Latest / Wealthy Woman Lawyer Podcast, Helping you create a profitable, sustainable law firm you love / Amanda DuBois | Law Firm Owner, Community Advocate, and Novelist Shares Her Secret to Cultivating a High-Performing, Loyal Team
Transcript
- 0:02Davina Frederick: Hi everyone and welcome back to the wealthy
- 0:04woman lawyer podcast. I'm your host, Davina Frederick, and I'm
- 0:07here today with Amanda DuBois. Amanda is the founder of the
- 0:13Dubois Law Group. And that's a divorce law firm. In California.
- 0:20No, in Seattle, you're in the Seattle area, I apologize. I
- 0:23started to saw California. And her law firm has 20 employees,
- 0:30it is largely women attorneys. And she man is really
- 0:36fascinating because I found out about her because I found out
- 0:40that she is an attorney who has written a novel, a legal novel
- 0:45and legal thriller. And so I am reading that it's called the
- 0:47complication. And I invited her onto the show. And I found out
- 0:51that she has built this amazing law firm over the last 20 years,
- 0:56and in the Seattle area. And before that she was actually a
- 1:00nurse. And she recently won a very prestigious award for her
- 1:06work, her nonprofit work on something called the civil
- 1:10survival projects. I'm eager to talk with her about that. I know
- 1:13you guys are gonna love her. And love to hear all about Amanda
- 1:17and her law firm. I've got lots of questions. So welcome. And
- 1:20I'm so glad you're here. Thank you. So fun to be here. So why
- 1:25don't you start out telling us about your law firm and kind of
- 1:29give us a sense of the size of it? Who do you like to serve the
- 1:33clients you'd like to serve? And your team?
- 1:38Unknown: Well, I have an update. Newsflash, we have a new name.
- 1:41Because Lucia lavas, just became a full partner in the law firm.
- 1:45And so now it's called Dubois, Leviathan law groups. That's
- 1:49pretty exciting. And what we're really excited about is that she
- 1:53represents I think it's 2% of women, law partners who are
- 1:58Latina, which is a statistic I wasn't aware of. So I'm pretty
- 2:01proud of that. I know, right? So we're moving. We have a pretty
- 2:06diverse group in our in our law firm, and Lucia is now a
- 2:09partner. So that or she's a named partner, she was a partner
- 2:11before, we have about now we've got about 25 employees, we have,
- 2:15I think, nine lawyers and a bunch of staff, and sort of that
- 2:18we got the admin staff, and then we got the paralegal staff. And
- 2:21then we've got sort of the finance staff. And then we've
- 2:23got these amazing lawyers, all of whom I pretty much trained.
- 2:28So because I was a nurse, and I came from a medical, you know,
- 2:32it's different in the medical world, like you graduate from
- 2:34medical school, and then you become a intern, and then you
- 2:37become a resident, and then you launch. And I noticed when I was
- 2:41young lawyer, there was no internship and there was no
- 2:43residency and it was kind of scary, right? When you got out
- 2:46and you were sort of thrown out there. And I had all male, you
- 2:49know, I worked, let's call them the bad boys, I work for the bad
- 2:52boys. And they weren't very sympathetic to the plight of
- 2:54the, you know, baby lawyer. And so I sort of committed myself
- 2:58that all of the lawyers would come into our group are going to
- 3:00be is pretty much sitting next to me for about a year. And so
- 3:05we really, really, really mentor and train our new lawyers who
- 3:09aren't always young, because, you know, people coming out of
- 3:12law school and all different ages. But um, so I think that's
- 3:15something I've noticed, you know, sort of I do family law.
- 3:19And I've noticed, you know, that a lot of the newer lawyers don't
- 3:22get the kind of mentoring and training that they need. And
- 3:25it's, well, it's an order of business. First of all, it's
- 3:27super scary, because you're throwing somebody out there
- 3:29doesn't know what they're doing. But more importantly, you know,
- 3:32for our clients, we want to make sure that they get the very best
- 3:35possible representation that they can get. And by having
- 3:38lawyers who have been heavily mentored and trained, and then
- 3:41we're all the time working as a team for that very reason. So I
- 3:45think, anyway, that's kind of how I've grown it is we take one
- 3:49or two, sort of new lawyers at a time and train them up really
- 3:52intensely.
- 3:54Davina Frederick: I have a whole lot of questions about this. So
- 3:56I think this is fantastic that you said that because I, I coach
- 4:01women law firm owners and growing their business, and one
- 4:04of the big challenges they're having is they're having hiring
- 4:06challenges, but they're also feeling like, you know, I invest
- 4:09in the training of this person, and then they, they leave. And I
- 4:13think one of the challenges that people have is maybe they're not
- 4:17spending enough time training and training closely enough and
- 4:21working closely enough with them to develop that relationship. So
- 4:25they think they're training by saying, here's how we do things
- 4:29now go to it. And maybe there maybe that's why they're losing
- 4:33people. But have you had the experience where you invest a
- 4:37lot in training someone and then they've left you shortly after
- 4:41you they kind of pass their their training period to go work
- 4:44someplace else? And how do you handle that?
- 4:47Unknown: Well, only Yeah, we've we've had people with this
- 4:49family a lot, right? So either you love it or you hate it. And
- 4:52so it's not, you know, it's not unusual for us to get somebody
- 4:57in there who thinks they're super enthusiastic and they
- 4:58always want to be family. Oh boy. They're, and then they're
- 5:00dealing with people who are falling apart and, you know,
- 5:04losing their home and their children. And it's really
- 5:06emotional. And just circling back to this nurse thing,
- 5:09because I was a nurse before I was a lawyer, I'm pretty
- 5:12comfortable with people in crisis, because that's pretty
- 5:14much I was a labor and delivery nurse. So you're dealing with
- 5:17women in crisis every single day. So I'm very comfortable
- 5:21with that. And I'm pretty good at mentoring, you know, my team
- 5:23of how to be comfortable with people who have a really hugely
- 5:26emotional state, but it's not for everybody. So I would say
- 5:31that of the people that have sort of come and gone, I don't,
- 5:34I can't think of one who's gone to another family law firm. I
- 5:37can, you know, we've had some that have just said, I'm gonna
- 5:41go to estate planning, or I'm gonna go be commercial litigate
- 5:43like, they just want out of the crazy emotional part of it. But
- 5:49so yeah, they kind of figure that out. And it becomes kind of
- 5:52clear as you're going along, like, they're, they're not, you
- 5:56know, really related to the clients as well and stuff. So,
- 5:59yeah, we invest a lot in our people. But that's kind of part
- 6:02of the business model. Because I figure a certain number of
- 6:04people, you're gonna get in there, they're not all going to
- 6:07stay with the ones who it clicks. And they find that
- 6:11they're in the right place for them. We've never had any of
- 6:13those leads that I can when moved to Texas. But other than
- 6:17that, no.
- 6:18Davina Frederick: Yeah, see that? That is really interesting
- 6:20that you said that, because I do think that's where a lot of law
- 6:24firm owners who struggle to grow because they struggle to hire
- 6:30people is this feeling of well, I hire this person, they didn't
- 6:33work out. And now I resent it, because I spent all this money
- 6:36and they left. And so they struggle to hire sort of the
- 6:38next person. How did you kind of get over that? Because I know
- 6:42nursing is totally different from being a lawyer and owning
- 6:45your own law firm. So how did you sort of get over that in the
- 6:48beginning, to give yourself permission to hire and grow your
- 6:53team?
- 6:56Unknown: First of all, I would say nursing and lawyering isn't
- 6:58all that different. Which sounds weird. But because I'm a law
- 7:02that I practice in nursing, you learn about how to make
- 7:05decisions quickly, you'll learn how to triage things, you learn
- 7:08how to deal with high emotions, you learn how to, it's a really,
- 7:11it's a thought process, it's a way of thinking of, you know,
- 7:13let's go and here's a situation, what do we have to do, it's not
- 7:15all that different is really good training for lawyering,
- 7:18I've got to say, and in my particular kind of learning,
- 7:21just as an aside, I was in a labor and delivery nurse. And
- 7:25that's a time when a woman comes in to you and they're like
- 7:28scared and out of control, and they don't know what's going on,
- 7:30and you're trying to help them stay calm and go through this
- 7:33delivery process. Not too dissimilar from what happens in
- 7:36family law, people come in full circle, they don't know what's
- 7:39going on, they're terrified, and you're like calming them down
- 7:42and getting them through a process. When you're in labor
- 7:44and delivery, you know, at the end of it, you're gonna have a
- 7:46baby, right? And so you can kind of hold it together. in family
- 7:49law, what they don't know is that they're gonna have this
- 7:51great new life that I can see, because I've seen it so often.
- 7:54They don't always see that. So I'm sort of midwifing or doula
- 7:59adding a new life for a person. So the nursing in the family
- 8:02law, and the nursing in the law kind of does, oddly enough, go
- 8:05together. But back to your question about how it works for
- 8:09business is, I think you have to this sounds kind of flaky, but
- 8:15you kind of have to love people up because they're scared that
- 8:18new lawyers are scared, they don't know. You know, it's scary
- 8:22when you get it, because we all know, they don't teach you
- 8:24anything in law school that really has anything to do with
- 8:26practicing law, right? So you're coming out, and you're into a
- 8:29situation where you really want to do a good job, and you really
- 8:32want to be proud of your work. But you need someone to really
- 8:35lift you up and to make you feel like you matter. And you're
- 8:37important, and you have a contribution to make. And so if
- 8:40you build a relationship with your team in a way that they
- 8:45know that you're investing in them, because you know, they
- 8:48know that I want them to be a great lawyer, and they know that
- 8:51I have a lot to teach them. And then they know that if they
- 8:53stick with me and us that we're going to continue to invest in
- 8:57them. So it's not like you invest in them for three months,
- 9:00and then send them out and say, Okay, once you to Bill 160 hours
- 9:03a month, and you're on your own, and you know, if your kid gets
- 9:06sick, you can't, you know, go to the doctor, and you know, I'm on
- 9:10some of these Facebook pages with the women lawyers, I don't
- 9:12remember what they're all called. But some of those
- 9:14places, they're awful like your kid is sick, and you can't go
- 9:18take care of your sick kid in the hospital because some
- 9:21partner wants you to be you know, arguing a motion, which
- 9:24anyway, so we have a more family friendly operation. And I think
- 9:27that's part of why people stick around.
- 9:30Davina Frederick: I going back to when you started your firm.
- 9:34And you were you Did you start it as a solo. Had you you'd
- 9:37already been practicing a while in another area.
- 9:42Unknown: Well, I started off as a medical malpractice lawyer,
- 9:44which is how the book ended up happening. And then I tend like,
- 9:49you can tell by reading this book, right? I hit insurance
- 9:51companies that I hated dealing with the insurance adjusters and
- 9:54it just there was like, me and people against sort of big
- 9:58business over here and so yeah, I kind of like family law
- 10:01because it's me and people versus someone else in people.
- 10:03And there's a way to negotiate a deal between people. So I left
- 10:07med mal. And I started my own med mal firm. And then I sort of
- 10:12gradually took on family law for just because I had a friend who
- 10:15said, you should try family law. And I thought he was crazy. And
- 10:18I did, and I liked it. So I started off with one partner,
- 10:22and then she left and then I was on my own for a while, and then
- 10:25with a paralegal, and then just kind of grew from there.
- 10:29Davina Frederick: So how did you? Did you have kind of going
- 10:32back to what I was asking before? Did you have any sort of
- 10:37trepidation around hiring other lawyers? or expanding? Did you
- 10:43have situations where people you hired people, and then they left
- 10:46and then you're like, oh, my gosh, I can't do this, or I'm
- 10:50gonna do this, or did it always sort of go smoothly for you?
- 10:52And, and it was not anything you had any sort of fear around
- 10:55hiring other lawyers.
- 10:57Unknown: Never had any fear around it, because the work was
- 10:59always there. My it was always they used to laugh at me, you
- 11:02know, the new lawyers back when I was first starting, because
- 11:05the my first who became my partner, and just recently
- 11:07joined the bench. And so she just left her name's Monica
- 11:10Carey. When she came, it was like, Well, why don't you come
- 11:13tomorrow, and just sit over there. And I'll give you some
- 11:17work. And we'll see how it goes. And then the end of the day, she
- 11:19did all stuff. And oh, we should come back tomorrow. And let's
- 11:22see how it goes. And it sort of became this, she was just when
- 11:24she would laugh. She had just like, and then someone else, you
- 11:27know. And then a few years later, someone else showed up.
- 11:29And I can't quite remember, we just got busy. And we sort of
- 11:32hired someone on a contract. And I said, let's just see how it
- 11:34goes. And if you're here, and there's work. And so it was
- 11:37always this very organic, it was very like, and I wasn't probably
- 11:41smart enough to like have a business plan or any, it was
- 11:45more like a vision, like I wanted to build an organization
- 11:49where the people felt appreciated, because I'd been in
- 11:52one of those law firms where it wasn't that way, right? So I
- 11:54knew what I didn't want. And so I just wanted to build this
- 11:58organization where people would feel appreciated and coached and
- 12:03mentored. And it just sort of attracted people. So it was very
- 12:08everything that a business person and an MBA my brother's
- 12:12an MBA, and it's like you're doing this all wrong. And I'm
- 12:13like,
- 12:16Davina Frederick: well, and obviously you, you didn't know
- 12:18what you were doing, because here you are, you know, quarter
- 12:21of a century later, right? In the novel, so the novel is
- 12:25called the complication. And it is a kind of female attorney,
- 12:32heroine of the protagonist in the book. And she, I'm not going
- 12:40to give spoilers for the whole book, but I'll just say that she
- 12:43winds up leaving where she is in starting her own law firm. And
- 12:47she's having this conversation with her mother, about starting
- 12:51her own law firm. Can I do it? Should I do it? You know, for
- 12:55this particular reason. And I thought it was very interesting,
- 12:59as somebody who works with women, law firm owners as
- 13:02they're starting and growing and expanding their law firm to get
- 13:06to a million dollars, the conversations, the fears that
- 13:09are that she's expressing in the book, are a lot of the fears and
- 13:12conversations that I have with a lot of women lawyers. And I, of
- 13:16course, when I was reading, I was like, I have to ask her, was
- 13:18this kind of a reflection of what your thought process when
- 13:23you were thinking about starting your own? Firm? You know, going
- 13:27from med mal, then to starting your own med mal firm? Did you
- 13:31kind of go through this process, in your own mind? Some of the
- 13:34things that you discussed in the book?
- 13:36Unknown: That's a really funny question. I never thought about
- 13:38that. It's probably what I should have thought about. You
- 13:43know, I don't think I was just like, when I started, it was day
- 13:47to day. And I had just had, I'm sort of I'm a, I subscribe to
- 13:51this crazy, or woowoo theory of make a vision, and it'll happen.
- 13:55So I would every day say what I wanted to happen and what I saw
- 13:58happening and where I wanted to go, and I was very visionary
- 14:00about it all. But I didn't really attend to the details. It
- 14:05just I just trusted that they were somehow going to work out
- 14:07and they really did. So you know that whole? I know, if you read
- 14:11books, like you know the secret or the answer,
- 14:14Davina Frederick: the attraction or the law of attraction,
- 14:17Unknown: totally, I'm here to say, I've built a very, very
- 14:20successful business following. Like, I used to read those books
- 14:24every night. Like, we're Napoleon Hill, or John Assaraf.
- 14:28Like, I didn't do any of the slides. I'm saying my MBA
- 14:31brother, I didn't do the business plan in the budgeting
- 14:34and I'm like, come on over, we'll see if there's any work.
- 14:37You know, clients are going to pay if they don't pay, I'm going
- 14:39to let go of them and not going to worry about I'm not going to
- 14:41chase around people that aren't paying and I'm going to assume
- 14:44that the right people are going to show up at the right and then
- 14:46they do so I know it sounds kind of weird, but it works for me.
- 14:50Davina Frederick: That's good, good. I actually am the same in
- 14:54that I I read a lot of that and sort of and when I teach I'm
- 14:58teaching a lot of times about log traction, I'm teaching a
- 15:01hiring workshop right now. And we started out the first session
- 15:05was about clearing negative energy around hiring, because a
- 15:08lot of people have had bad experiences. And I said, we have
- 15:11to shift this energy, the first step is we have to shift the
- 15:13energy around hiring, you have to stop telling the same stories
- 15:17about these bad things that went wrong, that time you hired
- 15:21somebody, and they quit whatever, you have to kind of
- 15:23folk shift your focus, let's clean all that negative energy
- 15:26up, let's cut it, let's release it. And then let's shift into
- 15:30the kind of energy that we want to have about this. So what can
- 15:32we say? That will lighten up these things? How can we reframe
- 15:37these stories and, and talk about them in different ways. So
- 15:41I totally agree with you on Law of Attraction. It's one of those
- 15:45things where it believes in you whether you believe in it or
- 15:47not, you know, what we put out there is, is what we
- 15:51Unknown: want. And if you spend all your time ruminating on the
- 15:54fires that didn't work out, or the what you're just talking
- 15:57about, I have these bad ideas about maybe about fires that
- 16:00didn't work. If you're putting all your attention on that, what
- 16:02are you going to get, you're going to get more people like
- 16:04that. So let it go. Really think about I mean, and we do this,
- 16:09even in our we have a month or weekly huddle. And if it feels
- 16:13like we're not getting the clients the quality, I'll just
- 16:16go around the zoom, now it's on the Zoom, you know, you know,
- 16:19there's like 25 of us on this. And I'm like, tell me the
- 16:21qualities of the clients that you want. Tell me your favorite
- 16:23client, tell me what you love about him or her? And what kind
- 16:26of qualities are we looking to attract, and we'll go around 25
- 16:29people, and everybody will say, you know, so you just want to
- 16:32get the energy going in the direction of the kind of clients
- 16:34you want. And you know, the kind of work that you want. And if
- 16:38we're looking to hire somebody, say, well do the 25 people in
- 16:41the huddle, and we'll say we want somebody who's smart, and
- 16:44somebody who's you know, family focused, and somebody who's a
- 16:48good team member will go through all the qualities kind of like
- 16:50writing your ad your Yeah, you put on indeed or something. But
- 16:54everybody in the firm will pardon right down to the
- 16:56everybody like receptionist in the business manager. And we'll
- 16:59talk about the qualities we're looking for in our new lawyer.
- 17:02And then we'll create an ad that goes on wherever they put those
- 17:06ads, I think indeed or something. And, and then people
- 17:10respond to it. Because it's not a typical, we're looking for
- 17:12somebody who's got three years of experience and and write a
- 17:14brief and you know, can build some number of hours. It's like
- 17:17we want somebody who's got a good, you know, prioritizes
- 17:20their family and we want somebody who, you know, wants to
- 17:23be on a team and our ads don't look like the kind of ad you'd
- 17:26see for a law
- 17:26Davina Frederick: firm. It's so interesting. Yeah. Because
- 17:29that's, I'm going through this five day challenge right now.
- 17:32And we're about to jump into sort of the magnetic funnel
- 17:35piece of it, which is how do you set up? How do you write your
- 17:38ads? And how do you pretty put them? And what else do you do,
- 17:41because so many people are challenged with the idea of,
- 17:47they're struggling to get people to even apply for jobs. And when
- 17:51they do, they're not a good fit, and all of that and, and so I
- 17:55kind of came up with this presentation how to hire when no
- 17:57one wants to work. And the idea is that, you know that we really
- 18:02have to change our energy and thoughts around it. And we also
- 18:04may have to do things a little differently than we normally do.
- 18:06We can't just get away with writing down the ad, like what
- 18:09you're talking about, I need somebody with X years of
- 18:11experience, bla bla bla and putting that out there, that
- 18:14there is an attraction piece of it, that we need to be putting
- 18:18out there and saying, This is really who we're looking for.
- 18:21And so for us a lot of that revolves around core values. So
- 18:24what do we value? So a lot of what you're talking about with
- 18:27your group is kind of what is it that we really value? What is it
- 18:30we're really looking for here? Not just, you know, the
- 18:33demographics, but like the psychographics? And what core
- 18:37values do they have that they need to align with to fit in
- 18:40here? Right. So I love that you shared that. And I also I like
- 18:45it that this is kind of developed organically and with a
- 18:47little bit of Woo, because that's wonderful, you know, have
- 18:52you always been that way? Or is this something that somewhere
- 18:55along the line, somebody said, you know, kind of threw this
- 18:58idea out at you and, and you were like, oh, I need to change
- 19:02the way I think something you were I was kind of
- 19:05Unknown: you know, I I'm old so I grew up in the sort of, you
- 19:09know, like the when I was sort of just going to college, I
- 19:12started getting into sort of personal growth stuff, which is
- 19:15a little bit sounds, you know, weird now, but I learned really
- 19:18early on that you know, you kind of put out there what you want
- 19:22and figure out a way to make it happen and you start small
- 19:25because like sometimes it's just you want I don't know something
- 19:29simple like to pass a test or to you know, get a new car or your
- 19:33you know, something easy and then you sort of grow over time
- 19:35and then it's like build a law firm or build this nonprofit
- 19:39like I don't know how to build I don't know anything about
- 19:42business. I don't know anything about building a law firm like
- 19:45if you were gonna say go teach build a law firm I'd like you
- 19:48know, go put it out there what you want and it'll all happen in
- 19:51there. And it's funny because I have a friend and he's a teacher
- 19:55Professor something at Seattle University Law School and he
- 19:58teaches a class on how to How to Build how to have a law firm are
- 20:01in like the business part of it. And that the last class of the
- 20:04year, he invites me and a couple of other guys who come and talk
- 20:08about how it's really like to have a law firm, and they're the
- 20:10one guy is all you got to have a spreadsheet, you got to have a
- 20:13budget, and you got to be it's all fear based, it's all like,
- 20:16and if it doesn't work, then this is going to be a crisis and
- 20:19don't hire anybody because they might not be trustworthy. And
- 20:21then I'm like, No, you gotta have a vision. Sort of, like,
- 20:25Davina Frederick: It's your show with, like, daisies around your
- 20:28head going, Oh, you just got to be at peace with yourself.
- 20:33Unknown: I do people. Yeah,
- 20:35Davina Frederick: I will, I do think, you know, you definitely
- 20:38have built this law firm sort of playing on your strengths,
- 20:41because you know, that you so it's a Know thyself, you know,
- 20:44you're not the person who's going to be into spreadsheets.
- 20:47So but you can bring who you are to it and create the kind of law
- 20:51firm that you wanted, and you desire, based around your
- 20:55strengths, you know, because you are somebody who apparently
- 20:59loves people and loves to help people like in crisis. And so
- 21:04that's, that's not everybody's like, though there are a lot of
- 21:06people out there who aren't like that they're not good at a
- 21:08crisis, my best friend is a labor and delivery nurse, and a
- 21:13sense of, you know, from her what that's like, and I could
- 21:16have just like, No, I could never do that, but it just would
- 21:18not be me. But she is so you know, just calm in a crisis, and
- 21:23has that sort of, you know, personality, and loves it and
- 21:27loves the whole process of helping me give birth and the
- 21:30new life and all that kind of thing. And, you know, we we have
- 21:34to, to, all we can do is really go with our strengths. And I
- 21:37think people who sort of tried to swim against that, and become
- 21:40something they are not, are the ones who really sort of struggle
- 21:44with that, because there are always people out there who can
- 21:46help you figure out the spreadsheets, right? And
- 21:49Unknown: that's, like, I would say, another thing that I've
- 21:52seen a lot of people is trying to start a business like, oh, I
- 21:54don't want to, you know, I'm gonna save money, I'm not gonna
- 21:56hire a bookkeeper and do it myself. And I'm like, Are you
- 21:58crazy, like, just pay people and even borrow money, like get a
- 22:03loan and pay a bookkeeper and you can like, you're gonna
- 22:06succeed based on being really, really good at your craft, I'm
- 22:09not going to succeed, by figuring out how to make an
- 22:12Excel spreadsheet of, you know, my rent and my malpractice
- 22:17insurance and not like, that's not, that's not a good use of my
- 22:20time. And there's really smart people who are very delighted
- 22:23and happy to do the stuff that I can't stand doing. And they want
- 22:28to, you know, like you're looking, you're not trying to
- 22:30hire people like you, you're trying to hire people, like, who
- 22:33can do the things that you can't do. And don't be afraid to hire
- 22:35him. Because once you do that, you're freed up to do what's
- 22:38really good. And then the people who are watching this, if you're
- 22:40all lawyers, you're probably really good at lawyering. And
- 22:43that's why you want to have a firm because you're really,
- 22:44really good at it. And you want to be able to share that with
- 22:47your potential clients. So don't be this my advice, like don't be
- 22:51spending your time trying to figure out how to open bank, we
- 22:54got open a bank account, but how to do books and how to manage
- 22:57payroll and pay your taxes.
- 23:00Davina Frederick: I agree. I agree. It's interesting, because
- 23:03you said borrow money. And I think that we don't talk about
- 23:07this enough. People who are starting their firm. So you
- 23:11know, a lot of people Bootstrap. To start their firms are many
- 23:13people who say I want a law firm. And they bootstrapping,
- 23:16there are people who get sort of forced into opening their law
- 23:18firm, because they can't find the job they want. And they
- 23:21Bootstrap and have because we've been taught in our society, that
- 23:26debt is bad. Many consumer debt, credit card debt debt is bad.
- 23:32Oftentimes, there is a reluctance. And I find this a
- 23:36lot with women, having worked with men and women, that women
- 23:41are reluctant, oftentimes to invest in their business,
- 23:44because somehow they feel that that's that they don't, I don't
- 23:48know, have a right to do that they're taking away from their
- 23:51family to do that, or they're not supposed to borrow money.
- 23:56What has been your experience? What are your thoughts on that
- 23:59in terms of borrowing money to grow your business?
- 24:02Unknown: Well, let's back up a couple of steps and talk about
- 24:05what money is, money is just energy, and money circulates.
- 24:10And the whole purpose of to me of money is to take it in and
- 24:14let it go. And so debt is just debts as part of the
- 24:18circulation, like you're taking money from this place, and
- 24:21you're putting it over here, and then people are gonna pay you
- 24:24and it's if you think of it, like take off all the charge of
- 24:27money being this important thing that really matters a lot. And
- 24:30just think of it as energy. So, if I need money, I'm gonna
- 24:34borrow it because it feeds my need to back to being this
- 24:38really you know, I'm gonna say I'm great lawyer, but you're
- 24:40good. You know, you want to do your craft. In order to do your
- 24:42craft, you're going to have to circulate the money around
- 24:45circulate the energy and don't be afraid to give it away. Don't
- 24:49be afraid to pay people with a don't be afraid to borrow it
- 24:52because when you borrow it, then it just stimulates because it's
- 24:57for a purpose. You're not borrowing money to like, go on a
- 24:59trip to Hawaii or something, you're borrowing money to invest
- 25:02in yourself, because you believe in yourself. So and once you
- 25:05start doing your very best work, because you've got the money or
- 25:08the you know the little bit of the energy that you need to be
- 25:10able to do your work, then people start paying you because
- 25:14you this sort of is over here saying, it's just gotta be paid
- 25:17back, then that stimulates the people that are paying you, and
- 25:20then you've got to pay other people. But I think a lot of
- 25:23people think of money, and I think we're always this way,
- 25:25like money is some scary thing that has, you know, it's really,
- 25:31it's really not that scary. It's just something that moves around
- 25:34the tool. It's a resource, a tool. Yeah, yeah. And you don't
- 25:38be afraid of it just you know, you, if somebody doesn't pay,
- 25:41you let it go, because there's someone else that will pay you.
- 25:44But if you focus all your time on this person will pay or if
- 25:46you take debt, and you're afraid you can't pay it back and all
- 25:49your energy is going, I'm afraid I can't pay my debt back, then
- 25:51guess what you're not going to get, it's not going to start
- 25:53coming in over here, because this
- 25:55Davina Frederick: is a block. Right? Right. So you need to
- 25:57borrow it knowing that everything's going to work out,
- 26:00right. I think of it in terms of expanded capacity, so you, you
- 26:05to achieve wealth, or achieve the law firm that you want to
- 26:09achieve, or whatever great accomplishment, you have to
- 26:12expand your capacity for it. Like your mental and emotional
- 26:16capacity for it, I need to be able to hold this, you know,
- 26:19this vision that I have, and we grow into it, sometimes we grow
- 26:23into that capacity, but then that also is going to help us
- 26:26expand the resource capacity that we need. Right so that your
- 26:29time that money is resource, people are resource. So all of
- 26:33these time is a resource, all of these resources that we have,
- 26:38we're wanting to grow our resources, because people with
- 26:41more resources have more options, right? So there's an
- 26:44expansion of your mind, though, that has to happen to be able to
- 26:50hold these vast resources because you if you are mentally
- 26:56there, like you said, you're going to be going, oh my god, I
- 26:58can't pay this debt back or Oh, my God, I can't hire somebody
- 27:01because I'm scared they're going to be I'm going to make a
- 27:04mistake and hire the wrong person. And then we all do,
- 27:06right. So all of that is about expanding your mind and saying,
- 27:12I can do this, if if they can do it. I can do it. Other people
- 27:14can do it, I can do it. I'm watching I'm looking, you know,
- 27:17what if what if What else is possible? Those kinds of things,
- 27:20right. So I love that sort of you and I are on the same page
- 27:24with that philosophy. I love it. I want to before we run out of
- 27:27time, I want to talk about your civil survival project. And
- 27:32because that's something else, too, that was a that started out
- 27:36small, and then grew, the vision expanded, and it became its own
- 27:41sort of thing, and a very important thing for a lot of
- 27:45people's lives. So why don't you tell us about it, how it started
- 27:47out what it is, how it started out, and where it ended up?
- 27:52Unknown: Well, so long time ago, I was sort of, in a point in my
- 27:54career where I thought it was time for me to think a little
- 27:56bit more about giving back. And so I ended up writing this
- 27:59series of books that taught sort of basic legal survival skills
- 28:02to marginalize people who were, you know, just ordinary people
- 28:06who didn't have access to lawyers, and which is still kind
- 28:09of out there. But anyway, I ended up teaching. So it's like
- 28:12how to rent an apartment and how to be a good employee and
- 28:14childhood divorce and criminal law. And so I ended up just
- 28:17through circumstances, teaching it to a group of people that had
- 28:20just come out of prison. And they were like, taking notes
- 28:24since like, we were talking about how to rent an apartment
- 28:26and how to be a good at it was like employment law and landlord
- 28:28tenant law, and but how to do this, and they would, you know,
- 28:31take all these notes. And then finally, one, I was like, This
- 28:33is so helpful. And thank you so much for helping us with this.
- 28:36There's just one problem. And I said, What's that? And they
- 28:37said, we can't get a job. And we can't get a place to live
- 28:40because we're all felons. And I was like, what? Because I'm the
- 28:45privileged white lady, like, I didn't know that. I'm like, What
- 28:48are you talking about? And they're like, Well, you know,
- 28:50when we go to rent an apartment, or apply for a job, they asked
- 28:53us, you know, your criminal background record, and then we
- 28:55have to say that and then we can't get a job. And I'm like,
- 28:57this is messed up. And then they started to tell me these
- 29:00unbelievably heart wrenching stories about one guy, this big
- 29:03black guy was sitting in my office, telling me the scariest
- 29:06day he ever had, he was a gang member, and he was in prison for
- 29:0915 years. And he said, The scariest night I ever had was
- 29:13the day I got out of prison, because I didn't know what to
- 29:16do. Like I was just thrown out, you know, with a bus pass and
- 29:20$20. And I had no place to go. And now I've tried to find a job
- 29:23and I can't find a job anyway. So after listening to all these
- 29:26stories and stuff, I'm like, Well, you know, these are laws
- 29:29that are holding you back. And I'm a lawyer. And I know that we
- 29:32can change laws, but there's no way that this particular
- 29:35demographic of people could necessarily get access to the
- 29:38policymakers. And so I came up with this idea that after I got
- 29:42to know all these new friends and heard their very sad stories
- 29:46of you know how scared they were and how traumatized they were,
- 29:48first of all, being in prison, first of all, they're
- 29:50traumatized before they got to prison, which is what led them
- 29:52to whatever you know, behavior they did that got them in prison
- 29:55and then they're out here traumatized and I'm like, you
- 29:57know, if our legislators could hear directly the story Isn't
- 30:00these new friends of mine, they would not want the laws to be so
- 30:04oppressive to them. So I got this idea that we should put
- 30:06together workshops where I would bring in formerly incarcerated
- 30:10people. And we talked about how to just had a lobby really how
- 30:14to change laws, like how to change policy, we did, you know,
- 30:17how does a bill become a law we did, we learned about
- 30:20organizing, we learned about, you know, civil rights and
- 30:22marriage equality. And I was trying to teach them about how
- 30:26the power of organizing in our country, there's 100 million
- 30:29people, one out of four people in our country has a criminal,
- 30:34something on their record that impairs their ability to get
- 30:36housing and jobs, which is an astonishing, that is, I have no
- 30:40idea. So I put together this workshop, and the first workshop
- 30:44was 75 people that just come out of prison at some point in their
- 30:47life. And then we learned all about how to change policy. And
- 30:52then in the afternoon, we had legislators come in. And then we
- 30:55had our people practice telling their stories to the
- 30:57legislators. And invariably, They'd cry and go, Oh, my God, I
- 31:00had no idea. And so it just sort of grew and became it became
- 31:03this huge community of people that I would never have known
- 31:07before, who were just passionate about wanting to make their
- 31:09lives better, because they made a mistake, they're home. And
- 31:12they just want to get a job and a place to live and be a you
- 31:14know, participate member of the community. So that started to
- 31:18grow. And then there's this young woman named Tara Simmons,
- 31:21who was a law student when I first met her, and she was
- 31:24formerly incarcerated. And oddly enough, she's also a nurse. So
- 31:27we have a lot in common. She went to prison, she came out,
- 31:29she went to law school, and she wanted to sort of run, you know,
- 31:34get involved in this organization. So long story
- 31:36short, I mentored her, and somewhere along the line after a
- 31:40couple of years, and then talk about money, I paid all these
- 31:43people salary, like I started this thing. And here's what I
- 31:46learned. I learned that, you know, for us privileged white
- 31:49ladies, if someone says, Hey, can you volunteer and do
- 31:52something we say, Sure, well, this demographic, you say, can
- 31:55you volunteer, and we're gonna go to the legislature, they're
- 31:57like, well, who's gonna pay for my gas? And what if we have to
- 31:59get lunch and, you know, I can't take time off work. And so they
- 32:03can't, they need to be paid for stuff. So I just started paying
- 32:06them. And then it started becoming an organization. So I
- 32:10hired a couple of people full time to work for the
- 32:12organization that didn't even it wasn't a, I didn't even smart
- 32:15enough to make it into a nonprofit, I just thought it
- 32:17because I was paying because I'm like, this is important work. So
- 32:19I'm paying people full time salaries, to go and organize
- 32:24this group of people that needed help with policy and stuff. And
- 32:28ultimately, it became really clear to me that it really
- 32:30wasn't my work to do because it needs to be run by people who
- 32:33are impacted by the criminal legal system. And so I turned it
- 32:36over pretty quickly to Tara. And now it's run. And I'm the
- 32:39president of the board now, but it's run completely by people,
- 32:42almost everybody in leadership there is formerly incarcerated,
- 32:46and they mentor each other's couple of lawyers and stuff who
- 32:49aren't formerly incarcerated, but it's a group of people that
- 32:52are and they're running it now and, and talk about money and
- 32:57energy. It's like, that didn't make any sense. You know, my NBA
- 33:01brother was like, What the hell are you what are you doing?
- 33:03You're like paying people, there's no income coming in.
- 33:06This is not a for profit, let no, turn it into a nonprofit
- 33:09ultimately. But anyway, the point is that there's a whole
- 33:13demographic of people that are just like, women coming out of
- 33:16prison, listen, as they come out of prison, and they're reunited
- 33:19with their children. And then they can't volunteer at their
- 33:22kids school. So they can't bring cupcakes to their second graders
- 33:25birthday party at school. And if ever there was a child who needs
- 33:29their mother to be supporting them in their school
- 33:31environment, it's a kid whose mother has been taken away from
- 33:34them and put in the criminal system. And then they come out.
- 33:37And the schools have all these rules and about, the mothers
- 33:42can't come in, they can't. My friend, Tara Simmons, who is now
- 33:45the executive director of civil survival. She is a lawyer, and
- 33:50she just got elected to our state legislature. She's
- 33:52representative Simmons, now. She can't volunteer in her kids High
- 33:56School.
- 33:58Davina Frederick: Wow, that insane. That is. So
- 34:01Unknown: there's all of these. So anyway, to make long story
- 34:03short, they started changing laws, they've changed like five
- 34:06or six changed all kinds of laws about how fines are imposed on
- 34:09people have been in prison, they got civil survival worked with
- 34:11another couple of organizations to get the right to vote for
- 34:14formerly incarcerated people in our state. Like they're changing
- 34:18the laws and the rules around you know how to make life better
- 34:22for people who are coming out of prison. And this wasn't anything
- 34:24that was even remotely interested in, I knew nothing
- 34:26about this. It's just sort of sort of circumstantial, that I
- 34:30ended up teaching this to this group of people. But now, let's
- 34:33think about that. This morning. I've got so many friends who've
- 34:36been in prison, I got friends who have been in prison for
- 34:38murder and for all kinds of drugs and, and they're all you
- 34:43know, trying to make their lead a lot of them come out and
- 34:46really want to work with the youth in the community. So
- 34:48there's sort of a ripple effect because they come out and we
- 34:51help them get a lot of their rights back and get their fines
- 34:54canceled and free them up so that they can live their best
- 34:57life. And now they're running organizations for youth all
- 35:00Cross sort of the Seattle area, and it's really, really pretty
- 35:03inspiring.
- 35:04Davina Frederick: Wow. And it's interesting because you, you
- 35:08were practicing med mal, and then you became a family lawyer.
- 35:12And then really, you got into this area that would have been a
- 35:17it seemed like a natural fit for somebody who's in defense for
- 35:20criminal defense work. No, nothing. I've got sort of, from
- 35:24your own experience, and what inspired you to sort of write
- 35:27the books to begin with? I mean, was there something you know, it
- 35:31was the West End for
- 35:32Unknown: criminal I was more like, you know, what it was like
- 35:35being a lawyer and realize how little access people had to
- 35:39like, we have the way our society is set up as we've got
- 35:43the rules of the game, right. And nobody knows the rules of
- 35:46the game. So we've got this like playing Monopoly, but nobody
- 35:49tells you the rules, because regular average Joe citizen
- 35:52doesn't know the rules. But if you break one of the rules, you
- 35:55find out very quickly that you have broken a rule, whether
- 35:58it's, you know, building a fence on your neighbor's property, or
- 36:02not paying an employee or you know, whatever you've done
- 36:04wrong, they're going to come right down on you. But if we
- 36:06don't tell people what the rules are, it's kind of not fair to
- 36:09say, you know, we have a game and it's, you know, the goal is
- 36:13life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are not going to tell
- 36:15you any of the rules until you break them. And then oh, we're
- 36:17going to charge you three or $400 an hour to talk to someone
- 36:20about how to fix what you did that you didn't know that you
- 36:23shouldn't have done. And I think everybody's a lawyer probably
- 36:25feels that way on some level, like, people come in, and you're
- 36:28like you did what? And then you think for a moment? How would
- 36:32you not know?
- 36:33Davina Frederick: Yeah, that was thing for me. That was that I've
- 36:36always said to people. I'm so grateful for my law school
- 36:40education, because I didn't know what I didn't know. You don't
- 36:44understand, like, all the different levels of governance
- 36:47and rules that go on, because it's not just, it's not just our
- 36:52laws in the justice system. It's also all these administrative
- 36:57rules or agencies and laws of rules and things like that, that
- 37:00we have set up. And other people have set up all around us and
- 37:04for us, and against us and all of those things, right? So
- 37:08right, and you don't realize until you start like you buy
- 37:11property, and then you're paying property taxes, and then you've
- 37:13got your work, and then you got to pay income tax. And there's
- 37:17all of these things that you don't you don't realize how
- 37:21those are laws, even though they're not in the justice
- 37:25system. Right. And so it really, you know, I always say, I mean,
- 37:31like, I think a legal education is never wasted, because it just
- 37:35opened your eyes, even if you don't go practice as an
- 37:37attorney, it just opened your eyes to the complexities that
- 37:41our society has developed over time, and how it impacts people
- 37:46in different ways. You know, so
- 37:48Unknown: you teach anybody about them, right? So no,
- 37:53Davina Frederick: need to go to law school, you don't learn
- 37:54about them. Right?
- 37:55Unknown: You can afford to pay someone for two bucks an hour to
- 37:57tell you what a stupid thing you just did. So
- 37:59Davina Frederick: Well, I graduated, I didn't graduate
- 38:01from law school till I was 14. So like the first half of my
- 38:03life, I had no I was like, happy, you know, whatever in the
- 38:06marketing world thinking I wasn't happy. And then I was
- 38:08like, no, no, you have no idea. When I went through law school.
- 38:13You're you recently won an award, you won an award so
- 38:18recently that between the time we scheduled this, and today,
- 38:21you've won this award. So why don't you tell us about the
- 38:23award? What is it it's a I don't remember the name of it, because
- 38:27it's long. To tell us the name. I've
- 38:30Unknown: never heard of that before. Either. It makes you
- 38:32feel any better. It's called the Sally's Sally piece, Sally
- 38:36savage Award for Leadership and philanthropy from the Washington
- 38:39State Bar Association. So they gave me this award because they
- 38:43work in civil survival. And I, I just feel like for them to
- 38:47acknowledge that the people that civil survival serves are worthy
- 38:52of like, it's not me, right? It's like, there's a whole
- 38:56demographic as live ripple effect. There's a whole
- 38:58demographic of people that have been really forgotten by our
- 39:00society and like, who wants to really care about somebody who's
- 39:04been in prison? Really, honestly. So I think it was
- 39:07really, I was very touched that they realized that this
- 39:11particular demographic of people can really be lifted up and
- 39:15really be their lives can be made so much better. Just by
- 39:19changing some policies, and you know, and now we're doing
- 39:23actually, terrorists now got a legal clinic going there. So we
- 39:27do expungements and we do different vacating records and
- 39:33you know, things to clean up people's record, because what I
- 39:36didn't know, here's a statistic people who are out of prison for
- 39:39seven years are no more likely to commit a crime than anybody
- 39:42else. Yet. We, you know, I've got friends been out of prison
- 39:47for 20 years and they still have to, they can't get an apartment.
- 39:50I have a friend who is a professor of law at Georgetown,
- 39:53who did 12 years in prison for armed bank robbery came out,
- 39:56went to law school, clerked for Federal Court judge is now a
- 40:01professor of law at Georgetown, and he couldn't rent an
- 40:03apartment in DC because he had a criminal record. And keep it
- 40:08out. I don't know how long but the point is, and one of my
- 40:11friends told me, she goes, when the judge sentenced me, he
- 40:14sentenced me. He didn't sentenced me to a lifetime of
- 40:17unemployment and homelessness, I did my time. I, you know, went
- 40:21to prison, and I made amends for what I did wrong, and it
- 40:25doesn't, it's not fair that then once you're out the rest of your
- 40:29life, you can't get a job, you can't get a place to live, you
- 40:31can't volunteer in school, you can't. There's a million jobs
- 40:34like hair salon and an astonishing number of jobs that
- 40:38you can't get if you've ever been in prison. So civil
- 40:41survival is going about cleaning up all of those things that hold
- 40:45people back.
- 40:46Davina Frederick: Right, right. I think what I think what's so
- 40:49wonderful is that you, you've identified to how there's a
- 40:54whole demographic that doesn't have an app doesn't exist, the
- 40:57powerlessness not having access to policymakers, and awareness,
- 41:03creating awareness for policymakers, lawmakers, you
- 41:06know what I mean?
- 41:07Unknown: You know, what happened, there hypotheses
- 41:09worked. So I had this idea that if my, my people, you know, my,
- 41:14my friends who've been in prison really got to know their policy
- 41:18makers, like, my people now know their legislator to the point
- 41:21where when they see her in Safeway, they give a hug, and
- 41:24they, you know, how are you, you know, and, Christina, and what
- 41:27about that bill that you're working on? And can we have
- 41:29lunch tomorrow. And so there's this whole group of people that
- 41:32have spent time in prison who are now on a first name basis
- 41:34with their mayor with their city council, one of my friends who's
- 41:38was in prison just got elected to the cameras, the city or
- 41:41county council over in a small town, outside of Seattle. And
- 41:46they built relationships to the point where the legislators are
- 41:48calling them on their cell phone, like we're looking at a
- 41:50bill right now. And we want to know how this is going to impact
- 41:52your community. So it totally works. But how did they in their
- 41:57wildest because the first one who started like, I never
- 41:59thought I would talk to a state senator. And I'm like, she's
- 42:02your neighbor, like, she wants to help you. And so they started
- 42:05to build relationships. And then on other friends on us, you
- 42:09know,
- 42:10Davina Frederick: that can be replicated in all county state.
- 42:15Unknown: Yeah, it's totally not that hard. And there's 100
- 42:18million people who fall into this category. So if I had a
- 42:21magic wand and all the money in the world, you know, you could
- 42:24you can replicate this.
- 42:26Davina Frederick: Well, this is where your this is where your
- 42:29law of attraction and manifestation is going to come
- 42:31into, you're put it out there, put it out there, and and the
- 42:35more people that can put the energy around that, the more
- 42:38powerful it will be. Before we wrap up today, I do I do want to
- 42:42I've mentioned your book a couple times, I would love for
- 42:44you to tell us kind of like you mentioned, you told me before we
- 42:48started but I'd like you to share with everybody sort of how
- 42:50you wound up writing the novel, because I know, I know another a
- 42:53number of women law firm owners who have also written novels.
- 42:57And but I'm an avid reader, and I'm also a writer, but writing a
- 43:04novel is just a whole different thing for me. So I'm curious as
- 43:07to what how did that come about? What made you decide to do that
- 43:14Unknown: was a malpractice lawyer. And I, once it's sort of
- 43:19like, same thing, like what you didn't know, you didn't know, I
- 43:21didn't realize how messed up it is about how we value people's
- 43:25lives and the legal system. So if you're an older person, and
- 43:28you die, when I was malpractice lawyer and represent an older
- 43:31person, they're like, well, they don't have a job. Now I made
- 43:34general damages. And you know, they don't have any, you know,
- 43:36they died and they're not worth very much. And I'm like, that is
- 43:39so messed up. Like, I come from the medical world, wherever you
- 43:43live, no matter who it is, you know, you bust your ass to save
- 43:46them and to bring them, you know, give them the best that
- 43:49you can give them in the legal system. It's like, well, if
- 43:51you're like a 40 year old tech worker, you're worth more than a
- 43:5480 year old grandpa or something. So that made me
- 43:58crazy. And I wanted to like, write articles about it. And
- 44:01then I thought, nobody's gonna read an article about valuing
- 44:03lives in the human, you know, human lives in the justice
- 44:06system. So I got this idea to write it into a novel of
- 44:09another. I got another one just coming out in April. So the the
- 44:14story in the first book is about an older guy, and that scene and
- 44:17the first scene and that book came from rural case, by the
- 44:20way, with the aorta and the puncture and everything. Wow,
- 44:23that really happened. So it really happened, that guy died.
- 44:27And then the insurance company kept saying he's not worth
- 44:29anything. And I'm like, What are you talking like, it's bad. I
- 44:32feel like it's wrong. So I wanted to bring that to light.
- 44:36So this book is about this older guy who dies, and then the
- 44:39protagonists and she was he was a special person in her life.
- 44:42And so she's struggling with how the insurance company is trying
- 44:45to devalue him. And she's trying to figure out like, how can you
- 44:48really express the value of a person in the lives of the
- 44:50people that love them? And is that something that our system
- 44:54could do doing differently? So that was what made me want to
- 44:57write it and then the second book is about a A baby who dies,
- 45:01which I know is sad. But it's the same thing. Because when I
- 45:03was doing malpractice, I did a lot of OB cases and if a baby is
- 45:09injured in a birth injury, and then they live, then you've got
- 45:12this multimillion dollar settlement because they're gonna
- 45:14have to have life care for the rest of their life. But if
- 45:17babies injured in a delivery maximum, your friends gonna like
- 45:20this book is injured and my husband's an OBGYN. So he helped
- 45:24me with this. Let's deliver if there's an injury in a delivery
- 45:28room and the baby dies. And they're like, Well, you can have
- 45:30another baby. So it's not really that valuable. So it's the same,
- 45:33the insurance companies do the same thing. On the flip side,
- 45:36you know, like an old person's not worth anything. And so the
- 45:39second book I wrote was, because it made me crazy when I did a
- 45:42lot of birth injury cases, if the baby died, they're like,
- 45:44Well, what's you there's no damages? Like, what? What do you
- 45:46want?
- 45:47Davina Frederick: No damages. Wow. So I mean, and
- 45:51Unknown: that's what got me going, but nobody wants. You had
- 45:56to make it into like a mystery to make it fun and interesting
- 45:59that people would want to engage with. So hopefully it is,
- 46:03Davina Frederick: well, it sounds like you have embarked on
- 46:04kind of a new career as a novelist. So we'll be looking
- 46:07forward to those novels, you're gonna be like the famous
- 46:09novelist now where every year, a new novel comes out. And we
- 46:13anticipate every November, we're getting a new novel from you,
- 46:15right?
- 46:16Unknown: That's a series. So I'm like, we've got Camille's the
- 46:20protagonist in theory. So the second one is her with a birth
- 46:23injury case. And then the third one, which I'm writing now, of
- 46:26course, now 20 years, because it's throat these 20 years ago,
- 46:30the first time and then I read revamp them during COVID, and
- 46:33publish them. But now that I've had like, 20 years of life, the
- 46:37third one is about women in prison being reunited with their
- 46:39children, and the legal issues around that. Another thing
- 46:43that's funny about this is, when I wrote those books, the first
- 46:46time I was the age of the protagonist, and now in the age
- 46:48of her mother.
- 46:53Davina Frederick: Did that happen? mother's gonna be a more
- 46:55important character as we go on, you're obviously. Right. Oh,
- 47:01that's fascinating. Amanda, thank you so much for being here
- 47:03and talking with me today, time has really flown by, and we need
- 47:06to end but tell us how we can first of all, tell us where we
- 47:09can find the book to buy it for those who have it. And also tell
- 47:13us how we can connect with you. If we want to connect with you
- 47:15find out more information about you. And the work you're doing.
- 47:18Um,
- 47:18Unknown: well, the books on Amazon, but I'm kind of a
- 47:21supporter of indie bookstores, there's a website called
- 47:24bookshop.org, where you can order books and somehow they
- 47:28come out of independent bookstores as opposed to Amazon
- 47:30not to say anything bad about Amazon. But the book is called
- 47:33The complication. And the second one is called deliver them from
- 47:36evil. And that I have a website for my law firm, which is Dubois
- 47:43law. dotnet. I think another URL that I got a Facebook page
- 47:47that's going to author Facebook page, I have 3000, I'm almost
- 47:51have 3000 Facebookers on my author page, which cracks me up
- 47:55because I'm not really I'm learning Facebook as we go. But.
- 47:58So that's Amanda DuBois, author, and then I guess, and then
- 48:01LinkedIn, and all the other regular places.
- 48:05Davina Frederick: Well, thanks for sharing. We'll include those
- 48:07in the show notes so that people can just click on them and we'll
- 48:10include bookshop is a bookshop. But Doc shop.org.org
- 48:17Unknown: local bookstore, but it's kind of cool to support
- 48:20independent bookstores, honestly. So
- 48:22Davina Frederick: yeah, so thanks for being here. We'll
- 48:25include those in the show notes for people who want to reach out
- 48:27and they want to read her novel. I know all the lady lawyers are
- 48:31gonna love that. And thanks again for being here. I've had
- 48:34some
- 48:34Unknown: tell your friends and nurse I want her feedback. Oh, I
- 48:38Davina Frederick: will I absolutely. She loves to read.
- 48:40She She and I both love to read a lot. So I'll definitely be
- 48:43recommending that to her. All right. Thank you. All right.
- 48:48Thanks for having me.