In this episode of the NewLaw Podcast for Entrepreneurial Lawyers with Ali Katz, Ali sits down with Kara, a dynamic lawyer with a fascinating journey from Haiti to becoming a successful personal injury attorney in South Florida.
Kara shares her story of resilience, driven by a deep-seated desire for justice following personal tragedy and professional challenges. Through sheer determination, she navigated through law school, early career hurdles, and eventually found her calling in personal injury law. Kara’s entrepreneurial spirit shines as she recounts how she funded her law practice and led her to create a thriving, client-centered legal business model.
Key Takeaways:
Turning Adversity into Motivation: Kara’s personal experiences of injustice in Haiti and the loss of her father fueled her passion for law and helping others find justice.
The Power of Community: Leveraging her connections within the her community helped Kara build a strong client base and grow her practice from the ground up.
Entrepreneurial Mindset: Transitioning from a struggling associate to an entrepreneurial lawyer, Kara embraced unconventional paths to fund her legal practice.
Niche Market Success: Kara’s specialization in personal injury and cosmetic injuries highlights the importance of finding and exploiting niche markets.
Empowering Women: Kara’s mission to help women achieve financial and emotional independence is a testament to the broader impact lawyers can have beyond their immediate legal work
Kara’s journey is a powerful example of how personal experiences and challenges can shape a successful and fulfilling legal career. From her roots in Haiti to her entrepreneurial success in South Florida, Kara’s story is one of resilience, community, and innovation. Her insights into leveraging niche markets and the importance of financial independence provide valuable lessons for any lawyer looking to build a meaningful and prosperous career. Whether you are considering a career shift, looking to add a new practice area, or seeking inspiration, Kara’s story offers a wealth of actionable advice and motivation.
Time Stamps
01:39: Kara introduces herself, her background, and starts to talk about her transition from immigration and family law to personal injury law, noting her initial hesitations and the role her husband's encouragement played in her decision.
09:47: Kara explains how her son influenced her to become an entrepreneurial lawyer, leading her to pursue a different path after discovering her pregnancy during her early legal career.
12:16: Kara shares how prayer and a chance encounter with a Mary Kay consultant led her to start a side business, which eventually funded the startup of her own law firm and provided her with financial independence.
14:12: Kara talks about her transition from "door law" to focusing more on specific legal services, using creative marketing strategies, like distributing flyers in the Haitian community that led to a steady influx of clients for her diverse legal practice.
25:55: Kara highlights a success story of winning a $2.1 million jury verdict in a slip and fall case, underlining the importance of not being intimidated to go to trial when necessary.
27:16: Kara explains the backend systems of handling pre-suit personal injury cases and outsourcing administrative tasks to keep operations smooth and efficient, and how these elements contribute to financial success.
28:52: Ali describes how her training system prepares lawyers to be lifelong attorneys for their clients, enabling them to handle various legal matters and efficiently manage cases with proper systems in place.
39:43: Kara elaborates on the interaction with insurance companies during settlements and how good lawyers obtain better outcomes for their clients by negotiating rather than going to court.
Transcript
Ali Katz: And so you are currently in the role of their trusted advisor.
Ashley: Right.
Ali Katz: And so, being in that role, it is your responsibility to check in and see if she wants to keep that open or if you should close it and, you know, send her a closing letter.
Ashley: Right.
Ali Katz: And again, you're just asking for permission. Like, I want to support you as best as I can, because you've turned to me as your trusted advisor. And so you now need to tell me how to best support you. Are you willing for me to ask you some questions that might help to clarify your next steps?
Ali Katz: Hello, and welcome to the NewLaw podcast, where we guide entrepreneurial lawyers to build law practices into businesses they love. I'm Ali Katz. In this episode, you are going to hear me coach Ashley on what to do when they don't engage right away and how to make sure that you get the greatest chance of payment and engagement on the day of your consultation or planning session. All right, I'll see you on the other side.
Ali Katz: Congratulations. I know you're, you're out there rocking it.
Ashley: Hi.
Ali Katz: Hi. Okay, you've got some did-not-engages among a lot of did-engages. So tell me, do you want to pick one that might help you understand the rest or tell me a little bit about?
Ashley: I think Jessica put that on about one specific one, but I was telling her that I thought it was weird. I'm feeling pretty lucky in the sense that I can count my did-not-engages on probably one hand, because most of mine are referrals, so they're already kind of warm when they come in. But I've noticed, I have an issue where we go through the family wealth planning session. They verbally agree to which plan they want, and we do the design, and then we send them the engagement letter and the invoice either immediately following or if it's an evening one, my CSD sends it the next morning, and I've had three of them. That's when they back out.
Ali Katz: Yeah, don't do that. What I saw that many of the lawyers are doing is getting them to sign on the Zoom.
Ashley: Okay.
Ali Katz: So you have it pre-setup in docusign. You go over it with them just as you would if they were in person, and then they sign right there.
Ashley: Okay. Yeah. And the one that I was kind of confused about, she's a referral partner, so I don't really want to burn a bridge with her. But her and her husband, she told me from the beginning, she kept saying it was her husband and he wasn't on board. And we had the family wealth planning session and he was fine. I mean, it went fine. He and I, like, hit it off and we talked about stuff and it was fine. He actually sent me the copy of their deed after, so that, to me, tells me that they're on board. And then they were slow to sign their engagement letter and pay.
Ashley: She emailed me and was like, oh, I'm sorry, we're not normally flaky. You know, we just paid our taxes. We're going to get this paid next week. And I was like, okay, that's fine. I said, well, can you at least sign the engagement letter? Because they expire on my end, and then we're going to have to reissue and it's pain, you know, just get that signed, and then when you get the payment taken care of, we'll get everything else sorted out. So then she emailed me and said that they wanted to push it till after they went on vacation. They're on vacation this week. They wanted to push their signing until after vacation.
Ashley: And I said, oh, that's fine, you know, and I said, you know, what about this day or this day? And I didn't hear back from her for a few days. And then she emailed me back and she's like, my husband and I had a long talk about this last night, and he's just really not on board to make the financial commitment. She's like, I'm so sorry. She was like, I know we really need this, and I feel like we're not going to be protected. And so I emailed her back and I just said, you know, do you want me to reply to his email to me directly, you know, and see if there's a concern, you know, is it worth hopping on another call? And then I gave her the option because they had signed up for the trust plan. I had given her the option. I said, well, you know, if he's not on board with doing the trust plan, you know, why don't we at least do a family plan? You know, have at least the guardians in place for your kids and from that standpoint, and then when you're ready to pull the trigger on the trust plan, because they, she owns a nonprofit, I said, you know, we can always upgrade your plan at that point. And I haven't heard back since, but that was like the week before they left on vacation. So I'm just kind of chalking it up to that. But I don't know.
Ali Katz: It's going to happen. You just need to stay present with them and meet whatever's going on. They paid taxes, they went on vacation. They're feeling not flush with money. They have kids?
Ashley: They have two little kids. Yeah.
Ali Katz: And they have money. Like, what's their situation?
Ashley: Yeah, I mean, they have a decent amount. I mean, they're in their late thirties and they both have health issues. I mean, she had cancer and he has MS. So I mean, they're like the textbook person that needs an estate plan, but.
Ali Katz: You saw their cash situation. What is it?
Ashley: Honestly, it's been like a month. I don't remember off top of my head. They were fine to pay it. It wasn't a cash issue.
Ali Katz: Yeah. It's just allocation of resources and I would recommend. So it's not about burning bridges. You're never going to burn a bridge. I mean, this is, as you said, a referral partner. She wants to do planning. She's blaming it on her husband. So I would say that the next conversation is, have you been talking on the phone or it's email?
Ashley: It's usually email.
Ali Katz: I would get on a phone call with her, say, hey, I just want to get on the phone with you and just get clear on next steps. And then on the phone with her, really hold space for the objection and get really curious about what's really going on.
Ashley: Okay. Yeah. I mean, I've been on calls where there's a spouse that's not on board and that was not the situation.
Ali Katz: Yeah. So she can just be overwhelmed and just blaming it on him. And so I would try to make space for a conversation that goes something like, I know you all really need this planning, and yet you said isn't willing to make the financial investment right now, but we know what the cost will be of not doing it and something happening. So let's just have an open conversation about what's really happening for you so that I can understand and help you make a really good choice that you're going to feel good about and that he's going to feel good about.
Ashley: Right. Okay.
Ali Katz: Yeah. Is there something you're not telling me or is there something you're not saying? Like, I appreciate our relationship so much and I want to make sure that I'm doing the right thing by you and for you. And part of my job as your trusted advisor is to, you know, help you make the best decisions. And so in order to do that, I have to know what's really going on for you.
Ashley: Right. Yeah, I mean, I just, I don't think it's anything I did because, like, she has tagged me on my social media account, like, she tagged a friend and was like, oh, you need to do this with Ashley. You know, that kind of stuff. I don't want to overstep either and push too hard. Where then I do ruin that relationship.
Ali Katz: Right. So the key to that is asking permission.
Ashley: Okay. Yeah. Maybe I'll wait until she gets back and is settled from vacation, and then I'll touch base.
Ali Katz: 100%. 100%. Yeah.
Ali Katz: Would you love direct support to help you grow your law practice into a business you love? Go to newlawbusinessmodel.com/show and sign up for a call with one of our trusted law business advisors. Each of our advisors has been trained directly by me over the past five years plus to help you chart your path from wherever you are now to where you want to go as efficiently and effectively as possible. You're ready to grow. We are here to help.
Ali Katz: Wait till she's back from vacation, and then, you know, you're checking in from the place of, even though she hasn't signed the engagement letter like they were a yes. And so you are currently in the role of their trusted advisor.
Ashley: Right.
Ali Katz: And so being in that role, it is your responsibility to check in and see if she wants to keep that open or if you should close it and, you know, send her a closing letter.
Ashley: Right.
Ali Katz: And again, you're just asking for permission. Like, I want to support you as best as I can because you've turned to me as your trusted advisor. And so you now need to tell me how to best support you. Are you willing for me to ask you some questions that might help to clarify your next steps?
Ashley: Right, okay.
Ali Katz: Notice how I checked in. Are you willing for me to ask you some questions that will help to clarify your next steps?
Ashley: Right, right.
Ali Katz: Maybe she says no, and you then send the did-not-engage letter.
Ashley: All right, well, that works.
Ali Katz: All right, let us know how it goes, Ashley. And then build in signing the engagement letter on the virtual meeting.
Ashley: Okay.
Ali Katz: And I would look at the other two situations that you said where they did back out and just look at what's there. Like, create a follow up plan with them, too.
Ashley: Okay.
Ashley: They're all in Accelerator, so they're getting follow up one way or the other.
Ali Katz: Yeah, but did you send the did-not-engage letter?
Ashley: No.
Ali Katz: Okay. You've got to do that for sure. But before you do that, you should check in with them again. You should have a voice to voice conversation with them, because as of now, they were a yes, and they identified things that were important to them, and you need to find out why those things are no longer important to them.
Ashley: Right. Okay, will do.
Ali Katz: Okay. Thanks, Ashley.
Ali Katz: If you loved the way that I coached Ashley in this episode, and you would love to receive your own support so you don't have to reinvent the wheel, you don't have to go it alone. Go to newlaw.co/show and book a call with a law business advisor so that you can get my mentorship on your business. Shortcut your process so that you are not reinventing the wheel. So you can engage close to 100% of the people you meet with, collect payment right away. And stop wasting your time with people who aren't going to go forward or not knowing what to do when they don't. So go tonewlaw.co/show and let us get you on the path to PFL. I'll see you on the inside.
