Most lawyers try to grow their firm the same way. More ads. Better SEO. More hustle.

Elise Buie went a completely different direction.

Years ago, after her life was turned upside down and she had to rebuild from scratch in a new city, Elise didn’t have a big network, a fancy marketing plan, or a pipeline of clients waiting for her.

What she did have was a decision.

She was going to meet 100 people every single quarter. No matter what.

That simple commitment turned into something much bigger. It became a referral engine. A community. And eventually, a thriving law firm built around her life, not the other way around.

In this episode, Elise breaks down how that strategy actually works, what most lawyers get wrong about networking, and how she scaled her firm while raising six kids and refusing to sacrifice her freedom.

We also get into her philosophy of “people first, profit follows,” how she built a culture without “Eeyores,” and why unreasonable hospitality might be the most underrated growth strategy in law firm ownership.

If you are tired of chasing leads, burning out, or building a firm that feels more like a trap than a vehicle for freedom, this conversation will challenge how you think about growth.

Hit play and start building a firm that actually works for your life.

Connect with Elise

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elise-buie
Website: https://www.elisebuiefamilylaw.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/elisebuiefamilylaw

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Brian Glass is a nationally recognized personal injury lawyer in Fairfax, Virginia. He is passionate about living a life of his own design and looking for answers to solutions outside of the legal field. This podcast is his effort to share that passion with others.

Want to connect with Brian?

Follow Brian on Instagram: @thebrianglass
Connect on LinkedIn

When lawyers think about going solo, the first reaction is usually fear.

What if I can’t find clients?
What if I mess up the business side?
What if leaving the firm is the worst decision I ever make?

But what if the bigger risk is staying?

In this episode, Brian sits down with family law attorney and solo practice coach Wendy Meadows to talk about the moment many lawyers quietly reach. The moment when you realize you are working harder than ever, bringing in real value to the firm, and somehow still feel stuck, underpaid, and out of control of your own career.

Wendy has helped countless lawyers make the leap into solo practice. Not with vague motivation or “just bet on yourself” advice. With a practical roadmap that starts before the resignation letter and carries through the first month of running your own firm.

In this conversation, Wendy breaks down the real red flags that tell lawyers it might be time to leave. Things like generating business but still only taking home a fraction of the revenue. Having ideas that could improve the firm but getting ignored. Or realizing that the traditional partnership path may never actually happen.

Brian and Wendy also talk about the nuts and bolts of launching a solo practice. The minimum tools you actually need to get started. How lawyers can build a client base before they even leave their firm. And why showing up authentically online might be the most underrated marketing strategy in the legal profession.

You will also hear an honest discussion about work life balance, why some lawyers stay solo forever, and how others build thriving firms after making the leap.

If you have ever wondered whether the traditional law firm model is really the only path forward, this episode might make you think twice.

Hit play and start imagining what your practice could look like on your terms.

Connect with Wendy

Websites
https://www.sparkleandgrit.com/
https://wendysmeadows.com/

LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/in/wendy-sare-meadows-ba80285/

Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100072318214998

Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/wendy_s_meadows/

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Brian Glass is a nationally recognized personal injury lawyer in Fairfax, Virginia. He is passionate about living a life of his own design and looking for answers to solutions outside of the legal field. This podcast is his effort to share that passion with others.

Want to connect with Brian?

Follow Brian on Instagram: @thebrianglass
Connect on LinkedIn

Most law firm marketing feels like a treadmill. Post more. Track more. Spend more. Hope the numbers behave.

David Vicknair is playing a different game.

He’s in one of the most competitive PI markets in the country, he’s three years into TV, and he still keeps coming back to the same “boring” foundation that most firms skip. Build your list. Stay in touch. Be memorable. Not with more noise, but with consistency.

In this episode, David tells the real story behind what’s working for his firm in New Orleans. We talk about the surprising world of TV advertising, why you have to commit for the long haul, and why dabbling is basically a donation to the market leaders.

Then we get into the move that makes a lot of lawyers squirm: a print newsletter and the effort it takes to manage it well. Not because it’s flashy, but because it compounds. It keeps you top of mind with people who already know you, trust you, and will send you the next call when it matters.

You’ll also hear David’s take on “attribution disease,” why perfect tracking is impossible, and the simple way he thinks about marketing health without going insane. Plus, a fun detour into organic content that doesn’t take itself too seriously, because nobody is searching for “seven things to do after a crash” until they’re actually in one.

If you want marketing that feels steadier, simpler, and more owned, this episode will click.

Connect with David

• Website: scottvicknair.com
• LinkedIn (he posts twice a week): www.linkedin.com/in/david-vicknair-b7454321
• Podcast: Overruled Podcast

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Brian Glass is a nationally recognized personal injury lawyer in Fairfax, Virginia. He is passionate about living a life of his own design and looking for answers to solutions outside of the legal field. This podcast is his effort to share that passion with others.

Want to connect with Brian?

Follow Brian on Instagram: @thebrianglass
Connect on LinkedIn

If Part 1 made you want to rethink your marketing, Part 2 is where Dan Kennedy gets dangerously practical.

This episode picks up live from the Great Legal Marketing Summit (October 2025) with Dan going deeper on the stuff most lawyers ignore because it feels “old school” or “too much work.” Direct mail. Personal follow-up. Real client engagement that does not look like every other firm’s same five ads and the same three landing pages. The kind of marketing that makes you the obvious choice because you are not playing the same game as everyone else.

Consolidation is coming. More money is moving into legal. More companies are buying up attention, platforms, and distribution. And that reality changes what “growth” even means for a small firm. You can either get swept into the noise, or you can build something durable with a strategy and a circle of people who are testing what works.

That’s where the conversation lands at the end. Dan talks about the value of mastermind groups, not as a trendy thing, but as a place to borrow the best experiments, skip expensive mistakes, and keep momentum when the market shifts. If you have been feeling like your marketing is fine but fragile, this episode will click.

Want the notes from this conversation and the rest of the Summit sessions? Grab them at glmsummitnotes.com.

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Brian Glass is a nationally recognized personal injury lawyer in Fairfax, Virginia. He is passionate about living a life of his own design and looking for answers to solutions outside of the legal field. This podcast is his effort to share that passion with others.

Want to connect with Brian?

Follow Brian on Instagram: @thebrianglass
Connect on LinkedIn

Most lawyers market by looking around, copying what everyone else is doing, and hoping they can outspend the next firm.

Dan Kennedy thinks that is the fastest way to become invisible.

This is Part 1 of a two-part conversation from the Great Legal Marketing Summit (October 2025), where Ben Glass and Dan Kennedy dig into the core idea that built Ben’s firm in the first place: don’t do what everyone else does.

Ben opens with the story of being a good lawyer who had no clue how to run a business, then getting a long sales letter in the mail for Magnetic Marketing. He almost sent it back. Instead, he listened, tested the ideas, and it changed his whole trajectory.

From there, Dan gets practical and a little ruthless. He breaks down why “all digital everything” turns firms into commodities, why big-budget advertisers are not the real threat you think they are, and why your intake call is not an admin task. It is a sales conversation with someone who does not want to need a lawyer in the first place.

You will hear them talk lead magnets, follow-up systems, and the “invited guest” concept. How to stop chasing prospects and start building a marketing asset that attracts the right people, over and over, without burning your life down trying to keep up with 95 million posts a day.

If you have ever felt like your marketing is loud, expensive, and somehow still not working, this episode will feel like a reset.

Want the full summit notes? Grab them at glmsummitnotes.com.

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Brian Glass is a nationally recognized personal injury lawyer in Fairfax, Virginia. He is passionate about living a life of his own design and looking for answers to solutions outside of the legal field. This podcast is his effort to share that passion with others.

Want to connect with Brian?

Follow Brian on Instagram: @thebrianglass
Connect on LinkedIn

Most lawyers think “brand” means a logo, a slogan, or some clever line about fighting for justice.

Kia Arian has a different take. In this GLM Summit talk, she starts with a story about being jealous of a squirrel and ends by showing you why your best marketing is not a gimmick. It is the part of you that has been there the whole time. Your story.

Kia breaks down why legal marketing keeps sounding the same, why reviews are not a brand, and why “experienced and compassionate” is basically invisible at this point. Then she walks through real examples of how lawyers uncovered a message that made the right people say, “Yep. That’s my lawyer.”

You will also hear how to stop trying to manufacture momentum in your marketing and instead build a message that feels true, clear, and easy to repeat. The kind that attracts the right-fit clients and quietly repels the tire kickers.

If you want the GLM Summit notes Brian mentions, you can grab them at glmsummitnotes.com

Connect with Kia:
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/kiaarian
Company: www.zinemarketing.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/zinegraphics
X (Twitter): twitter.com/kiaarian_

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Brian Glass is a nationally recognized personal injury lawyer in Fairfax, Virginia. He is passionate about living a life of his own design and looking for answers to solutions outside of the legal field. This podcast is his effort to share that passion with others.

Want to connect with Brian?

Follow Brian on Instagram: @thebrianglass
Connect on LinkedIn

Most lawyers say they want to “scale.”

Ryan McKeen has actually done it. The real kind. The kind where you build a firm that can take the punch of an eight year case, fund experts and animations, and still keep the lights on. The kind where a $100 million verdict is not a lottery ticket. It is the result of building the machine behind the scenes.

In this conversation, Ryan tells the story of chasing an eight figure goal when he did not even have a case worth six figures. He talks about what had to change to make that goal even possible, from the team, to the systems, to the way he approached learning trial work. Then he shares the part nobody tells you. Even after the verdict, the case is not “done.” He is still waiting on the appellate ruling, and the clock is ticking at about $9,000 a day in interest.

But the episode is not just a victory lap. It is a behind the scenes look at what it takes to build a firm that can handle big work without falling apart. We talk about why you cannot skip the reps, why “gut feel” is a terrible hiring plan, and why investing in your team is the highest leverage move most law firm owners refuse to make.

Then it gets spicy. Ryan breaks down what private equity is doing in legal, why the middle is going to get squeezed, and what smaller firms need to do to stay strong and stay different. Think local pizza place versus Domino’s, but with your clients and your career on the line.

If you want a clearer path to building a firm that can handle real cases, and still leave room for a real life, this one will hit.

Connect with Ryan

• Best Era: bestera.com
• LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/ryanmckeen

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Brian Glass is a nationally recognized personal injury lawyer in Fairfax, Virginia. He is passionate about living a life of his own design and looking for answers to solutions outside of the legal field. This podcast is his effort to share that passion with others.

Want to connect with Brian?

Follow Brian on Instagram: @thebrianglass
Connect on LinkedIn

Hiring is one of those things most law firm owners do just often enough to get burned.

You are growing, the phones are ringing, the cases are coming in, and suddenly you are thinking, “We need help. Like yesterday.” And that is usually the exact moment you start making decisions based on vibes, a decent resume, and one solid interview. Brian says it best. Most of us are not great at hiring because we do it so rarely.

This episode is basically a reset button for the way lawyers hire.

Jay Henderson walks you through a simple lens that makes everything clearer: your firm is made of people, tasks, and systems. You can build great systems all day long, but the people are the ones doing the work. So if the people part is off, everything gets harder than it needs to be.

From there, Jay gets practical. He breaks down how to create a “superstar profile” for each role so you know what good actually looks like before you post the job. Then he shows you how to write a job ad that attracts the right candidate instead of everyone with a pulse. He talks score sheets, structured interviews, and how to stop defaulting into selling the job because you ran out of questions.

He also gives a gut check on gut checks. Pay attention when your instincts are warning you something is off, but do not let intuition be the whole strategy. Tools, testing, and a consistent process help you go in with your eyes open and avoid the bad hire tax.

If you are building a firm you actually want to show up to on Mondays, this is the episode that helps you stop hiring problems from becoming your whole personality.

Connect with Jay:

• LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/jaysrealtalent
• Company: www.RealTalentHiring.com
• Email: Jay@RealTalentHiring.com

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Brian Glass is a nationally recognized personal injury lawyer in Fairfax, Virginia. He is passionate about living a life of his own design and looking for answers to solutions outside of the legal field. This podcast is his effort to share that passion with others.

Want to connect with Brian?

Follow Brian on Instagram: @thebrianglass
Connect on LinkedIn