I met Roy when he spoke at our state bar annual convention. My firm has more clients than it can handle so I didn't need his marketing expertise. What I was looking for in a coach was someone who could be a trusted business advisor. Roy helped me with billing, personnel, website and case management issues. However, perhaps his biggest strength was his ability to force me to prioritize what I need to do to run my firm effectively.
Roy is fast paced, no nonsense, get down to business, and cut to the chase. I really liked his “business sense,” as well as his follow up questions for future sessions. Roy was actually the third business coach that I’ve worked with. He far outshined the other two in every way.
We hired Roy to help us in a complicated and trying partnership split. He always remained calm and provided down to earth, common sense advice. He was consistently available as needed and in the end, Roy helped resolve the matter very quickly.
I’m licensed to practice in the EU and was at a crossroads with my solo practice. I thought I would take a chance and see what it would be like to work with an American attorney coach. It was an excellent idea. I was looking for an intelligent sounding board and listening ear and Roy provided this and more. I needed someone to tell me that I was on the right track (or push me down another track if I was on the wrong track) with respect to the practice areas I should focus on. Roy’s advice did the trick. I am very grateful for his encouragement and help.
I hired Roy to help me with some practice management issues in my estate planning practice. It was nice to chat with someone out of the office who has worked with other law firms and to gain his invaluable insight. I also appreciated the network Roy could tap into to get answers to my questions and provide referrals for vendors.
I am a solo practitioner in rural MN and hired Roy to get some honest feedback and suggestions about my practice. I enjoyed learning how I compared to other small firms in MN. Roy has been doing this for a long time, so I appreciated that he compared me to other firms, whether that be good or bad. That is exactly what I was hoping for. And learning that I was doing well in comparison, boosted my confidence to continue forward. It is also hard to value bill in a small town when everyone knows you, but I learned from Roy how to increase my confidence in what I was doing and the value and services I provided to my clients. Overall, I would highly recommend Roy as a coaching consultant!
Roy’s coaching services helped me thoroughly evaluate the problems my firm was facing. He gave me sound advice and his honest opinion, which was not necessarily what I wanted to hear. His method of scheduled assignments held me accountable and allowed me to move forward with things that could otherwise have been easily procrastinated. Overall, I found Roy sincere and always willing to get my thoughts and ideas on the subject and not just to tell me what to do.
What I found most valuable about Roy's coaching as being able to talk one on one with someone who consults with attorneys on the practical and financial aspects of private practice. His approach was very professional. Personally, I enjoyed Roy's company and insights. I came away from our conversations with the impression that my law firm was doing most things right; that was reassuring. He did, however, suggest increasing our fees. I followed his advice and got no push back from any clients. Needless to say, I am very pleased with the higher revenues.
I liked Roy's organized way of approaching my problems and coming quickly to the most important points. His friendly manner of speaking was very helpful. I felt as though Roy understood not only the dollars and cents of my practice, but also the personal aspects of my situation.
I liked that Roy kept me accountable. He continually provided me with assignments and he always made sure that I got them done, even if it's right before a scheduled session; at least it got done! He never hesitated to ask tough questions or make me think things through - why are you doing that, which do you want more, what if X happened…etc. It forced me to be self-reflective, which I'm not always good at on my own. Roy is also full of good ideas…and he listened to mine and didn't hesitate to either encourage or dissuade me, depending on if the idea was great or nuts.
I really appreciated Roy's frank and straight forward manner. Whenever I had ideas that he thought were unlikely to work, he'd say so straight up and make better recommendations. Basically, I knew Roy's style was not to just tell me what he thought I wanted to hear, which was perfect. The last thing I ever wanted to pay someone for is to be a yes man and I never worried about that with Roy.
I enjoyed having a non-biased third party to discuss ideas and concepts regarding my practice. Roy's view gave me perspective which I did not otherwise have since I was too close to the situation and/or I have not practiced long enough to have the experience to develop a solution or perspective of the situation. Roy's services were excellent and I will utilize his recommendations in my practice.
I've had a very successful practice for 40 years and want to practice for about 5 more. I still enjoy being a lawyer, but quite frankly, coming into the office on some days and dealing with certain problematic files was becoming an emotional drain. Roy was able to give me the needed motivation and encouragement to "clean up" these cases and get them off my plate sooner rather than later. He also held me accountable to maintain the type of practice mix going forward that is the most profitable and enjoyable. In short, he helped me refocus my entire thought process about my practice.
I found it very helpful to have Roy’s “bird's-eye view” of my immigration practice and current career prospects. When we started, I knew I needed a change. I didn't know if that was a completely new career, adding a new practice area, or hiring help. Given Roy’s knowledge of the legal market, he helped me recognize that my career is actually in a pretty good place. This realization was tremendously valuable to me. Roy also honed in on tangible things I can do to grow my practice, like meeting with more lawyers and professionals, which seems obvious in hindsight, but I hadn't been prioritizing. Instead, I was overly focused on small minutia that is unlikely to help me grow my practice. In the end, I feel much more focused, less adrift and on a path to growing my practice.
For me, the reality testing with Roy was very helpful. Being able to review with him whether what I was feeling or perceiving was probable (or even possible) in the context of a law firm practice helped me significantly. I also greatly appreciated Roy’s expertise in honing in on the time write-off situation, which has helped me to recognize it and question my automatic inclination to write off time. It was also incredibly helpful having him available when I became stressed out about my performance review.