Episoder
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In this special episode directed at both lawyers and their clients, Geneve and Phyllis discuss how an economic downturn can impact the legal industry and share their suggestions for clients and lawyers to prepare for it.
Phyllis and Geneve offer these insights about the legal industry during an economic downturn:
Expect potential changes in legal services during economic downturns: some clients might prioritize other expenses during a downturn, but others may become more creative and see opportunities to acquire assets.
How clients can take advantage of the downturn: lawyers may be more open to flexible work, so clients can "shop around" for the best fit in terms of services and fees. Clients may also want a legal team that focuses on proactive strategy.
How lawyers can take advantage of the downturn: lawyers should expand horizons, learn new topics, become more familiar with clients' businesses, be flexible with pricing, and have frank conversations with clients about fees.
Tips for clients: evaluate lawyers differently, interview existing and potential lawyers, and involve lawyers in the creative structure of deals.
Tips for lawyers: be flexible with time and fee structures, proactively meet with clients to discuss deal structure and fees during the downturn, and examine your business for efficiency.
Stay positive during economic downturns: opportunities can arise from crises!
Next Episode Coming in June!
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Geneve and Phyllis are joined once again by Tony Alfonso, co-founder of SeedJura. This week, they provide a wake-up call to lawyers about how Generative AI tools like Chat-GPT will change the legal industry.
The SeedJura team covers the following topics related to Generative AI:
The inevitable impact of Generative AI on lawyer-client relations, with clients potentially turning to AI for cheaper alternatives without understanding the value of legal work.
The team debates the potential usefulness of Generative AI for lawyers in areas such as legal research, document preparation, legal chat bots, and language translation.
The question of whether Generative AI can ever fully replace lawyers is discussed, with Chat-GPT being asked for its input.
The team encourages lawyers to consider incorporating Generative AI into their practice due to its efficiency and the fact that clients are already using it. They emphasize the importance of adopting technology thoughtfully.
The SeedJura Group is currently conducting a study on the legal answers provided by Chat-GPT.
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In this first episode of 2023, Tony Alfonso (co-founder of SeedJura) joins Geneve and Phyllis to discuss Generative AI tools like Chat-GPT and how clients can use them for legal services.
The SeedJura team addresses the following questions about Generative AI:
What is Generative AI, and how does it work?Why is Generative AI attractive, and how can it be used?What concerns should we have about Generative AI?How can clients benefit from using Generative AI for legal services?The team concludes that Generative AI will become a crucial part of the legal industry and shares five tips on how clients can use AI for legal information:
Use AI prompts thoughtfully and proactively.Use AI as a starting point to begin in-depth research.Verify and think critically about the responses provided by AI.Accept the risk involved in using an AI-generated contract.Discuss with your lawyer or legal team how they plan to incorporate Generative AI into their legal services.Next Week's Episode: Geneve, Phyllis, and Tony discuss the harsh truth about Generative AI's impact on the future of the legal industry.
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Geneve and Phyllis are joined again by Tony Alfonso, fellow co-founder of SeedJura, to discuss the ways in which the legal industry is trending. This episode will be particularly interesting to lawyers and may be enlightening to clients as well!
The SeedJura trio reviews the following trends currently seen in the legal industry :
A new avenue of gig-work has opened up for lawyers: contract work and one-off assignments provide more flexibility and a balanced lifestyle for today's attorneys.Clients are able to explore more options when going through the process of selecting and hiring lawyers.Legal expertise is getting more and more specialized, and lawyers a narrowing in their expertise.Lawyer training and education is becoming more standardized as opposed to the past route of apprenticeships.Technology is expanding and is providing new information and connectivity for both clients and lawyers.Firms using multiple technologies collect 40% more revenue per lawyer when compared to firms that haven't adopted new technological trends.Technology has allowed clients to be at the helm of of their own legal matters.Communication between lawyers and clients is becoming more streamlined - and there's more than just email!Next Week's Episode: This will be the last SeedJura: Decoding Law episode of 2022. Thank you for listening this year! We're looking forward to releasing new episodes in January 2023!
Please subscribe to SeedJura: Decoding Law on your favorite podcast player!
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In this episode of SeedJura: Decoding Law, Geneve and Phyllis are joined Tony Alfonso, another co-founder of SeedJura. The three colleagues discuss past and present trends in the legal industry and share enlightening, 'behind-the-scenes' information about the industry with non-lawyers/clients.
The SeedJura trio explores the traditional structure and flow of the legal industry:
Previously, lawyers would go to undergrad and then law school in hopes of getting into a large firm (only 1% of lawyers go on to start a solo practice). After years of work, lawyers could hope to be promoted to partner at their firms. And, partners could offload work onto younger associates. But none of this is universally the case anymore.
In the past, potential clients would only have word-of-mouth information for evaluating the efficacy of lawyers, and were subjected to the fees and expenses of the currently available pool of lawyers.
Law firms are more of an aggregate for individual businesses than they are a conglomerate of legal minds. Individual attorneys at firms are responsible for acquiring their own clients.
Clients belong to attorneys, not the firms. If an attorney leaves a firm, their clients are more then likely to leave with them.
Geneve, Phyllis, and Tony reflect on the traditional way that attorneys were trained:
Landing a job at a law firm can feel like a fish-out-of-water scenario for newer lawyers. Lawyers need an apprenticeship to learn how to apply their legal studies into the practical world.
Even at a law firm, attorneys function as solo practitioners, trying to generate business and billable hours for themselves as opposed to working holistically for the firm.
Often, attorneys work for years at firms and either get promoted to partner, or work for a company and become in-house council.
Traditional marketing in the legal world is complicated:
Marketing has been all about personal connections and going out and meeting people.
Lawyers have had to be salespeople, otherwise they wouldn't generate new business.
There were historically no standards for providing services or marketing, it was all at the discretion of individual attorneys.
Next Week's Episode: Tony joins Phyllis and Geneve again to discuss the future of the legal industry.
Please subscribe to SeedJura: Decoding Law on your favorite podcast player!
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SeedJura on LinkedIn (company/seedjura/)
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In this episode, directed primarily towards lawyers, the SeedJura co-hosts Phyllis and Geneve bust some myths that lawyers may have about their clients
Myth 1 - Clients know the value of their lawyers
Myth 2 - Clients have their business and information organized
Myth 3 - Clients understand the work you put in to help them, and they will have no problem paying your fees immediately
Myth 4 - Clients are proactive and will give you accurate information
Myth 5 - Clients love you
Next Week's Episode: For clients: the SeedJura team will explore topics concerning the legal industry
Please subscribe to SeedJura: Decoding Law on your favorite podcast player!
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SeedJura on LinkedIn (company/seedjura/)
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In this episode, directed primarily towards clients of lawyers, the SeedJura co-hosts Phyllis and Geneve shed light on common myths surrounding lawyers and the legal profession.
Geneve and Phyllis tackle five common myths people may believe about the legal process:
Myth 1 - The only time you need a lawyer is when you're in troubleMyth 2 - Any lawyer can do anything within the legal professionMyth 3 - All lawyers are expensiveMyth 4 - If you have a good lawyer, you're guaranteed a favorable outcomeMyth 5 - All lawyers are richNext Week's Episode: For lawyers: the SeedJura team will tackle myths lawyers may believe about their clients.
Please subscribe to SeedJura: Decoding Law on your favorite podcast player!
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SeedJura on LinkedIn (company/seedjura/)
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In this episode, directed primarily towards lawyers, SeedJura co-hosts Phyllis and Geneve explore marketing yourself as a lawyer, and why it's more important than you may think.
When trying to acquire new business it's important to highlight the problems in today's legal industry when it comes to marketing yourself and your firm:
Many lawyers see marketing as a waste of time and want to focus on other aspects of the business
Lawyers have the (mis)perception that clients know exactly what they want when hiring lawyers
Lawyers often don't know the importance of articulating their values, roles, and status
Proposals, pitch books, and marketing materials from law firms all look and sound the same
What are the solutions to these problems? How can you implement solutions to better your marketing material?
Change your mentality: remember that marketing is essential to generate new business
Recenter your marketing around your clients and their needs
Understand the roles you play as a lawyer and ensure those roles are reflected in your marketing material
Ensure your promotional material sets you apart from other lawyers and law firms
Next Week's Episode: For clients of lawyers: Geneve and Phyllis will discuss the legal industry.
Please subscribe to SeedJura: Decoding Law on your favorite podcast player!
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SeedJura on LinkedIn (company/seedjura/)
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In this episode, directed primarily towards clients of lawyers, SeedJura co-hosts Geneve and Phyllis help uncover the secrets behind hiring a good lawyer.
(A note from Geneve & Phyllis: This episode is a little longer than our usual episodes, but we feel that this content is very important and worth dedicating the time to explain thoroughly.)
First, Geneve and Phyllis highlight the what could go wrong if you don't hire the right lawyer. The wrong lawyer could:
Be silent and ignore you case / deposition
Drop you entirely
Lead opposing council to believe you're incompetent
Charge you way more than you expected
The ultimate goal when hiring a lawyer is to decide:
Who you hire
What price point is best for you
What your potential lawyer could provide
When hiring a lawyer, you must understand:
Lawyers are very specialized and not a "one-size-fits-all" profession
Not all lawyers have the same skill-sets, even if they graduated from the same school or work at the same firm.
Hiring the right lawyer makes a huge difference in the outcome of your deal / case
You have to do your homework and take charge when hiring and managing your lawyers
There are many factors that go into the decision to hire a lawyer. If you've decided that you do need to hire an attorney, you should consider:
How important is hiring a lawyer to you and your company?
Do your current needs stipulate the need for a lawyer? (You can listen to Episode 1 of SeedJura: Decoding Law to learn more)
What role do you need a lawyer to fulfill for you? (You can listen to Episode 5 of SeedJura: Decoding Law to learn more)
What value do you need a lawyer to provide for you? (You can listen to Episode 3 of SeedJura: Decoding Law to learn more)
What's the timeframe for this deal, case, or dispute?
Where is the matter, case, or dispute centered, in terms of location (e.g. state, city, etc.)?
What's your budget?
When you decide to hire a lawyer, there are many factors to consider. SeedJura will have a separate episode dedicated to this topic, but as an introduction, when interviewing a lawyer, you should be identifying:
How and where the lawyer was trained
How organized the lawyer is
The team size for each case
How communication with you is handled and how you will be updated on progress
How will you be able to access data (e.g. documents, files, and other info)
What is the lawyer's current workload
How does the lawyer charge you and how frequently would you be updated on your current bill
When finalizing the hiring process:
Get a formal letter of engagement and be sure to read it
If you aren't comfortable with any aspect of the letter of engagement, ask to negotiate changes
Request contact information for at least two attorneys in the firm
Be friendly with the firm's secretaries and assistants who will be assisting the lawyers on your case
Next Week's Episode: In the next episode (intended for lawyers), Phyllis and Geneve will explore how lawyers can stand out and generate new business.
Please subscribe to SeedJura: Decoding Law on your favorite podcast player!
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SeedJura on LinkedIn (company/seedjura/)
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In this episode, directed primarily towards lawyers, the SeedJura co-hosts Phyllis and Geneve breakdown the different roles and responsibilities lawyers have and how these roles serve to help their clients.
Phyllis and Geneve summarize the most common roles for lawyers as:
Doers - Lawyers who prepare documents and execute tasks
Specialists - Lawyers who provide expert input and representation for clients in a specific field
Influencers - Lawyers who advocate, negotiate, and represent a client
Project Managers - Lawyers who oversee and organize legal tasks and proceedings for their clients
Strategists - Lawyers who conduct overall planning development for clients
Next Week's Episode: For clients of lawyers, Geneve will share the secrets to hiring lawyers!
Please subscribe to SeedJura: Decoding Law on your favorite podcast player!
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SeedJura on LinkedIn (company/seedjura/)
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In this episode, directed primarily towards the clients of lawyers, Geneve leads the conversation and helps illustrate the many roles and responsibilities lawyers have, in hopes of shedding light on the subject for their clients.
First, Geneve recommends refamiliarizing yourself with SeedJura's breakdown of the values that lawyers bring to the table, which was discussed in the 3rd episode of SeedJura: Decoding Law "For Clients: Why are Lawyers So Expensive?"
Phyllis and Geneve explore that a lawyer isn't a "one size fits all" profession, and that there are many subsets of lawyers in the field, such as:
Executors/Doers - Lawyers who prepare documents and execute tasks
Specialists - Lawyers who provide expert input and representation for clients in a specific field
Influencers - Lawyers who advocate, negotiate, and represent a client
Project Managers - Lawyers who oversee and organize legal tasks and proceedings for their clients
Strategists - Lawyers who conduct overall planning development for clients
Next Week's Episode: Phyllis will lead a discussion aimed at lawyers to help them in explaining what they actually do for their client base.
Please subscribe to SeedJura: Decoding Law on your favorite podcast player!
Visit SeedJuraGroup.com
SeedJura on LinkedIn (company/seedjura/)
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In this episode directed primarily towards lawyers, Phyllis helps illustrate lawyers' need to convey the value they bring to a situation, so that clients can better understand the price of lawyers' services.
Geneve and Phyllis highlight where thereâs a disconnect between clients' and lawyers' perceptions of legal fees:
Clients only see the price tag associated with lawyers and not the value and experience lawyers bring to the table
Clients donât feel like theyâre given options with fees
Next, Geneve and Phyllis propose solutions on how lawyers can better communicate with their clients when discussing their fees:
Lawyers need to understand the business and services of their clients so they can approach the conversation with insights into clients' specific legal needs
To help lawyers better communicate their own value, Geneve reviews the Value Chart highlighted in EP03, which explains the many layers of value a lawyer can offer (a further explanation can be found in the the 3rd episode of SeedJura: Decoding Law ("Why Are Lawyers So Expensive?")
Understanding a clientâs budget is essential when first establishing a client relationship
Lawyers must communicate both expected fees and any cost overages that arise outside of the initially negotiated rate
Next Week's Episode: Geneve will lead a discussion aimed at clients that asks the question, "What Do Lawyers Actually Do?"
Please subscribe to SeedJura: Decoding Law on your favorite podcast player!
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In this episode directed primarily to clients of lawyers, Geneve helps to explain why lawyers and legal services always seem so expensive.
(A note from Geneve & Phyllis: we are not trying to justify that lawyers should be expensive, but this area is the biggest gap between lawyers and clients, so we need to look at this from both sides' perspectives.)
In this episode, Geneve & Phyllis first discuss common perceptions about lawyers and legal fees:
They charge you for everything, even a phone callThey charge everything based on hourly rateHourly rate is all over the place â some lawyers are $300 per hour and some are $1,200 per hourThey spend so many hours on everything (and how would clients know how many hours a lawyer should spend on a specific task?)Bottom-line: the perception is that lawyers are expensive (and that the charges â value)!Geneve explains how this perception is an industry problem:
What lawyers do is often invisible and not easy to understandLawyers are not salespeople â they're usually not good at explaining their value in exchange for what they chargeLaw firm structure â based on billable hours and have many ethical boundaries (this means little flexibility)Next, Phyllis explains the different ways lawyers can charge you (there's more than one!) and how you can explore different options that fit your business model and that are within your lawyer'sâ law firm and ethical parameters:
Flat feeHourly rate by hours worked (most common)Cap feeContingency feeFinally, Geneve and Phyllis discuss the value that lawyers do actually bring their clients, specifically, the 6 Layers of value that lawyers can bring their clients.
The 6 Layers of Value:
Branding
Insurance
Strategies
Representation (negotiation & representing you in the market place)
Education
Producing Documents (secretarial tasks)
Please subscribe to SeedJura: Decoding Law on your favorite podcast player!
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SeedJura on LinkedIn (company/seedjura/)
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In this episode directed primarily to lawyers, Phyllis discusses how to ensure your clients know why they need you.
Problems with todayâs legal industry that causes clients to not understand why they need lawyers:
"They should know our valueâ mentalityNobody actually knows what lawyers doLawyers = messy and expensive (everything becomes more complicated)Solutions:
Know their business/backgroundUnderstand what others in their business (with similar background) do and need in legal processDonât be reactive (donât just ask âwhat can we do for you?)Help them evaluate at what point they actually need lawyers (use: GMCD method - listen to EP01. For Clients: Why Do I Need Lawyers?)Give them clear steps based on their current business path and show them their legal needs from this point forward â have an honest discussion with them of when they actually need lawyers throughout those steps (investment)Please subscribe to SeedJura: Decoding Law on your favorite podcast player!
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SeedJura on LinkedIn (company/seedjura/)
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An introduction to SeedJura and hosts Geneve DuBois & Phyllis Shuster, plus a discussion of why (and when) businesses need lawyers.
After hosts Geneve & Phyllis briefly introduce themselves and introduce their company SeedJura, Geneve dives into the topic of why and in what circumstances your business needs a lawyer, using a 4-point âchecklistâ to determine whether the situation would benefit from legal counsel.
The 4-point checklist is abbreviated as âGMCDâ â to help you remember this abbreviation, you can think of Driving a GMC truck to your destination (where your destination is legal protection)!
GMCD:
Giant â when you need a Giant in the marketplace to represent you (=credibility & not being bullied)Small companies facing lenders/venture capital companies (who is the other side?)Foreign companiesAdvocacy + KnowledgeMoney/Lives â when you are dealing with other peopleâs $$ and/or Lives (= high risk situations)Highly regulated industriesChallenge â when what you do can be challenged (or is being challenged) by officials/governments/other entities (= formal legal procedures concerning taxes/estate tax/ litigation/ investigation/ownership)Situations in which not getting procedures and formalities done correctly will have serious legal impacts or invalidityDomino Effects â an action will have domino effects on your business (= need overall planning and strategiese.g. Corporate and tax structuresBuying property (think about sale in the future â e.g. you maybe OK with some issues when you buy, but would the future buyer be OK?)Please subscribe to SeedJura: Decoding Law on your favorite podcast player!
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Ever felt that hiring and managing lawyers is such a pain? You are not alone. In fact, the most well-kept secret for one of the key ingredients of the success of a company is -- its ability to engage and manage legal services. This podcast decodes the complexity of the legal world so that you, as a business owner, know how to use law and legal services to your advantage.
Come and join us at SeedJura: Decoding Law - Launching September 26th, 2022!
