Evergreen Retainers, Revenue Leakage & Holidays on Holiday (with Jonathon Fishman)

Jared is joined by Jonathon Fishman, CEO & Co-founder of LeanLaw, to talk about law firm finances, retention, and defunct holidays.

First, Jared shares his monologue on law firm retention strategies. He argues that the market is too tight to run your firm on "vibes" and offers seven tips to keep your best people, including the need for transparent incentives, financial clarity, and more frequent payouts. He also offers a strong argument for why lawyers love bullsh*t titles.

Then, Jonathon Fishman discusses the founding of LeanLaw and its mission to help small firms be better businesses. He delves into his three major areas of focus: the power of LeanLaw's deep QuickBooks integration for compensation tracking, how to stop "revenue leakage" in your firm, and his strong take on trust accounting, which he argues should drive the universal adoption of evergreen retainers.

Finally, stick around for our fun and utterly unhinged Counter Program segment, "Holidays on Holiday." Jonathon is quizzed on whether bizarre, defunct holidays—like the "Festival of the Whispering Wax" and "Old Clem's Night"—are real or fake.

For more on Jonathon Fishman and LeanLaw, check out LeanLaw here.

And tune into this week's Spotify playlist to keep the party going.

Thanks to those supporting this episode:

• Assembly Neos. Visit assemblysoftware.com to learn more and schedule your consultation today.
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• (00:00) - Intro & Monologue: How to Keep Your Best Employees
• (03:05) - Tip 1: Clear, Transparent Incentives (Hourly Tiers, Project Bonuses, etc.)
• (07:38) - Tip 2: Regular Incentives (Weekly/Monthly Payouts)
• (09:21) - Tip 3: Titles (And Why Lawyers Love Them)
• (11:01) - Tip 4: Professional Development
• (12:23) - Tip 5: Marketing Opportunities
• (14:04) - Tip 6: Financial Transparency
• (15:22) - Tip 7: Flexibility (Working in the Dining Room)
• (18:41) - Introducing Guest: Jonathon Fishman of LeanLaw
• (20:41) - The LeanLaw Founder Story: From Silicon Valley to Boise, Idaho
• (22:52) - The Joy of Helping Small Firms Be Better Businesses
• (26:28) - Why Law Firms Are "Unbelievably Slow to Adopt" Tech
• (27:40) - LeanLaw's Core Focus: Financial Workflows & QuickBooks Integration
• (29:43) - The Four Phases of Legal Tech (and the Rise of Niche Tools)
• (32:34) - Supercharging Reporting with QuickBooks Data
• (35:49) - Sophisticated Compensation Tracking (and the Black Box Problem)
• (38:11) - The Biggest Problem: Stopping Revenue Leakage
• (40:31) - Hourly Billing vs. Value-Based Pricing (The Hybrid Approach)
• (43:39) - Trust Accounting & The Power of Evergreen Retainers
• (46:21) - AI's Role in Law Firm Finance
• (50:57) - Are Lawyers Asking About AI Yet?
• (54:58) - Counter Program Intro: Holidays on Holiday
• (01:06:47) - Conclusion & Outro