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Law Office of MOMS: Patricia Miramon & Julia Todd - LOUISIANA L'AMAZING! · Inside The Moms Club

• 0:13
  Speaker 1: Hi, Welcome to inside the Mom's Club, where being a
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: mom is the coolest place to be.
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: Here in the.
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: Mom's Club, we believe that what embarrasses you now will
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: make a great story later. And let's face it, you
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: don't laugh sometimes you're gonna cry. Join us in having
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: a good laugh together. I'm Monica Samuels. You are now
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: inside the Mom's Club, your private destination for all things mom. Welcome, moms,
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: Welcome inside the Mom's Club. I'm your host, Monica Samuels,
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: and I am here with my lovely.
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: Co host, Julie or.
• 0:54
  Speaker 3: Hi.
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: It's so great to see you again after all this time.
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: She ran off on a big European vacation, but she's off.
• 1:01
  Speaker 4: I needed to go off the grid for a little bit.
• 1:03
  Speaker 4: Sometimes you got to do that.
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I know you did. You went to the Olympics,
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  Speaker 2: you went everywhere well.
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  Speaker 5: I mean listen, that was a trip long planned for
• 1:12
  Speaker 5: a long time, and I it was electric. It was
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  Speaker 5: it was everything that I was hoping it would be.
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  Speaker 5: And it was safe, and it was cool. It was
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  Speaker 5: really cool to watch people do their dreams.
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  Speaker 6: Well.
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  Speaker 2: And you went with your daughters.
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  Speaker 4: I did you daughters, I did, and we survived. I mean,
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  Speaker 4: I'm not going to lie.
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  Speaker 5: Traveling, you know, with females through Europe who are sharing
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  Speaker 5: a small hotel room, it can get a little dicey,
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  Speaker 5: you know, every now and then. But we did it,
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  Speaker 5: and I think it's going to be a memory. I'm
• 1:37
  Speaker 5: hoping it's imprinted on their brain, you know, and then
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  Speaker 5: when they're thirty, they'll be like.
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  Speaker 4: Hey, lady, that was super cool. Thanks a lot. So
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  Speaker 4: I have that, Yeah, yeah, I.
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  Speaker 2: Think they do.
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  Speaker 1: So do you think now our guests today, we're going
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: to have a conversation about working with your kids. But
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: do you ever think you could work with either or
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: both of your daughters in a business?
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  Speaker 5: Well, first, it depends on the business and as long
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  Speaker 5: as they know I was the boss, and I think
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  Speaker 5: it wouldn't be a problem.
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  Speaker 2: Well that could be the tricky part though.
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  Speaker 4: I know you have two daughters with.
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  Speaker 2: Very different personalities.
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  Speaker 5: If I'm being very honest, I really don't know the
• 2:20
  Speaker 5: answer to that. On some days, like pretty much eighty
• 2:24
  Speaker 5: percent of the time, yes, I'm not sure they would
• 2:26
  Speaker 5: say the same thing. But listen, we love each other
• 2:29
  Speaker 5: and I think that it just depends on the business.
• 2:31
  Speaker 5: And I'm so curious to hear what these ladies have
• 2:34
  Speaker 5: to say.
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  Speaker 1: I am too. For example, just doesn't give you an example.
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: If one of your daughters, when you were working with her,
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  Speaker 1: and she continually called in sick. Yeah, based on your
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: current experience, HU, would you what would you do in
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: that situation? Would you keep her?
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  Speaker 4: Yeah?
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  Speaker 2: Lloyd, would you wonder if that was the case.
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  Speaker 4: But we would have to have a little human resources chat.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, so if you were to work together, you'd also
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: have to have an HR person in between.
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  Speaker 5: That's right, Well, that's right, We're always going to have
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  Speaker 5: another party in the office.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah.
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  Speaker 4: Anyway, I do know this says a really good Would
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  Speaker 4: you work with Chase.
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  Speaker 7: Or Jared?
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: I you know, I think Chase would end up being
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: my boss. I don't know how that would work.
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  Speaker 5: Oh, that's really what I meant to say. There is
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  Speaker 5: one child I would actually be working for, ye yeah, yeah.
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  Speaker 1: But you know he's quite talentant, so I wouldn't but
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: grudge him if he decided just to take over the
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: whole business.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah. I don't see that happening.
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  Speaker 3: Now.
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  Speaker 1: My husband and my son, my oldest son, do work together,
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  Speaker 1: but it's in a larger firm, so there's like twenty people.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, and they don't work. He doesn't my son.
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  Speaker 1: In fact, they very clearly try to, yeah, keep it
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  Speaker 1: out of because of nepotism and all that kind of stuff.
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  Speaker 5: Well that's a larger firm. I love the powerhouse that
• 3:46
  Speaker 5: you know, you could do with your kids in any
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  Speaker 5: type of family business.
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  Speaker 4: And so I can't wait to hear the dynamics.
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  Speaker 2: I know, I know.
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  Speaker 1: Well, let's get right to it, because it's going to
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: be a fun show. Well, we are fortunate to have
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  Speaker 1: today a daughter team who are both attorneys. The first
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: Patricia Mirraman, is a graduate of LSU Law School and
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  Speaker 1: she opened her law office in nineteen eighty eight. She
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  Speaker 1: specializes in elder law and she has three adult children,
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  Speaker 1: one of whom you will meet Julia Todd, who is
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  Speaker 1: a CPA and also an LSU graduate. I'm a ut graduate.
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  Speaker 1: So now that we're both in the SEC and I
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: will comment further on that. She is a mom of two,
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  Speaker 1: a son and daughter, very small children. And as I mentioned,
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: they are both part of the Mirraman Law firm. Welcome ladies,
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: welcome to inside.
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  Speaker 4: Them all welcome unk.
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  Speaker 1: So this is such an interesting dynamic in so many
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  Speaker 1: ways to have I mean, a mother and daughter is
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  Speaker 1: like I've observed because I don't have daughters, but I
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  Speaker 1: had sisters, Julie and her daughters, and you know how
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  Speaker 1: this how this works exactly. So let's start from the beginning. Patricia,
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  Speaker 1: you are an attorney. And how long are you priced
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: this night? Since your children before they were born, you've
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  Speaker 1: been practicing then you had three.
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  Speaker 8: Children, Yeah, thirty nine years.
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  Speaker 3: Oh wow?
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  Speaker 1: Okay, and really are you in a big firm or
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  Speaker 1: did you started your own firm?
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  Speaker 2: I guess I know.
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  Speaker 8: When I first got out of When I first got
• 5:17
  Speaker 8: out of law school, I went to work for just
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  Speaker 8: a one person law firm, and I was there for
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  Speaker 8: about six months, and then I kind of jumped ship
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  Speaker 8: and went to work for another very small law firm,
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  Speaker 8: and I was there for about a year, and I decided,
• 5:35
  Speaker 8: for just a number of reasons, that I was just
• 5:36
  Speaker 8: going to go ahead and do it myself. So I
• 5:40
  Speaker 8: hung out ma Shinele and did every kind of work
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  Speaker 8: that anybody asked me to do in the legal field,
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  Speaker 8: and then eventually every time dropped the things that I
• 5:51
  Speaker 8: didn't really enjoy and then concentrated in the elderlaw area
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  Speaker 8: for the last many many years.
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  Speaker 1: Well, I admire you so much for that, because I
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: I was never been brave enough to go hang out
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  Speaker 1: my own shingle. In fact, I always my father always
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: joked that anytime he had a legal problem, like with
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: a neighbor that he was bothering or something, he would say,
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  Speaker 1: you know, I would get my daughter to take care
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  Speaker 1: of that, but she doesn't specialize in that area, so
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  Speaker 1: she can't.
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  Speaker 2: She can't help me.
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  Speaker 1: It's always use that as my excuse because I was
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: in a big law firm, so I did environmental and
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  Speaker 1: immigration law. But we were very, very very specialized. So
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: anyone that can hang out their shingle and do all
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  Speaker 1: of that, I my hat's off to you. But you
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: certainly learn a lot doing that.
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  Speaker 8: Yeah, you just you just kind of have to take
• 6:35
  Speaker 8: everything and just get to know as many people as possible.
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  Speaker 8: But you know, my husband would would joke, you know
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  Speaker 8: that the reason that I opened my own office is
• 6:45
  Speaker 8: that I couldn't get along with anybody.
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  Speaker 7: You know.
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  Speaker 8: Not exactly true, but but it is. It is different,
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  Speaker 8: and like you said, with with being a parent. So
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  Speaker 8: I was a practice law for a number of years
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  Speaker 8: before my children were born. But one good thing about
• 7:02
  Speaker 8: working for yourself is that, you know, if I knew
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  Speaker 8: that I was going to you know, moms, you know,
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  Speaker 8: the mom's day or you know, uh, something that was
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  Speaker 8: going on at school or whatever, I could go and
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  Speaker 8: I made myself available as much as possible.
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  Speaker 5: Yeah, well that was one of my questions, is like,
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  Speaker 5: why did you go out on your own?
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  Speaker 9: And was it?
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  Speaker 5: Did it have to do with the fact that you know,
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  Speaker 5: you knew you wanted children, you had children, and you
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  Speaker 5: could be be your own boss, right?
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  Speaker 8: And I think I think too, you know, uh, you
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  Speaker 8: have to in the legal world and yell, everybody who's
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  Speaker 8: who's a lawyer knows this. People practice law in different ways.
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  Speaker 8: So the people that I worked for were good people,
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  Speaker 8: but I just knew that I wanted to do things
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  Speaker 8: a little bit differently. So, for instance, one of the
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  Speaker 8: things that that I did from the very beginning, which
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  Speaker 8: has ended up being a huge, uh a huge thing
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  Speaker 8: for us. I think the reason we get a lot
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  Speaker 8: of people is that we set flat rates for most
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  Speaker 8: of what we do, so unlike back then in the eighties,
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  Speaker 8: and I think even now, a lot of lawyers would
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  Speaker 8: you say, well, it'll be x by the hour, you know,
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  Speaker 8: and and so the client doesn't have an idea, so
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  Speaker 8: what it would cost. And I used to say all
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  Speaker 8: the time, I don't understand why no one knows what
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  Speaker 8: things cost.
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  Speaker 9: I mean, why can't we tell them what it costs?
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  Speaker 8: And so I started setting flat rates and that was
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  Speaker 8: a huge you know, that's that's something that people really
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  Speaker 8: really appreciate because when people come to see you, they
• 8:38
  Speaker 8: want to know how long is it going to take
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  Speaker 8: and how much is it going to cost? And if
• 8:42
  Speaker 8: you give them the lawyer answer, which is it depends,
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  Speaker 8: you're going to be very anxious and unsure and you
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  Speaker 8: need you know, they're going to there, they're they're not
• 8:52
  Speaker 8: going to feel comfortable. And so there's times when we
• 8:55
  Speaker 8: can't do that or times we have to change it, obviously,
• 8:57
  Speaker 8: but overall, people really appreciate knowing those two things.
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it is interesting because yeah, I worked at a
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: big loft service and we did it the other way.
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  Speaker 1: We did build by the hour. And a little helpful
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: hint to all you out there, all you moms out
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: there who might hire an attorney, watch out for if
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: it's build by the hour, you look at your bill.
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: A lot of times they'll bring in an associate. And
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: what we worked for big institutional clients too, so they
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: had deep pockets and if we missed something, that was
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: the worst thing you could.
• 9:26
  Speaker 2: If you missed anything, you were and you were done.
• 9:29
  Speaker 7: That was it.
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: But you'll notice on your bills and review the file,
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: review the file, review the file. A lot of people
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: reviewing your file, you know, for several hours. So yes,
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: it's and they're incentivized.
• 9:41
  Speaker 2: To bill a lot of hours.
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: That's how the firms make their money. So but yeah,
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: it's not fair to the client. You get a lot
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: of uncomfortable conversations with people when they don't have any idea.
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: They see their bill and they I've seen my bill
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: before and killed over because I.
• 9:54
  Speaker 2: Thought that's not right.
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  Speaker 8: So I just thought it was I thought it was
• 9:57
  Speaker 8: a crazy scenario.
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  Speaker 9: I just didn't know.
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  Speaker 8: I didn't know any lawyers. So when I got out
• 10:01
  Speaker 8: law school, I didn't really know any lawyers. I didn't
• 10:03
  Speaker 8: know any lawyers when I went to law school, and
• 10:05
  Speaker 8: so I was just I was I'm just a you know,
• 10:08
  Speaker 8: normal person saying well how much does that cost? And
• 10:11
  Speaker 8: I work with like like, I mean, you don't know yet.
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: I've always wondered for myself particularly, is being a lawyer?
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  Speaker 1: Is that partly a genetic thing? Because I'll tell you,
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: I'll give you this, this is why, this is why.
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  Speaker 2: I'm asking question.
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: You know that, Rightilia, My youngest son was just born
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: to be a lawyer.
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: From the time he was two three years old.
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: You could say something to him and he can give
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: you the best argument why you were wrong and he
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: was right and you couldn't really argue with that, or
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: he would and then injustice would happen in kindergarten and
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: his first question would be could we say, can we
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: sue that person? And so I don't know if that
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: was because he lived around me and that was just
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: sort of the thing, or if he's just you know,
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: if that's if it's genetic all right?
• 10:58
  Speaker 2: Like were you always Patricia, did you know.
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: From your time you were a small child and people
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: said you're a born lawyer, you you would just have
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: the personality to be a lawyer or was it something
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: you'd given to you later?
• 11:11
  Speaker 8: Absolutely not at all. I wanted to be a librarian.
• 11:16
  Speaker 8: And when the card catalog was taken out of you know,
• 11:21
  Speaker 8: you don't use card calumph anymore. That was a really
• 11:24
  Speaker 8: sad day for me because I just I grew up
• 11:27
  Speaker 8: just loving libraries.
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  Speaker 9: That was all that was.
• 11:30
  Speaker 8: My goal was to be a librarian. And I got
• 11:33
  Speaker 8: a degree in English literature. I intended to pursue that
• 11:38
  Speaker 8: that route and you know, maybe end up, you know,
• 11:40
  Speaker 8: going further in that. And I had an English professor
• 11:44
  Speaker 8: that said, I really think you ought to take the
• 11:47
  Speaker 8: l SAT, which is the intrith exam for law school.
• 11:50
  Speaker 8: And I said, I don't know what that is, and
• 11:53
  Speaker 8: so he told me, and he told me how to
• 11:54
  Speaker 8: do it, and I took it and then I got
• 11:57
  Speaker 8: an acceptance letter.
• 11:59
  Speaker 5: Uh so that is such an awesome story that I
• 12:02
  Speaker 5: was like, wow.
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  Speaker 8: I never, like I said, I didn't know any lawyers.
• 12:06
  Speaker 8: I I just didn't. It wasn't something I even considered.
• 12:12
  Speaker 8: But then when you know, this professor told me, you know,
• 12:15
  Speaker 8: I think you ought to pursue that. I think you know,
• 12:17
  Speaker 8: you you don't being being in the being in the
• 12:22
  Speaker 8: education area has a lot of you know, a lot
• 12:25
  Speaker 8: of things you're not. You're going to have to constantly
• 12:26
  Speaker 8: be publishing, You're probably going to be moving from school
• 12:28
  Speaker 8: to school, You're going to all these things you're not,
• 12:31
  Speaker 8: you know, so anyway, Yes, he really changed the course
• 12:34
  Speaker 8: of my life.
• 12:34
  Speaker 7: Uh.
• 12:35
  Speaker 2: You know, so that's a weird story.
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: And you know, you you might have answered part of
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: my question because maybe it is genetic, because I too
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: love the library and mourned the end of the Dewy.
• 12:45
  Speaker 4: So I think there's a large crowd out there that.
• 12:50
  Speaker 2: Lawyers. I think that's part of it.
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: So when Julia was born, and she's your oldest child, yes, now,
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: did you see any traits in her, like, oh, you
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: should be a lawyer? Or was this not a thing?
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: Julia can share her perspective on it.
• 13:08
  Speaker 9: I was gonna say no. I mean, so.
• 13:12
  Speaker 8: My husband is a math person and all my kids
• 13:14
  Speaker 8: are all my kids were math people. So Julia was
• 13:17
  Speaker 8: a CPA. My other two are engineers. I'm kind of
• 13:22
  Speaker 8: the odd man out in my family, you know, because
• 13:25
  Speaker 8: I sometimes I didn't understand what they were talking about
• 13:27
  Speaker 8: when they start talking about velocity and things like that,
• 13:30
  Speaker 8: and I, you know, but I always she was always
• 13:34
  Speaker 8: a math person and that was what she really wanted
• 13:37
  Speaker 8: to do, and so it was a natural thing for
• 13:39
  Speaker 8: her to become a CPA. And she can tell you
• 13:43
  Speaker 8: how she came from being a CPA to being a lawyer.
• 13:45
  Speaker 8: But I did not expect her. I expected her to
• 13:49
  Speaker 8: stay in the CPA world.
• 13:51
  Speaker 4: Well then, what a delight for you guys.
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: So maybe she was inspired by her mother. Well, Julia,
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: so what what made you decide to go to law school?
• 14:00
  Speaker 7: You know, you kind of grow up looking at how
• 14:04
  Speaker 7: your family was. Right, So I saw a mom who
• 14:07
  Speaker 7: was able to, in my eyes, do it all work
• 14:10
  Speaker 7: and have a family. And you know, granted we had
• 14:13
  Speaker 7: plenty of help. But I graduated from college and I
• 14:18
  Speaker 7: got married and moved, you know, back here to Shreport
• 14:21
  Speaker 7: with my husband, and we started talking about having a family,
• 14:24
  Speaker 7: and all I could think about was, you know, I
• 14:27
  Speaker 7: should have gone to law school.
• 14:29
  Speaker 9: I could do what my mom does. You know, she
• 14:32
  Speaker 9: gets to meet with people.
• 14:33
  Speaker 7: You know, we do a lot of estate planning or
• 14:35
  Speaker 7: product work, so we get to meet with people all
• 14:36
  Speaker 7: day long. And you know, I had actually drafted my
• 14:41
  Speaker 7: first will when I was probably seven or eight years old,
• 14:44
  Speaker 7: because we had just gotten computers at home, and she's like, okay,
• 14:48
  Speaker 7: well i'll pay you a couple of dollars or you know,
• 14:52
  Speaker 7: I don't know what it was. This will be your chore,
• 14:54
  Speaker 7: you know, if you if you draft these will. So
• 14:56
  Speaker 7: I was doing you know, wills and successions, but I
• 14:58
  Speaker 7: didn't know what that was.
• 14:59
  Speaker 9: I mean, was pretty young.
• 15:01
  Speaker 5: You should have submitted billable hours to your mind.
• 15:05
  Speaker 2: At learn how to type.
• 15:08
  Speaker 9: I was.
• 15:08
  Speaker 8: I would get like comfortable on the computer.
• 15:10
  Speaker 4: Okay, ahead, go ahead, you were doing this right.
• 15:15
  Speaker 7: My dad was a computer teacher, so it was all
• 15:17
  Speaker 7: about learning how to type and you know, excelling in
• 15:20
  Speaker 7: that area. So I, you know, I said I should
• 15:24
  Speaker 7: have gone to law school. And my husband said, you.
• 15:27
  Speaker 9: Know, why don't you? Well we can We're still young,
• 15:31
  Speaker 9: you know we can. We can do it.
• 15:32
  Speaker 7: And I and I said.
• 15:35
  Speaker 9: I'm going to get in first.
• 15:36
  Speaker 7: I'm going to make sure I can get into law
• 15:37
  Speaker 7: school before I even have a conversation you know with mom,
• 15:41
  Speaker 7: because I'm not going to do this and go.
• 15:43
  Speaker 9: I would never thought i'd be in some kind of
• 15:45
  Speaker 9: big law you know.
• 15:46
  Speaker 7: It was going to be about being here and making
• 15:48
  Speaker 7: relationships with people.
• 15:50
  Speaker 9: So I did and I got in and I just
• 15:53
  Speaker 9: took the path.
• 15:55
  Speaker 4: That's incredible.
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: Now, So you were you were back in Shreveport when
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: you made this decision, and did you have children at
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: that time?
• 16:02
  Speaker 7: I did not, so I had my first child. Really
• 16:07
  Speaker 7: the first year that I was practicing. Okay, so made
• 16:10
  Speaker 7: it through law school.
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: But you're in then you have to go back to
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: Baton Rouge to go to law school, right, So how
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: did her act that work?
• 16:16
  Speaker 9: Uh? It was it was a wild few years.
• 16:19
  Speaker 7: My husband worked at a bank at the time, who
• 16:22
  Speaker 7: uh was wonderful to him and just transferred him to
• 16:25
  Speaker 7: South Louisiana and we rented our house out here and
• 16:29
  Speaker 7: just truly up and moved for for the three years.
• 16:32
  Speaker 7: And then when we got done, I moved right back
• 16:35
  Speaker 7: into the same house.
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: Well that's a nice that's a great commitment. What a
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: nice husband.
• 16:39
  Speaker 5: Yes, she like you guys like have a movie in
• 16:43
  Speaker 5: the making here or something like that.
• 16:45
  Speaker 4: Yeah, for sure. I was like, there's more to yeah
• 16:48
  Speaker 4: out there, this would be really cool.
• 16:50
  Speaker 2: It's nice. So working for your well, I guess for
• 16:53
  Speaker 2: your mom. Are you both partners now? I mean, how
• 16:56
  Speaker 2: does this work? How does that? How did that shake
• 16:58
  Speaker 2: out at this point?
• 16:59
  Speaker 3: Yes?
• 17:00
  Speaker 2: Okay, so we're not equal partners, but.
• 17:02
  Speaker 4: Okay, see that's what I'm talking about, Patrishall.
• 17:05
  Speaker 2: Part of my question.
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: So, you have two young children and when you need
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: to take time, it sounds like you have a very
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: great situation there because your mom made it where she
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: could go be at school for you and things. So
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: when things come up for you where you need to
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: do something for the kids, I'm sure it's easy for
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: you to manage that. And your mother especially they're her grandchildren.
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: Is she really gonna denied them?
• 17:26
  Speaker 2: You know? So how does that work?
• 17:28
  Speaker 7: We don't, I will say, I mean, you know what,
• 17:33
  Speaker 7: I work a lot, or you know, I don't think
• 17:36
  Speaker 7: that's ever really been an issue with us. I mean
• 17:39
  Speaker 7: one thing about even though we're not equal partners, from
• 17:42
  Speaker 7: the very beginning, you know, she and we do succession planning.
• 17:46
  Speaker 7: She has always been about preparing me for my future,
• 17:51
  Speaker 7: and so so much of that has been okay, what
• 17:53
  Speaker 7: things can I let go? What? You know? So the
• 17:56
  Speaker 7: first thing she doesn't like doing is the business side
• 17:59
  Speaker 7: of things.
• 18:00
  Speaker 9: Well that's my brain. I love that part of it.
• 18:03
  Speaker 9: So all the math stuff.
• 18:04
  Speaker 4: All the math stuff, that's right, right.
• 18:07
  Speaker 7: So, all the finances, the pricing, the HR stuff, all
• 18:12
  Speaker 7: of those things have from probably day one, she has
• 18:18
  Speaker 7: either accepted my criticism or critique of them, or she
• 18:23
  Speaker 7: has been on board, you know.
• 18:25
  Speaker 9: With with change.
• 18:27
  Speaker 7: I think someone you know told me that it was
• 18:31
  Speaker 7: maybe exciting for her for me to come because.
• 18:33
  Speaker 9: You know, she thought, Okay, what am I gonna do?
• 18:36
  Speaker 7: I'm going to retire, But I've built this business, so
• 18:38
  Speaker 7: what happens to it?
• 18:40
  Speaker 9: And so now it's been kind of a little bit
• 18:42
  Speaker 9: of a.
• 18:44
  Speaker 7: New excitement, you know, from her, and and she gets
• 18:46
  Speaker 7: to focus on what she likes to do while also
• 18:49
  Speaker 7: being open to some things that maybe my generation is
• 18:53
  Speaker 7: excited about it.
• 18:54
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: So, and that makes you a great team. And I
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: can say for me personally, I'm not a math. I
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: hate math, actually not good at it. And so I
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: would appreciate somebody like you in the office. And also,
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: since you do wills, and since you've been doing will
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: since you were seven, I hope that if they made
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: you do their will for them, that you made sure
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: you put your little extra in there for yourself that is.
• 19:16
  Speaker 8: But no, we can't do that.
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: Yeah, no, no, I know, I know, especially yes, I
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: especially well you guys were elderlaw.
• 19:24
  Speaker 4: Can you tell me why you picked.
• 19:26
  Speaker 5: That, Like, I mean, out of everything that you you
• 19:29
  Speaker 5: started out doing, I'm dying to know. And I'll tell
• 19:31
  Speaker 5: you a little bit. This year has been a wild ride.
• 19:33
  Speaker 5: I put moved my parents into independent living, and it's
• 19:36
  Speaker 5: been a huge shift and change. And then moved my
• 19:40
  Speaker 5: aunt there and she passed away. I became the executor.
• 19:42
  Speaker 5: I feel like I've been kind of, you know, invisibly
• 19:46
  Speaker 5: sitting in your office listening to a lot of things,
• 19:48
  Speaker 5: because I've had to sit in a lot of attorney's
• 19:49
  Speaker 5: office this year. So can you tell us why that
• 19:52
  Speaker 5: you picked it? What was so special about it? Was
• 19:54
  Speaker 5: there a case that you're like, I can be of
• 19:56
  Speaker 5: service here. What you know made your heart explode over
• 19:59
  Speaker 5: the this particular area of law.
• 20:02
  Speaker 8: Well, I think two major things. One, I'm the youngest
• 20:06
  Speaker 8: of six kids. My parents were forty two and forty
• 20:10
  Speaker 8: six when they had me, So my dad died when
• 20:13
  Speaker 8: I was twenty four. My mother died on my fortieth birthday.
• 20:20
  Speaker 8: But so they were already, you know, I was already
• 20:24
  Speaker 8: dealing with my dad's illness and most of his siblings
• 20:27
  Speaker 8: and my aunts and uncles were very elderly. And then
• 20:31
  Speaker 8: my mother had had Alzheimer's, so I dealt with that.
• 20:35
  Speaker 8: But really, I think besides that, the thing that was
• 20:38
  Speaker 8: was that made me really do this more as a
• 20:41
  Speaker 8: profession is that my dad was retired military, and so
• 20:46
  Speaker 8: I grew up going Barkstell Air Force Base is right
• 20:48
  Speaker 8: across the river from US, Yes, and so I grew up,
• 20:51
  Speaker 8: you know, going to Barkstelle Air Force Base, going to
• 20:53
  Speaker 8: the library at Barksdell Air Force Base in the swimming pool.
• 20:56
  Speaker 8: And when my father died, I met a person named
• 21:01
  Speaker 8: Colonel Steve Depisler. And he was the head of the
• 21:05
  Speaker 8: Casualty Affairs office at Barksdale Air Force Base for many, many,
• 21:09
  Speaker 8: many years. And his philosophy was everything he did was volunteer.
• 21:15
  Speaker 8: His philosophy was I will help one person every day
• 21:19
  Speaker 8: that I am alive. Okay, wonderful person. He died at
• 21:23
  Speaker 8: one hundred and one years old. But I met him
• 21:26
  Speaker 8: and I had done a succession for a friend and
• 21:33
  Speaker 8: I met him because he called and he said, this
• 21:36
  Speaker 8: is Colonel Steve Depislo.
• 21:37
  Speaker 9: BEA's your office in five minutes and he hung the
• 21:39
  Speaker 9: phone up.
• 21:40
  Speaker 8: And so if you know about colonels in the military,
• 21:43
  Speaker 8: they just tell you what they're going.
• 21:44
  Speaker 9: To do and do it and then don't ask questions.
• 21:47
  Speaker 9: You do what they say.
• 21:48
  Speaker 8: So he came over to my office and he said,
• 21:50
  Speaker 8: I need to know if I trust.
• 21:54
  Speaker 9: You, and I am willing to say that.
• 21:57
  Speaker 8: You're my lawyer and my widow. I want someone my
• 22:01
  Speaker 8: widows can trust. I want someone who will not take
• 22:04
  Speaker 8: advantage of my widows. I want someone who will tell
• 22:07
  Speaker 8: my widows a price. I want someone who will tell
• 22:09
  Speaker 8: my widows how long it will take and to treat
• 22:12
  Speaker 8: them fairly. And I said I will. And it just
• 22:17
  Speaker 8: been for thirty years. I did a lot, a lot
• 22:21
  Speaker 8: a lot of people who were retired military who had
• 22:25
  Speaker 8: ties to Barkstelle Air Force Base.
• 22:27
  Speaker 4: Oh yeah, yeah.
• 22:28
  Speaker 8: And then you know, once you do it, once you
• 22:31
  Speaker 8: do it, and you do something, people think you do
• 22:34
  Speaker 8: it well, you just get clients on repeat, right, sore sure,
• 22:40
  Speaker 8: And that's really why, And that's how I just really
• 22:45
  Speaker 8: got into it and got into it very heavily.
• 22:47
  Speaker 2: From that point forward.
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: So what all does elder law encompass? Like I have
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: a friend of mine does care for senior citizens for families.
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: She's brought into be a caretaker, and she's told me
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: nightmarish stories about elder abuse among family members. I mean,
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: it's shocking how people treat their family. And do you
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: get involved in that? And how is that emotionally for
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: you all to be involved? Because I know like they
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: always said when I was in law school, don't be
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: in criminal law or family law unless you want to
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: be emotionally. You know, it'll affect you emotionally. So do
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: you all get involved in those types of cases too,
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: or do you mostly do wills and succession and guardianships
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: and things like that.
• 23:33
  Speaker 7: You know, I'd say some of our guardianships sort of
• 23:36
  Speaker 7: are interdictions, as we call them here in Louisiana definitely
• 23:40
  Speaker 7: have the mental component that you're talking about to it.
• 23:45
  Speaker 9: We as far as elder.
• 23:46
  Speaker 7: Abuse and those those types of things go, there are
• 23:50
  Speaker 7: places that you can call for immediate action and we
• 23:53
  Speaker 7: just can't act fast enough on those types of those
• 23:57
  Speaker 7: types of things. We of course recommend people you know,
• 24:01
  Speaker 7: contact you know, specific agencies on those, but you're right,
• 24:06
  Speaker 7: sometimes it's pretty taxing with.
• 24:09
  Speaker 9: With family members.
• 24:11
  Speaker 7: We you know, I think one thing that makes us
• 24:14
  Speaker 7: different is that we're the ones that are talking to
• 24:16
  Speaker 7: the clients every day and so we're we're calling them,
• 24:20
  Speaker 7: we're in.
• 24:21
  Speaker 9: It with them.
• 24:23
  Speaker 7: But I think that that's that's important, that makes us sympathetic,
• 24:26
  Speaker 7: that makes us good at what we do. So the separation,
• 24:30
  Speaker 7: while hard, maybe it's good that it's not there sometimes.
• 24:35
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: I was just I was surprised because she was talking
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: to me about this the other day and she said,
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: it's usually these family members, and she talked about how
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: as the as their parents getting in the end of
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: their life and it's getting harder to take care of them.
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: She said, they'll ask me all the time, well, how
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: much longer do you think they have? But it's not
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: in a way that's they're sad about it. It's like
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: they're just you know, this is taking there.
• 24:57
  Speaker 9: It's kind of right.
• 24:59
  Speaker 8: There is a lot of abuse, and and you know,
• 25:01
  Speaker 8: what we really try to get people to do, if
• 25:05
  Speaker 8: they possibly will, is make some plans. You know, have
• 25:09
  Speaker 8: have a will, have a power of attorney for someone
• 25:12
  Speaker 8: to make your financial decisions, have a power of attorney
• 25:14
  Speaker 8: for someone to make your health care decisions. Have all
• 25:16
  Speaker 8: those things in place, because if you don't, then you're
• 25:20
  Speaker 8: really at the mercy. You know, we all of us
• 25:23
  Speaker 8: are going to get to the point at some point
• 25:25
  Speaker 8: in our lives where we can't take care of ourselves,
• 25:27
  Speaker 8: whether it's physically or mentally or both. And if people
• 25:32
  Speaker 8: would just take a little small step forward and make
• 25:36
  Speaker 8: do a little bit of planning, you don't have to
• 25:38
  Speaker 8: have something super complicated or that's really really expensive, and
• 25:43
  Speaker 8: you know, you can have just basic documents that protect yourself,
• 25:48
  Speaker 8: you know, in the case something happens to you and
• 25:50
  Speaker 8: you've got someone in place that you trust. You know,
• 25:53
  Speaker 8: there are still times when someone you trust betrays you,
• 25:56
  Speaker 8: of course, and that's really sad, But most of the
• 26:00
  Speaker 8: ones that we see that are really heart wrenching, or
• 26:03
  Speaker 8: when people have not done any planning themselves.
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and finding that right person that you can trust,
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: because some of the stories that I've seen personally with
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: people that I know, they they the siblings will then
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: take try to take charge of the parent and try
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: to and the parents like diminishing in in you know,
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: what they can do, and then they have them signed something. Oh,
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: I've got a new power of attorney. Everyone's fighting over
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: this one has the power of attorney. No, I got
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: a different one. And I even had a friend who
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: was dying of cancer and she had given her ex
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: husband medical power of attorney and he realized that he
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: wasn't going to be in the will, so he had
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: them lift and you know, lift pain medicine from her
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: to try to get her to sign something that would
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: benefit him. I mean, people are pretty awful in those
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: So how you you're right, you need to plan like
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: you're when you're my age or even younger. Like how
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: early do you tell people, Hey, you need to start
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: thinking about this and you actually need to put documents
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: in place so that it's very clear to everyone that.
• 27:04
  Speaker 4: I mean, I think they're going to say early.
• 27:06
  Speaker 2: Yeah, like maybe maybe I'm too late.
• 27:09
  Speaker 7: I'm saying eighteen. So an eighteen year old at least
• 27:12
  Speaker 7: needs a power of attorney. Because an eighteen year old,
• 27:15
  Speaker 7: let's say you're successful and you're going off to college
• 27:18
  Speaker 7: and mom and dad want to call and they want
• 27:21
  Speaker 7: to pay you your tuition, they are not going to
• 27:24
  Speaker 7: release your financial information without a power of attorney, or.
• 27:28
  Speaker 9: They should even to the parent.
• 27:30
  Speaker 8: And people who are parents of college students have dealt
• 27:37
  Speaker 8: with this, I'm sure they so tell you how much
• 27:39
  Speaker 8: how much your child owes. And also the other thing
• 27:45
  Speaker 8: is you know medical, your child is nineteen years old.
• 27:48
  Speaker 7: And gets in a wreck, Yes, in the hospital, you
• 27:51
  Speaker 7: find out the hard way, power to make their decisions.
• 27:54
  Speaker 2: Yeah, now I had that.
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: My son was an awful accident, was in a coma
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: for a short period of time, and it was the
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: end of the semester for college, and the school came
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: to me and said, well, does he want to take
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: an incomplete? I'm like, he's in a coma coma, so
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: I said, I guess he's going to have to. Well,
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: then later on they tried this. University of Texas tried
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: to say, well, you can't get an extension on that
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: because you voluntarily took an incomplete. So I went in
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: there with him and I said, I'm the one that
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: took the incomplete.
• 28:21
  Speaker 2: He was in a coma. They were lovely about it.
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: They reversed that decision, but you're right, it's better to
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: have something in place. So even though on your shingle
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: it says elder law you can come to you even
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: at twenty years old and SAYD were thirty years old
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: the family and say hey, I want to I want
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: to have a plan in place.
• 28:40
  Speaker 5: So I don't mean to like I know all of
• 28:43
  Speaker 5: your lawyers, but I've been through so much this year
• 28:46
  Speaker 5: with this, and I think a lot of our listeners
• 28:48
  Speaker 5: have too. Can you kind of point in the direction
• 28:52
  Speaker 5: trust will will trust?
• 28:54
  Speaker 4: Like where I mean, how do you.
• 28:56
  Speaker 5: Like explain this to people who don't do this on
• 28:59
  Speaker 5: a regular basis.
• 29:01
  Speaker 2: Well, this is an hour long discussion.
• 29:03
  Speaker 4: Well I need to know.
• 29:03
  Speaker 5: I mean I know that, but I'm just saying, like
• 29:05
  Speaker 5: for most people, it's just good to have a basic
• 29:08
  Speaker 5: wills from what I understand, and then you kind of if.
• 29:11
  Speaker 4: You need to go into you know, revocable trucks.
• 29:15
  Speaker 8: I'm gonna letull you answer that.
• 29:17
  Speaker 9: And he's a question that we get asked all the time.
• 29:20
  Speaker 4: Well, see that's why I asked it.
• 29:22
  Speaker 9: Yeah, it's a great questions.
• 29:25
  Speaker 5: You don't have to have a long answer, but just
• 29:27
  Speaker 5: to give people a basic idea because I think they
• 29:29
  Speaker 5: get overwhelmed. I mean, people like me get overwhelmed when
• 29:33
  Speaker 5: everything like this happens all at once and then someone
• 29:36
  Speaker 5: dies and then I had to go to court to
• 29:37
  Speaker 5: you know. So I'm not going to go on and on,
• 29:39
  Speaker 5: but you get what i'm saying.
• 29:40
  Speaker 7: So, Sure, the short answer is in Louisiana, it's something
• 29:45
  Speaker 7: totally different than it is where you guys live. Sure,
• 29:48
  Speaker 7: so you need to go to a lawyer who knows
• 29:51
  Speaker 7: this area of law and can tell you what the
• 29:53
  Speaker 7: probate or the succession process looks like. Sure, here, it's
• 29:57
  Speaker 7: not a big deal. We can do a basic will
• 30:00
  Speaker 7: for most people, but in other states there are reasons
• 30:03
  Speaker 7: to avoid that process.
• 30:06
  Speaker 9: I will say, you know, TikTok.
• 30:09
  Speaker 7: Everyone loves to get on there and scroll and receive
• 30:11
  Speaker 7: legal advice through you know, these fun little channels. But
• 30:16
  Speaker 7: the problem with those is is that those those lawyers
• 30:19
  Speaker 7: are people that are doing that are actually state specific.
• 30:22
  Speaker 7: We're licensed in each state, So it's important to find
• 30:25
  Speaker 7: somebody that can talk to you about that in your
• 30:27
  Speaker 7: own stay.
• 30:28
  Speaker 4: Each state is individual and people need to know. You
• 30:30
  Speaker 4: know that that true.
• 30:32
  Speaker 5: Every state is different. Every state has different fees and
• 30:35
  Speaker 5: how this is done. So I just wanted you to
• 30:37
  Speaker 5: say something about it so people know that it's this
• 30:40
  Speaker 5: is possible, This is possible to plan, this is possible
• 30:44
  Speaker 5: to take out some of the drama that has happened
• 30:47
  Speaker 5: in all of our lives. I mean, I'm in my fifties,
• 30:49
  Speaker 5: so I'm dealing with you know anyway, when.
• 30:51
  Speaker 2: You dealt with it a lot, I appreciate you.
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: Know you back in the old days, you would just
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: you in apprentice with a leather attorney and become a lawyer.
• 30:59
  Speaker 2: Julie's almost there.
• 31:00
  Speaker 4: I need a lot of lawyers. Do you need an intern?
• 31:03
  Speaker 2: Yeah, she's practically ready to take the bar.
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: Well, we are very excited. We have some other ladies
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: that would like to ask you questions and they are
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: our zoomer moms and zoomer daughter this time.
• 31:14
  Speaker 2: Welcome Zoomer moms. Welcome to the Mom's Club.
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: So, ladies, let's I'm going to go around and you
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: tell us a little bit about yourself and if you
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: have a question for Patrician Julia, let's start with Janine.
• 31:30
  Speaker 2: Welcome to the Mom's Club.
• 31:32
  Speaker 6: Hi there, ladies, it's a pleasure to meet you. I
• 31:35
  Speaker 6: am Janine and I live in Austin, but was raised
• 31:40
  Speaker 6: in Shreveport. Really so that could be a whole other conversation,
• 31:46
  Speaker 6: but so excited to meet you, ladies. I have a
• 31:49
  Speaker 6: twofold question, and it would be how do your styles
• 31:58
  Speaker 6: your work style compared to each other given the unique
• 32:04
  Speaker 6: circumstances of you being.
• 32:07
  Speaker 4: Family.
• 32:08
  Speaker 6: And the second is now, I understand that you both
• 32:12
  Speaker 6: went to LSU law school.
• 32:14
  Speaker 9: Is that that was correct?
• 32:16
  Speaker 6: Yes, during different generations attending law school. So Patricia, I
• 32:22
  Speaker 6: guess my question would be directed to you in a
• 32:26
  Speaker 6: way that how do you see law school compare your
• 32:32
  Speaker 6: daughter's experience Julia to what the experience was back in
• 32:37
  Speaker 6: the early eighties going to law school and vice versa.
• 32:43
  Speaker 9: Well, when I.
• 32:44
  Speaker 8: Was in law school, it was I think this, you know,
• 32:50
  Speaker 8: I don't have all the statistics, but this is my
• 32:52
  Speaker 8: understanding from my experience, is that it was easier to
• 32:56
  Speaker 8: get in but harder to stay in. So I remember
• 33:00
  Speaker 8: when I first went to law school and I was in.
• 33:03
  Speaker 8: We were divided in what's called sections, and each section
• 33:06
  Speaker 8: had like one hundred and fifty people in it, and
• 33:09
  Speaker 8: the professor came out and said, by the end of
• 33:12
  Speaker 8: this year, there will be less than a third of
• 33:15
  Speaker 8: you left. That was on day one, and it was true.
• 33:19
  Speaker 8: And so it just you know, people were not invited
• 33:24
  Speaker 8: back or left or didn't make it for whatever reason.
• 33:28
  Speaker 8: So and I kind of looking back, thought, well, maybe
• 33:32
  Speaker 8: that's why I got an acceptance letter when I just
• 33:34
  Speaker 8: was an English major, you know. But anyway, that's was
• 33:38
  Speaker 8: my experience was. It was everyone trying to just really
• 33:42
  Speaker 8: struggle to stay in and to and to graduate. And
• 33:46
  Speaker 8: then when Julia got in, I felt like from her
• 33:49
  Speaker 8: and she can tell you, but I felt like from
• 33:51
  Speaker 8: her perspective it was the opposite.
• 33:53
  Speaker 9: Maybe it was harder to get in. Yeah, and one
• 33:57
  Speaker 9: thing too.
• 33:58
  Speaker 7: I mean, of course when you were there, there were
• 34:01
  Speaker 7: not nearly as many women when I was there, So
• 34:05
  Speaker 7: that was.
• 34:05
  Speaker 9: Kind of a cool shift to see.
• 34:07
  Speaker 7: She got to come actually maybe my first year of
• 34:11
  Speaker 7: law school and sit in my class with me one day.
• 34:14
  Speaker 9: I don't know if you remember this.
• 34:16
  Speaker 2: I remember.
• 34:16
  Speaker 7: So she got to come and actually see what my
• 34:18
  Speaker 7: day looked like. So much of it was oddly similar,
• 34:23
  Speaker 7: I think, and then some was was definitely different. I
• 34:28
  Speaker 7: had an experience of going through law school knowing what
• 34:31
  Speaker 7: my job was going to be, so there was just
• 34:35
  Speaker 7: zero pressure which allowed me to do well. And I
• 34:39
  Speaker 7: think that that was something that was totally different, you know,
• 34:43
  Speaker 7: for her.
• 34:43
  Speaker 9: She just kind of figured it out along the way.
• 34:47
  Speaker 7: So as you know, as far as work styles going,
• 34:52
  Speaker 7: you know, I think we definitely have different work styles generationally.
• 34:58
  Speaker 9: I'll work from home, great deal, she's here every Saturday.
• 35:04
  Speaker 7: You know, she doesn't work unless she's in her chair
• 35:08
  Speaker 7: for the most part. Uh, the way that we deal
• 35:11
  Speaker 7: with staff is probably a little bit different, or maybe
• 35:15
  Speaker 7: years has changed over the years.
• 35:17
  Speaker 8: Yeah, that that's something that's definitely changed. That could be
• 35:19
  Speaker 8: a whole other topic. But you know, how how employees
• 35:25
  Speaker 8: what employees expect and dealing with employees is completely different
• 35:29
  Speaker 8: than it was thirty nine years ago or forty years ago.
• 35:32
  Speaker 8: And uh, Julia has a handle on that, thankfully, because
• 35:36
  Speaker 8: I'm from the school where, you know, everyone's happy to
• 35:39
  Speaker 8: have a job and they just come in and do
• 35:40
  Speaker 8: their job and that's it.
• 35:41
  Speaker 9: You don't have to do anything.
• 35:42
  Speaker 8: You don't have to give them any perks or celebrate
• 35:45
  Speaker 8: or any of those kind of things. And Julia has
• 35:48
  Speaker 8: a good handle on what what people now are wanting
• 35:53
  Speaker 8: and expecting in terms of their where they're spending a
• 35:57
  Speaker 8: lot of their time, their time of their life. They're
• 35:59
  Speaker 8: spending a lot a lot of time at work, and
• 36:01
  Speaker 8: what they're expecting to get from that work.
• 36:04
  Speaker 9: So I think that's.
• 36:06
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you know what I can really just to add
• 36:10
  Speaker 1: to this conversation, so, my son's girlfriend just graduated from
• 36:14
  Speaker 1: law school at ut Law School where I went, and
• 36:17
  Speaker 1: back when we were in law school, it was more
• 36:19
  Speaker 1: like what Patricia experienced, and what she experienced is she
• 36:23
  Speaker 1: explained to me, she was in the middle of the
• 36:24
  Speaker 1: finals one semester and she said, yeah, we've got that
• 36:27
  Speaker 1: barista and then they're gonna do massages for us. We're
• 36:31
  Speaker 1: supposed to sign up like you have.
• 36:33
  Speaker 2: You have massages and a barista. We did not have
• 36:36
  Speaker 2: that at.
• 36:37
  Speaker 4: The same law school.
• 36:38
  Speaker 1: So yes, things have changed for sure. Thanks Jennifer, Welcome
• 36:43
  Speaker 1: to the Mom's Club. Tell us a little about yourself
• 36:45
  Speaker 1: and you.
• 36:45
  Speaker 2: Have a question.
• 36:48
  Speaker 10: Hi, so great to meet you both, and here about
• 36:51
  Speaker 10: your practice. I'm you know, unfortunately we're all in the
• 36:54
  Speaker 10: thick of having, yes, older people in our lives. I
• 36:59
  Speaker 10: live in Austin, Texas this I have two children, I
• 37:01
  Speaker 10: have five living grandparents, so we're very in the thick
• 37:06
  Speaker 10: of all this, all different levels of health. So we're
• 37:09
  Speaker 10: really kind of learning the difference between you know, take
• 37:13
  Speaker 10: six trips to go to schwab to activate your power
• 37:17
  Speaker 10: of attorney, like you can have it, but like actually
• 37:19
  Speaker 10: getting into the bank account is a whole different thing.
• 37:22
  Speaker 10: So and we dropped our son off at college, who's
• 37:25
  Speaker 10: our last on the twenty fourth of September, and the
• 37:30
  Speaker 10: very next day my husband flew to Florida to his
• 37:34
  Speaker 10: father who just had a stroke.
• 37:35
  Speaker 9: So that is most people don't.
• 37:37
  Speaker 10: Realize that feel as you go straight from being a
• 37:39
  Speaker 10: parent to your children to be taking care.
• 37:42
  Speaker 9: Of your parents.
• 37:43
  Speaker 10: And I think that's more of our generation because people
• 37:46
  Speaker 10: are living longer. But and I also had a cousin
• 37:50
  Speaker 10: who died at twenty six no will, and that was
• 37:54
  Speaker 10: a real mess. So it's funny, like there's it's like
• 37:58
  Speaker 10: a whole you can take it as an opportunity, but
• 38:00
  Speaker 10: it's a whole new education you have to get about
• 38:03
  Speaker 10: managing this next phase of life. And you know, I
• 38:06
  Speaker 10: love that you said eighteen is when you really need
• 38:08
  Speaker 10: to have start having a game plan for this, because
• 38:12
  Speaker 10: that was very.
• 38:13
  Speaker 9: Much my experience.
• 38:14
  Speaker 10: So given the way kids are with like using AI
• 38:18
  Speaker 10: and being online and legal zoom, Like, you know, what's
• 38:22
  Speaker 10: the argument for when your daughter comes to you and says,
• 38:26
  Speaker 10: don't worry about a mom, I got an AI that's
• 38:28
  Speaker 10: just going to write me up a will in Texas
• 38:31
  Speaker 10: and we're good.
• 38:33
  Speaker 2: Would you answer that?
• 38:34
  Speaker 9: Yeah?
• 38:35
  Speaker 7: Every day, the ones that I'm getting from various websites
• 38:39
  Speaker 7: or that people have drawn up themselves are invalid, and
• 38:42
  Speaker 7: so obviously, depending on your state, you just have got
• 38:48
  Speaker 7: to have an attorney review it because you know, the
• 38:52
  Speaker 7: worst case scenario is that the document that you planned
• 38:55
  Speaker 7: for and you did a lot of work on does
• 38:58
  Speaker 7: not go into play.
• 38:58
  Speaker 9: I mean, I can't Louisiana.
• 39:00
  Speaker 7: If if your document's not valid, nothing on it matters.
• 39:05
  Speaker 9: It just doesn't matter.
• 39:06
  Speaker 4: It's like you didn't even have one.
• 39:08
  Speaker 7: Is that.
• 39:10
  Speaker 9: Okay?
• 39:11
  Speaker 10: So if you're if you let's say you're in your twenties,
• 39:15
  Speaker 10: just graduated from college, and you're wanting to go just
• 39:18
  Speaker 10: have a kind of the basic things in place. How
• 39:22
  Speaker 10: much time and energy does that take to kind of
• 39:25
  Speaker 10: get those things in place? If you're going to give
• 39:27
  Speaker 10: someone an aspect, Oh, I.
• 39:29
  Speaker 9: Don't think long.
• 39:29
  Speaker 7: I mean, you know, I have plenty of people who
• 39:32
  Speaker 7: specifically like on say young child, a college age child
• 39:36
  Speaker 7: that you're talking about getting documents. Sometimes people will just
• 39:39
  Speaker 7: send us an email or call us and say, hey,
• 39:42
  Speaker 7: you know, my daughter needs a power of attorney. Is
• 39:45
  Speaker 7: there anything else she might need? Chances are they don't
• 39:49
  Speaker 7: own very much, so are anything, so a will might
• 39:52
  Speaker 7: not be necessary at that point. But we'll take that
• 39:55
  Speaker 7: information over the phone and then they'll just either come
• 39:58
  Speaker 7: into our office and sign, or we'll p documents for
• 40:00
  Speaker 7: them to sign in front of a notary somewhere else.
• 40:03
  Speaker 9: Thirty minutes. I mean, you know you could.
• 40:05
  Speaker 7: It doesn't have to be a longer on out thing
• 40:07
  Speaker 7: unless you want it to be right.
• 40:10
  Speaker 10: Yeah, Yeah, that's great to hear because you know, what
• 40:13
  Speaker 10: I know is that you don't ever want to end
• 40:15
  Speaker 10: up in probate and you just need to do it
• 40:17
  Speaker 10: whatever it takes to not be there. And it's worse
• 40:19
  Speaker 10: in some states and others, but my cousin was in
• 40:22
  Speaker 10: New York.
• 40:23
  Speaker 9: And it was a real mess.
• 40:24
  Speaker 2: Yes, you just yeah.
• 40:25
  Speaker 7: See.
• 40:25
  Speaker 8: The thing is to see that's completely different for Louisiana
• 40:28
  Speaker 8: because Louisiana it's better for you to go through probate.
• 40:31
  Speaker 8: Louisiana because we have what's called non administered probate and
• 40:35
  Speaker 8: we have this this really fast procedure and it's it's
• 40:38
  Speaker 8: you get there's perks to it, okay, and we have
• 40:40
  Speaker 8: no inheritance tax, which is very different, very different from
• 40:43
  Speaker 8: other places.
• 40:44
  Speaker 2: Yeah, which goes to the point of every state has
• 40:46
  Speaker 2: very very states, different different laws.
• 40:49
  Speaker 1: And it is yes, and you also do want to
• 40:50
  Speaker 1: make sure it's a valid document because I think there's
• 40:52
  Speaker 1: a lot of people lately because of all the AI
• 40:55
  Speaker 1: and legal zoom and things. I've heard of cases where
• 40:57
  Speaker 1: people will do other types of documents and they think
• 41:00
  Speaker 1: they do them themselves, and they take them to their
• 41:01
  Speaker 1: lawyer and say is this okay? And it's not okay,
• 41:05
  Speaker 1: And it's hard to explain to them when I really
• 41:07
  Speaker 1: need to charge you a lot to make this right.
• 41:09
  Speaker 1: They think they can be a little cheaper if they
• 41:12
  Speaker 1: do it themselves, but it really doesn't work up well.
• 41:15
  Speaker 8: And you know, we review a lot of things, and
• 41:20
  Speaker 8: we have a huge volume of clients and a huge
• 41:24
  Speaker 8: volume of new people coming in. So you know, it's
• 41:27
  Speaker 8: if somebody says, hey, can you take a look at this,
• 41:30
  Speaker 8: they can email it to us or drop it off
• 41:33
  Speaker 8: and I'll say, hey, it looks fine, or you know
• 41:35
  Speaker 8: this is really old, or this has this weird language
• 41:37
  Speaker 8: right here, you might want to consider it getting it
• 41:40
  Speaker 8: redone And we can do that.
• 41:42
  Speaker 9: We do that all the time for me.
• 41:43
  Speaker 1: Well, and I will give you so for me personally,
• 41:45
  Speaker 1: I'm an attorney, but I always have my attorney just
• 41:48
  Speaker 1: check over and see when I write something like if
• 41:50
  Speaker 1: I'm missing something because I've ben't practiced in a while,
• 41:52
  Speaker 1: so yeah, just to always make sure the attorney looks
• 41:55
  Speaker 1: at it well. Our last Zoomer is a Zoomer daughter.
• 41:59
  Speaker 1: It was actually a Zoomer niece in this case, but
• 42:02
  Speaker 1: she's an aspiring lawyer in law students. So let's welcome Emily.
• 42:06
  Speaker 1: Welcome to the Mom's club. And do you have a question.
• 42:10
  Speaker 3: Yes, hello, my question. Just as she said, I'm currently
• 42:14
  Speaker 3: studying for the ELSAT and planning on applying to law
• 42:17
  Speaker 3: school this round. So I was just wondering if you
• 42:21
  Speaker 3: guys had any piece of advice or words of wisdom
• 42:25
  Speaker 3: for me.
• 42:28
  Speaker 7: Well, you know, for law school itself. When you first one, congrats,
• 42:33
  Speaker 7: you're amazing, You're gonna do great. But you know, sometimes
• 42:38
  Speaker 7: when you're starting something brand new and you go in
• 42:41
  Speaker 7: on your first day and you look around and you're like,
• 42:43
  Speaker 7: everyone here is incredible, everyone here smarter than me. You're
• 42:49
  Speaker 7: you're very capable of doing it one. And then the
• 42:53
  Speaker 7: thing is is that it's just school. So granted you
• 42:58
  Speaker 7: want to do well, but there are of different types
• 43:01
  Speaker 7: of law, there are tons of different ways to practice.
• 43:05
  Speaker 7: There are tons of you know, small firm, big firm,
• 43:08
  Speaker 7: certain law where you never see anybody, and mine where
• 43:12
  Speaker 7: you know, I'll see fifteen clients a week.
• 43:15
  Speaker 9: Like I love that part.
• 43:17
  Speaker 7: And so I would have never gone to law school
• 43:20
  Speaker 7: if I didn't know that this area or this you
• 43:23
  Speaker 7: know way exists. So just try everything, do everything intern
• 43:28
  Speaker 7: with as many people as you can and see what
• 43:31
  Speaker 7: you like, and if you don't like it, then move
• 43:34
  Speaker 7: on to the next one because you'll find a place.
• 43:36
  Speaker 9: That works for you.
• 43:37
  Speaker 8: What do you do, You have an idea what you want,
• 43:40
  Speaker 8: what area you're interested in, or you're.
• 43:42
  Speaker 3: Just starting As of now, I'm thinking about pursuing media law,
• 43:47
  Speaker 3: but that could obviously change. I'm not one hundred percent sure.
• 43:51
  Speaker 3: I don't have any experience in it, but that seems
• 43:53
  Speaker 3: to be what I'm most interested in, So we'll see.
• 43:56
  Speaker 5: But I think what Julia's saying to you before you
• 43:59
  Speaker 5: do that you're going to get a power of attorney
• 44:01
  Speaker 5: today because you're twenty two. Yeah, and so I hope
• 44:04
  Speaker 5: you've picked up on that too, and that you text
• 44:08
  Speaker 5: my daughter as soon as we get out.
• 44:09
  Speaker 2: Well, it's yeah.
• 44:11
  Speaker 1: And also, there is a difference between big firms and
• 44:14
  Speaker 1: small firms. Like you could your sister is graduated from
• 44:16
  Speaker 1: law school. You could be in the same big firm
• 44:18
  Speaker 1: with her and never see you ever see her except
• 44:21
  Speaker 1: for Thanksgiving and Christmas. I mean, you know, it's like you,
• 44:24
  Speaker 1: there's a huge difference.
• 44:25
  Speaker 2: So, yeah, you want to experience all of it. Well,
• 44:27
  Speaker 2: thank you, ladies.
• 44:28
  Speaker 4: This is sending credible, as we.
• 44:29
  Speaker 2: Say here on the Mom's Club, lomazing, amazing. We have
• 44:32
  Speaker 2: so enjoyed it.
• 44:33
  Speaker 1: And tell our audience if they are in Louisiana, because
• 44:37
  Speaker 1: your licensed to Louisiana unless you have another state you're
• 44:39
  Speaker 1: a hold a license.
• 44:40
  Speaker 4: In arensed to another stage where they can reach you.
• 44:43
  Speaker 9: Just Louisiana's Louisiana.
• 44:45
  Speaker 7: So you can reach us at our website www dot
• 44:49
  Speaker 7: Merriman law dot com. We're also on Facebook and Instagram
• 44:54
  Speaker 7: under Maryman Law.
• 44:55
  Speaker 2: Right, well, thank you so much. We've really really enjoyed this.
• 44:59
  Speaker 5: And I learned to lot again you did I know,
• 45:01
  Speaker 5: look at all this listens like a million notes.
• 45:04
  Speaker 2: I was like, yes, so she's ready to go.
• 45:06
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• 45:51
  Speaker 9: Yeah.
• 45:51
  Speaker 4: It's just about to ask you that. Can you spell that?
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  Speaker 1: I just hear me, Thank you and you see ALM yeah,
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  Speaker 1: never believe I was once an attorney because I'm once
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• 46:14
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• 46:15
  Speaker 2: Well, it's like always, this has been so quick.
• 46:19
  Speaker 1: And fun, like really fun. And you know who knew
• 46:21
  Speaker 1: that a law episode would be so much fun?
• 46:25
  Speaker 4: Yes?
• 46:25
  Speaker 1: Yes, And remember Armato ladies out there, If you don't laugh,
• 46:29
  Speaker 1: sometimes you are going to cry. So let's laugh all everybody,
• 46:34
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