Don't be a DICK!

In order to qualify to work for my law firm, Pathway Legal Law Corporation, the Associate lawyers must commit to taking dispute resolution training. This is training that goes way beyond anything we were taught in law school. It is skills-based mediation training.

Why?

Dispute resolution training makes family law lawyers way better at what we do:

• It teaches us about how to negotiate with difficult people;
• It teaches us how to explore the interests of our clients that are behind their positions;
• It helps us understand and then deal with opposing parties more powerfully;
• It helps us discuss and resolve matters more effectively with opposing lawyers;
• It teaches us to be way better negotiators; and, if we have to go to court,
• It teaches us to be way better litigators.

I am a firm believer that the more compassionate and understanding I am of my clients and their needs, the way better advocate I am going to be for them. The more I can get my client to imagine...

Managing the Toxic Client - The Tale of Rotten Ralph

We have all had that one terrible, toxic, client.. It is that one particular client you dread talking to. The one that when you speak to him (or her or they), you feel your energy drain out of you. Your mind feels clogged after speaking with him. You start wondering why you thought becoming a divorce lawyer would EVER be a good idea . . .

Let me tell you about Rotten Ralph.

Rotten Ralph is a particular client. He also happens to be the one that doesn’t take your advice, he takes unreasonable positions, he complains about each and every one of your invoices, he takes up an inordinate amount of your staff’s time, and is, on top of it, rude. He is rude to you and, even worse, rude to your support staff. He also happens to believe he knows more about the law and the legal process than you do.

We have all had our share of Rotten Ralphs.

Rotten Ralph is DIFFICULT to love.

In my practice, one particular Rotten Ralph...

Gazing Into the Crystal Ball That is Your Future

The fact that you are reading means that you probably want to have more for your life than you do right now.

Maybe you are just like me, a hopelessly driven person who has had some hard-ass bumps in the road, so to speak.

Because you, like me, are a divorce lawyer, you are probably used to at least some success. You got into law school, you got your law degree, and you passed your bar.

And maybe as you are reading this, you, like me, also want to enjoy more success than you already have.

I know that my life started kinda going off the rails as soon as I got called to the bar. I had “arrived” after all . . . so all the discipline, great habits I developed, started to falter. Because I had “arrived,” I started to take it easy . . . this meant that I drank every night. I stopped looking after my physical body. I ate out at restaurants every day. I overspent using consumer credit. I worked during the day and...

Do Your Clients Own Your Brain and Suck Your Blood?

Has this ever happened or has been happening to you:

Do your clients own your brain and even worse, do they suck the blood out of you?

I think about this trial I've had recently. When I got a message from the trial scheduler saying that my matter will not be proceeding as scheduled, I felt a wave of relief wash over me.

The entire lens of my day changed for the better!

It made me realize, while I was already past the moments of dreading my trials… This particular case really hurt the vibrancy, the lifeblood, the force of me, of my team of my firm, and has also actually owned our thoughts.

Listen to the entire episode to find out how this happened, where I went wrong and what I’d do differently to actually be able to be strategic about moving forward and having time to put a case together properly.

In This Episode:

• Going back to when I was a server [00:00:44]
• Blood sucking -- No juice [00:01:46]
• I felt a wave of relief...

Your Great Work Is Not Only Killing Your Future, It Is Making You Broke

Will you allow working evenings and weekends, compromising your health and family relationships to be the cost of your great work?

In this episode, I’d like to share with you how the blood, sweat, and tears you shed to do great work can actually kill your future and make you broke… and what you can do to avoid this.

Listen to the entire episode to learn how you can make changes to your life and law practice for the better and continue to build the foundation of your career with a transformational step.

In This Episode:

• Are You Benefitting From Your Blood, Sweat, Weekend Work And Tears? [00:01:12]
• A Person Could Spend The Rest Of Their Lives Working Will Miss Out A Whole Lot Of Health, Family, Connection and Happiness [00:02:05]
• Your Law Employer Does Not Care About You [00:03:45]
• Is It The Jerk Partner Or Owner In Your Law Firm Or You? [00:05:57]
• Getting Great Reviews But Only To...

Unbreaking the Broken Family Industry

If we did away with the toxicity of Family Law disputes, what would happen to our industry?

This is what I wanted to share with you in today’s podcast.

When clients go through a divorce or a separation, they're in a dysfunctional situation and already stressed out. Most of the time they want a lawyer who can get their matter resolved stat. If we are literally stirring the pot and conduct ourselves with the thought that we are paid to fight, that's not helpful at all, is it? This demonstrates something that's very broken about our industry.

What if we were actually to change the whole question of the family law industry? What if we were just guiding people, from the time of their separation to having their family matter resolved in an efficient, appropriate way.

Listen to this week’s episode to learn more about how we can transition the discussion around Family Law, so that we keep people out of court, out of the toxic...

Minding Your Own Business

When I first started with my firm, I thought I was well on my way. What I didn't realize was that there was more to looking after my own business than practicing law.

In this episode, I want to share with you my thoughts about minding your own business.

Whether we’re running our own firms, or working for a law firm, we have to understand what a business entails. It is in our business to ensure that things are working efficiently and effectively, so we’re not out there putting out one fire after another.

Listen to this week’s episode to learn more about how we can restructure our practices so that we are better at showing up and minding our businesses. 

In This Episode:

• I Went Off And Created My Own Firm, Until I Realized [00:01:32]

 From Whoa to Wonder

It was as if I was on the edge of a pool and my nose would go underwater and there was a foot on top of me always pushing my head down.

That’s how everything felt back then. For years, I thought working hard would be the very solution to my failing personal life, marriage, financial situation and health.

In today’s episode let me tell you about my origin story - a gruesome one, filled with so much frustration and devastation.

And how, as I dove deep into my reason for being a divorce lawyer, took on the entire process which helped me turn everything around.

Listen to the entire episode to dive into this tale. I hope this fills you with so much hope and encouragement so you feel empowered to take that step in having the best life and law practice.

In this Episode:

• My Origin Story [00:02:05]
• I Bite Off Way More Than I Could Chew [00:13:05]
• I Learn to Strategize [00:20:37]
• Take My Advice and Launch To The Next Level [00:25:25]

You Are Being Watched

As lawyers, we are essentially “on stage” and we are constantly being watched.

This is the very concept I want to share with you in today’s episode.

Let’s consider the way we are conducting ourselves at the courthouse, at mediations, at four-way meetings, at arbitrations, and even down to the letters and emails we write.

Are we demonstrating a very appropriate way of resolving your clients' matters and coming across as solid advocates? Or are we showing up disorganized and testy?

Clearly, we are always modeling behavior. So how are we going to show up as members of this profession?

I invite you to listen to the entire episode and learn more about how to reflect on our behaviors; and how that can help us change and do much better work for clients in a way that helps families now.

In this Episode:

• The Whole Concept Of Being Watched [00:00:19]
• Be Aware That People Are Watching Us [00:03:00]
• Being Watched Also Teaches Us A Lesson...

Are You The Bottle Neck That Is Choking Your Success?

In this episode, I will share with you a big discovery I had over the last few weeks.

Imagine a big bottle. At the very top of it is this little tiny neck and through that neck is all of your decision-making power, all of your time, all of your energy…

If you're the person doing all that stuff, you are certainly the bottleneck of your business!

I realized, being the bottleneck of my business did not make me a great lawyer. This made me tired, testy and unhappy. To top it all off, this did not allow me to focus on what is important.

Listen to the full episode and find out more about how you can transform the way you handle your business so you do not become the bottleneck.

In this Episode:

• Are You The Bottleneck That Is Choking Your Work Success? [00:00:23]
• Being A Bottleneck Completely Tied Up Everything In My Life And Made Everything Simply Not Work [00:02:56]
• Don’t Be The Bottleneck, Give Somebody...