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The J. Sterling Hughes Show
All about the practice of Family Law - insights, interviews, news, developments, real life case studies. My mission is to Empower Family Law Attorneys.
I share how we have grown our family law firm, SterlingLawyers.com, from zero to 25+ lawyers and $15m a year in revenue since 2014.
The purpose is to document what's working and not working so you can re-contextualize for your practice and shorten your success curve.
We are so open about what we are doing because we want to help other lawyers build a beautiful law firm, even if you "compete" with us.
So, follow me and subscribe to "The J. Sterling Hughes Show" Podcast.
My YouTube channel is @JSterlingHughes
Go to www.JSterlingHughes.com for a ton of family law practice resources and info.
Episodes
131 episodes
How to Pick New Law Office Locations (Pt 1 of 3) - #131
How do you decide where to open a new family law office? In this episode, I sit down with Tony, my partner who led our growth from a single location to 4 regional offices and 20+ satellite locations. Drawing from data-driven analysi...
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Episode 131
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19:15
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Simple Blueprint to Innovate a Family Law Firm - #130
Want to innovate your family law practice but don't know where to start? In this episode, I share how our firm has grown to $15M in revenue through small, practical innovations that compound over time. Drawing from both our successe...
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Episode 130
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23:34
Tom’s Trek: It’s Goal Time after Six Months In - #129
We're back with Tom Hartin for month six of his family law startup journey on Long Island, NY. February brought steady progress with 9 leads, 6 consults, and an impressive 5 hires, along with nearly $8,000 in revenue. In this update...
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Episode 129
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32:34
Five-Part Framework to Build and Grow a Family Law Firm - #128
Struggling to grow your family law practice? Drawing from my journey building Sterling Lawyers, I share the framework I wish I'd had when starting out. In this episode, I reveal:The five key principles that guide smart r...
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Episode 128
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18:22
Her Secret Formula to Get 87 Family Law Reviews with Nina Kelly - #127
How does a top lawyer get 87 client reviews in a single year? In this episode, I sit down with Nina Kelly, one of our partners from our Illinois team, who shares her secrets to gathering authentic 87 reviews while managing 40-55 cases, raising ...
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Episode 127
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17:57
Go $0 → $15M in Family Law By Ignoring Your Competition - #126
Want to grow your family law practice? Stop obsessing over what other firms are doing. In this episode, I reveal how to grow your revenue by focusing inward instead of watching competitors.I share:Why constantly monitoring co...
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Episode 126
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12:43
How to Objectively Measure Attorney Skills and Promote Fairly with Robin Esch - #125
Growing a family law team is hard - especially when lawyers have no clear path forward. In this episode, I sit down with Robin Esch, our HR leader, to explore how we've solved one of the most vexing problems in scaling a law firm: developing at...
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Episode 125
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29:25
Focus Your Family Law Practice to Have The Firm of Your Dreams - #124
Want to grow your family law practice? I've learned that saying 'yes' to every opportunity isn't always the answer. Drawing from Sterling Lawyers' journey from 1 to 25+ attorneys, I share why focusing purely on family law transformed our firm.<...
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Episode 124
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21:22
Tom's Trek: Switching Marketing Partners to a Specialist - #123
Just wrapped up month five of Tom Hartin’s journey building his family law practice in Long Island, NY. January started slow until late in the month when things suddenly picked up — booking four consults over three days. In this upd...
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Episode 123
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26:20
How to Change Attorney Compensation Without Losing Your Team (Pt 2) - #122
Following up on our lawyer compensation discussion, I sat down with two key perspectives from our 2024 comp change — Katie VanDeusen (Managing Partner) who led the rollout, and Nina Kelly (Partner) who experienced it firsthand. Draw...
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Episode 122
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25:26
How to Change Attorney Compensation Without Losing Your Team (Pt 1) - #121
As we've grown Sterling Lawyers to 25+ attorneys and $15M in revenue, one of the toughest challenges has been getting lawyer compensation right. In this episode, I sit down with my partner, Jeff Kerlin, to walk through our 2024 jour...
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30:38
Train Your Lawyers and Build Culture Simultaneously - #120
Wondering how to build a killer team culture AND speed up training for your new attorneys at the same time? In this episode, I sit down with Austin Miller (one of our Partners) and Bailey Holt (our rising star Senior Associate) from our Milwauk...
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18:16
New AI Lawyer Lead Gen Tool - Divorce.Law - #119
In this episode, I sit down with Antonio Jimenez, a Florida family law attorney and technologist who's created Divorce.law, which is a lead gen tool for lawyers.
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46:16
Developments Toward Non-Lawyer Ownership in Family Law - #118
Is a massive opportunity storm brewing for family law practices?In this show, I explore the impending stories that could reshape how we run our family law firms.Here’s what I covered:Washington State’s new 10-year pilo...
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17:53
Build Advantages for Higher Margins in Family Law - #117
Growing a family law firm is hard. As we built Sterling Lawyers to a 25+ attorney firm doing $15M in revenue, I learned that you need clear competitive advantages to break out of the pack. In this show, I cover:Why havi...
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Episode 117
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19:18
Tom’s Trek: Growing a Solo Practice While Planning For Associates - #116
Four months into his new family law practice, Tom Hartin shares some frank insights about December 2024. While revenue hit a new high at $10,820, new client signings were slower than expected—though that's typical for the holiday s...
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Episode 116
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28:45
Why Smart Family Lawyers Are Losing Premium Clients (Fix This Now) - #115
Obtaining great client outcomes is not enough to satisfy family law clients.There's a mind-bending truth on what clients want more than great outcomes—it's meeting their emotional needs.In this episode, I share:The t...
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Episode 115
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11:34
Practical AI Family Law Tools That Work - #114
Jeff Morrell, one of our Senior Partners, is back to talk about AI tools for family lawyers.This is the presentation that Jeff gave at our annual Sterling Day event.It's about how our firm is using AI tools to enhance efficiency...
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Episode 114
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29:26
The Family Law Firm Strategy to Rule Them All - #113
For most of our firm's history, we have been a "marketing-first" family law practice. This philosophy can only get a family firm so far. When I finally bought into the idea that long-term prosperity and career satisf...
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21:11
How She Collects $1,285,000+/yr in Family Law - #112
This is a gold nugget-laden show for anyone practicing in family law.I interview our firm's highest-collecting attorney, Tiffany Vogel. She is a star, an ultra-high performer.Tiffany gives a masterclass in operating a family law...
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Episode 112
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58:15
Tom's Trek: Emotional Resilience Through a Tough Month - #111
We all have months that kick us in the teeth. It hurts. It sucks. Tom had one of those months in November -- his third month in practice. This show is about what happened and is a picture of mental toughnes...
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Episode 111
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26:35
The Managing Attorney's Role in a Family Law Firm - #110
The second most important role in a family law firm is the managing attorney.In the vast majority of family law firms, the founder/owner sits in two seats: (1) the president and (2) the managing attorney. The preside...
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Episode 110
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29:24
Casting a Compelling Vision to Your Family Law Team - #109
This show highlights a talk I gave to our entire legal team at a recent event. I announced a new service blending Artificial Intelligence into tools for clients. I also shared two other long-term strategic initiatives that we are w...
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Episode 109
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32:31