Latest / Wealthy Woman Lawyer Podcast, Helping you create a profitable, sustainable law firm you love / 181: Miriam Airington-Fisher | Mom's a Lawyer
Transcript
- InterviewAiringtonAud === Davina: [00:00:00] Hi everyone and welcome to the Wealthy Woman Lawyer Podcast. I'm your host, Savina Frederick, and today I'm here with Miriam Arrington Fisher and I'm super excited to have her here because she is a seven figure law firm owner and it, and had runs a woman led law firm with I think mostly women. I think you may have added some, um, mentor to your firm recently or something. Davina: We're gonna get into that. She is an a trial attorney. She's an author, she's a speaker, and she's on a mission to make the legal profession more accessible and rewarding for working mothers. Um, and as I said, she, she is a seven figure law firm owner based in Richmond, Virginia. She founded and built this law firm. Davina: I think you started out as a, after a divorce starting this. And so you really built this. As you've grown your family, you've got three kids now, so I am, have so many questions for you and [00:01:00] so wanna learn so much. So welcome Miriam. I'm glad you're here. Airington: Thank you so much for having me. I'm glad to be here. Davina: Good. So why don't you tell me about your journey to becoming a lawyer. Was it something that you always knew that you wanted to do or is it something that you got an opportunity and you ran with it? Or what was it like? Airington: Well, I think I had a pretty cliched path to law school. Um, I was, uh, you know, definitely, uh, the kid that was, found, the courtroom dramas really compelling. Airington: Um, and from a very young age, I knew that I wanted to be a, a lawyer and specifically a trial lawyer. Sort of that high drama. Um, I used to spend a lot of time with my grandparents after school watching the courtroom dramas, the Perry Mason Matlock, things like that. And so I, I kind of set my sights on that from an early age. Davina: Yeah, I had parents who did that, not grandparents, parents. Um, [00:02:00] so how, when did you, um, decide to go to law school? What year did you go to law school? Start. Airington: Um, so I, I went straight to law school. I actually, um, I was a real type A planner. I took extra classes and graduated college early and went straight to law school, and I, uh, graduated 14 years ago. Airington: So, um, I, I came right out of law school and worked as a legal aid attorney, public defender. Um, after a few years, made my way to a small criminal defense firm and, uh, worked as an associate, uh, there for a few years. Davina: And what led you to leave that? Did you leave and start your firm or did you leave and go someplace else? Airington: No, I left really out of necessity. You mentioned this in the, in the intro. I became, uh, I've heard the term accidental entrepreneur before and I think that's a perfect word to describe me. I. [00:03:00] Uh, really wanted to be a lawyer. I wanted to be a trial lawyer, but I really did not have a vision of owning my own business. Airington: I, in the first part of my career, really enjoyed being in the courtroom, trying cases. Um, that was really, uh, energizing for me. When I, uh, after I'd been an associate for a few years at this firm, um, I, uh, in the course of one year, I, I ha had a baby. I got divorced and there was some, uh, organizational changes going on at my firm. Airington: Um, and so it basically all kind of came together in basically a one month period. I, I, I had a newborn. Was divorced, I was a new single mom, and it just hit me like a ton of bricks that I couldn't sustain. Um, the schedule that I had been keeping, which was very hard, charging lots of late nights travel trial prep, and, um, all of a sudden now I was a single mom with a newborn, so it [00:04:00] just kind of came to a screeching halt and I, I had to figure something out on the fly. Davina: Wow. That, that is a lot of pressure. To go through all those things because what, what on the list of stressful events in life, you know, it's death, divorce, um, giving birth, all of those things, and you had some major and losing a job, so you had three of the top 10 major stressors in your life at that time. Airington: Yeah, it was, um, in retrospect, it sounds really crazy. I think at the time I just was, uh, sort of acting out in necessity. So I just, um, uh, I, um. I started a firm, not necessarily the way that I would recommend, and I know not the way that you teach, um, of, of having a lot of strategy and forethought. Airington: Unfortunately, uh, in my case it was a necessity. Um, but, um, I just, uh, I [00:05:00] found an office and I had my laptop and I kind of went from there. Davina: Yeah, I, I think a lot of. Women in particular, women law firm owners in particular, wind up starting a law firm out of necessity because something happens in their life generally. Davina: Uh, this is a very general statement, but just based on the number of conversations I've had through the years, a lot of women do it when they start having children and they start looking around going, wait a minute. This traditional version of being a lawyer doesn't work for me because I need more flexibility. Davina: Because I have children and I need to make that happen. And in your case, being a single mom, I'm sure that was really important to you with a newborn on top of that. So how did you, did you could, did you continue in the same practice areas? Airington: So I did, at the time, I had been doing primarily criminal defense. Airington: That was [00:06:00] what I had done at my previous firm. And I, I didn't leave under bad circumstances. I really liked the people that I worked with. Um, and so I had a good network. I took some cases with me, um, and I kind of, for the very, in the first early years of my practice, I kind of just kept doing what I was doing. Airington: Um, but um, it was very shoestring. I was. You know, I was in court during the day and then I was trying to squeeze in client meetings and, and still get to daycare by five o'clock to, to pick up my daughter, um, and sort of making it work that way. Davina: Yeah. And so how long did it take before you began to hire help? Airington: So I, um, when I first went into private practice, I had this arrangement, which is very common for small law firms where you kind of just share an office space with a bunch of other lawyers, um, and maybe share a receptionist, that [00:07:00] type of thing. Um, so I started off there. I. It took me about a year to realize that there was a lot that I needed to learn about business and hiring and really start to become strategic about it. Airington: Um, and that was all completely new education for me. I, I had not gone into entrepreneurship with a plan, um, and I really didn't know how much. I didn't know until I was doing it. But, um, I would say within the first year it became very clear to me that. Um, that I needed to hire somebody. And at that point I didn't really have growth as my, uh, objective. Airington: It was more kind of survival. I was, I felt like I was treading water. So my first hire was a paralegal, um, who did both. You know, strictly paralegal stuff, but also some of the administrative work. Um, and from that first hire, it started to kind of slowly click, um, what I now know, which is, you know, you need to leverage time and [00:08:00] grow a team. Airington: Um, but that first hire, uh, was, was really the starting point. Davina: Yeah. How did you, did you struggle at all with thoughts or fears around, how am I gonna pay this person? Airington: Oh, absolutely. And I will even go so far as to say that I still feel, um, shades of that anxiety every time I add somebody. You know, I've added practice areas. Airington: I've, you know, since then, hired attorneys. Um, and, and even now, I, I feel a sense of responsibility when I take someone on. Um, but certainly with that first hire, I felt an enormous amount of responsibility and, and anxiety about around it. Davina: How did you go from that fear state of mind to actually just pulling off the bandaid and doing it? Davina: What, what thought process did you process, did you go through to sort of get there? Do you remember? Airington: You know, I think part of it is my personality. I'm very [00:09:00] decisive and perhaps an optimist. Um, and I, I, I just went for it that first time and, um. I didn't have, um, you know, any kind of benchmark of like six months expenses in savings or things like that. Airington: Um, at the time it was very shoestring, but I, I just really took the leap that first time. Um, and I, I didn't actually do as much planning around it as I might now. Davina: Yeah. Uh, well, I, I mean, I think that's normal, uh, when you're just starting out and you're trying to figure it out, you know, you're, you're just like, I've just gotta do this. Davina: Make it the right decision for me. You know, you knew that you would pay her regardless. Right. You make that level of commitment. Right. Um, how long did it take you after that first paralegal hire to hire a lawyer? Airington: Um, I didn't hire a lawyer for another. [00:10:00] Two years. So I hired, uh, the paralegal, the first hire. Airington: Um, that very quickly showed me the power of, um, having a team and delegating and leveraging, because as scary as that first hire was, it, it showed me what was possible. And so even just having a paralegal or having somebody else to. To do some administrative work, what that allowed me to do, um, and so I actually hired a second paralegal, um, the following year, and then after that, my next hire was an associate attorney. Airington: That was probably the, the, the biggest leap for me to hire an associate attorney because. When I started the firm, I had this vague notion that I wouldn't have associates. Um, I didn't wanna overcomplicate things. I thought that if I was leveraging legal staff, that I could be the only attorney, but that was earlier in my career when I really didn't have, um, [00:11:00] sort of growth goals, and it was more about being sustainable. Airington: Um, but once you, at least for me, I don't wanna speak for all, but once, once I realized what I could do when I had paralegals on the team, um, then I, I started to realize what I could do if there were other attorneys on the team. Davina: I think that's a, that's a huge epiphany to have that. Um, and I thank you for sharing that because that until, I think, until you experience it. Davina: See what it's like to have associate attorneys working for you. You don't really get it. It's one of those things you kinda have to do to get it. Mm-hmm. And I, I also think it's something that is the common thought with most women law firm owners is that sort of, there's a difference between hiring staff and hiring hiring attorneys. Davina: There's something, you know, we, we question whether or not I'm gonna be a good boss to another lawyer. Or do, are they [00:12:00] gonna know more than me? Am I gonna be, how am I gonna manage them? Did you go through any of those thoughts or feelings about it? Airington: Well, I did. Um, so my practice areas are very, um, litigation based and court based. Airington: And so my, you know, my image of myself as a lawyer had always been the person trying the cases and, and I really did like it and enjoy it, but that was really the most challenging and least flexible aspect of my practice. And so that was really the area that I needed the most, um, support in. So when I. Airington: Started thinking about hiring associates and my, I hired my first associate who's still with me, who's really an excellent lawyer. Um, one concern I had is how are clients going to deal with that? You know, I think, uh, sometimes as lawyers, we get very invested, um, in because of, so how much responsibility is on us. Airington: It's almost kind of like, it can only be me or I'm the one that [00:13:00] has to try this case, or the clients expect me. Um, and it was, I was. Happy and maybe a little humbled to see that my clients actually accepted other music attorneys. Davina: It's not just me. Airington: Yeah. Davina: Uh, that you speak, you speak to something that I think a lot of solo attorneys struggle with when they start to hire is, how am my clients want me, they hire me. Davina: They tell me that they want me. And a lot of clients do do that. They do say, I want you. How do you handle it? So, you know, you start speaking in terms of we mm-hmm. And the team and I Right from the beginning. Right. So how did you handle that to communicate to your clients that it wasn't gonna just be you now there was a team, they might have another lawyer managing their case. Davina: How did, did, did change the way that you spoke to your clients about, about your law firm? Airington: I absolutely did, and I've gotten much, much better at it. I think that, um, there [00:14:00] are sort of a lot of conceptions that clients have about when they hire a law firm and they think that, you know, if it's an important case, the big guns are gonna handle it. Airington: And, and the name partner. So even though we have other lawyers at the firm now, you know, I'm Miriam Arrington. It's Arrington Law. They know that I'm the boss. Um, and um, so. There's this kind of misconception that if a case is being assigned to another attorney, it's not important or, um, and so we, uh, we dispel that from the beginning. Airington: And exactly like you said, a lot of the language that we use is a team-based approach. We, we talk about that even on our social media. We try to feature other team members so that it's not just all my face and the marketing and the advertising, um, our representation agreements. Contain a lot of language about a team-based approach. Airington: Um, and so we, we. Put that out there from the beginning. Another thing that we do, um, is we have a client care team. And [00:15:00] so in kind of the traditional model, you know, how I came up as an associate was, you know, clients were always making appointments to talk to the lawyer. Um, but after the initial intake and, and strategizing a, a lot of client communication is done by our non-attorney. Airington: Client care staff. And so what that does, in addition to freeing up attorney and paralegal time, it also, um, gets the clients used to the fact that other people at the firm are going to be helping them responding to their needs. Um, and then they just, I, I find that's very effective in helping people feel comfortable overall. Davina: Yeah, that's, that's terrific. Of that client care specialist or team of client care specialists that can. Help provide that high touch experience. I think a lot of times lawyers think it has to be we, we have to be the ones to provide the high touch. The clients are gonna wanna talk to lawyers every time they call and really that's not the case. Davina: Clients just [00:16:00] wanna be heard and wanna know that there's a human being there and somebody's helping them. And you know, that can really free up a lot of attorney time to have that. Your, how many people do you have working for your firm now and kind of gimme a breakdown of client care, team paralegals, attorneys, like how many do you have? Airington: Sure we have, um, 10 full-time people. So there are, including me, there are four attorneys. Um, we have, uh, two paralegals, a legal assistant who supports the paralegals, um, and, um, an intake specialist and a director of operations. Um. And so the operations and intake side do most of the client, um, client communication and responding to, um, to questions and things like that. Airington: Those are our, our full-time, like in, in in-house people. Um, we also have, uh, live support virtually, [00:17:00] um, to take overflow calls and after hours calls and things like that. Um, and so they help on the client side of things. Davina: Yeah. So when you say intake person, is that somebody who is signing clients up or are they scheduling consultations? Davina: How, what? What is their role? Airington: So that is one of the newer, um, departments. I'll say we, we added that in the last year, and so we've been refining that. Um, over the years I've experimented with different consultation type procedures. You know, you want to maximize consultations but not have non-attorneys giving, you know, advice and things like that. Airington: So what we do now, which, which is working really well for us. Is we have initial intake over the phone, um, which is kind of a very friendly customer service, forward screening, um, to, you know, make sure that something is, is within our wheelhouse, uh, part of our ideal clientele or case [00:18:00] types. Um. Some cases from there are able to go straight to sign up. Airington: If it's very clear, you know, if somebody is charged with a crime in our city, we can help them. Um, if it's something that is going to be more nuanced or maybe it's a civil claim, um, then it'll be scheduled for a consultation with an attorney. Um, and then, uh, operations does the signup. Davina: Yeah, so it's really interesting to me because so many women law firm owners fight me on this and that, and that is. Davina: That you can have non-attorneys who sign up clients and it take Did, did. Is that something that it took you a while to sort of come to that belief or thought? Airington: You know, it's really interesting that you say that because I, um, I've felt for a long time like that would be the best way to do it. And uh, over the years I've done different programs and masterminds and you're exactly, my experience is the same as yours. Airington: Women lawyers really fight that. So [00:19:00] for years I've been hearing, you know, you can't do that. It has to be an attorney and, um. For in a lot of different things. I've looked to the personal injury bar as, um, a kind of a, a source of being on the cutting edge. You know, if you think about it, personal injury lawyers were some of the first lawyers that did marketing, and they were first advertising on social media. Airington: Yeah. Mm-hmm. So I, um, yeah, I spoke with different, different colleagues of mine in personal injury and I just said, you know, how do you guys do your intake? Um, and that's what they do. They, they have phone screening and um, you know, the attorneys review the notes and they, they sign 'em up. And so we, we've adopted that model. Airington: You know, there's always gonna be. The really unusual, interesting civil case that comes in that maybe requires a little bit of, um, additional steps, but I think by and large, it's, it's the way to do it. Davina: Yeah. I think, I think where people miss the understanding is that [00:20:00] the purpose of a consultation from the standpoint of a, a law firm is analyzing whether or not this is a good fit case. Davina: So can you have a non-attorney analyze whether or not it's a good fit case? You can, if you have very clear criteria for your analysis, right? And you train somebody on that. And then like you said, when you get something that's not typical in your, in your firm, then that may be where you kick it to a lawyer to provide the on the fly analysis, because we have the skills. Davina: To look at it from a legal perspective and see is this something that our law firm can handle or not? So, very interesting and I'm glad to hear you say that you, you have, that you have this team in place. 'cause I think that also gives a lot of time back to your lawyers, you know? Airington: Oh, it, it absolutely does. Airington: And you know, I, um. I remember, I don't remember where I [00:21:00] read this originally. I don't know who, who's the, the author of this, but you know, having any employee on any, in any business, in any team, having people kind of operate at the top of their skillset. Um, and so, you know, all the rules in our firm are important, but it just doesn't make sense If somebody can be in court trying a case, it doesn't make sense. Airington: To have them, you know, at the office, um, doing drafting. Um, by the same token, if somebody can, uh, take 10 minutes and screen a case and, you know, they can be signed on the same day, it doesn't make sense to, um, have them wait a week to come in and talk to an attorney. Davina: Right, absolutely. So tell me what the, what the shift was that you think made the difference between being a six figure firm and a seven figure firm. Airington: Um. I think that there's two, two big areas that were real game changers. One was actually this team based based approach, [00:22:00] which is kind of interesting because I employed it not really with an eye towards necessarily monetary growth, but more freeing up time and having more flexibility. But I, as we just discussed, um, it's, it, it's incredibly efficient. Airington: Um, and so that's a big game changer and that's an area that I find some of my colleagues in small firms resist. Um, and then the, the second piece is investing in marketing, and that's a very bad word in some legal circles. Um, in my practice areas, in criminal defense, it's uh, very unusual for, for firms to, uh, to market, especially firms that handle kind of more serious criminal cases. Airington: Um, but um, but I've definitely seen a return on that. And it takes time. And for me, it's taken trying different things and um, having multiple different initiatives. But, um, in those two areas, both in building a team-based approach and also marketing, uh, investing in those areas [00:23:00] really are, are what grew my firm. Davina: Right. From a marketing standpoint, you said you tested a lot. I think a lot of women, law firm owners kind of struggle with that a little bit because testing. Requires investment and it, you may not always get the return because you gotta kind of find out where your, where your people are, where they're hanging out, where they're connecting and responding. Davina: What would you, what is your favorite marketing platform for your firm? Airington: So it's, it's kind of interesting because I ha one of the ways that I've overcomplicated my life in my firm is having different practice areas. My practice areas are criminal defense, civil rights, and immigration. And I have to market differently for those practice areas. Airington: Um, and it's kind of like a puzzle, you know, finding out who you're marketing to and, and where they are. If you have one practice area and one kind of target client demographic, that's going to be one approach. Um, my, uh, [00:24:00] ideal client and my immigration practice is very different many times than my ideal client in a, you know, civil rights case. Airington: Um. So social media has been important across the board, um, but some platforms are more popular in, um, in, in, in some communities. Um, but I think social media is, is a given. Um, we advertise on the radio, um, for our immigration practice. We, uh, advertise on a Spanish language, uh, radio channel in our city. And I've seen a, a phenomenal return on that investment. Airington: But. Um, but I think, uh, maybe I wouldn't see that in, in my other practice areas. Um, and, um, you know, I still, uh. Do a lot of like the in-person, kind of traditional, um, networking, um, networking across my practice areas, so colleagues on the criminal bar know that I'm an immigration lawyer and vice versa. [00:25:00] Um, that's been very effective. Airington: And I've also, um. About two years ago, I hired somebody to be on my firm, a non-attorney. She's a, a marketing and a community outreach associate, and she's constantly looking for ways that we can be involved in the community, um, which is nice to do as, as a member of the community, but also does have a return in raising our profile. Airington: Um, and so we've done that. We've sponsored local events, uh, uh, organizations, nonprofits, things like that. So you can see that, you know, it sound when you kind of list it out, it sounds a little scattered. It sounds like we're all over the map, but really it's, um, it, it's, it's building a presence across different channels and in different markets. Davina: Yeah, no, it doesn't sound all over the map to me. It sounds very thought out in terms of you, you probably had times where you. Tried a mar, tried marketing in this and realized we're not really getting a return on this [00:26:00] 'cause this isn't where our people are hanging out. We thought maybe they were, but they're not. Davina: So it sounds like you've probably gone through some experimentation to find out what works for your different practice areas. Airington: Oh sure, sure. Yeah, I've. I've, I've learned a lot of lessons through, you know, money spent or time spent on things that, that didn't pan out. Yeah. And it also changes too, you know, every time, uh, you know, a couple years ago when we started, uh, social media marketing, there was no TikTok. Airington: And so then it was like, okay, there's a new platform we need to get on. We need to figure that out. So it's, um, it's kind of ever evolving too. Davina: Yeah. Uh, and I, you know, I think it's interesting. It's really great for people to hear this, the. Because I'm always talking about the investment required, like to grow a law firm to seven figures. Davina: It requires trust and investment, trusting yourself, trusting other people, and investing time and [00:27:00] energy and money in, in experimenting a little bit. So you're taking risk. Um, did you find that? Do you find you're a different person now than the person who started the law firm because of all the risk take, like would the person who started the law firm take the kind of risk that you have, that you take now? Airington: That's, uh, that's such an interesting question. Um, I am definitely a different person. Um, and I, I didn't have. When I started the practice, I didn't have the vision of what my firm is today. So it's not like it was a, a straight line, you know, of something that I was consistently working towards. My own vision evolved, um, and I've, I've evolved along with it, um, and. Airington: The confidence that you gain, um, from kind of going through all those peaks and valleys and having months [00:28:00] where you're like, how am I paying the bills to then, you know, turning around and, and hiring more employees. Um, it's, it's given me confidence to take those risks, um, and to, to continue to grow and to kinda look at what's gonna be the next thing for us. Airington: What's the next hire? Um, you know, that kind of thing. Davina: So you have written a book called Mom's a Lawyer, and this is a, a handle that you have on Instagram, mom's, lawyer, and a brand you've created. You are in the book, well, who did you write the book for? Airington: So. The book was really inspired by something that I read, which was a 2021, uh, a b, a study, uh, which found that about 30% of women lawyers leave their legal careers during their thirties and forties, uh, largely due to, uh, childcare, child raising, family responsibilities. Airington: Um, and um, that number seemed really shocking to me because. Um, [00:29:00] you know, law is a career that we worked really hard for. Um, it's not a job that most people kind of end up in. And so to leave at what is for many people, either the height or kind of the beginning of the height of the career was, is really shocking. Airington: Um, by the same token, I totally got it because, um, I, uh, you know, had some real crisis years, um, right around that time, um, for the same reasons and so. I thought back about sort of how did I make it all work to the extent that I made it all work. 'cause you know, some days you feel more in control than others. Airington: Um, and for me, the only path that I saw was entrepreneurship and was really being in the driver's seat. Um, it's not. Because it's easy to own a business. It was, it's very difficult to own and run a business. Um, but it puts you in the driver's seat and so you can take control and, and kind of balance things as you need to. Airington: And so the book is for other lawyer moms, [00:30:00] um, who are, uh, either struggling to balance it all or wondering how they can. Whether they're currently in a traditional legal job and they're, they're struggling to balance it, or maybe they have stepped out of the workforce and they'd like to step back in, in a way that's feasible. Airington: Um, so, you know, what I would love to see in our field is more, um, accessibility, normalizing, being a working mom. Um, and, um, and so that, that was what motivated me. Davina: Do you think so, so tell me what some of the challenges were with being a mom of young children and starting your firm. I know it is something that, it is, it's discussed a lot among our, uh, community, the wealthy women lawyer community, and the challenge of, you know, being a mom to young children who are infants, [00:31:00] toddlers, school aged children. Davina: Trying to do it all while starting a law firm. How do you balance that? How did you balance that? What was, what resources did you put in place? What systems did you put in place to kind of help you do that? Airington: So I think a big part of it starts with us and boundaries, and that's easier said than done. Um, Cynthia Golden, who's a Harvard economist, wrote a book and she referred to law as a greedy profession. Airington: Um, you know, meaning it's a profession that demands a lot of us of our time and our energy. More so than some other professions. And so I think in, in the legal community, in traditional jobs, certainly there is an expectation that you're going to be a workaholic, that you're gonna be totally committed. Airington: And it's sort of become this, you know, cultural trope of working all the time and taking calls and um, and just being harried and, and exhausted. And so I really pushed [00:32:00] back against that and it hasn't always. Been easy because it, it's the minority, um, view. Um, and even still, I have to do that sometimes. Airington: That means telling co-counsel that I can't meet after three or I don't work on the weekends, those sort of things. But, so part of it I, that I would love to encourage other women lawyers is to have the confidence to do that so that we can begin to normalize it as a field. Certainly that will benefit. Airington: People who aren't moms. But for me it was very critical for that reason. Um, and also looking at a more, a, a a more progressive and modern way to run a firm. Um, a lot of the things that we've touched on during this conversation, you know, having, um, having a team based approach, um, delegating so that things are not all on the lawyer. Airington: Um, I think that they all, uh, all can really go hand in hand to, to give women more of that alignment. Davina: Do you find that because, uh, you know, I certainly am teaching law firm owners how to grow their law [00:33:00] firms, and you as a law firm owner have created a business that supports you and your lifestyle. Do you find as a boss that you are doing the same things for the lawyers who work for you? Davina: That, because I think that comes up a lot in discussion for. Women, law firm owners is how, you know, can I, can I, if I, if I'm building this business to serve my needs and my life, can I also do that for my employees? Airington: Yeah, I'm really glad that you said that because that is something that I, it's kind of a hill that I die on sometimes in conversations with colleagues. Airington: Um, and it, I really do try to walk the walk. Um, you know, I have, um, I have employees, some are parents, some aren't. Um, but, uh, and it doesn't matter. Obviously everybody deserves the same work life balance, but I'm just. Sort of personally familiar with some of the kind of critical needs that, um, that [00:34:00] happen when you're a parent. Airington: But, um, you know, things like, uh, paid parental leave, um, uh, generous, um, paid vacation leave. All of my employees start off with five weeks, PTO every year. Um, you know, closing when schools are closing, um, closing during the holidays and, and they are challenging. I mean, I won't sugarcoat it. You know, we, we just had the holidays and my office was closed. Airington: I gave my entire staff off and, um, you know, of course the phones are blowing up all week. Um, and you know, we have overage coverage. So it's not, um, you know, pie in the sky, but I do think that we also should hold ourselves accountable as, as women business owners in, in sort of, um, you know, making room at the table as they say. Airington: Um, and I think that the more. The more women that start businesses and start law firms, um, I'd love to see kind of a trickle down approach. Um, you know, women know what women need, and so, um, offering [00:35:00] employees the same, same, um, uh, options that, that we have. And so, yes, I do think that's really important and that's something that I try to be really mindful of. Airington: And frankly, I'm very outspoken about it. And, you know, my staff know that I'm outspoken about it. So I, I believe, and I hope that. If I was doing something in my business that wasn't aligned with that, that somebody would call me on it. Davina: Yeah. So how does that affect the bottom line? That is the question, because that's the traditional male dominated sort of model. Davina: That is the legal industry. That is big law is based on this, this idea that, you know, the, the reason we work this way is because. Of the money because that's how it's set up to make money. But you're a seven figure law firm owner, and you're, you're showing that this can be done. Tell me how, how you feel that that's worked for you.[00:36:00] Airington: So I think that is certainly a valid consideration for business owners. Um, one area that I really think the investment pays off is the, the quality and longevity of my team members. Um, in, in the current environment, um, there's a huge amount of turnover. Um, especially with non-legal staff, I mean, you know, the great resignation and, um, and I've certainly, uh, heard that from colleagues in, uh, in the legal fields. Airington: Um, I have really a team of, of all stars. Um, I have, uh, very little tone, turnover, um, and. Uh, I invest in my staff and I see a return, a human return on that investment. So I think that that is a big, a big factor that, um, business owners don't always consider. Um, when, you know, you're looking at, at output and hours worked and billable hours, of course we do everything flat fee. Airington: So, uh, we don't do the billable model, but I think that, [00:37:00] um, being a, a good employer and having a good culture, um, if, if done correctly, pays a, a return in, in a human investment. Davina: Yeah. Have you had any trouble hiring or have you had a need to hire, have you had people long enough that you were kind of hired before the great resignation and you they haven't resigned? Davina: Or, or in Virginia is, is it difficult? I've got clients all over the country who are struggling to hire just because they're just not getting any applications from candidates. Airington: Yeah, it's, so, it's interesting because, um, a couple years ago what would happen, whenever I was ready to add a position, I'd list a position and I'd be inundated with, you know, all applications. Davina: Right, right. And you're, so you're sitting here trying to wait, you're trying to give them all these hoops to jump through in the ad to how to. So you can wean some of these people out before they ever get the resumes on your desk. Right? Airington: Exactly. Exactly. And it's like, what am I even looking at? Um, and now it is more, [00:38:00] more challenging. Airington: I just recently hired a paralegal position and, um, and it was, it was definitely a different ballgame. There's a, you know, less applicants. I did something differently this time, which I've never done before, which was I worked with a recruiter. Um, and um, what they had told me was that the unemployment rate in the legal community is like less than 1% right now. Airington: Um, and so essentially I'm repeating what they told me, um, that essentially hiring is poaching. Um, and so I, I chose to work with a recruiter because I felt like in this environment it's a very important position. I wanted a professional kind of handling that piece for me. Um, but I. Also conferred with, you know, with them and with, um, some financial people and, you know, to make sure that the, the compensation is on par, um, that the benefits are appropriate. Airington: Um, and, and we did ultimately find, uh, find a really excellent candidate who I think is gonna be a good fit, but it is more difficult. And I hear from a lot of [00:39:00] my, you know, lawyer, mom, law firm, owner friends, um, that they are struggling. And I don't know if there's a really easy solution, but I, I. I have to believe in the way that I've always approached it is if you have a really good culture and your compensation is, is appropriate, um, that, uh, that you can find a fit, a fit that way. Airington: But I also know that I, I don't take my current team for granted. Um, and so I think, uh, investing in keeping people is, is really important in a business. Davina: Yeah, it's a really, it's a really critical strategy right now. For sure. It's, you know, it's been really disheartening to hear some of the stories of hiring people and they're just not good. Davina: They don't work because that's the only ones looking for jobs out there right now, like you said. Um, so before we wrap up, if you had one piece of advice that you would give a [00:40:00] woman, whether mom or not wanting to start her law firm business. What would you, what would you tell them? What was the one thing that you wish that you had known maybe at the beginning? Airington: Um, I wish that I had, uh, surrounded myself with like-minded colleagues earlier. Um, and by, and what I mean by like-minded colleagues is other, uh, women lawyers who are interested in entrepreneurship and growth. Um, I have found that to be incredibly important, but I, I kind of didn't discover that for a few years. Airington: And looking back, if I had, um, done that right off the bat and really. Prioritized investing in professional development and self-development. Um, I think that my trajectory would've been smoother and quicker. Davina: Yeah. I, I, I often say the same thing about mine. I wish that I had the resources that are available to lawyers now, [00:41:00] because when I started my firm, uh, Facebook was three years old. Davina: I mean, there just wasn't the, the things that we, all the people on social media that we see now and all the coaches and the. Material and the podcast, all that kind of thing. This wasn't a thing, right? And I always look back and say, I wish I had had that support earlier. And when I look back, I think there were some resources available, but they were cost prohibit. Davina: They would've been cost prohibitive to me at that stage in my business, or I would've thought they would've been. So, um, I think it is definitely a great time right now to start a law firm because there are so many. Since, since social media, there's so much more accessible since podcasting. Everything, information is so much more accessible. Davina: You're not having to go buy a bunch of books, read a bunch of books to try to figure things out. Right. And there are a lot of communities that people can be involved in. So that's great advice. I appreciate you sharing that. I appreciate you being here and sharing, sharing your story. I've really [00:42:00] enjoyed our conversation and I think it's gonna be one of our better podcasts because the, this, the, to be able to go on this. Davina: Journey with you from starting out in the circumstance you did, which is, you know, with this three incredible stressors all at one time, and then to grow. That was in 2016, and here we are in 2023. And you've done that in that short amount of time to go as far as you've been able to go with building your firm, and I'm sure much more great things are on the horizon. Airington: Well, I hope so. I hope so. That's the plan. Yeah. I, I always have, I always have the next thing planned. Davina: So, uh, yeah. See you and I are like, um, so tell us where we can get the book and where we can connect with you on social media and your website, those kinds of things. Airington: Sure. So, uh, my firm is Arrington Law. Airington: Um, it's at Arrington Law and, uh, we're on all the platforms. The book is [00:43:00] called Moms a Lawyer, and, uh, that is, uh, titled Under Moms A Lawyer on Instagram, Facebook, all of that. Um, it'll be available on Amazon. Uh, and, um, I'm, yeah, that's, that's where people can find me. Davina: All right, wonderful. Miriam, thank you so much for being here. Davina: I have really enjoyed it. I hope you have too and uh, I hope to hear more from you. Airington: Thank you. It was so much fun.