Lawyerist Podcast

Ken White and his partner started his firm with rented desks and unreliable phones and built their firm to around a dozen lawyers today. Meanwhile, he became a champion of free speech by defending bloggers threatened by censorious douchebags. He also reveals the secret of the name Popehat. Sam & Aaron start out today's show by talking about legal hacking, about which Aaron is a little confused and Sam is pretty interested.

Daniel Gershburg has a real estate and bankruptcy practice in transition, so he is trying to figure out what the future of law practice looks like for solo and small-firm lawyers. As he puts it “I wanted to see who was going to eat my lunch.” Plus, Aaron and Sam talk about their 2015 ABA TECHSHOW experience. Note: Sam sounds a little different in the intro because he forgot to plug in his fancy mic. It’s not terrible, but you’ll probably notice. He’s sorry.

Don’t build your marketing plan around the strategies you want to employ. That’s step 4. First, you need to do a little background work to figure out which strategies make sense for your practice. This week, Karin and Sam talk through her 5-step marketing plan. Plus, Sam and Aaron talk about a BigLaw April Fools prank that was in very poor taste but turns out to be a really good idea.

Bitcoin is seriously cool technology with the potential to transform the financial industry — and any other industry that needs trusted transactions. Marco Santori talks with Aaron about what Bitcoin is, the hurdles to its wider adoption, and why every lawyer should accept legal fees in Bitcoin. Plus, we also talk about why computers are only as secure as the people who use them, which means the computers in most law firms are not very secure.

During this week’s conversation, Keith Lee talks with Sam about his book, The Marble and the Sculptor and how new lawyers can become good lawyers. Before that, Sam waxes poetic about one of his favorite lawyer-friendly iPhone/iPad/Mac apps, Soulver.

Google is going to start directly penalizing websites that aren't mobile device–friendly. We explain why this is important. Also, in its secret labs Google is learning to tell whether you are lying or not. Just something else to worry about. Then, in this week's interview, Ellie Krug has a lot of interesting things to say about starting a law firm, building a strong reputation, trying cases — and yes, trying cases as a man, then after coming out as a woman.

40% of small law firms don’t have a website, and Casey Flaherty’s Legal Tech Auditwas just the beginning of his quest to reform the way law firms use technology and price their services.

Law school admissions are dropping, but the bar exam is getting harder. Is a smaller bar inevitable? After Sam and Aaron try to figure that out, David Sparks talks about starting a brand-new solo practice, including the Mac tools he is using to make it work.

Entertainment lawyer Ali Grace Marquart recently made Forbes’ 2015 30 Under 30 list for law and policy. She talked about the unusual path she took to owning a successful fashion law boutique, what success means at this point in her career, and how she represents clients all over the world from her office in New York.

Sam and Aaron talk with Jeena Cho about why jerky law students become jerky lawyers, and then Aaron Hall explains why and how he is giving some clients a satisfaction guarantee.

This week Sam and Aaron wonder whether a lawyer could become an Uber driver to market a law practice, on obvious marketing, and Sam talks to Gyi Tsakalakis of AttorneySync about online marketing without the BS.

This week Sam and Aaron discuss the effectiveness of meditation as a way for lawyers to relieve stress, shake our heads at the technological incompetence of LegalTech attendees, and Sam interviews Alison Monahan of the Girls Guide to Law School.

Morning pages, robot lawbreakers, and an interview with Brian Tannebaum, the eminent law blogger who just published The Practice: Brutal Truths About Lawyers and Lawyering.

Plus, Aaron and Sam talk about non-lawyer ownership (and why personal injury lawyers don't like the idea), non-lawyers doing legal work, and learn that every lawyer should be bringing in at least $200,000 because statistics.

In today’s podcast, we talk to Carolyn Elefant about what you can and should do in advance if you are planning to go solo. Then, in our Q&A segment, we talk about whether solos ought to form a business entity or "go naked."

Today’s guest is Paul Floyd, a business lawyer for lawyers — and a very successful one. Paul finally explained law practice valuation so I could understand: the best way to value a law practice is not to value it. Today's question is from our forum: How do you calculate flat fees when starting out. Aaron and I offer our own suggestions for coming up with flat fees early on in your legal career.

As a well-known lawyer and (former) law professor, Alan Dershowitz gives a lot of advice to young lawyers. At one point, he wrote it all down in Letters to a Young Lawyer. The book has been around for a while, but it is still full of good advice for young lawyers — and so is Dershowitz.

Sam and Aaron introduce the Lawyerist Podcast and our first guest, Alan Dershowitz. You'll also find out how to send us a question to answer during future podcasts. Subscribe now, either using your favorite podcast app, in iTunes, Stitcher, or find out about new episodes by subscribing to the Lawyerist Insider.