Five Star Counsel Podcast
135 episodes - English - Latest episode: over 1 year ago - ★★★★★ - 23 ratingsWhat would a law firm built by the founders of Disney, Four Seasons, Amazon, and Zappos look like? Lawyers (and other professionals) aren't in the same "service" industry as those companies, but that doesn't mean we can't benefit from employing their rigorous service mindsets. We give you inspiration and tactics to smooth out your processes, bolster your reputation, and increase your revenue - every episode of Five Star Counsel has actionable tips for you to build the firm that clients rave about!
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Episodes
34. Finding & Developing Your Practice Niche w/ Emily Albrecht
April 15, 2021 10:30 - 26 minutes - 60.4 MBAttorneys often fear specializing and drilling too deep with their focus, concerned that they'll miss opportunities and steady work. But casting too wide a net carries just as much downside: you stretch too thin, taking on work you're not the best at, and probably don't love. Finding a practice niche can create expert status, steady referral streams, perfectly suited clientele, and hopefully, more fulfilling work. Our guest, Emily Albrecht, has developed a very unique niche, funeral la...
33. Focusing on Your Highest & Best Use w/ Talitha Gray Kozlowski
April 13, 2021 10:30 - 22 minutes - 51.1 MBYou can't deliver great service if you don't have time. And you won't have time if you're constantly juggling fifty tasks by yourself. Talitha Gray Kozlowski of LAWCLERK joins to talk about finding your highest & best use, making that your focus, and finding ways to remove the work that isn't. With solo & small law firms, figuring out what you can and should get off your plate, especially without staff, isn't easy. Automation, delegation, and outsourcing can get a lot of your work 80% the...
32. Structuring Communication with Clients w/ Colin Ley
April 08, 2021 10:30 - 24 minutes - 56.2 MBHow often do you hear clients complain that they don't know where their matters stand or what's happening next? Keeping your clients informed is a crucial component of your service, and it saves us time and headaches too. Clients deserve to know where they are in their legal process, what to expect next, and to have clear instructions. But how do we find the time to give our clients all this info? We can't custom draft it all by hand - we need structure at a minimum, and automation at best...
31. Setting Our Service Standards
April 05, 2021 10:30 - 17 minutes - 31.7 MBYou have standards and expectations for service in your personal life - shouldn't your firm have standards too? By formalizing these standards, you can ensure great service and communication, and make things easier for clients and within your firm. When we understand our own business models, our processes, and our desired outcomes, then we can create and implement these measurable standards - and they can help you day in, day out. FiveStarCounsel.com Get our FREE client service whitepape...
30. Automating Your Client Prep & Intake w/ Justie Nicol
April 01, 2021 10:30 - 30 minutes - 56.5 MBWe talk a lot about meeting clients where they are. There are a lot of ways we can take that concept - sometimes we even mean that literally. Usually, it's just speaking plainly and finding ways to make things easier for your client. We're joined by Colorado defense attorney and systems whiz Justie Nicol to discuss her approach to prepping clients, how she uses Typeform to automate intake, and how you can use all these simple techniques to serve your clients, even if you're never setting foo...
29. Values, Culture, and Standards
March 29, 2021 13:16 - 18 minutes - 34.9 MBClient service should stem from an overarching goal or philosophy. Our firms' values, standards, and ideal culture are the starting points that guide our service. If those are wrong, or undefined, or ignored, then our service will follow. John walks us through the basic ideas, and explains how you can start defining and implementing these concepts in your firm. FiveStarCounsel.com Get our FREE client service whitepaper! Join the Five Star Counsellors FB Group: https://www.facebook.com...
28. Measuring Your Firm's Progress with Data w/ Melissa Shanahan
March 26, 2021 10:30 - 30 minutes - 56.9 MBWe all know we should have laser-focused goals, informed by razor-sharp relevant data and metrics. But here in the real world, tracking our business's growth and overall well-being can leave us with a confusing mess of well-intentioned KPIs, random data, and unmet goals, all scattered amongst our various programs and platforms. And that's if we're even trying. Legal business coach Melissa Shanahan helps firms find their focus and create measurable, effective benchmarks. She joins us to dis...
27. Empathetic Communication in Client Service w/ Jennifer Longtin
March 22, 2021 10:30 - 30 minutes - 56.9 MBAs attorneys, we're not always speaking our clients' language. A lot of what we say can go over their heads, even if we're trying to speak in lay terms. We ought to be meeting clients where they are, communication-wise, and employing empathy and compassion in our client service, particularly in criminal defense. Our guest, criminal defense attorney Jennifer Longtin, shares some insightful lessons learned from dealing with clients with mental, physical, and psychiatric issues. The attentio...
26. Hiring & Training Legal Interns w/ Erik Pelton
March 18, 2021 10:30 - 40 minutes - 75.2 MBLegal interns offer much more value than low-cost back-office labor. They can also be the future of your firm. Giving interns a well-rounded experience isn't just good for the student, but can create consistent client experiences and trustworthy associates that understand your firm's process and clientele. IP attorney Erik Pelton joins us to discuss his excellent approach to intern hiring and training. Stick around for some killer tips on the filtering & application process! Find Erik on T...
25. Be Service-Based, Not Client-Focused
March 15, 2021 10:30 - 17 minutes - 32.3 MBIt's common these days to hear that we should be "client-focused." While that's not bad per se, if we only focus on the client, we miss a huge part of what makes great service possible. We need to set up our firms to be a three way agreement between clients, owners, and staff. By focusing solely on clients, you're cutting off two legs of the tripod. FiveStarCounsel.com Get our FREE client service whitepaper! Join the Five Star Counsellors FB Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/15756...
24. Top 3 Cybersecurity Threats & Tactics to Engage Clients w/ Zach Eikenberry
March 12, 2021 11:30 - 36 minutes - 68.1 MBWe all generally know that our digital security is important But running a secure business is more than locks and passwords. Our clients expect confidentiality and our businesses rely on it. Zach Eikenberry of Hook Security joins us to explain the different aspects of physical, psychological, and informational security, and tactics for shoring up your firm's security. One of the coolest takeaways was Zach's twist of using a hacker's mindset to motivate your clients to respond, sign docume...
23. Management Secrets to Serve Your Staff w/ Matt Ludt
March 10, 2021 16:37 - 32 minutes - 59.3 MBGreat service starts within your own firm. By providing your staff with reliable guidance, time, and attention, you empower and encourage them to provide that same high level of service to your clients. Regular check-ins with staff can help ensure that work is getting done correctly and balls don't get dropped. Matt Ludt of Atticus Family Law joins us to share some incredibly insightful tips on the process of "rounding" - regular reviews that employees love - and why you should implement the...
22. Thinking Beyond the Client Journey
March 04, 2021 11:30 - 23 minutes - 43.3 MBGreat service requires more than just focusing on the end journey of your client. Yes, seeing your service delivery through the client's eyes is very useful, but it's not the end-all-be-all for analyzing your service and operationalizing efficiency. You must be thinking about every touchpoint along the way - people, places, process - and optimizing those as well. You have to think 'behind the scenes' about all the mechanisms that feed your overall service delivery. FiveStarCounsel.com Ge...
21. Writing-Tech as a Service Failsafe w/ Ivy Grey
March 01, 2021 11:30 - 30 minutes - 56.3 MBAs a lawyer, good service requires delivering clear communication and effective documents to your clients. Writing technology can act as our assistant and our failsafe when drafting our writing. Ivy Grey joins us to discuss her experience at WordRake, and her wealth of knowledge about ways attorneys can improve their writing. We discuss loads of useful document and writing programs & platforms that can help save you time, ensure privacy, and most importantly, deliver clear and accurate docum...
20. The 3 Main Bottlenecks in Your Law Practice w/ John Grant
February 27, 2021 12:30 - 33 minutes - 60.9 MBEvery firm has its own unique challenges, but this episode focuses on the three biggest choke points that we see across law firms. These three points, while broadly defined, are what prevent firms from growing and efficiently serving our clients. Our guest, John Grant, the Agile Attorney, pulling from lean methodology, helps us identify these bottlenecks, and how we can address these roadblocks to success in ways that works for our firms. Find John Grant at https://www.agileattorney.com/, ...
19. Building Expert Status w/ Mike Whelan
February 24, 2021 11:30 - 44 minutes - 80.9 MBWe know that attorneys are respected (and paid) for having knowledge of the law. But as a lawyer, you have a defining choice to make: create your market value as either an exceptional technical expert or as an accessible relationship builder. Today, we focus on the former choice, and how to make sure folks *know* you're the expert. Lawyer Forward's Mike Whelan joins us once again to unpack the various, often contradictory, ideas about being an expert that we as lawyers are constantly being...
18. The 26 Behaviors of an Effective Lawyer w/ Jordan Couch
February 14, 2021 22:26 - 37 minutes - 69.9 MBLegal skills and rote knowledge aren't everything. To be a truly effective lawyer, you need a well-rounded set of traits and behaviors, and as we're evaluating staff to hire for our firms, we need to consider applicants more holistically. Jordan Couch of Palace Law joins us to discuss a 26-factor rubric he discovered via LSAC, and how he translated that into a checklist of behaviors every lawyer he hires should have. Find Jordan on Twitter or LinkedIn, and Palace Law at www.palacelaw.com ...
17. Learning From Automated Legal Tech Products w/ Erin Levine
February 10, 2021 18:29 - 32 minutes - 60.6 MBWe all know the power of technology to help us deliver our product, but creating a (mostly) automated legal tech product requires nuanced development and critical thinking about our clients' needs. Erin Levine of Levine Family Law and creator of Hello Divorce, discusses the process she went through creating her automated collaborative divorce platform. Now, we're not all going to make our own digital legal product, but we can learn a lot about our own processes from this chat - balancing tec...
16. Testing Your Innovative Ideas w/ Mike Whelan
February 07, 2021 12:00 - 31 minutes - 57.8 MBWe small and solo law firm owners don't have the time, money, or bandwidth to try out and implement every shiny new idea that we think of, no matter how great they seem. Our guest Mike Whelan, of the Lawyer Forward Podcast, has developed the Legal Innovation Canvas as a way to chart out the likely effectiveness and success that any new iterative idea might deliver, and keep you from wasting precious resources. Listen in as he shares his excellent system and powerful innovation tips. Get th...
15. Management IS Service
February 02, 2021 19:11 - 29 minutes - 54.6 MBIt's time to reframe your management approach to incorporate great service to your employees. This pays so many dividends in the long run: team morale, work ethic, efficiency, and more. In turn, all of that flows down to your clients as well. John discusses ways to make your firm a place your EMPLOYEES rave about. FiveStarCounsel.com Get our FREE client service whitepaper!
14. Taking Smart Chances with your Marketing w/ Ryan McKeen
January 30, 2021 11:30 - 33 minutes - 62.4 MBAs lawyers, we strive for perfection in our work - details are crucial to our practice - but in running a business, the perfect is often the enemy of the good. This is especially true with marketing our businesses, where experimentation and a willingness to try new things can really set you apart and deliver results. We're joined by Ryan McKeen of Connecticut Trial Firm and author of Tiger Tactics, to discuss his take on novel marketing efforts and give some great tips on getting social medi...
13. The Future of Legal Tech and Service w/ Jack Newton & George Psiharis of Clio
January 26, 2021 12:00 - 26 minutes - 48 MBJack Newton and George Psiharis spend a lot of time thinking about the future of the legal profession – as CEO and COO of Clio, it drives what they do and directs their company goals. John spoke to them both on the heels of the recent Clio Cloud Conference about the future of the tech/service dynamic. We discuss Clio’s approach to legal tech as a way to bolster firms’ ability to deliver great service – and recognizing service itself as a key differentiator in the marketplace. Follow @jac...
12. Progressing Through Business Levels
January 25, 2021 11:00 - 30 minutes - 56.3 MBIt's hard to know where to start improving your business sometimes. This week, we'll build on our Four Stages of Business, and help you figure out where to focus your efforts based on what stage you're at. We'll also tackle how you need to tailor your actions for appropriate risk and ROI, with client service in mind. FiveStarCounsel.com Get our FREE client service whitepaper! Catch John speaking LIVE at Law Firm Growth Summit 2021, and help future-proof your law firm! Go to https://www...
11. Selectively Breaking the Lawyer Mindset w/ Moshe Amsel
January 04, 2021 16:46 - 34 minutes - 79.4 MBThe lawyer mindset makes attorneys great at their jobs - questioning, pessimistic, risk-averse - but it can make for huge roadblocks to building a successful firm and innovative client service. Moshe Amsel of Profit With Law and The Law Firm Growth Summit joins to discuss this mindset and how we can reject it selectively to benefit our business. Find Moshe on the Profit With Law Podcast Catch John speaking at the 2021 Law Firm Growth Summit! FiveStarCounsel.com Get our FREE client s...
10. The Four Stages of Business
December 28, 2020 17:15 - 29 minutes - 21 MBYour firm's business is an evolving entity, progressing along a continuum. John explains the four stages of business, helps you determine where your firm sits on that continuum, and explains what that means from a service and growth perspective. FiveStarCounsel.com Get our FREE client service whitepaper!
9. Mastering Your Intake and Referral Leads w/ Seth Price
December 23, 2020 11:00 - 28 minutes - 65.1 MBYour intake process sets the stage for your entire client relationship, and can make or break your rapport, your trust, and your business together. When it comes to getting a client to choose you over other firms, not all leads are equal, and you should have very different approaches for warm referrals vs. your marketing leads. Seth Price is a master of both of these crucial client inflection points, and he gives John some invaluable tips on his process. Find Seth at https://blusha...
8. Client Service Isn't Client Experience
December 21, 2020 16:22 - 19 minutes - 13.1 MBIn order to operationalize your firm's service delivery, we have to understand what really matters to clients. There's an important distinction - that your client's *experience*, though important, is only a subset of *service*, or how you deliver your physical and technical product. A holistic understanding of your service operations will make your business more efficient, more consistent, and more desirable to clients.
7. Top 5 Alternative Billing Practices w/ Jared Correia
December 11, 2020 10:00 - 37 minutes - 86.4 MBThe legal market is shifting, but the legal industry is slow (or resistant) to change. But YOU, nimble, independent, fearless listener, you can be the change and enjoy the benefits of dropping hourly billing. Jared Correia of The Legal Toolkit Podcast and Red Cave Legal Consulting joins us to discuss. Behold, The Top 5 Alternatives to Standard Billing! Find Jared at RedCaveLegal.com and subscribe to The Legal Toolkit Podcast. FiveStarCounsel.com Get our FREE client service whitepaper!
6. Avoiding Ethics Issues Through Good Service w/ Megan Zavieh
December 09, 2020 10:00 - 23 minutes - 15.9 MBEthical issues can arise from incongruent communication standards and expectations set between you and your client. Lawyers are keenly aware of their ethical duties, but how do these duties impact and reflect on client service? Megan Zavieh of Zavieh Law joins us to explore this interaction and many ways we can improve (and avoid bar complaints). Find Megan online at www.ZaviehLaw.com or @ZaviehLaw on Twitter. FiveStarCounsel.com Get our FREE client service whitepaper!
4. Understanding Your Product
December 08, 2020 10:00 - 28 minutes - 19.4 MBYour product is the core of your firm. We need a deeper understand of what we're actually delivering clients, and what clients are paying for, before we can improve our service and our business. It's incredibly common for attorneys - even very successful ones - to have an incomplete, or even incorrect, view of their own product. John walks us through the basic types of products and how attorneys need to perceive their own deliverables and value to clients. FiveStarCounsel.com Get our...
5. Automating Time-Robbing Repetitive Tasks w/ Paul Kortman
December 04, 2020 16:18 - 32 minutes - 22.2 MBThere are a litany of soul-crushing and time-stealing tasks that you're doing every day in your practice. These tasks are using valuable brain power and time that you should be putting towards your clients and growing your business. Chances are, with a tiny bit of time and basic-level skills, you can automate those digital tasks using Zapier, Airtable, or other widely available services. Let Paul Kortman of Connex Digital introduce some of these and start you down the right path. Find Pa...
3. Understanding your Firm's Growth Stage w/ Adam Anderson
November 29, 2020 15:58 - 33 minutes - 23.1 MBIf you want to effectively grow, scale, and improve your business effectively, you need to understand where your business lies in the growth continuum from scrappy startup to mature, thriving company. Adam Anderson of Hook Security has an amazing take on this spectrum, broken into The Four Stages of Business. We share that today, so you can plug your own firm in, make the right growth moves, and determine the next profit levers to pull. Find Adam on YouTube or at www.AdamAndersonCEO.com...
2. Qualifying Clients & Simplifying Communication w/ Maddy Martin of Smith AI
November 28, 2020 06:44 - 31 minutes - 21.7 MBService, as a concept, takes many forms; some obvious, some less so. We were so happy to have Maddy Martin of Smith AI on the show to share the best service-driven tactics she's seen from her time in the legal marketing world. We cover, among many other things: 1) How and why to qualify your potential clients (hint: it'll save both sides a lot of time and money). 2) The benefit of clearing that fancy legalese out of your communications with clients. 3) How to outsource the work that ...
1. What is Service?
November 24, 2020 00:45 - 29 minutes - 27 MBClient service can be your practice's best market differentiator, bringing in more clients, better clients, and clients who are excited to refer you. In order to start improving, we have to have a baseline understanding of service and what it means in today's legal landscape. John walks us through a working definition, the three types of products businesses offer, and how we can correctly think about service in the legal field. FiveStarCounsel.com Get our FREE client service whitepaper!
Intro to Five Star Counsel
November 06, 2020 16:53 - 2 minutes - 1.68 MBWelcome to the Five Star Counsel Podcast! We're excited to help you fine-tune and level up your client service. Our host John Strohmeyer gives us the show's main focus and a brief preview of what's to come on our podcast. FiveStarCounsel.com Get our FREE client service whitepaper!