In Episode 59 of Lawyerpreneur, I talked with Norman Bacal and M.C. Sungaila in what felt very much like an extraordinary after-dinner conversation. We discussed the importance of teaching the business of law practice to the next generation of lawyers, and how they teamed up to write a series of articles for The American Lawyer on that topic. We talked about the current climate of lawyers changing firms, which is something that I've done within the last six months.

But my favorite part of our conversation was about failure. It's something that is both stressful and inevitable. And both Norman Bacal and M.C. Sungaila shared insights about finding success on the far side of their failures. 

As the managing member of Levine Family Law Group and the CEO of Hello Divorce, Erin Levine is the prototype of the kind of lawyerpreneur that this podcast has always sought to highlight. She is also using her platform and entrepreneurship to help provide access to justice to those in need. Levine is a founding member of the recently-launched Justice Technology Association, where my co-host today, Maya Markovich, is the executive director.

During the interview, Levine talks about experiencing burnout with her business and law practice, and coming out on the other side of it. A part of the burnout she experienced was the disintegration of the meaning and satisfaction she derived from problem-solving for others in her family law practice. When she realized that traditional family law approaches weren't meeting people's needs, she reached for a new method and a new model. And Hello Divorce was born, allowing Erin Levine to incorporate her creativity back into a business that would meet the needs of more people.

Several weeks ago, I was listening to an episode of Freakonomics Radio about specialization, and particularly about the long snappers in professional and collegiate football. Pennsylvania lawyer and NFL agent for long snappers Kevin Gold was interviewed as a part of that episode, and I knew that I had to have him as a guest on Lawyerpreneur.

On Episode 57 of Lawyerpreneur, Kevin Gold and I continue the recent trend on this show of discussing niche markets by talking about how he became an NFL agent for long snappers and how he has developed that alongside his law practice. We discuss the ways in which being an effective agent and business manager for his NFL clients arise from the same marketing, branding, and business practices that have enabled him to have a successful law practice.