Founding Partner Podcast

What does it take to bet on yourself in one of the highest-risk areas of law?In this episode of The Founding Partner Podcast, Jonathan Hawkins sits down with Atlanta trial attorney Christopher Newbern to unpack the mindset behind massive verdicts, high-stakes litigation, and building a law firm without relying on traditional advertising. Chris shares why he left insurance defense, how he developed the confidence to try difficult cases, and why learning to trust your instincts matters just as much as learning the law.From $42 million verdicts to the pressure of running a boutique trial practice, this conversation is an honest look at fear, growth, and what it really means to believe in your cases.

What if the real problem in your law firm isn’t a lack of leads, but too many? In this episode of The Founding Partner Podcast, Aaron Thomas returns to challenge one of the most common assumptions in legal growth. From scaling consultations to confronting operational bottlenecks, this conversation reveals what actually limits growth, and how to fix it before it’s too late.

What if the biggest threat to your law firm isn’t your competition, but a quiet email you didn’t question?In this episode of The Founding Partner Podcast, Kellam T. Parks returns to break down the real risks behind cybersecurity, data breaches, and why even the most sophisticated firms are vulnerable. This is not fear-driven hype, it is a practical conversation about preparation, protection, and the reality that every firm will face this eventually.

What if the thing holding your firm back… is you?In this episode of The Founding Partner Podcast, Bonnie Richardson shares the real story behind building a law firm from the ground up, navigating fear, failure, and growth. From starting with almost nothing to leading a values-driven firm, this conversation reveals what it really takes to evolve from lawyer to founder.

What does it take to build a fast-growing law firm while fighting for your life?In this deeply powerful episode of The Founding Partner Podcast, Angel Casarez shares her journey from immigrant roots to building a 90+ person firm, all while navigating a life-threatening illness. This conversation is about resilience, leadership, and what it really means to grow, in business and in life.

What if the biggest risk in your legal career isn’t failure, but standing still? In this episode of The Founding Partner Podcast, Josh Sanford shares how he went from “unhirable” to building multiple law firms, launching a legal tech company, and redefining what it means to practice law. This conversation is about momentum, reinvention, and why waiting for the future is no longer an option.

What does it really take to grow a law firm from a solo practice into a multi-state operation? In this episode, Andrew Kryder shares how hustle, relationships, and eventually systems transformed his firm. If you’ve ever wondered when to delegate, how to scale, or why client communication still wins, this conversation delivers.

What if burnout isn’t a workload problem, but a design problem?In this episode of The Founding Partner Podcast, Jason Epstein shares how intentional decisions around structure, leadership, and growth allowed him to build a firm that supports his life, not consumes it. From four-day workweeks to walking away from toxic partnerships, this conversation challenges what it really means to run a successful law firm.

What does it take to leave a successful 28-year Big Law career and start over?In this episode of The Founding Partner Podcast, appellate attorney Laurie Webb Daniel shares the story behind launching her boutique appellate firm after decades at a major firm. From arguing before the U.S. Supreme Court to building a thriving eight-lawyer practice, Laurie explains why relationships, reputation, and courage matter more than logos on a letterhead.

What if the fastest way to grow your professional services firm wasn’t marketing… but acquisition?In this episode of The Founding Partner Podcast, Jonathan Hawkins sits down with CPA entrepreneur Brad Dower to unpack how he built a rapidly expanding accounting firm by acquiring practices across the country. From structuring deals to integrating teams and scaling systems, Brad shares the lessons he’s learned turning small local practices into a national platform.

What happens when a seasoned prosecutor decides to bet on herself?In this episode of The Founding Partner Podcast, Nana Knight shares how she walked away from a stable government career to launch a premium criminal defense firm — without a single client on day one. From board certification to YouTube marketing to charging premium fees with confidence, Nana reveals the mindset and systems that fueled her rapid growth.

What does it really take to grow a law firm from two former Army JAG officers in a kitchen… to a 40-person national practice in under six years?In this episode of The Founding Partner Podcast, Robert Capovilla shares the mindset, marketing strategy, and uncomfortable decisions that fueled his firm’s rapid growth. From direct lead generation to 50 military-base billboards, this conversation is a masterclass in commitment, courage, and building something bigger than yourself.

What if your burnout isn’t caused by the work… but by the way you’re paid to do it?After 14 years in high-stakes criminal defense, Trevor Riddle walked away. He thought he needed a new practice area. A new city. A fresh start.But the real problem wasn’t the cases. It was the billable hour.So he came back, built a firm on flat fees, and bet everything on alignment over tradition.Would you have the courage to rebuild your career from the ground up?

I’ve interviewed a lot of successful founders, but Scott Zucker’s story made me pause. What if building a niche isn’t about picking the “right” strategy, but paying attention long enough to see what keeps showing up? What if the real edge isn’t certainty, but curiosity? In this conversation, we talk about saying yes before you feel ready, using fear as fuel, and why legacy isn’t something you leave behind, it’s something you practice every day.

From the outside, growth looks linear. From the inside, it never is.When I sat down with Laura Ramos James, we talked about the parts of building a law firm that don’t make it into highlight reels. The moments when the firm grows but you’re stretched thinner. When hiring helps and complicates things at the same time. When success creates opportunity, but also exhaustion.What if the real challenge isn’t growth itself, but who you have to become to sustain it?

What if everything works in law firm marketing, just not for you yet? If you are starting from zero, where should the first dollar go: lunches or LSAs? Is podcasting a smart play, or should you borrow someone else’s audience first? What would happen if you defined your “wanted case” and fixed intake before buying more leads? And who already has your clients today, quietly waiting to refer them? This episode tackles the questions most firms avoid and shows how analog work scales your digital results.

What if the ceiling on your firm isn’t the market, it’s you? In this conversation, Hillary Walsh unpacks the messy truth of scaling: opening LA with tables and chairs, learning immigration by FedEx from Korea, and the day a daycare floor forced a business pivot. How do you grow when the plan breaks, when marketing turns toxic, when profit lags top line? If you had to choose, would you wait for marble, or open the doors now?

What makes a lawyer walk away from Big Law, scale a furniture startup, build a 12-location med spa, then grow a niche firm past seven figures? How do you market a law firm when the buying cycle moves slowly? What happens when you give away the entire playbook and still win? Why does the first hire so often fail, and what mindset keeps you moving when everything stalls? In this episode, Sara Shikhman unpacks relentless progress, subscription pricing, and the marketing engine behind Lengea Law. Ready to rethink growth?

What happens when a PI founder fires himself from operations and hires a COO with zero law firm experience? Tom Tona tells me why he embraced chaos, rebuilt nearly every seat, and now runs his firm like a startup. Can you scale past seven by choosing a lane and deciding with only 30 to 50 percent of the data? What would it take to double in 2026 without touching most files? If you run a growing firm, would your own family choose it in a crisis?

What happens when a law firm owner decides bigger isn’t better, fires someone on day one, stops checking email entirely, and builds an AI-only firm—just to see if it works? My conversation with Tyson Mutrux pulled back the curtain on the systems, failures, and breakthroughs most lawyers never talk about. It left me asking: how far are we willing to reinvent the way our firms run?

What’s the right moment to take the leap and build your own firm? Is it experience, financial security, or simply fewer obligations holding you back? In this conversation, I sat down with Andrew Lacy to unpack what really happens when you leave Big Law, start from scratch, and learn the hard way that “getting cases” isn’t the same as building a business. What if the systems you resist today are the very thing that saves you tomorrow?

What if the stress in your firm isn’t coming from the law at all, but from the boundaries you never set?What if your clients didn’t “demand too much,” but simply filled the silence where your policies should have been?In this episode, I sit down with Regina Edwards, a family law attorney who built a flat-fee, tech-forward firm that runs without weekend emergencies, constant interruptions, or chaos.Her philosophy is simple: if you don’t write the rules of your practice, someone else will.

Ten years into running a law firm, Jeremy Danilson realized the hardest part wasn’t the law, it was the decisions no one sees.How do you know which tools actually help and which ones just distract you?What do you do when growth creates more complexity, not more clarity?And what if asking for help, even from unexpected places, is the real advantage most firm owners overlook?In this episode, we unpack mindset, technology, focus, and why “not quitting today” might matter more than any perfect plan.

What makes someone walk away from a stable career, start a law firm with zero clients, and rebuild their entire identity from scratch? In this episode, Joel Beck opens up about the moment a leadership coach told him something that changed everything. It made him rethink his career, his future, and what he actually wanted his life to look like.What would you have done in his shoes?

What happens when a family law attorney decides the courtroom is no longer where the real change happens?David Johnson walked out of his last case in 2019 and never came back. Instead, he built a multi-state firm, challenged the rules of law, and started asking dangerous questions. Why is value tied to time? Why can’t lawyers own something real? And what happens to evidence when AI can fake reality perfectly?

What happens when a small town farm kid becomes a trial lawyer who refuses to play the part? Hunter Garnett grew up around chicken houses and soybean fields, not courtrooms. Yet he built a Huntsville injury firm by leaning into the very things most lawyers hide. What drives someone to walk away from security, bet on themselves, and build a practice around faith, authenticity, and blue jeans? And what does he know about people that most attorneys miss?

In this conversation, I sat down with Kevin Cott, founder of COTT Law Group, who left a stable legal career to start a boutique firm with no clients, no plan, and a lot of faith. We talk about the impulsive moment that sparked it all, the partnership that didn’t work out, and how he turned risk into strategy through automation, AI, and a clear vision for the future.

What if the only thing standing between your mission and your impact… was your margin?When I sat down with Tom Spiggle, we talked about the hard truths of scaling a law firm — hiring before you’re ready, clearing payroll by eleven cents, and learning to let go of control. What does it really take to grow from a cracked laptop to a multimillion-dollar practice? And how do you lead through the chaos without losing your purpose?This episode will make you rethink what it means to build, lead, and sustain a law firm that lasts.

What if the way we bill clients is the very thing breaking the system? In this episode of The Founding Partner Podcast, I sit down with Christopher Anderson, founder of New Leaf Family Law, who’s replacing the billable hour with something few thought possible—a subscription model for family law. Could this be the future of how lawyers serve, earn, and build trust again?

What does it really take to walk away from prestige and bet on yourself? How do two rivals become partners, build a team that never loses a lawyer to another firm, and still keep their humanity in the fight? Is the billable hour dying, or is it stronger than ever in big-ticket litigation? And what do you do when your daughter is born at 3 a.m. and your Eleventh Circuit argument is at eight? This 100th episode dives into the gut calls, the near-misses, and the systems that make a firm outlast its founders. Ready to hear what most don’t say out loud?

What happens when a trial lawyer decides to stop doing everything himself? In this episode, Dan Purtell reveals how letting go transformed his firm from five people to sixty—and why saying no to the wrong cases made room for the right ones. Can a law firm scale without losing its soul? And what happens when AI enters the courtroom? This conversation might change how you think about leadership, growth, and the future of law.

What happens when a successful attorney finally admits he can’t do it all? When letting go becomes the only way to grow? In this in-person episode, I sit down with Kevin Rubin, founder of Rubin Family Law, to talk fear, delegation, and the mindset shifts that turned chaos into culture. How do you build a thriving firm without losing control—or yourself—in the process?

What if the universe really is trying to tell you something—but most of us are too busy to listen? Joe Fried was a cop who never planned on being a lawyer, until a judge pulled him aside and changed his life. He walked away from a lucrative practice, burned the boats, and five hours later got a call that set his destiny in motion. In our conversation, he shares why chasing money is the wrong path, why fear can be your greatest teacher, and how specializing can make you unstoppable. What would happen if you stopped playing it safe and committed fully to one path?

What makes someone leave a stable job, take four bar exams, and then launch a law firm with zero clients just weeks before a global pandemic? In this episode, I sit down with Roya Vasseghi, who did exactly that. We talk about starting over in a new state, why building relationships pays off years later, and the painful reality of partnerships that don’t work out. Her story made me ask: how do you know when to bet on yourself, and what’s the cost if you don’t?

What if the one thing holding your law firm back isn’t more cases, but the way you run the cases you already have? In my latest conversation with Tim McKey of Vista Consulting, we dug into the uncomfortable truth: top firms don’t rely on pixie dust or luck—they rely on vision, culture, and two numbers that most firms don’t even track. Could the difference between a good practice and a great one really come down to just intake conversion and client contact? Listen and decide for yourself.

What do you do when your very first case is one you’re not trained for, unpaid, and the stakes are someone’s freedom? Steven Goldstein leaned in, admitted to prosecutors “I don’t know what I’m doing—help me,” and turned vulnerability into strength. From hustling PI cases by walking Broadway, to playing basketball on the Knicks’ court, to winning a multimillion-dollar “jaywalking case” after a client was wrongfully jailed—his story left me asking: is the real secret to success in law about skill… or about hustle, humility, and connection?

What happens when you stop chasing every client… and start firing the wrong ones?For 20 years, Jeff Sladkus built a law firm that protects some of the world’s most famous brands. But it didn’t happen by playing it safe. From waking up at 5:30 a.m. every morning to serve Italian fashion houses, to freezing counterfeiters’ bank accounts before they even knew they’d been sued—his story forces you to ask:👉 Would your business grow faster if you focused less on saying “yes”… and more on saying “no”?

What can a personal injury lawyer teach you about negotiating with insurance adjusters, running a mid-size firm, going viral on LinkedIn, and flying first-class to Europe for $500? In this episode, I sat down with Matt Long — a lawyer who’s just as comfortable in the courtroom as he is at the poker table. His story will make you rethink how lawyers build influence, avoid burnout, and even travel the world. Would you run your practice the way he does?

What does it really take to be a good mom, a good wife, and still run a thriving law firm? 🌍 When Hurricane Katrina forced Elise Buie to rebuild her life from scratch—not once, but twice—she discovered resilience most of us can only imagine. Today, she leads a 40-person remote-first firm with a culture built on accountability, kindness, and something she calls “unreasonable hospitality.” But how do you balance family, leadership, and growth without burning out—or losing yourself along the way?

What happens when a top family lawyer says his real identity isn’t “attorney” at all?Hannibal Heredia has built a 20-year law firm partnership, navigated immigrant family expectations, and handled the toughest moments in clients’ lives — yet still calls himself “a hundred percent musician.”How do you balance courtrooms with chord progressions? What does it take to make a business partnership last decades? And why might the best lessons in law come from life on stage?Hannibal F. Heredia has practiced family law almost exclusively since 1994. He received his JD from Southwestern University, cum laude, in 1993, was the Editor in Chief of the Southwestern University Law Review, and received his undergraduate degree from Auburn University. In addition to practicing in all areas of family law, Hannibal also serves as a mediator and Guardian ad Litem in Courts throughout the metro Atlanta area.Since 2016, he has been named one of the Top 100 lawyers in Georgia by Atlanta magazine. Atlanta magazine lists Hannibal as a Super Lawyer, and Georgia Trend magazine recognizes him as “Legal Elite” in the area of Family Law. Hannibal also volunteers his time for the Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundation, serving both as a legal representative for victims of domestic violence as well as a Guardian Ad Litem. He is also on the board of the Atlanta Bar Foundation, which is the charitable arm of the Atlanta Bar Association.

What happens when a Big Law partner walks away from the prestige… and builds something better? What if naming your firm after yourself is actually holding you back? In this conversation with Adam Marshall, we explore why culture beats ego, how smart firms grow without chasing, and what most lawyers get wrong about client service. Would your clients follow you if you left tomorrow? Adam found out. Here’s what happened next.

What if the billable hour isn’t broken… but obsolete?Kimberly Bennett didn’t just walk away from hourly billing—she built something better. A flat-fee law firm. A legal tech company. And a third business… just for fun.She nearly burned out doing it all.So how did she turn that chaos into clarity—and a platform that might just change how legal services are delivered forever?This one’s not about theory. It’s about what actually works.

What if the best thing you ever built started with a single text message? Meghan Freed never planned to start a law firm—let alone lead the largest family law practice in Connecticut. But what happens when you stop doing what you’re “supposed” to do… and start listening to what actually lights you up? In this episode, we talk about breakups (business and personal), niching down, uncomfortable feedback, and the moment you realize: I’m sick of this problem. I want a new one. What if your growth started with letting go?

What if the thing that makes you different is exactly what your clients are looking for?Josh Hodges didn’t become a lawyer until he was 32. No Ivy League pedigree. No polished fast track. Just grit, DMV floors, and a daughter who changed everything. Today, he runs one of the most trusted personal injury firms in small-town Ohio—not by outspending the big guys, but by out-showing up.What does it take to build real trust in a world obsessed with flash?This story might make you rethink how you grow your firm.

What if the best law firm in your state wasn’t built by the smartest lawyer… but by the one who learned to let go?Jay Ruane didn’t want 45 employees. He didn’t want to be a CEO. But somewhere between courtrooms and burnout, he built something bigger — and walked away from the work most lawyers cling to.He says the key wasn’t money. It was dinner with his kids.And AI? It’s already replacing hours of legal grunt work in his firm.So the real question is: what are you still holding onto… that’s holding you back?

What happens when you risk everything on a case, with no offer on the table and $50K already spent on experts? For Howard Ankin, it wasn’t just a turning point—it was the moment that changed everything. From a folding table and 40 referrals to a 100-person law firm competing with national giants, Howard’s journey proves success doesn’t come from luck—it comes from showing up when it counts. But how do you scale without losing your soul? And what does it really take to lead a firm that lasts?

Laura Noble is the founder and Managing Partner of The Noble Law Firm, a recognized leader in employment law. With over 30 years of diverse legal experience, Laura’s approach combines powerful advocacy, empathetic client service, and technological innovation in all stages and aspects of employment disputes. Laura strives to cultivate a positive workplace culture built on the core values of collaboration, leadership, empathy, integrity, innovation, and equity. These values—combined with outstanding team members and advanced technology—allow The Noble Law Firm to help level the playing field for employees.

What happens when a missionary kid becomes a lawyer—and builds a firm that treats investigations like a path to healing, not just damage control?Most attorneys avoid the messy, emotional work. Theresa Sidebotham built her entire practice around it. From child protection in churches to workplace abuse in nonprofits, she handles the cases no one wants… with a strategy most law schools never teach.This is the story of how crisis, calling, and a volcanic eruption shaped one of the most unconventional law firms in the country.

Aaron Minc is the founding partner of Minc Law and a nationally recognized leader in Internet defamation who tackles the most challenging online crises with innovative legal solutions. Under his leadership, Minc Law has successfully litigated over 200 Internet defamation lawsuits across 22 states and 3 countries, removing tens of thousands of defamatory websites and search results. His practice helps individuals, businesses, celebrities, and organizations combat anonymous attacks, online harassment, revenge porn, sextortion, and other digital threats.A sought-after media commentator on Internet privacy issues, Aaron applies his 15+ years of experience to uncover anonymous users and provide clients with peace of mind during digital crises. As the visionary founder who built Minc Law from the ground up, Aaron has transformed how legal services address online reputation challenges. When not fighting online battles, this Northeast Ohio native enjoys skiing, golf, and spending time with his wife and two sons in Moreland Hills.

What would you do if you were diagnosed with leukemia just as your law firm was starting to take off, and your wife was seven months pregnant? James P. Joseph faced exactly that. In this episode, we dive into how he built a thriving firm, overcame life-threatening illness, and redefined success in the process. But the real story? It’s what he let go of along the way. What if the key to growth isn’t doing more, but learning to say no?