Law firms have been behind the curve when it comes to adapting to the idea of remote staffing. But with the onset of COVID, we’ve had no choice but embrace this concept. Now we are faced with the question “How do we make this work?”
In this episode we discuss:
- Creating community in an entirely virtual firm
- Article – what to do in a pandemic
- The impact of economic downturn on the legal industry
- Business interruption and bankruptcy – planning for what’s to come
- Why it’s essential to have a curated network of legal professionals
- Hire for talent, but place the rock stars where they are exceptional
- The chicken or the egg of staffing
- Strategies for remote teams – per diem or per project?
- Batch working versus batch billing – kill the interruption
- The benefits of an “impressions memo”
- Basic, Advanced or Advanced – plus –
Contact information for Genny and De Novo
786-251-5814 – Direct
305-925-0229 – Company
Snip-Its
18:06 Genny Castellanos
So I thought, well, this isn’t the most efficient way to manage a workforce. And kind of that’s what birthed De Novo Review. I also saw that technology was enabling us to work from wherever, and I couldn’t imagine why firms were using, spending so much money on overhead costs. So I thought, wait a second, I can eliminate this overhead cost. All it takes is a computer and knowing how to hire the right person for the right price, for the right place.
18:39 Allison Williams
The right person, for the right price, for the right place. So that’s kind of like the the key catch phrase there. And I think so many solo and small law firms really compete to or struggle to grow, because of this issue of getting the right people. Right. So there’s like a a limiting belief we have if there are no good people or all the good people work for big law or if you have good people and they don’t work for big law and they’re willing to come work for you. You’re not going to be able to afford them. They’re going to create mistakes. They’re going to become a problem for you. There’s a lot of risk associated with that.
24:26 Genny Castellanos
When hiring, so one of the key things that I do and it’s one of my secrets is that when I hire, I hire somebody. But I don’t necessarily keep them in that position. I put people to do what they’re good at. And so the sooner you find out what the person is good at, even if you hired them for something else. If they’ve got a good work ethic, they like working with you, you like working with them, find the right position in your company to put them because you have gold there. You just might have them in the wrong place in your company.
About Genny
Genny Castellanos is an experienced civil litigator and appellate lawyer. Genny is the founder and CEO of De Novo Review, a national provider of managed attorneys aimed at supporting and helping law firms and legal departments throughout the United States to scale their law practice. De Novo Review is a dynamic legal staffing company dedicated to providing high quality, experienced attorneys for complex litigation and appellate research, drafting, and courtroom work. Before De Novo Review, Genny practiced law at top regional law firms in the areas of commercial litigation and appeals.
Genny graduated in the top 15% of her law school class and was a judicial clerk for the Honorable Robert M. Gross, Florida Fourth District Court of Appeal.
De Novo Review is the first and most trusted national curated network connecting law firms with attorneys and legal staff. De Novo hand selects the right law team for you at the right price, and can also improve your processes and workflows. De Novo’s network gives you litigation and appellate support for your current cases as well as capacity to take on cases in other areas of law and expand to other jurisdictions without limits.
Contact De Novo today for a free consultation and get your first 5-hour project done for just $249.
The top 5% of world class legal talent on-demand, vetted, and matched to your needs–De Novo Review handles the hard part of hiring so you don’t have to.
About Allison
Allison C. Williams, Esq., is The Law Firm Mentor. Law Firm Mentor is a Business Coaching service for solo and small law firm attorneys. It helps lawyers to grow their revenues, crush chaos in business and make more money. Law Firm Mentor was born out of Allison’s experience starting a law firm and scaling its revenues into a multi-million dollar business in only three years. She shares her extensive knowledge of business, mindset coaching and entrepreneurship alongside her team in Law Firm Mentor.
Allison is also Founder and Owner of the Williams Law Group, LLC, with offices in Short Hills and Freehold, New Jersey. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, is Certified by the Supreme Court of New Jersey as a Matrimonial Law Attorney, and is the first attorney in New Jersey to become Board-Certified by the National Board of Trial Advocacy in the field of Family Law. Allison is a member of the New Jersey Board on Attorney Certification (NJBAC) – Matrimonial Committee, a New Jersey Supreme Court committee that determines eligibility of candidates to be certified as a recognized practitioner in the field of matrimonial law.
Allison has been named a Rising Star Attorney by the New Jersey Super Lawyers franchise continuously from 2008 – 2013, and has been named a Super Lawyer by that organization for 2014 – present. In 2016, she was featured in the Super Lawyers publication (Williams v. The Rubber Stamp), she has been named one of the Top 50 Women Super Lawyers in New Jersey from 2017-2020 and in 2019-2020, was voted in the Top 100 Super Lawyers and Top 50 Women Super Lawyers in the State of New Jersey.
Allison is an accomplished businesswoman. In 2017, the Williams Law Group won the LawFirm500 award, ranking 14th of the fastest growing law firms in the nation, as Ms. Williams grew the firm 581% in three years. She won the Silver Stevie Award for Female Entrepreneur of the Year in 2017. In 2018, Allison was voted as NJBIZ’s Top 50 Women in Business and was designated one of the Top 25 Leading Women Entrepreneurs and Business Owners. In 2019, Allison won the Seminole 100 Award for founding one of the fastest growing companies among graduates of Florida State University.
In 2018, Allison created Law Firm Mentor, a business coaching service for lawyers. Through multi-day intensive business retreats, group and one-to-one coaching, and strategic planning sessions, Ms. Williams advises lawyers on all aspects of creating, sustaining and scaling a law firm business – and specifically, she teaches them the core foundational principles of marketing, sales, personnel management, communications and money management in law firms.
She received her B.S., magna cum laude, and her M.S., summa cum laude, from Florida State University. She received her J.D., cum laude, from Syracuse University College of Law.
To contact Allison:
Website – https://lawfirmmentor.net/
Facebook – https://facebook.com/LawFirmMentor
Instagram – https://instagram.com/Law_Firm_Mentor
Twitter – https://twitter.com/Law_Firm_Mentor
Email – law.firm.mentor@gmail.com