Skip to content

An Innovate Legal Online Virtual Meetup

What You Should Know Before Starting a Law Firm

Learn what you need to prepare for before opening a new practice in this Innovate Legal online meetup.

Learn what you should plan and prepare for in advance to ensure your new firm is set up for success

Before opening a new practice, it’s critical to consider the fundamentals and plan for your firm’s long-term success. What better way to do that than hear from those who have recently started their own practice? 

To kick off the Building a Successful Law Firm series, this session will introduce you to the five new firm owners who will be featured in the months to come. They will talk more on why they started their own firms—and share things they wish they had known about before getting into the process.  You’ll hear interesting insights from these new firm owners on:

  • Benefits of creating a plan—and how to determine if you’re on the right path
  • Essential factors to consider when creating your business plan (with examples and practical tips)
  • Key ethical considerations—such as privacy and confidentiality

Tune in to learn more about the lessons they learned the hard way—so you don’t make the same mistakes. 


Meetup Overview:

Loading ...

Speakers

Christy Granieri

Founding Partner

Freeburg & Granieri

Christy Granieri is a founding partner of Freeburg & Granieri, APC based in Pasadena, California, which specializes in employment, injury, and business litigation. Christy and her law partner founded Freeburg & Granieri, APC, in February 2021 and had their firm up and running within the same month by using Clio as its practice management software. By using Clio and its integration partners, Christy started a cloud-based law firm with minimal startup capital, reduced operating costs, and streamlined processes that created immediate profitability and growth.

Michelle Fonseca-Kamana
Michelle Fonseca-Kamana

Founder and Principal Attorney

West Coast Lemons

Michelle Fonseca-Kamana is the Founder and Principal Attorney at West Coast Lemons, a law firm specializing in California lemon law. She is passionate about consumer advocacy, education, and an unparalleled client experience, and with over $4.5 million recovered since 2017, Michelle has proven she is a force to be reckoned with. By actively sharing her knowledge via informational videos with her followers on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, and TikTok she has built a solid direct-to-consumer and direct-to-business referral network all using social media. In her spare time, she mentors aspiring law firm owners across the country on how to start their own law firms and use social media as a marketing tool and has been a guest speaker on podcasts such as New Solo and legal conferences like Law Di Gras.

Erin O'Rourke

Founder

Erin O'Rourke Law

Erin is a lifelong advocate of improving access to justice and prides herself on providing fair and competent legal advice. She has built her practice around authentic and affordable legal services and focuses on employment, immigration, litigation and tenancy matters. Her belief in self-improvement and her love for the great outdoors bring a compassionate and human touch to way she helps clients with their legal needs.

Beau Atkins

Founder and CEO

Evolve Family Law

Beau Atkins is a Lawyer, Founder and CEO of Evolve Family Law. In 2015 with only 2 years at the bar, and already frustrated with traditional practice, he recognized a need for change for him to find fulfillment within the legal profession. Simplification was crucial and with the help of a lawyer with a bit more seniority, he established one of the first family law exclusive law firms in the city of Saskatoon.

In 2020, to vastly improve processes and systems Beau turned his focus to standardization and started Evolve Family Law. He enlisted non-legal subject matter experts to reduce the burden on a lawyer and increase productivity, through task management and automation. This inspiration helped him pursue unbundled and flat-rate services, both customary at the firm, and provided his team the ability to deliver a consistent experience for clients while advocating “no client will receive an unexpected bill or charge”.

Bryan Atkins

Executive and Co-Founder

Evolve Family Law

Bryan is a multi-disciplinary business professional, having served roles in Finance, HR, Tech, Marketing, Administration and IT. He is a Project Management Professional (PMP), Certified Human Resources Professional (CHRP) and has his MBA.
Bryan’s interest in building and reshaping organizations has led him through a range of successful early stage and restructuring businesses. Most recently, in 2020, he joined Evolve Family Law as an Executive to lead the firm through standardization and scaling, focusing on process improvement, product development, calculated implementations and the introduction of creative strategies.

Kathi Tirelli

Attorney

Kathi Tirelli Law

Kathi Tirelli has been practicing law since 1997 and is licensed in both New York and Massachusetts. Kathi has extensive experience in the areas of real estate law, business law and employment law and was an integral associate in an employment law firm from 2011 to 2020. She is consistent, patient, and professional, giving each new case her undivided attention while walking her clients through each step of the process.

Kathi is committed to providing a completely mobile and virtual experience in these changing times and cares about her clients’ comfort level and safety.

Host

Derek Bolen

Senior Customer Marketing Manager

Clio

Derek Bolen is the Senior Manager of Customer Marketing at Clio, which means he gets paid to build relationships with the greatest customers in the world. He’s proud to work with the legal community, advocate tirelessly for Clio customers, and support the incredible work they do to transform the practice of law, for good.