Wake Up Call (The Reboot)

When you think of a lawyer, you probably think of a suit and tie, Law & Order, and a conservative human being. However, there is so much more to a person than meet's the eye.  You couldn't possibly know until you meet her in a personal setting - or listen to this show!  That is definitely true of #FEMSQUIRE Julia Dasaro-Drescher, Esq., an attorney in New Jersey.   While Julia wasn't exactly sure w...

It’s always interesting to dive into the success of lawyers who began their life journeys outside of the United States. Christina’s guest today is Rawan Hmoud, Esq., an attorney in Jersey City, New Jersey practicing divorce and family law. Rawan, the oldest of 4, was born in Jordan and moved around the Middle East until the Gulf War forced her and her family to move to Wayne, New Jersey when she w...

My guest today is Christopher T. Anderson, the CEO and Founder of Profit First For Lawyers. Christopher is also the host of the podcast The Un-Billable Hour, a podcast that covers all aspects of  running a law firm and how to make your business work for you (and not the other way around). Christopher T. Anderson: law firm owner, business coach, avid reader, entrepreneur, budding rocket s...

Small people talk about small things. Big people talk about big things. That’s important to remember when you are deciding what kind of person you want to be. Christina’s guest today is Christine Matus, an attorney in Toms River, New Jersey, who practices estate planning, guardianship actions, real estate, special needs planning, and special education law. Though she originally planned on followin...

Christina’s guest today is Bill Anthes, Green Beret and founder of Between The Ears, a performance coaching organization that endeavors to build better humans.  Bill Anthes does not hang his hat on his military experience.  He actually prefers not to emphasize it, but it is a part of who he is and his life experience.  Don't be misled though.  Bill's military experience did not make him the person...

Christina’s guest today is Robyn Ross, an incredible divorce lawyer from New Jersey.  Robyn has wanted to be an attorney since she was only 7 years old, getting her inspiration from watching LA Law. That desire eventually led her to major in Law and Justice at the College of New Jersey and to study law at Seton Hall. Now, Robyn is the co-founder and co-owner of her own law firm, Ross and Cala...

Why do you have the job you have? Is it the job you’ve always wanted and dreamed about? Or did you have a change of heart and decide to try something new? Nichole Hanscom, Law Firm Management and Marketing Advisor at How to Manage a Small Law Firm, joins Christina to share her journey of becoming a trainer-turned-lawyer-turned-business-owner, and what opportunities and challenges she has faced alo...

Whether you have or haven’t had it, cancer has touched everyone’s life in one way or another, including yours. Christina’s guest today is John “JT” Thomas, host of the Cancer and Chill podcast. John has been living with a rare form of tissue cancer (Sarcoma) for six and a half years, and since his diagnosis, his life has completely changed. Over and over again, John has been told that he only has...

Unless you are Muslim or have spent a significant amount of time with Muslims, you probably have no idea what it’s really like to grow up as a Muslim in the United States. Well, Christina’s guest today knows all about it. Rajeh Saadeh is a first-generation Palestinian American, Muslim American attorney in Somerville, New Jersey. Rajeh shares his personal experience growing up in New Jersey as firs...

Where you end up in life is solely the result of your thinking. So, you could say that thinking is everything! Christina’s guest today is David Neagle, host of The Successful Mind Podcast. He's also a success coach, mindset coach, income acceleration coach, business coach, and basically an "everything" coach - teaching us how to think to have everything we want in life. Remember, mindset is everyt...

Nobody really wins a divorce, no matter what the public may think. Christina’s guest today is Kim Ciesinkski, a divorce lawyer and owner of ADR Law in Garden City, New York. She fell in love with divorce law when she realized that she could sit down and help women find their voice. Though she does practice divorce law and is divorced herself, she will never sour on the idea of marriage. Just like...

Megan Murray has bounced from Cincinnati to Boston to North Carolina to New Jersey.  She talks about why and how she ended up with "Esquire" after her name.  She also shares why she left a comfortable job at a prominent law firm to start her own practice - and provides her insights on being a lawyer vs. being a business owner.   Follow me on social media: @wakeupcallthepodcast Sign...

Desha Jackson has an impressive and extensive resume working in government, most notably at the NJ Department of Law and Public Safety Office of the Attorney General as a Deputy Attorney General (DAG) assigned to the Office of State Police Affairs from 2002-2007. This office was created by the 1999 consent decree between the State New Jersey and the United States Department of Justice which addres...

Vikki Ziegler, Esq. is taking over the world with numerous empires, and no sign of stopping anytime soon!  She is the founder and managing partner of a law firm in New Jersey, has her own fragrance, authored a few books, regularly appears on various TV and radio shows (and podcasts like this one), starred in the Bravo show "Untying the Knot" and has her own production company with too many upcomin...

Remi Spencer has had an exciting career as an Assistant Prosecutor and then a private Criminal Defense Attorney with high profile cases that got her regular spots on Fox News.  She gives us her opinions about the criminal justice system based upon her experience on both sides, including her impressions of the Harvey Weinstein trial, the #metoo movement, what we can do to create a better lands...

Sandra shares the business secrets she has learned over the course of her 27-year legal career, which includes growing a solo practice (literally, from her basement) to the growing empire it is today.  Sandra has a varied practice of divorce & family law, medical malpractice & personal injury, and residential real estate.  Sandra gives the real nuts-and-bolts of how she not only...

If you have ever felt the stigma of plastic surgery & other cosmetic treatments, or ever been curious about getting treatments, then this show is for you.  I sat down with Deena Asaadi, the patient liaison of Dr. Mokhtar Asaadi, board certified NJ plastic surgeon with offices in West Orange, New Jersey, and Park Avenue in NYC.  We had a very personal and brutally honest dialogue abou...

Elizabeth is the first generation of Russian immigrants and - while not the first one in her family to be an entrepreneur - is the first one in her family to go to law school.  While she dreamed of becoming a mover and shaker as an entertainment lawyer in the Big Apple, she ultimately found herself loving divorce & family law and moving and shaking back in the suburbs of New Jersey. &nbsp...

NJ Divorce Lawyer Jeralyn Lawrence inherited an entire family law department practically right out of law school.  Rather than let fear hold her back, Jeralyn rose to the occasion and built a thriving family department from scratch at a large firm while she was still learning her way around a courtroom.  Almost 20 years later, Jeralyn has left big law to build her own law firm.  Jer...

Lois shares her experience winning the lottery in Kenya and making her way alone to America in her early 20's looking  for the "American Dream."   With aspirations of becoming a professional dancer or opera singer, Lois found herself working as a babysitter and working various office jobs to pay the bills.  She explains how she ultimately found her calling as a divorce lawyer, started her own law...

This interview is not for the faint of heart.  New Jersey family law & divorce lawyer Jennifer McCaskill talks about sowing her oats and finally settling down to be the bad ass divorce lawyer she is today.  She shares how she left a future in academia on a whim to end up in Washington DC practicing family law, founding her own law firm, almost quitting when she had cash flow problems, and how she...

I sat down with NY attorney Jessica Sanchez who shares why she became an attorney, how she commandeered a path as one of the only females in a male-dominated NYC law firm to ultimately leave and start her own firm.  She did that as a newly divorced single mother and pounded the pavement to generate a clientele that would sustain a one-woman practice.  She shares her management philosophi...

Judge Berman is a well-known and respected retired New Jersey superior court judge with a colorful and expansive legal career spanning 48 years (and still going).  He sat down with me to talk about his roots in New Jersey, his calling to be a lawyer, and an impressive career path that brought him through 17 years of private practice, an appointment as a county prosecutor and life on the bench...

Attorneys and law firm owners Jennifer Armstrong and Christine Matus share their experience opening their own law firms, building and running a business, and all of the challenges (and rewards!) along the way.  Great insights for anyone who is practicing law and thinking of starting their own firm or any #bossbabes with their own firms already.  

Find out how NYC criminal defense attorney Mariel Colón Miró, Esq. found herself with Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán and Jeffrey Epstein as her first clients.  Plus, New Jersey criminal defense attorney Fania Veksler, Esq. got arrested for contempt just by being a fierce advocate for her client at trial.  (Oh, and by the way, her client was acquitted).  These women are kicking ass and ta...