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Guest: Rachel Allums took a nontraditional path to law practice, first working as a receptionist and paralegal before reading for the California Bar. She benefited from years of firm management experience, leveraging these skills when she launched her estate planning practice one year ago.

Topics:

• What it’s like being a legal unicorn
• Flipping the script by learning to be a lawyer before learning to think like a lawyer
• Battling inertia to make practice management changes that benefit clients
• Launching a firm during a pandemic
• Scaling and managing an influx of clients
• Cultivating relationships through preferred provider deals
• Managing client expectations with forthright, transparent communication
• Yes, print advertising still works!

The Tech Stack:

• Clio Grow/Clio Manage for client intake and management
• Quickbooks online for bookkeeping 
• HotDocs document automation from AbacusNext 
• Lawyaw for online legal forms

New Insights (brought to you by Nota):

• Veteran practitioner Starlett Massey answers litigation associate Melanie Kalmanson’s question:
• Question 1 of 4: “What made you decide to start your own firm?”

Special thanks to our sponsors, Lawclerk, Alert Communications, Abby Connect, and Clio.