Wrapping up 2023 and Launching 2024
In this episode, we reflect on a year of trial advocacy growth and gear up for an even more dynamic 2024. Listen in as I share insights from my tenure as president of the Capital Area Trial Lawyers Association, highlighting how organization and balance have become pillars of my practice. I also discuss the surprising dominance of virtual focus groups, with a staggering 44 sessions conducted online, illustrating their continued convenience and efficiency for our busy legal community.
Plus, get a sneak peek at future episodes featuring fellow lawyers and experts who will shed light on innovative case development, witness preparation, and the powerful use of medical illustrations and animations in storytelling.
As we wrap up 2023, I can’t help but share the profound impact certain books have had on my journey both professionally and personally. As I set my sights on devouring 40 business books in the coming year, I extend an invitation for your recommendations. Lastly, we’ll explore how experimenting with AI tools like ChatGPT might revolutionize the way we practice law.
In this episode, you will hear:
- The effectiveness of virtual focus groups (with 44 online sessions highlighted)
- Insights from impactful books for personal and professional growth.
- Exploration of technology in legal practice, including the use of ChatGPT for brainstorming and content creation.
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Supporting Resources:
To learn more about grief listen to Episodes:
Ep 86: Ways We have been Taught to Deal with Grief
Ep 87: How to Navigate and Assist Our Clients with Grief
Book Recommendations:
Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss
Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown
Got a book recommendation? Podcast episode topic? Email Elizabeth: Elizabeth@larricklawfirm.com
Episode Credits:
If you like this podcast and are thinking of creating your own, consider talking to my producer, Emerald City Productions. They helped me grow and produce the podcast you are listening to right now. Find out more at https://emeraldcitypro.com Let them know I sent you.
Episode Transcript:
Elizabeth Larrick: Hello and welcome back to the podcast Trial Lawyer Prep with me your host, Elizabeth Larrick.
Today, we’re going to do a wrap up of 2023, as this will be our first episode in 2024. It’s always a great time at the end of the year to do some reflection. And I always like to do [00:01:00] that here on the podcast, because it’s a good time to take an inventory, look at what happened, what made an impact, and then also set some things forward for 2024.
Thinking about 2024 and just to get to those folks who are thinking, I don’t really want to listen to what Elizabeth did over in 2023. Totally fine. Let me just give you a little bit of a broadcast for the podcast coming up. We’re going to keep doing every other week episodes and continue to focus on having lawyers join a podcast to talk about things that are helping them develop their cases better.
Get clarity, get confidence, get certainty. How we’re going to have a lot of case studies, folks that are coming on to talk about, Hey, I use this, I use this style of focus group. I use this style of witness prep. I use this kind of organization to help me develop my mediation presentation. Really a lot of.
examples of how to’s where we can really kind of see the benefits. Also going to have some folks come back on our podcast to talk about things that they’re [00:02:00] doing in their Avenue, specifically in my mind, I’m thinking about Annie Goff. She’s going to come back and talk about medical illustrations versus animations.
I don’t know. We’re going to have a few other people come on as well, who are vendors that help lawyers tell their stories, whether it be a mediation or a trial. So let’s talk about this episode. I went back through my calendar as I live and breathe and die by my calendar and block things out, all that good stuff and looked at what really did I do in 2023.
Well half of 2023 was dedicated from, from January until June to the capital area trial lawyers association presidency. I really wanted to serve in that role to give back to the profession and here in Austin Capital Area Trial Lawyers Association provides monthly CLE lunches for members. Uh, we support each other with an email list serve and give back to the community through volunteer service.
I am proud to have served in that [00:03:00] organization as its president and will continue to support them on the executive committee. And I learned a lot about organization as balancing what I normally do with my work, plus also adding on the things to support that organization was just a good exercise and making sure that I balance things out, which is probably one of the biggest lessons that I have learned in 2023, but we’ll get to that just a little bit later.
Also looking back at. What did I do? 44 virtual focus groups and probably more considering inside some of those groups, we had two to three focus groups, right? So if you’ve listened at all to the podcast, you know, that my mantra is really about focus groups, small bites about case strategy, about issues, facts, instead of doing long, Okay.
So that’s why I say 44 focus groups, because we, we, I break it down. And then also [00:04:00] within that, we do even break it down, even smaller for focus groups did eight in person focus groups. I will tell you, this was a little bit of a shock for me. I had figured that the beginning of 2023, we would be doing a lot more in person focus groups only because I knew a lot more folks would be going to trial and be having a lot more action in our dockets.
And that really, for whatever reason, the virtual focus group still continued to dominate the space. My thought is that, one, it’s still so much more convenient to do these virtually. It’s convenient for us as lawyers, it’s convenient for people, it’s easy to put one together quickly. The other thing that we, I really saw in doing the in person focus groups was a huge new cost barrier to renting space, because typically when we’re doing the in person focus groups, the mock trials, we’re going to have a [00:05:00] lot of people.
So we need a lot more space. We joined them for longer and a lot of venues, especially the hotels that I dealt with were Much more difficult this year than last year, which I’d done some in 2022 and didn’t have the same difficulty. So I’m not really sure if there’s just an uptick or if there’s more competition or what’s happening in the space out there for, for in person venues, but that just, um, I was a little shocked we didn’t have more, but again, I just think, personally, the virtual ones are just so much easier for people who have a busy schedule, which those are lawyers who are listening to the podcast, right?
We’re in litigation, we’re going to trial, we’ve got mediations, we’ve got depositions, got a lot on our personal dockets that don’t allow sometimes for an entire day to be set aside just for attending, but not to mention the preparation that’s involved. So kind of a big takeaway is virtual is still the way to go, hands down, especially when it comes to time efficiency and money efficiency for [00:06:00] a lot of the same benefit.
And that’s one of the biggest questions that I get when talking with lawyers is, is virtual good? Like, is it good? Does it work? And hands down, yes, absolutely. I mean, just looking at these numbers, I mean, that’s 44 lawyers, right? Versus eight lawyers, right? And those are also not to say that people aren’t doing a combination of the two, but what I saw with our in person focus groups, those were folks who hands down, Um, we’re past the point of settlement.
We’re going to trial. We’ve got to get this together and run through it a couple of times. And naturally the virtual focus groups are not in the same position, right? They’re building up, they’re getting discovery ready. They’re getting mediation ready. They’re trying to figure out what does this need to settle or does it need to go to trial?
And then of course we had some trial prep ones in there as well. So kind of a mixed bag, but just to kind of give you a little bit of a background on that. The other thing that I help folks with is testimony preparation, whether it be trial or deposition. A lot more folks going to [00:07:00] trials, but I did see a lot more folks that I was helping with trial.
That was about a 50 50 split on that. Doing a lot of that work virtually as well. Again, just a matter of convenience for lawyers and for people. You know, a lot of folks are working a lot more because that dollar does not go as far. And so a lot of clients that we’re helping just, there’s a convenience level, right.
To not having to take off work to working around things and using virtual. So lots of good folks that were helped this year. I really enjoyed us, of course, helping people with that. And that’s lawyers and clients involved. The other thing that I did was I spoke at five CLE programs. Always love getting on my feet to do that.
Almost every one of them was in person, so that’s, I really enjoy doing that. Podcasts of course. You’re here. So thank you so much, but we did 50 episodes. We did have just a few repeats, but the focus of this year was really about having guests on and, uh, I would say we definitely had a majority of the episodes that were with our [00:08:00] amazing guests and a big thanks to all those people who came out, uh, to do the podcast with me.
The other thing that I did is I worked with three amazingly strong women who helped me grow personally and in my business and I read about 30 ish books. I say ish because I did not track it very well. Uh, and I do. Repeat reading books, some of them every year, sometimes every other year. We’ll talk a little about the books in here a little bit, but I just love reading.
So I did a little more fiction this year than I normally do. All right. So in that full reflection, of course, I looked at really what was impactful for me, meaning what were things that helped me or things that didn’t help. One of the most important things for me is working with.
And that’s [00:09:00] really a dedication that I made to myself many, many years ago to always work with someone to help me see what I can’t see. And I’ve done masterminds, I’ve done, you know, business coaches, I’ve done therapists and psychologists and it has always helped me grow. And so of course continued that this year and have seen many helpful things.
So many things that would be difficult for me to talk about here on this podcast. But one of the things that I did spend some time, which was talking about grief. And the grief recovery method that I did and then the certification that I got. If you are curious about more in depth conversation about grief, there are three main episodes that were released about grief and I’ll put those in the show notes if you’re curious.
In addition, if you’d like to learn more about the grief recovery method, I’ll put a link to the show notes in that as well. I want to also jump to the books that I read this [00:10:00] year that really had an impact on me. And I read many books, but these were the ones that kind of stuck out to me in my journey this year.
I read the book, Never Splitting the Difference, uh, as a negotiation book by Chris Voss. It’s been around for a while, but there were so many helpful, applicable things. So if you’ve read the book. I totally suggest reading it again. If you’ve not read it, definitely as a lawyer, gotta read this book. I think it is so helpful to anyone who’s maybe just starting out in the PI world to have in their thinking in their mind.
See, when I went to law school, I didn’t take any classes on arbitration mediation because I want to be a trial lawyer who needs the rest of that stuff. Okay. Well, it would have been really helpful to have, but I didn’t. So this book is a very helpful fill in for a lot of the mindset, a lot of the thoughts.
Plus he’s a really good storyteller. So the book goes by really quickly. Another book that I just wrapped [00:11:00] up this year reading was Essentialism by Gary Q. And he also has a podcast, but. The book is very helpful in this mindset of, you know, just doing what is essential and not rushing around to do everything, which is a lot of what can happen when you are a solo, you rush around because you have to do everything.
Uh, that’s a lot of what I do. I’m trying not to do that. The other thing that he really talks about is rest and time to think as a way more important. Thing in our lives versus rushing around, doing that one extra task, reading that one extra book. And I really loved that. And I have painstakingly trying to put that into what I do on a regular schedule.
And this kind of came full circle for me because when I worked with Mr. Keenan, one of the things, and if you’ve spent any time with [00:12:00] him or heard anything, then you know, then he loves a very good cigar and he would always have. Stokey time where basically he would sit up outside and smoke a cigar and I understood.
He always explained like this. I’m just thinking like I’m going back through, I’m thinking back through this focus group or I’m thinking, or he would just have me read things like read the focus group transcript. But that was what he always told all the lawyers that we worked with is like, you have to take time to stop and just think.
I just think, think about your cases, think all the way through, think about how to tell the story, and really give time for your brain to do the amazing things that it does. So get a full circle here, you know, reading this again, but also just like, okay, we’ve got to build some time in to stop and think.
And then of course, time for rest. Cause then that makes our brains better. Another book that I read at the beginning of the year, which [00:13:00] was the big leap by Gay Hendricks. And I’ve talked a little bit about that on the podcast here and there great book. If you are looking to grow, it’s been out for a little while.
It’s not a newbie, but it’s really helpful in finding. Things that you may do that could be holding yourself back. And if you are all about trying to grow to the next level, whether it be business or, or professionally, that’s the same thing, by the way, whether it be personally or professionally. Great book.
It’s so small. It’s really simple. He’s a very wonderful storyteller as well. There’s all kinds. He’s got a couple of their books out as well, but I would say that’s a good one to start with. The other book that I reread was Loving What Is by Byron Katie. Very simple book. It’s the four step questions, but just always a helpful re reminder.
I’ve read that many, probably five plus years ago, and I always have it on my Kindle to reread, you know, whether it just be a piece of it. And that’s also why I like her book is because she’s jumped to the [00:14:00] section you need, right? You need to have that.
So if again, you may find yourself stuck in a thinking loop, which is a lot of my personality is thinking loops. And as, as lawyers, we have think all the time and thinking in loops that are not very helpful. That’s a great one too. And I’ll put links to all of these books as well in the show notes. If you’re curious, if you’re thinking about picking up some books, one of my big favorite Goals for 2024 is to read 40 business books.
So my, my push to y’all as my audience is if you have a great recommendation, please send it my way because I’m trying to set it up ahead of time. So I know all the books that I’m going to read and in what order, well, hopefully in what order, but to knock them down, but also, you know, take notes and be able to find the books that I need.
So if you have any suggestions, please. Let me know. You can email me my email up in the show notes, or if we’re connecting on LinkedIn, you can just send me a [00:15:00] message on LinkedIn as well. One of the things that I also played around with, I always try to do something technology wise, and I really try chat GPT and I use it for a lot of things, but I mainly used it for helping me start ideas for writing a blog or for.
thinking about a podcast topic or LinkedIn topic. It’s super fun just to ask it questions and see what the output is, especially as like from a lawyer’s mindset, right? Cause we have what we know people think about us. And so it’s, you know, that’s what’s filled in with chat GPT. So it’s super fun to get good prompts.
I don’t want to talk too much into this topic. There are many other lawyers have great Things to say and how lawyers should use it. I was approached by some folks who had an idea to have an AI generate deposition questions like during your deposition, which is a very fascinating, wow, what a great tool, but from a brain capacity, energy perspective, that would be so much.
I mean, you have [00:16:00] a lot of energy dedicated to. Your outline to what you want to accomplish, but then there’s energy from across, you know, the screen or across the room. Right? So there’s all sorts of stuff going on for our brains. You know, one of the biggest things I think good trial lawyers do smart trial lawyers do is use their energy efficiently.
Because we really don’t want to lose being present in that moment or being lost in emotion, which is very, very draining. So super interesting topic on how to use chat GPT. I know some lawyers have gotten in trouble for using it because chat GPT will make things up. So nothing is perfect. Uh, but I would say if you are Wanting to play around with it.
It’s, it is fun, like in the sense of having somebody don’t have anybody to bounce ideas off of, put it in a chat GPT, and it will definitely spit out some information for you. The other thing that I have always been looking for is a note keeping. [00:17:00] Uh, say a digital note keeping app or organization or website that would help me.
And I’ve tried a couple of different things. And so far notion, it has been what I have stuck with and it’s very easy to use. There are so many note taking apps that get really complicated. Notion has been super simple to learn. It doesn’t add too much in there, but if you want to get really deep with it, you absolutely can.
I’m sure that it. Syncs with other things and links up. I didn’t have any of that done. I just have it as a really simple place for me to keep ideas and thoughts for content, right? To think about how do I do this or how should we talk about X, Y, Z, like. I just put all those in there and go back in there and find them.
It’s a great way. And again, pretty easy organization wise. And there are other people who are using it. That basically it’s makes it very easy to copy and paste to me. It’s way easier to use than, than Google as well for our, for my Google lovers out there, the other thing I’ll [00:18:00] say that I just kept up doing that I’ve always done is just a real, you know, simple routine of exercise, meditation, and reading.
And I’ve read something today that I’m sure we’ve all heard a thousand times, which is like people with good discipline, like helps them when the motivation is all gone. And that’s totally what that routine is for me because there are definitely days where I wake up and I don’t want to exercise, which if I skip one step, generally the whole thing’s out the window.
So I always try to make sure I do step one and then three, four, five, uh, go right after that. But that has always helped keep stress down, keep my thoughts clear. That’s really why I enjoy exercise so much. And then meditation keeps it clear, reading, right? Spark ideas, but that’s something I’ve always kept up with every morning.
I’m not always perfect about it, but it has always stayed on board for, uh, I would say hopefully 80 percent of the time, but I did not look back and track that either. So looking back, reflecting, what are some of the biggest things [00:19:00] that came back to me whenever I was looking at 2023? And I would think the biggest thing was building space, building extra time to get things done.
It always takes you longer than you expect or plan. Building space for rest, building space for thinking, building space for growth. Because typically I just bump everything, it’s just one right after the other. And in that, having done that, I have a lot of Backups, meaning I’ve got written notes and digital notes everywhere, just so when I bump to the next thing, right, I don’t lose that thought versus following all the way through and finishing.
Right? So really want to teach myself, which lots of teaching moments this past year for building some space and I would encourage the same thing for you. When I talk to a lawyer who’s going to trial in two weeks and there is no availability for them or [00:20:00] for even me to do a focus group, I feel terrible.
I think, gosh, how did this happen that there just wasn’t enough space? And that’s because it’s so easy to let go. Our schedules rule our time. And I feel like, gosh, I wrote to help you. I want to give you the information that a focus group could give you, but there’s no time because there didn’t leave any space for that.
And so, you know, there’s so many people say, Oh, we’ll do this, do that. I mean, blocking on our schedule is probably the best thing we can do to protect our time. And I know when. We work with other folks, whether it be assistants or paralegals or other people in the office, right? Protecting that calendar sometimes is not even our job.
And so we’ve got to teach everyone around us to protect our time so that we can have space to think about discovery, to plan out that deposition, to think about that mediation presentation to say, Oh, I do [00:21:00] need to schedule a focus group for that. Let me go ahead and book that day on my calendar right now.
And then I can. Book a reminder. If what I’m saying sounds totally foreign to you, give me a call. I’d lovely tell you how, how either Gmail or Outlook calendar works, because I think it’s such a great thing to block timeout out and then be able to get to that time spot and be like, Oh yeah, this is where I just get to sit and think and do a strategy or think about questions or whatever, maybe building space.
That is really what 2020 Three has been teaching me. And so that’s what my hope is for 2024. And, you know, we talked a little bit about what this podcast is set to do, what I hope it will do. And if you are someone who’s listened for the past two years and you want to come on, or you have an idea, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me.
And that’s what my email is for. I’m like any other lawyer who lives and breathes and dies by their email. So I totally will check it and [00:22:00] respond. But we just want to continue what we’re doing with this podcast and helping lawyers get better by learning from other people, whether it be the good stuff or be the mistakes.
That’s what we’re here for. That’s what I’m here for to help you with. And if we’re not connected on LinkedIn, please send me a connection because I would love to reach out and learn more about folks who are listening and what they want to hear from the podcast. Um, and of course, as always, my goal is always to get better with this podcast and speaking more to what I’m learning when we’re running these focus groups or when I’m working with clients.
So thank you so much for supporting the podcast in 2023. I hope that you stay safe. Stick around for 2024 and, uh, keep those automatic downloads coming. And if you haven’t left a review, please take some time to do that because that helps other folks find this podcast or just send a link to somebody else so they have a chance to listen as well.
All right. Until next time. Thank [00:23:00] you.