with client/”Relook at what we are doing in a marketing perspective from a human and recipient approach”

Talitha’s hack: “Find what you like to do” “Find what you like in your practice” “Focus your time and energy on that and you will improve your life and practice”

Tyson’s tip: “What are the things I want to remove from my life?”/Removing negative things one at a time will make life easier

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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.

Register to MaxLawCon19, June 6 and 7 in St.Louis.

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

Please subscribe to our Youtube Channel

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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

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

In this episode, Jim & Tyson will go over a list of 6 reasons why Jim’s firm is transitioning away from Infusionsoft to another softwares.

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Topics:

• Jim and Tyson’s history with Infusionsoft
  • Maximum Lawyer wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for Infusionsoft
  • Discussions about running a law firm

The list:

1. Infusionsoft is at the end of the day, build for Marketing; it’s really clunky when it comes to run a law firm off of it
2. The sales pipeline itself and using the sales pipeline to try to show a client’s movement (Infusionsoft opportunities) in the during unit through the process of a case is extremely difficult
3. Infusionsoft is not keeping up with it’s competitors
4. Infusionsoft is expensive
5. Immigration is not that strong as other softwares when it comes to Immigration
6. The Infusionsoft Conference (ICON) got canceled. It was the best conference we’ve ever been to

Jim’s hack: Take a look on what you are doing and all the pieces software you are using. It makes you analyze where you are spending your money and what’s most effective. And be open to looking at other things, other pieces of software that might do things a little better.

Tyson’s tip: Tyson had urgent need of an answering service and he’s been using ReceptionHQ. They really pulled through.

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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.