In the early days of building Sterling Lawyers, I made a costly mistake.
I avoided industry-specific masterminds.
For years, I participated in general business groups like YPO. While helpful, they couldn’t provide context for growing a family law practice. I had no benchmarks. No way to compare gross margin. No idea what an optimized intake process looked like.
We still grew to over 25 attorneys and more than $15 million in revenue. But the process was slower than it had to be.
What Changed Everything
I discovered Richard James during my niece’s 2023 high school graduation. The event dragged, so I started scrolling. That’s when I found a podcast from his team on non-attorney salespeople.
I didn’t know that was even an option. Within months, we implemented it. Today, it’s a pillar of our intake process.
This is the power of mastermind groups with people in your exact space. I joined Richard’s Partners Club shortly after, and my only regret is not doing it 10 years earlier.
Why General Masterminds Weren’t Enough
In general groups like YPO, I heard great ideas.
But none of them were tailored for law. I had to reframe every concept. No one talked about billable hours, client churn, or state bar constraints. No one could show me a working model for a fixed-fee law firm.
When I finally joined a legal-focused mastermind, everything clicked.
- I learned how to benchmark gross margin, not just revenue.
- I met firms with 40 to 50 percent profit margins.
- I saw how others hired and trained non-attorney sales staff.
- I understood how to track marketing ROI down to the source.
The gaps in our firm became obvious.
Who Richard James Is and Why I Joined
Richard James runs Your Practice Mastered and has helped over 900 law firms grow. I’ve personally worked with him, and my law partner, Jeff Kurlin, is an active participant in his mastermind.
What stood out most was Richard’s clarity. There’s no motivational fluff. Just frameworks, execution, and results.
His background includes:
- Co-leading the Partners Club, a law-specific mastermind
- Authoring four books on law firm growth
- Previous experience in Dan Kennedy’s Titanium Mastermind
He understands the business of law and runs his mastermind accordingly.
What to Look For in a Mastermind
Here’s what actually matters when choosing a mastermind group:
- Relevance: Does the group focus on your industry?
- Benchmarking: Are metrics shared across firms?
- Structure: Does the group follow a format with hot seats, small groups, and leadership involvement?
- Access: Can you get real-time feedback between in-person events?
- Results: Are members implementing and reporting outcomes?
Richard’s format includes:
- Quarterly in-person masterminds
- Weekly accountability calls led by actual members
- Structured office hours with leadership
- Ongoing video training on four key pipelines:
- Lead generation
- Workflow systems
- Profitability
- Talent and hiring
- Lead generation
We use all four frameworks at Sterling Lawyers today.
Free Masterminds Rarely Work
I’ve tried free masterminds. So has Jeff Kurlin.
They all failed.
Why?
- No financial commitment means no attendance
- No facilitator means no follow-through
- No trust means no transparency
If you’re not willing to invest in the group, don’t expect others to show up for you either. Paid masterminds work because they filter for seriousness.
Our Implementation Path
Here’s what we did, step-by-step, after joining:
- Hired non-attorney sales reps modeled off another firm in the group
- Restructured compensation plans for intake teams
- Introduced gross margin benchmarks across departments
- Built training paths for new hires based on shared models
- Rewrote reporting dashboards to show marketing ROI clearly
None of these were theoretical. We borrowed working models from people in the room and customized them for our needs.
Final Thought
Every successful law firm owner I’ve met has one thing in common. They’re not building in isolation.
Avoid the trap I fell into. Spending a decade without context cost us time and growth.
Get in the room.
