Building up The Legal Mastermind Podcast has been an incredible accomplishment for our team and legal community, especially over the past year. The willingness of all of these professionals to give their time and expertise to help lawyers in (almost) every aspect of their practice has been among the most monumental experiences in my career thus far. I appreciate the time and energy of every single individual that has come on to speak with Chase and me.

These selections aren’t any better or more useful than podcasts that were excluded. It could easily be the contrary—the point of this podcast is to explore every aspect of law firm growth, development, and management. B2B and B2C. Solo practitioners or firms hitting their hundredth associate. There is very much something for everyone. 

This list compiles some of the particular ones that inspired me to examine how we can operate differently, catch fresh perspectives, and explore a new approach that can take what we do for our clients, and ourselves, to the next level. I am thrilled to deliver this list that was painstakingly curated to just 10, each episode with a genuine level of passion and knowledge—as simply stating “I love them all” isn’t much of a list.

And let’s be honest. We all love lists.

 

About the Guest:

Mike Morse is the Author of Fireproof and Founder of Mike Morse Law Firm, the largest personal injury firm in Michigan. Mike has been practicing law for the past 28 years. In 2011, he lost all of his business and decided to take everything that he had learned to television. With all of the things that he has learned along the way, he wanted to draw out a road map for young lawyers, or lawyers who may be struggling, to go from unpredictability to profitability. 

Why I Picked This Podcast:

Mike Morse is totally sold on the transformative power of EOS (Entrepreneurial Organization System), and so are we. Implemented in May of 2019 for Market My Market, we’ve seen dramatic changes in employee growth, accountability, and being able to provide a higher level of work for our clients. Many law firms have been more open to exploring new processes (following intake and follow-up procedures) and technologies (going paperless, new research platforms), but what about a new system that is the foundation of law firm operations? 

In addition to providing an excellent overview of what success looks like for a law firm that implements EOS, this book “Fireproof” is a great read. And I think the majority of business/growth books are typically a waste of time.

More About Mike’s Book: https://www.amazon.com/Fireproof-Five-Step-Unpredictable-Wildly-Profitable-ebook/dp/B088X41PPP

Listen to the Podcast Here: https://legalmastermindpodcast.com/ep-73-mike-morse-the-roadmap-to-taking-your-firm-from-unpredictability-to-profitability/

 

About the Guest:

Tangi Carter is the Owner of Tangi Carter Law Firm and Business Mentor and Coach at The Peaceful Lawyer. Tangi began practicing in Florida right out of law school and she started out as a Public Defender at the age of 25. She started learning how to network, who the judges were and what their quirks were, so by the time that she opened her own practice, she felt as though she had a very good background to be able to do that. The best thing that she has learned throughout the years is to treat your current clients very well—take care of the people that have already paid for your services—the best clients are referrals from other clients. Tangi also coaches female lawyers. 

Why I Picked This Podcast:

I love hearing the adamancy and conviction of doing something especially unconventional, that works. We’ve all heard of paid consultations for perhaps IP, Business, Probate, Family, Immigration etc. But the status quo for criminal defense has always been “Free Consultation,” “Free Case Review!”, and all those calls-to-action we’re used to.

Not for Tangi, and she’s built her entire practice around it. Charging for a criminal defense consultation, she’s not only built a formidable (and admirable) practice, but consistently gets the clients she truly wants in this approach. Success stories that occur when someone works against the supposed grain are among my favorite. 

Tangi’s Firm: https://www.tangicarterlaw.com/

Listen to the Podcast Here: https://legalmastermindpodcast.com/ep-72-tangi-carter-how-to-attract-the-ideal-client-and-how-to-weed-out-the-bad-clients/

 

About the Guest:

Keith Newstrom has over a decade of experience in the legal marketing industry and is currently the Business Development Manager at Intake Conversion Experts (ICE). ICE has assisted over 200 Law firms, retained over 40,000 cases, and an average conversion rate of ~75%. Keith previously worked for FindLaw and Thomson Reuters for just over 7 years selling directory listings and leads.

Why I Picked This Podcast:

I’ve talked to quite possibly over 1,000 sales representatives for hundreds of legal marketing vendors over the years, and Keith Newstrom may be one of three that truly believes in what he does and is straight about if a product/service is the right fit for a firm. In this conversation, we talk about a huge point of contention for many law firms: straight up purchasing leads. It’s been a practice wrought with inconsistency, wasted dollars, and nebulous outcomes and arrangements. 

What I like about this podcast is that we all are openly able to talk about a practice that can either work, or very much be a complete waste of money, in a candid, even historic manner. This is a great way to learn from an extremely knowledgeable and experienced business development expert about how to sniff out the “too good to be true’s,” and what likely goes into a legitimate experience your firm can benefit from. 

More about Keith’s Company:  https://www.intakeconversion.com/

Listen to the Podcast Here: https://legalmastermindpodcast.com/ep-55-keith-newstrom-the-ins-and-outs-of-increasing-your-leads-and-number-of-signed-cases/

 

About the Guest:

Harlan Schillinger is widely recognized as the “Grandfather of Legal Advertising.” He invented television advertising in the legal community when no one else was doing it. He began his career in television work in 1975 and began creating a series of television commercials for the legal category in 1977. If you are interested in speaking with Harlan or learning more about him, please visit his website and reach out at harlanschillinger.com

Why I Picked This Podcast:

What can I say? Harlan is literally the “Grandfather of Legal Advertising,” and he knows everything there is to know about growing a firm in any economic climate—past, present, and future. It doesn’t matter if he was marketing the firm in 1980, 1990, 2000, 2010, or present day. (Sorry in advance if I’ve dated you there, Harlan.) He’s had success from TV and yellow pages to social media and SEO. Speaking with him and having his undivided attention was an honor.

The focus of this particular podcast, though, was how exceedingly important it is to have a perfectly executed intake process. It resonated with me the most, as SEOs can often have a gap between the qualified traffic they bring in on their side and the firm’s ability to convert that qualified traffic on their end. This is the stuff that keeps me and other SEOs up at night, and we explore everything that goes into a great intake system. Inspiring, concise, and extremely actionable, this podcast will suit any listener that is convinced the person answering the phone—whether it’s noon on a Monday or 10 PM on a Saturday—should walk the prospective client through the intake process the best way possible. 

Listen to the Podcast Here: https://legalmastermindpodcast.com/ep-57-harlan-schillinger-how-to-fill-the-gaps-within-your-firm-to-lead-to-an-increase-in-business/

 

About the Guest:

Michelle King is the President and Founder of Reputation Ink. Reputation Ink is a public relations and content marketing firm working mostly with law firms. The primary service they provide is getting attorneys and law firms in the media—getting them positioned as thought leaders/experts in whatever niche they’re in—securing the media coverage, but also securing the firm as a whole covering their case wins and matters they are involved with. On the content side, they work with firms to figure out what kind of content they should be publishing, how to do that effectively, as well as how to utilize a lot of that content for public relations purposes. If you are interested in contacting Michelle, please reach out by visiting their website at www.rep-ink.com or you can email Michelle directly at michelle@rep-ink.com.

Why I Picked This Podcast:

I’ve always been interested in the prospects of lawyers being able to speak on unique, highly-visible platforms. Since lawyers are oftentimes seen among the leaders in their communities, once they start to get traction in local news, they can find themselves with a very valuable mainstay. This can result in many benefits, such as lead generation, brand awareness, and even other beneficial byproducts such as backlinks from highly authoritative local websites.

A strong PR play can be within reach of really any lawyer and law firm, big or small, with benefits that are hard to even calculate (in a good way). For any law firm looking to have a unique approach that is very difficult for their competition to replicate, I’d suggest giving this a listen and finding out if it is a good fit for you.

Listen to the Podcast Here: https://legalmastermindpodcast.com/ep-61-michelle-king-how-to-pitch-yourself-to-the-media-to-effectively-position-your-law-firm/

 

About the Guest:

William Umansky is the Managing Partner of Umansky Law Firm. William became a lawyer over 28 years ago and started as a prosecutor—he then did some defense work at a personal injury firm and has since started his own firm. He handles personal injury cases including car accidents, truck accidents, motorcycle accidents, slip and fall and premise liability cases, negligent security and sex abuse. William is also an author to the Amazon Best-Selling book “Power Principles of Success.”

Why I Picked This Podcast:

Not to say I didn’t fully enjoy this podcast, but I am somewhat biased since I consider Mr. Umansky one of my biggest mentors. Working in-house for his firm for several years, it was inspiring to see the hard work, drive, and commitment he had to his firm and also his employees. It wasn’t until years later, when I am myself running my agency and we have business owners in common, that I see how many other qualities and factors come out with maintaining a great place to work, and how you are perceived in the community. It takes compassion and empathy as well, which is very transparent in Mr. Umansky in this podcast.

I mentioned that lawyers are commonly perceived as leaders in their communities, but what does it take to grow that perception? We talk about various ways to accomplish this in the podcast. 

More about Bill’s Podcast: https://www.stitcher.com/show/the-lawmans-lounge

Listen to the Podcast Here: https://legalmastermindpodcast.com/ep-52-william-umansky-growing-your-practice-through-being-a-leader-in-your-community/

 

About the Guest:

Paul Faust is the President and Co-Founder of Ringboost. Ringboost has a passion for helping business owners grow any way they can and they are all about providing companies and firms with numbers that they can use in their marketing to drive more voice interaction. Paul oversees the sales and marketing functions of Ringboost, working with clients of all sizes to find memorable numbers that will be game changing for their businesses.

Why I Picked This Podcast:

Who knew we could talk about vanity numbers for 30 minutes? But I love the idea of incremental changes that add up to big results. If you’ve been reading my content for some time, I will never use phrases like “check out this hack,” or “one thing that’ll grow your firm by 100%.” Sensationalism of that degree is trite and undermining. I will get excited about bigger updates though that could have immediate, strong results (such as LSA’s and Structured Data). But it’s all about the little things.

And one often overlooked “little” thing is a great phone number. Paul has been doing this for a while now and cites plenty of examples of leveraging great digits to big long-term results. Plus, it is cool that he had a few speaking lines on the beloved comedy “The Office.” 

Listen to the Podcast Here: https://legalmastermindpodcast.com/ep-43-paul-faust-one-tool-you-may-be-overlooking-in-your-current-marketing-plan-that-could-help-grow-your-business/

 

About the Guest:

Grace Montealegre is the Vice President of Marketing for Persist Communications as well as the Vice President of Marketing for Gacovino & Lake Law Firm. Grace has over 15 years of experience in legal marketing with over 20 years of experience in marketing as a whole. She started with import and export law and has primarily focused in personal injury and mass tort law for the last 5 years. Grace has worked with all aspects including SEO, PR, Brand Management, but is extremely passionate about automation in marketing. 

Why I Picked This Podcast:

Grace is a font of knowledge when it comes through the thorough process of conversion. While Harlan drilled down specifically about intake, Grace speaks from years of experience about what happens after, how automation comes into play, and what the proper lifecycle of a client should look like. All while attempting to keep your team’s manual hours freed up for other work.

I picked this podcast because Grace is not only a great speaker, but for SEOs, “automation” is almost the same thing as the language of love. Any operations that can be done successfully and reliably over and over again with predictable results is a top priority. We discuss how this happens with numerous resources, tools, and technologies that are a must have for anyone wondering everyday “how the hell is it 5 PM already?” 

Listen to the Podcast Here: https://legalmastermindpodcast.com/ep-42-grace-montealegre-discovering-marketing-automation-and-its-significance-throughout-your-clients-life-cycle/

 

About the Guests:

Joe Ortega and Cisco Adler are partners at Digital Rain, premiere PPC agency for law firms. 

(we weren’t writing as much for the bios earlier this year, as you can see)

Why I Picked This Podcast:

Google Ads are expensive, and my least favorite horror stories from law firms are how much money was blown on minimal return. Joe and Cisco were hardly acquaintances at the time of recording this podcast. Now I’m glad to say they’ve become friends, as over the past months we’ve been able to connect on similar philosophies about ethical and effective marketing strategies. We knew how important this was, especially when COVID started getting rolling. 

Google Ads could easily be the most expensive marketing campaign a law firm does, next to aggressive, traditional marketing mediums such as TV, Radio, and Billboards. This is an important podcast for any law firm that wants to be sure about the practices you need in place to engage in PPC without burning cash, quickly. 

More About Their Company:  https://digitalrain.us/

Listen to the Podcast Here: https://legalmastermindpodcast.com/ep-37-joe-ortega-cisco-adler-how-law-firms-can-avoid-wasting-thousands-of-dollars-on-google-ads/

 

About the Guest:

Kwame Christian Esq., M.A. is a premier authority on Negotiation & Conflict Resolution. He is also the author of the Amazon Best Seller, Nobody Will Play With Me: How to Use Compassionate Curiosity to Find Confidence in Conflict.

Why I Picked This Podcast:

Kwame is an absolute pleasure to speak to. He’s our only guest who has actually been on twice, but this is the first one we had with him. You’ll find his eloquence and demeanor quite charming, and if you can’t get enough of his prose and flow from our podcasts, you’ll be glad to know he has his own podcast Negotiate Anything, which has quite a few podcasts and a great following.

I like this podcast in particular because of the common perception of negotiating being “getting what you want” not exactly the whole story. There are many tactics at play, many outcomes that can be achieved, and there certainly doesn’t have to be a clear loser in every round of negotiating. This also led me to learn more about negotiating via Chris Voss, which opens up a whole new world of rationale, rhetoric, and being a more effective communicator with everyone in your life.

Listen to the Podcast Here: https://legalmastermindpodcast.com/ep-25-kwame-christian-negotiating-like-the-future-of-your-firm-depends-on-it/

Kwame’s Podcast: https://americannegotiationinstitute.com/

Check Out Our Legal Mastermind Podcast

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