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
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, Tom shares:
- His new second office — now open but still waiting on furniture and Google Maps approval
- The unexpected walk-in client who signed in 10 minutes (while Tom was in sweatp...
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 resource allocation in a growing firm
- My biggest mistakes and hard-earned lessons along the way
- How one principle helped us not just survive COVID but grow 18% during the pandemic
- Why focusing on ...
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 two children, and collecting nearly $800,000 last year.
Nina reveals:
- Why client experience trumps case outcomes — "I don't lose often, but when I do..." clien...
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 competitors leads to competitive convergence - where everyone looks the same and profit margins shrink
- How building internal capabilities (like our fixed fee model) created real growth
- The abundan...
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 attorneys from associates to partners.
Robin shares:
- The innovative competency matrix that removes subjectivity from promotions
- How this tool creates clarity for lawyers at...
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.
In this episode, I break down:
- Our painful pivot - cutting half our staff and clients to focus only on family law
- The unexpected rewards of saying &apo...
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 update, Tom shares:
- How he's doubling down - opening a second office and switching marketing partners
- Why he's making major changes despite steady (but slower than expected) growth
- ...
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.
Drawing from their different vantage points, we explore:
- How Katie and our leadership team rebuilt trust through careful, intentional communication
- The critical importance of 1:1 meetings bef...
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 journey of transforming our compensation model.
We share:
- Why our original percentage-of-collections model that worked for years started breaking down
- The painful lessons we learned from...
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 Milwaukee team to share a simple but powerful tool we stumbled on - what we call "The Big Table."
We dive into:
- How a simple office layout change transformed our...
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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Go to: www.JSterlingHughes.com for tons of Family Law Practice resources.
My purpose is to Empower Family Law Attorneys so they can build a beautiful family law practice and have the pract...
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 pilot program to test non-lawyers practicing in a limited way
- How KPMG moving into big law (through Arizona) will trickle down to people law
- The surge of private equity firms circling small and rural law ...
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 having just one advantage wasn't enough for us
- Examples of what's working for successful family law firms across the U.S.
- How to identify your firm's unique advantages
- Deploying yo...
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 season.
Listen in as we discuss:
- The mindset shifts needed when running your own practice and managing growth expectations
- Tom's plans for hiring his first ass...
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 truth about what clients will pay premium rates for (hint: it's not legal outcomes)
- The two things we aggressively focus on at Sterling to deliver this at scale
- Why the ...
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 and streamline operations.
Here’s what we covered:
- The ways AI is transforming legal workflows.
- Practical tools that save us time every day.
...
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 satisfaction come from doing amazing client work, our firm turned the corner in a big way.
This podcast is about that shift and subsequent mega thrust forward.
I cov...
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 practice.
In this show, Tiffany shares:
• Her approach to client management as project management
• The importance of delegation for effective pract...
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 toughness.
Keep pushing, Tom! Stay focused on what you can control. You are making the right moves.
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Go to: www.JSterlingHughes.com for tons ...
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 president sets the strategy, casts the vision, models the culture, and many other “presidential” type things.
The managing attorney leads the lawyers and legal support staff. These teammates coach lawyers, engage ...
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