Send us a text The law practice is all about clients. And clients operate on the same psychological operating system as we all do. There are hacks and shortcuts to connecting, building trust, and having fun with others. Our success as lawyers always depends on how we work with people—clients, other lawyers, referral sources, and co-workers. Like most things, you can use these techniques to excess, for evil, and to manipulate others. That is short-sighted at best. However, if you love and want to...
Nov 29, 2023•17 min•Ep. 24
Send us a text Luis Scott is the co-founder of Bader Scott, one of the largest law injury firms in the southeast. Additionally, he also leads 8-Figure Firm where he and his team teach lawyers how to scale their firm past $10,000,000. Luis is a doer, not an academic. His teachings are based on real-world applications and on what his own $60M+ firm does to win. In this week's conversation, Luis shares how he overcame devastating personal and professional setbacks, created his own luck, and built o...
Nov 15, 2023•44 min•Ep. 22
Send us a text This was a Q&A on the topic of implementing Fixed Fee with the dynamic team at Ball Morse Lowe, an established multi-practice law firm in Oklahoma. ------------------------- Go to: www.JSterlingHughes.com for tons of Family Law Practice resources. My purpose is to Empower Family Law Attorneys so they can build a beautiful family law practice and have the practice of their dreams. I share my family law firm’s secrets, tactics, and strategies of how we have grown from 0 to 25 at...
Nov 08, 2023•1 hr 27 min•Ep. 21
Send us a text The Sterling Chronicles series presents a month-by-month account of the victories, setbacks, and lessons encountered while building a rapidly growing family law practice. My objective is to record and share our firm's successes and challenges, with the aspiration that you can take from our experiences and shorten your success curve. In this installment, we delve into the events of September 2023. 1 - For the first time in seven years we are back to Free Consults. Why does this mak...
Oct 25, 2023•16 min•Ep. 21
Send us a text Join me for a fascinating conversation with Harvard Law grad and three-time Atlanta Divorce Lawyer of the Year Aaron Thomas. Aaron has developed an innovative legal service designed to keep marriages intact utilizing a prenup agreement. He has figured out a way to use them as a divorce safety net - and - a device to fortify marriages. Aaron shares the details how he went from serving over 1,000 clients, including NBA Hall of Famers, Super Bowl winners, Grammy award winning artists...
Oct 18, 2023•38 min•Ep. 20
Send us a text Do you hesitate when it comes to seeking a mentor? You're not alone. Many stumble at the thought of reaching out to potential mentors. Yet, mentors are the single biggest missed advantage for lawyers to grow their law practice. In this episode I share how a mentor dramatically boosted my career when I was young and clueless. I also explore the: 1. Five big reasons why people don't ask 2. Who to ask to mentor you 3. How to ask 4. What to do when you start a mentor/mentee relationsh...
Oct 11, 2023•17 min•Ep. 19
Send us a text The Sterling Chronicles series presents a month-by-month account of the victories, setbacks, and lessons encountered while building a rapidly growing family law practice. My objective is to record and share our firm's successes and challenges, with the aspiration that you can take from our experiences and shorten your success curve. In this installment, we delve into the events of August 2023. 1 - Our team continues to work toward implementing non-lawyer consults across the firm. ...
Oct 04, 2023•43 min•Ep. 18
Send us a text Roma Khan is an incredibly accomplished business woman and legal innovator. Her breakthroughs in the delivery of contract legal services are revolutionary. From the outside, she appears to be an overnight success. However, as you peel back the layers, you will find a lifelong drive to succeed and add value to the world as she has fought through adversity every step of her journey. Roma arrived in the US at the age of 16. Intense family expectations were for her to pursue a specifi...
Sep 27, 2023•44 min•Ep. 17
Send us a text This is a timeless tale of guts and courage. My guest this week is Jonathan Hawkins. He had the guts to not take the safe route and the courage to stay focused on his niche. Jonathan has built a highly specialized practice serving lawyers and law firms, from firm formation to dissolution and all stages in between. Jonathan's intriguing journey took him from learning Spanish in Costa Rica to hitting the ski slopes of Colorado, before setting his sights on law. Listen as he takes yo...
Sep 19, 2023•41 min•Ep. 16
Send us a text Do you ever feel like you're operating in the dark when it comes to managing your law practice? This episode describes a simple by extremely effective tool that identifies almost every operational problem in a law firm. Our marketing waterfall, often referred to as a funnel, tracks our clients' journey from their initial visit to our website through closing their case as a client. This tool acts like an early warning radar system for operational challenges. For example, this tool ...
Sep 13, 2023•17 min•Ep. 15
Send us a text Working with the right business partner can generate massive success. Conversely, working with the wrong partner is a study in frustration, loss, and heartache. In this episode, I share my three-part formula for highly functional business partnerships. I take you through my personal journey of forming successful partnerships, and share the lessons I learned along the way. We'll discuss everything from the importance of self-awareness, trust and shared values to the need for clear ...
Sep 06, 2023•17 min•Ep. 14
Send us a text This is the fourth episode of four on how to convert a law firm from hourly to fixed fee. We wrap up the series by describing how to practice fixed fee. The name of the game and the secret is to be proactive in everything you do. It's like playing a game of tennis. The ball can never be in your court. It always needs to be returned as quickly as possible. The lawyer must drive the case forward, not the judge, not the opposing party, and not your client. It is also essential to wor...
Aug 30, 2023•13 min•Ep. 13
Send us a text This episode is part three of four on converting a law firm from hourly to fixed fee billing. The most difficult part of the process is articulating the fixed fee value and selling it. If you try to do it the same as hourly, you will get killed and lose big time. With hourly billing, the client bears the risk. This is one of the main reasons why lawyers use it and like it. But, with fixed fee, the risk shifts to the firm. This can be scary. But, it also opens the door for way happ...
Aug 23, 2023•13 min•Ep. 12
Send us a text The Sterling Chronicles series presents a month-by-month account of the victories, setbacks, and lessons encountered while establishing a rapidly growing family law practice. My objective is to record and share the successes and challenges within our law firm, with the aspiration that you can glean from our experiences and expedite your path to success. In this installment, I delve into the events of July 2023. We are currently in the process of revamping our entire intake procedu...
Aug 21, 2023•26 min•Ep. 11
Send us a text This is the second of four on moving a law firm from hourly billing to fixed fee. This episode demystifies how to structure fixed fee agreements. In our family law firm, we break agreements up into stages along natural settlement points. It all starts with the leader. The law firm leader must enthusiastically support the conversion to fixed fee. A half-hearted attempt will fail. ------------------------- Go to: www.JSterlingHughes.com for tons of Family Law Practice resources. My ...
Aug 16, 2023•20 min•Ep. 10
Send us a text This is part one of four of "How to Move a Law Firm from Hourly to Fixed Fee." Way back in 2016 we white-knuckled our way through a significant business model transition. Today, our fixed fee practice has grown into a major success. We are a 100% fixed fee firm with 26 family law attorneys spread out over two states and serving almost 3,000 clients a year. In this first episode, I explore how and why we made the move to Fixed Fee. It starts with understanding the arguments for Hou...
Aug 09, 2023•16 min•Ep. 9
Send us a text In this episode, we welcome special guest Paul Hanon, a professional photographer specializing in headshots. Paul is the owner of PremierHeadshots.com in Bay View, WI. He has rapidly grown his business by focusing on one thing and being amazing at that -- Headshots. There are many business lessons to be gleaned from this discussion that apply across disciplines and markets. Paul details how his focus allowed him to hone his expertise in facial expression coaching and how it is the...
Aug 02, 2023•35 min•Ep. 8
Send us a text Imagine if your law practice could be transformed, not by new laws or regulations, but by a simple change in the way you conduct client consultations. That's exactly what happened in our firm when we implemented a streamlined consult process that significantly improved our client experience and financial stability, raking in over $45 million in service fees. Join me, Jeff Hughes, as I share the ins and outs of this transformative journey, from the extensive pre-consult phase right...
Jul 26, 2023•32 min•Ep. 7
Send us a text Ever wanted to get a sneak peek of truth into a thriving law practice? In this Sterling Chronicles series I will open the kimono each month and share with you what happened, why it happened, our response, and our numbers. This info is exactly what I wish I had when we started Sterling Lawyers. I'll walk you through the key projects we've been focusing on, including the overhaul of our intake process and the hiring of legal assistants who handle consultations before our attorneys s...
Jul 24, 2023•19 min•Ep. 6
Send us a text What do you do when you're the younger lawyer and the more senior lawyer is completely wrong? Standing up to them can be tricky due to social pressure, seniority, and ego. However, you can successfully navigate this challenging situation and help the senior lawyer see another point of view. First, we discuss the importance of earning the respect of the senior lawyer through excellent work and demonstrating that you're prepared for conversations. By doing what other lawyers aren't ...
Jun 16, 2023•5 min•Ep. 5
Send us a text We discovered three power levers to massively grow our firm from zero attorneys to over 26, doing over $15 million in revenue. Join me as I document what's working and what's not in our practice, offering valuable lessons that can be re-contextualized for your own firm to shorten your success curve. Along our journey, we attribute a large amount of our success to these three moves. ------------------------- Go to: www.JSterlingHughes.com for tons of Family Law Practice resources. ...
Jun 16, 2023•11 min•Ep. 4
Send us a text Many lawyers unintentionally sabotage their credibility. These are the top 10 credibility destroyers I've seen. Avoid these pitfalls to build a stronger, more successful practice. In this episode, I'll share my experiences and tips that have helped us grow a law practice from zero attorneys to over $15 million in revenue. We discuss everything from mastering the perfect handshake to dressing for success and improving your communication skills. We'll also touch on the importance of...
Jun 16, 2023•10 min•Ep. 3
Send us a text Are you looking for a way to shave years of struggle off your firm or business journey? Join me as I share the story of how we changed the direction of our law firm and the four fundamental strategic bedrock questions that every business must answer as they start. Discover how we stumbled onto these questions, wrestled with them, and ultimately found our answer, focusing on family law – specifically divorce, post-judgment, and paternity cases – and how you can do the same for your...
Jun 16, 2023•14 min•Ep. 2
Send us a text A tsunami of AI disruption is on its way to the legal space. It will affect my firm, and yours. The threats are dramatic. We have somewhere between 3 and 24 months to change before we are forced to. Our firm is preparing for: 1 - A seismic shift away from hourly rates as a business model 2 - Mass layoffs among in the associates in BigLaw 3 - Rise in Pro-Se rates 4 - Deregulation of law firm ownership 5 - Concentration of high-value work into soft skills The time to take these chan...
Jun 16, 2023•15 min•Ep. 1
