Building a Law Firm That Supports Family Life and Drives Success

Atty. Miriam Airington-Fisher: I think that a lot of times, and some of this language has become really kind of cliche, you know, work life balance. and I think it, means different things to different people. So it is important to explain what it means to me is that we're not going to sacrifice our personal lives and our family responsibilities but I also believe that we don't need to, because I'm also not willing to sacrifice the health of the business, the welfare of our clients, and that's why I started my own practice, because I wanted to figure out how to do both.


Welcome to The Your Practice Mastered Podcast 


[: 00:00:00

MPS: Hey, Law Firm Owner, welcome to The Your Practice Mastered Podcast. We're your hosts. I'm MPS. 


Richard James: And I'm Richard James. MPS, what a great pleasure we have today. We've been putting out content in the last couple of years, and we're communicating with those that are on our list. And we said, Hey, if you've got a great story to tell, we'd love to hear from you. Somebody raised their hand. And you and I, basically, what we do is have a little conversation with them before, to see, is it going to bring value to everybody? 


And oh, my gosh, what value is Miriam going to bring today, Michael? 


Introducing Today's Guest: Miriam 


MPS: Oh, I'm excited for this. We got to talk a little bit pre-show to learn just continue details about the firm and what she's been able to accomplish. So this is going to be fun. Miriam, thank you for being here today. I appreciate it. 


Atty. Miriam Airington-Fisher: Yeah, I'm excited. Thanks for having me. 


MPS: Yeah, likewise. Look, one of the things we like to do is just break the ice a little bit. 


So what's something that maybe not everyone knows about you? 


ago. And I've never ridden a [: 00:01:00

Richard James: Oh, I'm so jealous. When I was 12 years old, my parents would never let me ride a motorcycle. When I was 12 years old, my friends had a mini bike. And they were all taking turns riding the mini bike. And I'm thinking, Oh, my parents said I can never ride one. I was a 12 year old boy, and I was going to do it anyway. 


So I did it. And I rode them and I had the time of my life. And I'm like, Oh my gosh, I want a motorcycle so bad. I come home, I tell my parents, and they grounded me for two weeks. And I never bought a motorcycle from that point forward. It's probably good, considering the way I drive a car, probably would have had some accidents along the way, and that wouldn't have been a good thing. But I will admit, the thrill of driving a motorcycle. 


So maybe like you, what I'll do is, I'll prove I can do it. I'll go get the license. And then I won't actually take it on the street, so I don't freak my bride out. 


never rode it, what was the [: 00:02:00

Atty. Miriam Airington-Fisher: There was a weekend course that was being offered in Downtown Richmond when I lived there, and just signed up with someone else. And it was like a two day thing. And we passed the test and they had us ride a motorcycle like around the parking lot. And I got the little sign on my license, and then that was it. I never used it. It was just something to do that weekend. 


MPS: Nice. 


Atty. Miriam Airington-Fisher: Yeah. 


MPS: That's cool. It's a good weekend test and activity. And now you've got the badge of honor to prove it. So that's pretty cool. 


One of the things I'd love to learn is just a little bit more about your journey. 


Miriam's Journey to Law and Entrepreneurship 


MPS: From the high level, talk to us a little bit about your journey as an entrepreneurial law firm owner. 


ond, Virginia, working for a [: 00:03:00

I had a wonderful mentor. We're doing jury trials, appellate arguments for circuit stuff. I worked on a death penalty case before. The law was changed in Virginia. So all kinds of just really great phenomenal experience, crammed into the first part of my career. Entrepreneurship was not part of my original plan. I think a lot of law firm owners, I fell into it. 


In: 2016

I was going really hard before then, working late, going to the jail to meet with clients, prepping on weekends, and that just I couldn't do that anymore. So I didn't really have a backup plan. I wanted to stay in law. I loved law. And I needed to work, [00:04:00] anyway. So I thought, I'll just start a practice. 


Like, how hard can it be? I'll figure it out. Famous last words. And Airington-Fisher so, that was where I made the shift from lawyer to lawyer entrepreneur. 


Richard James: There's so many things to unpack in that sentence. But first, as a child who was raised by a single mom, and then her parents a little bit, as she was trying to get her feet under her, how blessed your daughter is that she got to experience what it's like to have you raise her through that period. It builds a stronger child. There's challenges. She'll probably need some couch time at some point in the future, as I did. But it just builds, what a strong child she will become. And thank you for taking upon that challenge and running with it. 


er yourself entrepreneurial? [: 00:05:00

And then the third thing I want to say really quickly is, what a great industry law is. Because once you have your license, though you had all these skills that you developed in court and being a litigator, you were able to take your license and make the pivot to allow you to build a firm that supported your lifestyle, rather than undermine your lifestyle, which probably meant a new practice area. 


And there's so many available to choose from, and you chose one that was near and dear to you. 


Choosing Immigration Law 


Richard James: Why did you choose immigration? 


always done a little bit of [: 00:06:00

But immigration was always another interest of mine. I went to law school in Miami. And I worked for the public defenders office there, but I also worked for an immigration firm. When I moved up to Richmond, there were very few truly bilingual lawyers with native level Spanish fluency. And so there was really an opportunity for me there. Even when I was working at the criminal firm, a lot of my clients were not citizens. And so, I started doing immigration that way. 


It was really more like over time, I tapered down the criminal and tapered up the immigration. I didn't just do a complete lane change. 


nd I think, we're saying, it [: 00:07:00

Richard James: Agreed. 


MPS: Yeah. I think, immigration is just a very solid practice area, and I love that it just fits into the background you've experienced. 


Building a Family-Friendly Law Firm 


MPS: One of the things you told us offline was this experience you've had with All-women firm. And so I'm curious, talk to us a little bit about that. Was that by design? Was that happenstance? And what's the experience been like having the opportunity to build a firm like that? 


Atty. Miriam Airington-Fisher: Yeah, I feel obligated to say that we don't discriminated against men. We've had men on your team in the past. It just how the chips have fallen now. 


open about being a mom. I'm [: 00:08:00

I would say, even though I started the firm in 2016, the first couple of years, I was treading water. My youngest son was born in 2018. So I was just replicating what I had seen but doing my own thing. And so it was a little bit of a hamster in the wheel type situation. I had some clients, but it was like month to month, I didn't really have a vision for where it was gonna go. 


In: 2019

Richard James: Again, so cool. I just want to make sure, when we talk about family friendly, we say that. That means, if your kid's got to get to school and you're going to be late to work, it's acceptable. Or if your kid is home sick and there's nobody else to help you, you're going to figure out how to get your work done remotely. 


Is that like when you say that, is that what you mean? Or what do you mean behind that statement? 


Atty. Miriam Airington-Fisher: Yeah. Thank you for asking that because I think that a lot of times. And some of this language has become really kind of cliche, work life balance. And I think, it means different things to different people, so it is important to explain. 


Balancing Work and Family Life 


Atty. Miriam Airington-Fisher: What it means to me is that, we're not going to sacrifice our personal lives and our family responsibilities. 


terested in it now than they [: 00:10:00

But on the sort of professional side of our firm, we are in office, we're full time, we are very much interacting with the public. Most of our clients come into the office, about 85-90% of people request in person meetings. Although we certainly have and we utilize technology and we have the capabilities to be virtual that I think we all figured out we needed during the pandemic, at the end of the day, we're still like a very brick and mortar law firm. And all of our team is full time salaried. We have KPIs, we have revenue goals. It's not loosey goosey. That being said, we have really invested in areas, both on the employment side, the technology side, where we can have that be consistent. 


. We [: 00:11:00

I wanted to have enough so that could accommodate like winter break, spring break. We have snow day policies. We try to sync up our holidays so that if schools are closed, we either are closed or we have work from home. Those are the main benefits that we try to have for all of our employees. 


Innovative Team Management Strategies 


Atty. Miriam Airington-Fisher: On the technology side and on the staffing side, we also have a second team in another time zone. And so that means, our phones are being answered for an extended day, but no one person or no one team is working an extended day. We have our international team has different holidays. And so we have the capacity to take calls on our holidays. And then on their holidays, the Richmond team takes those calls. 


rt to utilize, where you can [: 00:12:00

Evolving Workplace Culture 


Richard James: You just gave a master class in how to run a team. So I want to be clear. I was really bad at this at one point in my life, like really bad at this. You had to do pushups if you were late to a meeting and I didn't care if you had a cane, you still had to do the pushups. 


And I know that sounds terrible, but I want to be honest about who I was. I was really difficult to work for. And I've morphed now and I see the real value in it. 


And MPS, you can talk about what our culture is like and how it's changed. Because I think, what you're doing, Miriam, is extremely important to build this cohesive team. 


MPS, what do you think? 


or just time for themselves. [: 00:13:00

Reducing Team Stress with Flexible Work Culture 


MPS: So you're off, like disconnect. And then if you're in, and you've got stuff you've got to go do or run errands or drop a kid off or stay home with a kid, take the time that you need. 


As long as the work's getting done, and I find that, it drops the stress level of everybody on the team. People aren't as stressed out about having to do something, worrying about, oh man, I've got a dentist appointment at 10a.m.. I'm not going to be able to make a team meeting, it drops the stress level. 


So I think what you've built is very impressive. And I agree with Rich, very much a masterclass and work culture, especially within a law firm. Because candidly, you don't see that often. And so I think, it was very well done. 


Overcoming Initial Challenges in Law Firm Management 


ack to your journey a little [: 00:14:00

Atty. Miriam Airington-Fisher: I think, it's a tale as old as time. It's being a lawyer and thinking that you're running a business just because you have your own office space. And I was initially just a one woman show. I shared a suite. I had my own office in a suite that I shared with other lawyers. And we shared a receptionist, and that was it. 


So I didn't even hire a paralegal for a year. So how do you do it all? I was in court. I don't really even remember where my clients came from, to be honest, because I wasn't marketing. I guess I got lucky for a little bit there. So it's just this idea that you're going to do it all. 


o be more strategic from the [: 00:15:00

Balancing Costs and Profitability 


Richard James: Yeah, that point about scared to incur costs. So for those lawyer that's listening right now and is thinking, man, this is so hard because I've got payroll, I got to pay every 2 weeks or twice a month or whatever it is you do. I get it. And the message I want to give to you to that person listening is that, you can have those costs and you can have your profitability. 


We spoke offline a little bit about Mike Michalowicz and his book, Profit First. And it's a great place for people to start to learn how to build that formula. But to illustrate that story, I remember a client of mine for many years back when I founded this company, Jamie Miller, he's been a guest on our podcast. 


the bigger it gets, the more [: 00:16:00

And of course, he knew inherently that he'd built it for profit, so he didn't have to be nervous about it. But despite the fact that he knew that, there was this little voice inside of him, scared about the fact that this thing is getting so big, it feels like it's getting uncontrollable. 


Do you feel that have that feeling at all? Or have you been able to leave that behind, as you've been growing and starting to scale your firm and your costs are going up? 


Atty. Miriam Airington-Fisher: I don't know. If it ever goes away, I haven't completely gotten out of it. I'm more comfortable with it now because I have experience from doing that. But sure, anytime you're growing, I think it's a little scary. 


The Importance of Being Data-Driven 


there's something left over, [: 00:17:00

I think keep tracking data and using data is just a total game changer. And the great thing about that is, that doesn't cost much. Wherever you are in your practice, you can start collecting data and either analyzing yourself or when you're ready, have somebody help you. And then, to me, that's what helps me sleep at night and knowing that we have room to make a move or to grow. 


th data or said differently, [: 00:18:00

MPS: Certainly in the 1% there, Miriam. That's for sure. We don't come by it often. 


Atty. Miriam Airington-Fisher: Sleepless nights. 


MPS: Yeah. And look, data is the truth, right? And it does make it a little bit easier if you know what the data is, rather than just guessing or going by a feeling. That's a quick way to get pretty anxious, pretty quickly. 


What I'd like to know is, you talked about the cost being an obstacle and just trying to run everything as a one woman show. What was the flip of the switch for you? When was that breakthrough moment? What was maybe a tactical thing that you did? 


The Turning Point: Investing in Growth 


turning point for me came in: 2019

But at that time, like 2019, I was had enough time to really think about things. And I saw a mastermind being advertised for [00:19:00] immigration. And because my practice had really evolved into largely immigration, I was very interested in that because as I mentioned in our talk earlier, a lot of the programs are geared towards contingency fee cases, personal injury torts, things like that. 


And so sometimes, it's like hard to adapt that to a different model. In my case, we're all flat fee. So when I saw that, it really grabbed my attention. It was at the time, it was very expensive. Can I say how much it cost? How much I remember? 


I, 


Richard James: Sure. Please 


do. 


Atty. Miriam Airington-Fisher: like 


Richard James: much? 


Atty. Miriam Airington-Fisher: I think it was $10,000 for a one year program. It was the first year, so I was like the guinea pig. And I couldn't even believe that I was agreeing to that. It was so stressful for me. 


The Power of Masterminds and Continuous Learning 


Atty. Miriam Airington-Fisher: But I did it and it was really transformative because it was the first time that I was with other people who wanted to build their firms as a practice. 


to build businesses. And so [: 00:20:00

And then I just started in with webinars, and books, and the podcasts. Back then, the Law Entrepreneur was one of the first podcasts I think that I remember, The Game Changers Podcast. And it was like, Oh my God, there's all these lawyers that are business people and their practices are going great, and they're doing great work, and they're making money. Then I just said, that's what I want to do. 


I started aligning myself, surrounding myself with other people that were doing that, learning as much as I could, and having that knowledge gave me the confidence to make some of those changes, and to run my firm in a way that was very different than what I saw around me. 


ke a lawyer. You are a great [: 00:21:00

And the first entry to that was a $10,000 gulp moment, where you were going to pay 10 grand to be in a one year. Just like Little Inside Baseball, MPS, and I just charged our credit card for 10 grand for him and I to go to a two day event. So we get it, right? We do this all the time so that we can be around our peers and people that are smarter than us about the things that we want to grow and learn to do. 


te planners, bankruptcy, tax [: 00:22:00

And so we understand, what you had to go through was a little different than what was out there. And I'm so happy, you found an immigration mastermind that puts you in that direction. And so again, for that person that's listening right now, so I was going to ask a question earlier. What's the best advice you can give to the person that's listening about how to get started? And I think, you just gave it. 


rom them. And like you said, [: 00:23:00

You find out, this is a pretty cool way to run a law firm. Wouldn't you agree? 


Atty. Miriam Airington-Fisher: It is. It's really mind blowing. And I've actually remained in touch with the women that were in that original group. The Mastermind doesn't exist anymore. But we've all stayed in touch. We've all grown our businesses. And we get together twice a year, just to be around each other, to be around other people that want to talk about fees and money and profit margins and systems and all that kind of stuff. 


Because outside of those sort of circles, there's not always people to talk about that stuff with. 


MPS: Absolutely, it's a powerful opportunity, and so I think that was an extremely powerful piece of advice. 


Excitement and Passion in Business and Personal Life 


MPS: But I've got to ask Miriam, as we're coming toward the end here, what's got you fired up and excited? Could be business, could be personal, could be both? 


n't really touched on today, [: 00:24:00

And I'm just really inspired by the people that work here. Coming back from whether I'm down there, or whether I'm in Richmond, we've got a great team here. And I feel really fortunate to have this job. I loved being a lawyer. And I'm still a lawyer. I guess I'll always be a lawyer, but I love being a business owner, having this puzzle that I can constantly work on and improve and grow. 


I wake up every morning without an alarm and get my coffee and I'm ready to roll. And I think that there couldn't be anything better. 


Richard James: What a great way to live. No alarm clocks. Maybe other than the kids, 


Atty. Miriam Airington-Fisher: I was going to say, I do have a six year old. 


Richard James: Yeah. My alarm clock today was our puppy. She didn't have a good night, which means, I didn't have a good night, but that's okay. I went to the gym, and my trainer kicked my butt and said, doesn't matter how bad of a night you had, you're still going to work you out. So I'm like, okay. So he got me in a better place. 


I appreciate what you're looking forward to. 


The Client Journey and Business Ownership 


MPS and I are in Arnover and [: 00:25:00

Interesting enough that you say that. And I say that to you because we believe, that's one of the most important parts of the process. We call it micromanaging the client experience. And really dialing in on how well you can just really provide excellent levels of quality service. 


And when you're the business owner and you're not the attorney, so this is a question for the takeaway that I want you to give to the person listening. So now we got this person listening. They're doing all the work themselves. The chief cook and bottle wash of their firm. And they're struggling with this idea of like, how can I get the time? 


Speak to how important has it been for you to be able to be the business owner and flip the switch on how much time you spend working on the business, rather than in the business, being the lawyer so that you can move your firm for. A scale from 1-10. One, being it's not very important at all. And you could have did it by just being a full time lawyer. And 10, it's like oxygen. You really needed to make that switch in order to grow your firm. Where do you think you're at? 


ty. Miriam Airington-Fisher: [: 00:26:00

Richard James: That's great. What great advice. 


Atty. Miriam Airington-Fisher: Yeah. 


Final Thoughts and Contact Information 


MPS: Miriam, we talked pre-show about how part of this is giving that glimmer of hope of what can be accomplished. And more than positive you delivered on that today So I appreciate your time and being here, and sharing everything you have. You're definitely an inspiration to a lot of law firm owners listening to this. And to the law firm owners listening to this, Wow, what a show today. 


Make sure to hit that subscribe or follow button, depending on where you're listening or watching. And then show some love down in the comments for Miriam. This was absolutely a fantastic episode. 


So thank you for being here. 


Atty. Miriam Airington-Fisher: Thank you guys so much. 


t this. Don't give your cell [: 00:27:00

Atty. Miriam Airington-Fisher: Yeah, of course. I'm on all the social media channels. My Instagram handle is Lawyer Like a Mother. And that's probably the best way to send me a DM. And I'd love to talk to my fellow lawyers, fellow business owners. 


Richard James: Thank you so much for being here. It's truly been our pleasure to have this conversation with you. 


Atty. Miriam Airington-Fisher: Thank you so much. 


MPS: That's the pod..