A Second Career: Building a Solo Law Practice Later in Life

Episode Notes

Transcript

Adriana Linares: Let me tell you about David. A criminal defense attorney in Ventura, California. His firm is probably like yours. Client intake was inefficient. His staff was at risk for burnout and his client acquisition rate was just me. Then he tried Lawmatics powerful client intake and automation software. Within months, David’s lead conversion jumped by 200%. If running your law practice is keeping you from practicing law, take Lawmatics for a free test drive. Lawmatics makes automating your firm easy. Visit lawmatics.com. Before we get started, I want to make sure and thank our awesome sponsors, Clio, Nota, Lawclerk and Lawmatics. Lawclerk is where attorneys go to hire freelance lawyers, whether you need a research memo or a complicated appellate brief, our network of freelance lawyers have every level of experience and expertise. Signing up is free and there are no monthly fees. Only pay the flat fee price you set. Use rebate code New Solo to get a $100 Amazon gift card when you complete your next project. Learn more at lawclerk.legal.

[Music]

Intro: So, if I was starting today as a New Solo, I would do something — the entrepreneurial aspect would be — we’re going to have to change the way they’re practicing — by becoming a leader — analyzing one after another — to help young lawyers — starting a new small firm — what it means to be fulfilled — make it easy to work with your clients — bringing authenticity – new approach, new tools, new mindset, New Solo — and it’s making that leap.

Adriana Linares: Joanne Martin is one of the nicest people I’ve ever met and it’s part of Joanne’s business ethos to make it very clear that of you are looking for a mean, hard attorney, she is not going to be for you. Joanne practices family law at her form called Align Family Law in Victoria, BC. We found each other through this very podcast and had a wonderful opportunity to meet in person at Clio. I’m going to ask her about her law firm, about the technology she uses and how she is so very passionate about making family law an amicable and good experience as good as it can be for her clients. Hi, Joanne.

Joanne Martin: Hi, Adriana.

Adriana Linares: How did I do in describing the way you like to work with your clients?

Joanne Martin: Good, except I will sort of couch that to say that I’m definitely not a pushover, but I sell as an advocate for my clients, but in a respectful way and always keeping in mind that these are real people with real problems, often involving children. And that if they have any hope of wanting to co-parent effectively going into the future, court is really the worst way for them to resolve their family law issues.

Adriana Linares: How long have you been an attorney?

Joanne Martin: I’m coming up on five years since I was called to the bar, but in Canada we also article. So, I articled for a year. It’s like a trainee lawyer position where you’re under the guidance of a practicing lawyer. So I finished my law studies in December of 2016.

Adriana Linares: I didn’t know you all called it articled, articling. I think we just call it interning or clerking if you do it in the court. So every day, something new on this podcast, I swear. So did you have a previous career before you decided to become an attorney?

Joanne Martin: I did. I worked in the film and television industry for 15 years as a script and continuity supervisor mostly on television commercials.

Adriana Linares: That’s really neat. What made you decide to go to law school and help people have kind and collaborative divorces?

Joanne Martin: Well, I always wanted to be a lawyer since I was probably about 14 or 15, but I got married young and we started our family right away. And when we had our first child, I really only had about one year of university at that point. And then we had three more kids, so I had four by the time I was 28. And so really law school seemed like a distant dream. But you know, I didn’t have my undergrad at that point. And so really the focus was on having a career that allowed me to be with my kids a lot and commercials were the way to do it for me. So I worked roughly seven days a month and earned good money doing that. And that allowed me to be home the rest of the time with my children. And when they were older, my oldest son just graduated from high school and then I had one in grade 11 and one in grade 6, and one in grade 7. We sold our house in the Fraser Valley just outside of Vancouver and we moved into Vancouver and lived on campus in family housing while I went to law school.

Adriana Linares: No way. With all those kids?

Joanne Martin: Yes.

Adriana Linares: One last question about this because it’s just so interesting and I think it just encourages people to believe in a second career. I mean, sometimes we have a lot of lawyers that are thinking about something else, going the other direction, do what your heart tells you to do.

(00:05:00)

Did you want to be a family law attorney the whole time? Or did you just say I want to be a lawyer, I’m not sure what kind I’m going to get into law school and then figure it out?

Joanne Martin: I didn’t think I wanted to do family law at all, actually. But when I was articling, my principal is a family law lawyer. And so my office was located in the family department and I did a lot of things in family, and I just realized it was a really good fit. I think it was a good fit because I had a family of my own and experience with investments and mortgages and grown-up kinds of things. And so parenting, being able to know how real life actually works with all of those things, I think was really helpful.

Adriana Linares: So when you came out of law school, did you decide to start a solo practice? Or did you continue working with that firm or somewhere else before you launched your solo practice?

Joanne Martin: So I stayed with the same firm in Abbotsford, which is in the Fraser Valley, just outside of Vancouver. I probably still would be there actually if we hadn’t moved to Victoria. But it was our hope and plan and it kind of all worked out with the pandemic for us to move back to Victoria. We actually met here and our first two kids are born at Victoria. So it’s been really fantastic to move back to the city. When I was moving back here, I thought that that would be a really good time for me to start my own practice. I really wanted to do things my way and I really love that part of having my own firm, is getting to decide what the systems are, how we present ourselves to the community, what sort of services we offer and really being able to be in control of all of those things has been really exciting and fun.

Adriana Linares: So how did you actually start? How did you decide, aside from becoming a solo and getting the firm established, what did you start with? Software, infrastructure, website, law firm name? Your law firm is called Align Family Law. Tell us a little bit about all that. Just how did you build it?

Joanne Martin: I think the first thing that came was the name. It really appealed to me from the family law perspective of how you’re aligning all of the different competing, sometimes competing wishes of the parties. Also my values, wanting to align my practice with my values. Family is really important to me. I’d been married for 27 years and I have four kids. I actually have a granddaughter now as well.

Adriana Linares: Congratulations. That’s awesome.

Joanne Martin: And so, I also know that families look different, right? There’s all sorts of different types of families. And just because people are separating and divorcing doesn’t mean that they’ve stopped being a family. Their family just looks different. And so it really is important to me that we set things up so that people can move beyond their separation and they can create a plan for their path forward and work together as best as they can. That’s not to say that everyone is going to agree on everything. Obviously if they did, they wouldn’t be getting divorced. But I have a lot of hope that it can be done in a way that doesn’t destroy any chance of them having a decent relationship going forward or really the ability to take care of their kids.

Adriana Linares: What do you do when an attorney, an opposing attorney doesn’t necessarily have the kind and gentle approach that you do?

Joanne Martin: Yeah, I mean I think there are definitely lawyers who share the same kind of values and ideas that I have. And since moving to town, I have really been fortunate that I’ve been able to meet with and get to know some other lawyers. I’m a member of the Collaborative Practice Group here in Victoria. And so there’s a roster of lawyers who share a similar ethos when it comes to how we practice. So that’s good. But I will say there’s always lawyers that you kind of cringe when you know that they’re on the other side. And the way that I practice now is often people will come to me. I will only represent one party. But often they have a very clear idea of what it is that they want their separation agreement to look like. And so I will represent the one party. And so sometimes the other lawyer is not getting involved until after the agreement is drafted in that the other party is getting an independent legal advice. Yeah, I don’t do contentious matters anymore. I don’t do court really. There’s a couple of files that I have that I really liked the person that needed help, and so I agreed to take on knowing that there was already a court action started. But for the most part, I’m working with people who are committed to the idea of resolving their matter outside of the court process. And so for me and really for my own peace of mind and my own quality of life, I just, I know that I don’t like it when it gets sucked into really contentious family matters where people are fighting about absolutely everything. I just don’t want to do that.

(00:10:00)

And so I have been very, very clear and very intentional about the kinds of files that I’ve taken on. I think all of my messaging, my website is very geared. I think a lot of people probably self-select out when they look at my website, if that’s not the kind of law firm they’re looking for, then they may continue their search. But I am also getting feedback from clients all the time about how much they appreciate the approach that we take, and that it really resonated with them. So the right kinds of people are finding me, which must mean I’m doing something right.

Adriana Linares: Yeah, that’s amazing and really important. I’m going to take a quick break now. But when we come back, we’re going to finish talking about the other decisions that you made, aside from the name of your law firm and exactly the types of cases that you wanted to take on. I’M going to ask you about your website, because I’ve been looking at it and it’s very well done. It’s very clearly communicated. And of course, we’re going to talk about your CRM, your intake process, because that was one of the reasons that I wanted you to come on New Solo. We’ll be right back.

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Adriana Linares: Okay. I’m Adriana Linares, the host of New Solo. I’m here with Joanne Martin, she’s my guest today. We are talking about launching and enjoying a successful family law practice. So Joanne, in the first segment we talked about naming your law firm Align Family Law, and that you really had a really good idea of what types of clients you wanted to take and what kind of lawyer you wanted to be. Did you decide to work from home, have a home office, or did you consider a brick-and-mortar office? And what about your support as far as legal assistants, paralegals or other attorneys goes? How did you decide to do all that?

Joanne Martin: At first, I had a physical office space at an executive office suite in downtown Victoria right by the courthouse, and I was there for a year and that was great. Then I decided at the end of my lease that I would start working from home. I’ve maintained my business address at that same location. So when you Google me that’s what shows on my Google Business listing. And if I have to meet with clients in person, I don’t meet them at my home office. I will meet them at that location at the board — there’s a boardroom or meeting room I could rent.

Adriana Linares: That’s very good.

Joanne Martin: Most of my interactions with my clients happen virtually. So I’m doing a lot of things via Zoom.

Adriana Linares: And then the last thing I’m going to ask you about is your website. Who built your website?

Joanne Martin: I got my website set up through LawLytics.

Adriana Linares: Excellent. Okay, so you used LawLytics. And they’re still your website service provider, right?

Joanne Martin: Yes. I found it — well, let’s just say that me doing my website was something that actually took seven months before I got involved with LawLytics. And then once I got involved with LawLytics, it was up within three weeks.

Adriana Linares: Okay. There are certain things that are good to do yourself, but then like hiring an outside IT person to help and hiring a professional website development company, can be helpful. Well, you have a very lovely sight. So I wanted to point out a couple of things that I want you to talk us through and talk about. First of all, the design is lovely. It’s soothing. The colors are very nice. But when I hopped on your tabs, your main nav bar across the top is Our Approach. Great, a lot of law firms have that. Legal Services is great, lot of law firms have that. Collaborative Family Law is a tab in and of itself where you’re making it very clear that that’s a very specific and important aspect to your practice. And then there’s Mediation, then there’s the Team tab, and then there’s this, oh my god, what are you thinking, Pricing tab. So I can imagine that a lot of attorneys listening are going, “She’s got a pricing tab? That’s weird.” So when I click on it — and then there’s Blog and contact by the way. So those are your standard nav options are there, but pricing is really interesting. A lot of attorneys are not transparent about their pricing. So right off the top, you say, Family Law Services at a predictable price. When you work with family law lawyer who only uses unlimited retainers and charges based on the time they spend working on your file, it can be hard to get a sense of how much it’s going to cost you.

(00:15:00)

Burn. I mean just burn those other attorneys. And then I scroll down, everyone should go look at alignfamilylaw.ca/pricing. Then you’ve got a couple of other headings, help from start to finish, Collaborative Family Law, Mediation, Settlement Negotiation and then help with a specific step. So you will also not just do the whole divorce or family law issue but you will take on unbundled services. And under there, you’ve got Separation Agreements, Cohabitation/Marriage Agreement. So you go the other way too. Divorce only packages Flat Fee Services and Legal Coaching. So I’m going to pick Separation Agreements and right here it says, “Flat fee quoted after initial conversation based on complexity of issues, but starting at $2,500 Canadian plus tax.” Okay. So I’m a potential customer, I get to your website, I have an idea of what your pricing is even going to start with. What made you decide to do it this way?

Joanne Martin: Well, transparent pricing is one of my core values. I think it’s really important for people to know upfront what it is that it’s going to cost. And so often it can just really skyrocket and get completely out of control. I’ve tried as much as possible to make it so that in that initial consultation we’re going over with the client how family law works in British Columbia. We are covering off the issues that they have specific questions about, kind of getting a sense of what the law says about each of those discrete issues. And really at the end of that meeting, I try to, with a client, come up with a strategy about how we’re going to proceed. And so if they are relatively amicable and are both committed to the idea that they want to resolve their family law issue and they have this general sense of how they might want to structure their separation agreement, then I can tell at the beginning really what the scope of work is going to be for me. And so if it involves complex pension clauses, multiple properties, children, all of those are going to require more drafting. And so at the end of that session, I will quote them a price, so that they know upfront how much it’s going to cost.

Adriana Linares: I’m sure they completely appreciate that. And just wondering, did your core value of wanting to have transparent pricing come from your first career and just again having experience and having to deal with your own types of professionals that you had to hire? Or was something you learned from another attorney or some podcast or just going through law school?

Joanne Martin: I just thought about what I would want if I was sitting on the other side of the desk. I wouldn’t want to be writing a blank check. Like I said before, I’ve tried to be very intentional with the kinds of files but I’m taking on and taking the types of files that I do, the more amicable kinds of family law files. It does lend itself to being able to have a pretty good idea of what it’s going to end up costing. The more people fight, the more it’s going to cost them and the harder it is to predict. So that’s why I do actually do full representation where I charge at my hourly rate. So sometimes people come to me and I’m not really sure where there maybe negotiation that’s required initially. And so I generally break out my retainer agreement, so that the first stage will be negotiation at the hourly rates, so it will cost whatever it costs. And then once we’ve come to terms, then I will quote a lump like a flat fee price for the separation agreement.

Adriana Linares: You used a term that a lot of attorneys don’t use, more business people use, and that was “It’s one of my core values.” Did you have a business coach or did you go through any sort of coaching as far as marketing and developing a set of core values and a mission statement or a vision before you launched or even after you launched?

Joanne Martin: Initially, I worked with Amy Grubb, she’s a former lawyer out of Ottawa, Ontario. And so, she really helped me with my Clio grow and identifying an ideal client. And so, we worked together through that process of getting Clio grow up and running. And then I being with Lawyerist for the last six months. Yeah. And they’re fantastic as well. And actually Amy just got a job at Lawyerist, so she’s going to be there as well.

Adriana Linares: Cool. Okay. So yes, you got a little bit of outside help and you got it from legal professionals. We keep it in the family. The last thing I’m going to ask you about your website is, did you write all your own copy? I know that for a lot of website developers and working with lawyers, getting the copy, getting the content, getting the text that’s going to go out on the website is one of the hardest things to get out of attorneys. And your site is so lovely and so easy to follow and understand. And I’m just wondering, did you do this all yourself?

Joanne Martin: Thank you. Yes, I did actually.

(00:20:00)

Yeah, I spent a lot of time working and kind of mapping out what it was that I wanted to offer. It’s interesting because LawLytics is an American company and a lot of their like standard color palettes are quite dark, like darker colors, more bold. And I definitely wanted my website to be a softer place to land. And so I was really intentional about choosing softer colors, and there’s no shots of me with boxing gloves right on my website.

Adriana Linares: Now it’s actually really well done. So let me, again for our listeners, to say a couple things out loud in case they want to write things down. LawLytics is L-A-W-L-Y-T-I-C-S. Amy Group, like as in a group, not an individual?

Joanne Martin: No. Amy Grubb, G-R-U-B-B. That’s her last name.

Adriana Linares: Great. And then, of course there’s Lawyerist. I’m a big fan of Lawyerist and everyone behind it. So it’s lawyerist.com in case you haven’t heard of Lawyerist, another excellent resource for solo small firm practitioners or somebody thinking about launching their own firm or big firm refugees out there looking for resources on how to start a practice. All right, we’re going to take a last break, listen to some messages from sponsors. We are going to come back and I’m going to talk to Joanna about the main reason I asked her to come on the show, that I’m so glad I did regardless of this, and that is her client intake process. We’ll be right back.

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Okay, I’m back with Joanne Martin. She runs Align Family Law out of Victoria, BC. Joanne, do you have any legal assistance or any support or you a true solo?

Joanne Martin: I have a fantastic paralegal named Kate Wilson. She is remote, so she’s actually in the same city that I used to live in, and she works for me on a contract basis right now and she has another clients as well.

Adriana Linares: Oh, that’s great. Okay. So between the two of you, you’re running Align Family Law. I mean, it’s mostly you, but it sounds like you’ve got some great help. So you probably support and promote getting some outsourced help when you need it. Well, we already decided you did, based on the other services that you are smart enough to hire and pay for. What I want to do next is talk about your intake process, because this is something you loved building, I think, and seems to be a very important part of your process. Would you say that that often starts with this book, a free call button that I see on your website?

Joanne Martin: Yes. That’s just how most people come in to my pipeline or into my marketing funnel, is through by clicking that book a free call button on my website.

Adriana Linares: Okay. And when I click on it, I can see in most people are not going to notice this, but it goes to your Clio Grow form. So one of the nice things about having the whole package from Clio is not only do you get the case management system but then it helps you build these forms that go onto your website and then the data from the website, which is input by the potential new client, goes into Clio Grow. Those fields can be customized, which I hope Joanne tells us a little bit about how she did that, how she picked those fields. And then those will later get pushed into Clio managed, if you decide to take on the case.

So what I love about your landing page for this is it says, conflict search form. I also don’t see that very often, because I don’t think the average person looking for family law services realize, or any client for that part, realizes that there’s a conflict search that all attorneys have to go through in the back on the back end. So you say, “Thank you for contacting Align Family Law. We are looking forward to speaking with you. Before we can discuss your situation and any detail, the Law Society of BC requires us to run a conflict check to confirm there are no potential conflicts of interest.”

Another thing, I don’t see a lot of lawyers putting so clearly on the website that, “I’m not just going to become your lawyer out of the blue. We’ve got some steps to go through and the first step is a conflict check. And then it says filling out this form or having a free paid consultation does not create that relationship. We will not be retained to act on your behalf until we both sign a retainer.” So you make it very clear, the steps that are required to get to work with you. And then, if you have any questions, and then you’ve got a privacy and data storage disclaimer here, which is brilliant. And then you’ve got the contact information. Prospective client, making it clear again, it’s prospective, you’re potential, you’re not in yet. And then you’ve got this form here. Talk us through building this and deciding to go with such, again, transparent verbiage and then why this is so important to you.

(00:25:03)

Joanne Martin: The reason that I like to spell things out is because I’m trying to educate my clients about how the process works. I think, too often as lawyers we like to keep things a little bit mystical. And I really think that my clients are a partner with me in helping them to resolve their family law issue. I want them to feel some ownership over it. I want them to not be confused about how the process works. And so that’s why right from the beginning of my communications with them, I’m giving them information that I think that they need to understand. And then that way it stops a lot of the questions as well. You know, they just know upfront.

Adriana Linares: Yeah. You are what I am proudly an over explainer. I just try to cut off as many questions off at the past, not because I mind answering them, I certainly don’t. But I’d rather get those questions answered ahead of time, so that when we do spend time together, it’s productive. I have a pre-call survey that I send out to, not necessarily every potential new client that I have, but a lot of them. And I write that in my text expansion note. It says, “If you could take 5 minutes to fill out this form.” We’re going to use our free 15 minutes much more productively because I don’t have to ask you dumb questions like, are you a PC or a Mac? Are you using a practice management system? Do you have Legacy software that you’re bringing into the relationship? So, all right. So this form is provided by Clio Grow and then it sends all the data into Clio Grow for you. So, they fill this form out then make an appointment, and then you have that initial consult and you’re able to give them a no.

Joanne Martin: No. What I’ve done, because I don’t yet have an assistant who’s screening the calls, once they fill up this conflict search, and I’ve run the conflict search and then determined that there is no conflict, then I send one of my workflows within — I have set up workflow templates within Clio Grow. So the next step is that I send a templated email to them that says to make choosing a lawyer a stress-free experience. I’m happy to offer you a free 15-minute meeting. And it very clearly says that I’m not going to provide you with any legal advice during that meeting. It’s just an opportunity for you and I to meet, for me to explain how I work and really it’s 100% for me to have eyes on them to get a sense of what kind of person they are. Is this someone I’m going to want to work with? And I can very quickly weed out the people who are contentious if they say things to me, like, “I want to punish my ex.” Or any of those kinds of things. And then I politely say, you know, I think that this isn’t really the kind of file that I take on, but I can suggest some other lawyers that you might want to contact.

If after the 15-minute free call, I’ve determined and they’ve determined that they want to move on, then the next step is I send them an email. Both those emails have links to my calendar so that they can choose their own time, which again prevents me from having to go back and forth and waste time trying to find a time that works for both of us. That second email that goes out, it includes a link to my calendar that requires them to pay for that appointment upfront before they can secure the appointment time, and I use LawPay. At Clio con they announced that Clio Payments are coming to Canada. So I’ll likely switch over to Clio Payments in the next few months here when they get it all up and running. But anyway, for now it goes into my trust account because I just want to make sure that they’re committed to actually paying for that appointment. I don’t offer free consultations where I am providing legal advice. In that meeting they have — so once they pay for their appointment, then they are sent a link to another form, and it’s my intake questionnaire and it is very much by design that comes after they pay for their appointment, because that form is actually quite involved and ask them to input a lot of information. And I wanted them to commit and pay before I scared them off with the intake form.

Adriana Linares: Smart. And do you mind my asking you what calendaring service you use? Are using the Clio booking form or do you use something else?

Joanne Martin: I’m using Clio Scheduler.

Adriana Linares: Using and squeezing as much as you can out of that Clio subscription. That’s great, because that integrates with your Office 365 calendar. I want our listeners to know. And you also have the ability, it’s not like you’ve thrown your calendar book open and anyone can make an appointment whenever they want. You’re also able to control in there, maybe only take those types of calls on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Can you confirm that that’s how it works?

Joanne Martin: Yes. I don’t want to work Friday afternoons, and so that’s blocked off. No one can ever book time on that. I’ve also have different rules around, I don’t want to do the free 15 minutes in the morning because I’m the most productive in the morning. And so I have made it so that people have to go close in the afternoon when I’m less likely to want to use that time for drafting.

(00:30:00)

Adriana Linares: Great tips, every single one of them. So they’ve completed the form and then it’s time to get a retainer signed. How do you go through that process?

Joanne Martin: So after we’ve had the initial consultation and they’ve indicated they want to retain, then through Clio Grow, I have a number of retainer templates depending on what kind of services I’m offering. And I generally quoted a price during that consultation. So I’ll include that in there. I generate it within Clio Grow and send it to the client in an email with a link. And it actually utilizes an electronic signature function called HelloSign within Clio and so I’m not — it’s eliminated the need for me to get to meet in person with clients to get them to sign retainer agreements. Everything is done electronically, so they can do it on their desktop, or their mobile device.

Adriana Linares: Makes it so easy for them. Just curious, in your automated responses in those templates that you’ve mentioned, do you have the thanks-but-no-thanks template as well that says, sorry?

Joanne Martin: I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about the client journey. And so I’ve broken up that journey from when they first contact me through to when they sign the retainer agreement and pay their trust payment. And so all of that process is really has been integrated into different workflow templates within Clio Grow. And so during the conflict search stage, if I determine that there’s a conflict, I have a templated email that says, unfortunately we’re not able to act on your behalf, but here are some lawyers that you might want to reach out to. Generally, I would tell people in the initial consultation that it doesn’t seem like this is a good fit. I really try to have a very good idea that I would move ahead with them before I get them to do a pay consultation, because it can just really feel like a waste of money. Why would they have paid me $300? Yes, they would have gotten some good information but they’re also wanting to retain. And so, I really want to make sure going into that, because it just makes me look like a jerk if I take their money and then don’t represent them.

Adriana Linares: So, you’ve got them to your website. They’ve filled out and cleared a conflict check. They’ve gotten a retainer. They filled out a detailed document with tons of information that you’re going to happily move from grow to manage, which means you’re not doing double entry. You got all these basic data already in there and you’re ready to get to work. So how do you onboard them with the portal, I know you use Clio’s portal as well.

Joanne Martin: That’s one of the first things that we do when they become a client after they sign a retainer agreement and paid their retainer and the trust, is that we set up the client portal. And the way we do that is just with a templated message that we create. You create the client portal and the first message that goes to the client describes that we’re going to use this as our primary way to communicate. Basically, I don’t want people to email me. I just find it really difficult to keep track of things in email.

The great thing about the client portal is that it’s all there in chronological order. You can upload documents. I can see when the client has opened the document. They can respond to me. I can confirm instructions in there. And then at the end, if you wanted to, you could export to PDF a document that has all of your correspondence with a client, instead of having 7,000 emails, which is what normally happens.

Adriana Linares: Well Joanne, is there anything else you want to make sure and say to listeners who might be in the same position you were when you started listening to New Solo and looking for resources to start your firm? This has been such a good conversation. I knew you were going to be an awesome guest, and I know people are going to walk away with a lot of good information. Any other little pearls you want to drop before I let you go?

Joanne Martin: I just want to encourage people that it is possible to have a really fulfilling and meaningful career in law. You don’t have to continue to do things the old way that they have always been done, that the legal market is changing so much. People’s expectations of their lawyers are changing so much, And that I’m so grateful that I started my firm and that I’m doing this now and I just really feel like I’m doing something that really making a difference to my clients.

Adriana Linares: Thank you so much for your time, and your kindness, and your authenticity. It’s really it’s a pleasure. Tell everyone where they can find friend or follow you if they want to learn more about your practice or connect with you.

Joanne Martin: My website is alignfamilylaw.ca. I will be in the next little while getting on Instagram and Facebook and all of that. I haven’t done that yet, it’s part of my marketing, but I will. And I’m on LinkedIn as well. And I’m happiest if lawyers want to ask questions and to reach out, I’m happy to answer and to help because I think that I learned from a lot of different people like yourself and other lawyers and I’m happy to pay it back.

(00:35:03)

Adriana Linares: Well, thanks everyone for listening to another episode of New Solo on the Legal Talk Network. We hope what you’ve heard today was enjoyable and helpful and we’ll catch you next month on New Solo.

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