Life Beyond the Briefs

____________________________________ Brian Glass is a nationally recognized personal injury lawyer in Fairfax , Virginia.  He is passionate about living a life of his own design and looking for answers to solutions outside of the legal field.  This podcast is his effort to share that passion with others. Want to connect with Brian? Follow Brian on Instagram: @ thebrianglass Connect on LinkedIn

Katie Lipp had reached what many of us were told was the pinnacle.  After seven years at a business law firm she made partner.  But she found herself burnt out and unfulfilled a year later.  After interviewing at several other firms, she decided to hang a shingle. A few short years later, Katie runs a thriving four attorney law firm and signs out for the day at 5:30.  Katie and I discuss her legal...

C. Northcote Parkinson is a British naval historian and author who says that large organizations are bad at making decisions because we give discussion, weight, and time to those decisions in inverse proportion to their importance. Ever been in a meeting where big decisions were made very quickly and with little input, but everyone had an opinion about what kind of coffee and cookies to serve at t...

Sam Mollaei owns and operates seven law firms as well as the law firm coaching program Legal Funnel . After reading Tim Ferriss's Four Hour Work Week , Sam set out to build firms that could be operated virtually from anywhere in the world.  We discuss how the Four Hour Work Week is a misnomer and that he is working far more than four hours, but is only using his time to execute his own highes...

In 2021, I had the privilege of representing a 25 year old woman whose life was changed when she was catastrophically injured by a drunk driver who crossed a double yellow line and hit her head on.  Here are five lessons I learned during the trial of that case: Don't let the defense derail your mission! Catching them in a lie is an art form (and a lot of fun) Listen for small details in testi...

Do you ever feel like you're living in the gray zone?  As though your life is somewhere between "pretty good" and "not that bad," but you can't figure out how to elevate to "fantastic"?  Kari Schwear defines "the gray zone" as this in between area where we can become stuck. Most of us will not have a "rock bottom" moment.  As a result, we...

Layoffs are here.  Amazon, Blackrock, Goldman.  Law firms are not far behind as billing dries up.  Here are the three things I'd be doing if I were a young associate in 2023. Why should you listen to me? I graduated law school into the teeth of the Great Recession in 2008 and I've navigated this before from your position. Stockpile cash - Make sure you have at least 3 - 6 months liquid i...

Brian talks with Joe Bravo of Get Staffed Up! an offshore virtual assistant company built by lawyers for lawyers.  Joe explains how American companies are utilizing virtual assistants in central America to free up their own time and money and grow their business while also providing a great living to great employees living overseas. We talk about Joe's journey and training as a lawyer in Mexi...

Brian is back in the new year with a recap of the Ben Glass Law two day off-site leadership retreat!  Learn how EOS has changed how the company operates over the three and a half years that we've used an implementer. Brian discusses how "team health" exercises can be made less hokey and how an aligned team can achieve any vision. Speaking of vision, Brian gets into what the vision o...

Ryan Morrissey is a Certified Financial Planner who runs the fee-only financial advisory service Morrissey Wealth Management.  Ryan works with people 50+ to help them to and through retirement.   We get into: How the pandemic changed his practice How to set your portfolio up for success in 2023 The only triple tax-advantaged savings vehicle out there Ryan's investment philosophy Connect with...

Patrick Grimes is a mechanical engineer turned investor.  Fifteen years ago, one of his mentors exposed him to "that purple book" - Rich Dad, Poor Dad and it changed his life.  Patrick now runs a private equity firm that invests in real estate and oil and gas deals. We discuss: - How investors can protect themselves in down markets by conservatively underwriting deals - What Patrick lear...

In this episode, Brian details how high achievers spend too much time trying to figure out how to solve small problems and this time costs them the opportunity to work on larger problems.   A problem that could be solved for a few hundred dollars often costs us much more than that in opportunity cost as we try to figure out how to solve it, instead of just paying for the expertise of someone who a...

Jorden Pagel was 100 pounds overweight after college.  Stuck in the cycle of dieting, fad exercises, and losing and gaining the weight back when he discovered a community at the gym that he enjoyed working out with.  Jorden began to focus on the process instead of the outcome and, little by little, the weight came off. Today, Jorden operates a highly successful online fitness coaching program wher...

The inside story of how Ben Glass Law grew its personal injury revenue by 4x over the past four years without a significant increase in marketing or overhead and without hitting any home run verdicts.   1. Narrow your focus.  Stop taking every case.  Become an expert in one field and only do that.  You will run cases more efficiently and make more money. 2.  Set a goal.  The truth is that it doesn...

Michael Sonbert helps companies increase employee satisfaction, team performance, and overall team success through accountability, clear vision, and transparency.  Often, this is uncomfortable.  But with a focus on practice, execution and culture over everything, Michael's company Rebel Culture helps leaders turn theory into action so that they can achieve the results they, and their employee...

I spent this weekend coaching my  oldest son's Allstar team in a pre-Thanksgiving tournament and came back with four parallels between soccer and business/life. (1) The rules don't matter.  What matters is that you understand them and use them to strategize. (2) The most important thing you can do is to get the right people on your team.  The second most important is to find them the rig...

Matt McClellan is the co-founder of Get Milestones , a technology startup revolutionizing the way that law firms communicate with their clients.  Dedicated to improving client experience, Get Milestones is the self-proclaimed "Domino's Pizza Tracker for Lawyers," letting your clients know in real-time what is going on in their case in a way that doesn't cost you or your staff t...

Ever get a one-star review on google?  They can ruin your whole weekend.  But before you fire off the response (or think about suing google!), take a step back and think about how you can use the opportunity to respond to the review to create positive momentum for your law firm. Every review is an opportunity to continue the conversation and demonstrate to the prospective client that you are the k...

Lane Kawaoka is a cashflow investor who retired from his career as a professional engineer only 12 years out of school.  After creating a life where his passive investment portfolio paid for all of his living expenses, Lane now teaches others how to invest. Lane's mission is "to help regular people into good deals that were once only accessible to the rich."  We discuss how most fin...

Brian's top three takeaways from the Great Legal Marketing Summit and Mastermind Meeting in Nashville. In this episode, I share some bonus nuggets on how really smart lawyers decide which market to go into next; the framework I use for deciding what to do and what to "park" when I return from these events; and how law firms can acquire better talent by providing all kinds of value t...

Jerome Myers is a corporate America dropout who now works to help others exit the Matrix.  After building a twenty-million dollar division of a construction company and being told to lay off employees two years in a row, Jerome left the corporate world for full-time real estate investing. He's learned from his own successes, mistakes, and experiences and now helps others gain clarity about th...

I was recently in Los Angeles for a Spartan Race with fifteen of my Gobundance brothers.  Here are my top three takeaways from our pre-race mastermind. Books: What to Say When You Talk to Yourself by Shad Helmstetter The Big Leap by Gay Hendricks ____________________________________ Brian Glass is a nationally recognized personal injury lawyer in Fairfax , Virginia.  He is passionate about living...

Ryan McKeen of the Connecticut Trial Law Firm joins us to discuss his firm's recent $100,000,000 result.  Ryan details the five year saga from the day the case walked into the door of his two lawyer operation through the moment the jury read their verdict. Ryan talks about the importance of systems and processes when building a law firm and how his firm documents everything - down the "h...

Brian talks with Josh Bacon, a self-professed former screw up who found his calling at age 21 while working with disadvantaged youth.  Josh grew into a career in higher education that ended with becoming the Dean of Students at James Madison University.  Following his retirement, Josh once again felt called to served and became a police officer. Josh and Brian discuss resilience, mentorship, and s...

I'm headed out the door to a pair of mastermind meetings this week.  One with Gobundance and another with Great Legal Marketing. These are the things that I do in order to make sure I'm getting the most out of my time there. ____________________________________ Brian Glass is a nationally recognized personal injury lawyer in Fairfax , Virginia.  He is passionate about living a life of hi...