The Sterling Family Law Show

Send us Fan Mail As I reflect on our first ten years of building and leading Sterling Law, there are 11 lessons that have surprised me. Here they are: 1 - Being a leader is your identity 2 - Building a law firm is a sprint and a marathon 3 - Vulnerability is confidence in action 4 - Discipline today avoids pain tomorrow 5 - Leadership isn't winning your way.  It’s clearing the way for teammat...

Send us Fan Mail Holly Mullin co-leads one of the largest family law teams in the United States.   Her well-earned law leadership insights have come through years of trial and error. She has a reputation for professionalism and genuinely serving her teammates. Holly is well-respected by every member of the Sterling Law team. In this episode, we explore:  1 - Leading through growth and adversity 2...

Send us Fan Mail Law firm leadership is visual.  Teammates do what they see. Leadership is not about title or position.  It is about modeling the behavior that we want duplicated. The truth about leadership modeling in a law firm is: 1 - The higher up leaders go, the fewer privileges they have--and more weight they must carry. 2 - When the leader engages in bad behavior, the team will amplify that...

Send us Fan Mail Paul Mackiewicz is the owner of Honorable. Marketing, an AI-powered digital agency focused on serving law firms. In this interview, Paul and I go deep down the digital marketing rabbit hole in the family law context.  We  discussed: - How to get started as a family lawyer online - The order of priority when building digital assets - How to hire and work with a digital marketing ag...

Send us Fan Mail So much about leading a law firm is paradoxical.  On their face, the concepts don't seem to make much sense. Yet they often make the difference between success and failure. These are my favorite law leadership incongruities I have learned through the pain of failure.  1 - Unless the decision can kill you, make it fast 2 - Leadership vulnerability is a show of strength 3 - The...

Send us Fan Mail This episode is all about how to execute a podcast for a law firm. My guest is podcasting expert, Robert Ingalls, owner of LawPods.   Robert is a lawyer and "gets" what it takes for lawyers to use podcasts to grow their firm.  We delve into all the salient questions that need answers for attorneys to start and grow their podcast. Enjoy! ---------------------- Ready to fi...

Send us Fan Mail Hiring great family lawyers is the leaders' most important task if the firm is to grow. Nothing is more important. At Sterling, our formula for hiring Family Law Lawyers: 1 - Must share our core values 2 - Don’t mind being measured 3 - Has drive and ambition 4 - Has high level of empathy and people skills 5 - Coachable to adopt proactive practice habits What is not important...

Send us Fan Mail The most famous client satisfaction number in the world is Net Promoter Score (NPS). The survey question is: "On a scale of 1 to 10, how likely is it that you would recommend this company to a friend or colleague?" Responses of "9 or 10" equal a promoter.  "7 or 8" is a neutral.  6 or less is a detractor.  Blend all the responses and get your NPS.  We...

Send us Fan Mail When I sat down beside business titan Bobby Martin at a New York restaurant in 2005, I never imagined it would mark the beginning of a mentorship that would alter my law leadership career. In the years that followed, Bobby taught me many lessons.  Three, in particular, stand out: 1. "Never milk the mouse" 2. "When the game is over, the king and the pawn go back in t...

Send us Fan Mail Corey Quinn drops pure gold for lawyers looking to grow their law firm through digital marketing.  In this episode, he reveals: The three step digital marketing strategy for lawyers seeking to break into a market How to use targeted marketing strategies to support specialization Law firm digital marketing best practices The importance of clarifying a firm's go-to-market strat...

Send us Fan Mail Imagine transforming a vision into a 25 lawyer family law firm reality—Tony Karls and I did just that with Sterling Law Offices. In this episode, we pull back the curtain and describe how a lawyer and a non-lawyer worked together to build and scale our family law firm.  We discuss the following: 1 - bringing complimentary skills to our business relationship 2 - our initial thesis...

Send us Fan Mail My guest this week is Jeff Morrell, Senior Partner at Sterling Law. Jeff is a brilliant lawyer and constant legal innovator.  And, he is our firm's resident AI expert and tool builder. In this podcast, Jeff  shares a number of tactics on how he has used AI tools to enhance his family law practice.  His applications are practical. Anyone can implement them.   Jeff has discover...

Send us Fan Mail As we have grown our law firm from zero to 25 attorneys, I have seen how our firm matched up with other very successful law firms.  And, I have noticed that top performing law firms have some common characteristics: 1 - Leaders have a growth mindset.  They listen to feedback and ideas from others.  They welcome criticism and have people around them who disagree with them.  2 - The...

Send us Fan Mail Jennifer Gore-Cuthbert's journey is wildly inspiring.  Our conversation is loaded with valuable insights on how to build a firm from nothing to a flourishing practice.   Jennifer's path wasn't smooth.  She faced the daunting challenge of failing the bar exam while pregnant and then managing a startup firm with a newborn.  Immediately after passing the bar exam, Jenn...

Send us Fan Mail The vast majority of Family Law firms do not grow beyond two attorneys.  There are three primary barriers that stifle growth: 1 - Ineffective leadership by the lawyer leader 2 - Poor marketing 3 - Lack of scalable business process systems  Each of these obstacles can be overcome.  At Sterling Law, we’ve bumped into each of these roadblocks at least once.  We pushed through, and so...

Send us Fan Mail I welcome Dennis Yu, a world-renowned marketing expert  and CEO of Blitz Metrics. Dennis shares his journey from a math-focused child who didn't speak English until age six or seven to becoming a key figure in internet analytics and digital marketing. Born in Dayton, Ohio, Dennis was recognized for his web development skills by the CEO of American Airlines, which led to early...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode,  we  explore an emotionally tough topic --handling criticism. At any given firm, the leader is the person criticized the most.  This goes with the territory.  The reality is that accepting leadership puts you first in line to be criticized. The higher you are in the organization, the more exposed you are to criticism.  And the less likely you are to hear about it....

Send us Fan Mail 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 exce...

Send us Fan Mail 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...

Send us Fan Mail 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.  ---------------------- Ready to find the accountability partner you need to build your dream family law firm the same way we grew Sterling Lawyers?  Follow these steps:   1. SUBSCRIBE TO JEFF'S NEWSLETTER: https://jsterlinghu...

Send us Fan Mail 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 even...

Send us Fan Mail 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 ser...

Send us Fan Mail 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 peopl...

Send us Fan Mail 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 even...

Send us Fan Mail 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 journ...