#142 No Job, No License: The Call That Accidentally Built a Legal Career

Christine Hummel walked into law school with one goal: become the compassionate estate planning attorney who helps families through their darkest moments — just like the attorneys who helped her mother after her father died suddenly when Christine was a child. What followed was anything but the plan. A cross-country move, no law license in a new state, and a single emergency phone call from a loyal colleague became the unlikely foundation of a 24-year consulting business she never saw coming. In this episode of Lawyers Who Learn, host David Schnurman, CEO of Lawline, sits down with Christine Hummel, founder of Hummel Consultation Services, to trace the winding road from grieving daughter to accidental entrepreneur — and how a niche she stumbled into became a career that may be helping far more people than estate planning ever could have. Christine shares how she launched her Medicare Secondary Payer compliance practice with almost no contacts and no clients — and how teaching became her secret weapon for growth. She unpacks why she insisted on delivering entire five-hour CLEs solo: one clear, authoritative voice in a notoriously gray-area field keeps attorneys from leaving more confused than when they arrived. It also turned out to be brilliant marketing. With over 15 courses and 5,000 completions on Lawline, Christine's teaching has become her most powerful business development tool — converting curious attorneys into consulting clients one CLE at a time.