Ask any pre-law student about why they are pursuing the study of law and you will probably hear the maxim, “to help people.” This maxim rings true for elder law practitioners, but is serving our most vulnerable population compatible with law firm profitability? The following attorneys would not just argue for focusing on law firm profitability in elder law, they can intelligently explain to you how pursuing a profitable elder law practice allowed them to increase their reach within their communities. These attorneys have taken the business approach to the practice of law, having employed coaches to help them understand and navigate the financial and operational aspects of owning a law firm, and their results are humbling.

Jeffrey Bellomo, CELA
Bellomo & Associates
Central Pennsylvania

A personal experience with his own mother’s illness drew Jeffrey Bellomo to the practice areas of Medicaid planning and elder law. When he started his practice in 2009, there were no Medicaid planners in his Pennsylvania hometown. He studied hard for the certification exam and became a CELA, but even with a Master of Laws in Taxation and a new CELA designation, Bellomo described himself as “broke” at the time. His practice felt “out of control” and he knew he needed guidance. “Lawyers are terrible businesspeople,” Bellomo said.

He was introduced to his first busi ness coach while attending a NAELA conference. Bellomo credits coaching with changing his mindset about the business and financial aspect of the practice of law. Coaching focused him on goal setting, planning, and most importantly, business financials. As he focused on his numbers — sales, revenues, and key performance indicators — he began to gain a much better sense of control. He offers fixed-fee Medicaid planning with his current business plan, and now has three offices serving rural areas of Pennsylvania with a view toward opening two more.

Mary Patton, Esq., Katie Finnell, Esq., and Amy Dougherty, Esq.
Bluegrass Elderlaw
Lexington, Kentucky (serving Central and Eastern Kentucky)

Mary Patton and Katie Finnell were good friends for many years; while working together as associates in an elder law firm, an opportunity to partner with Amy Dougherty and own an elder law firm together began to emerge. Not long into the partnership, however, they realized the friendship was keeping them from holding each other accountable. Rather than break up, they sought the assistance of a professional business coach. Since they began coaching three years ago, they have doubled their revenue and their staff, and they can truly say they enjoy the practice of law.

Through coaching, they learned to play to each other’s strengths. Each partner is responsible for a specific aspect of the business (e.g., HR, business development, finances) and each partner leads each of their three main practice areas (Medicaid, Guardianship, and Fiduciary Services). The business coach facilitates their conversations about their business goals and holds them accountable to achieve those goals. The coach also guided them in creating their “Law Firm Values,” identifying their target client, and shaping a law firm “culture” to attract the right people in the hiring process. As a result, they have increased the number of cases they can handle by 20% and expanded their reach to clients outside their Lexington, Kentucky, offices and into rural Eastern Kentucky — an underserved population lacking Medicaid planners.

Deirdre Wheatley-Liss, CELA
Porzio, Bromberg & Newman
Morristown, New Jersey

A partner in a mid-size law firm in New Jersey, and the head of Porzio’s elder law practice, Deirdre Wheatley-Liss said she sought out a business coach to accelerate her personal growth. Coaching was not new to Deirdre, as she had sought out coaching in other areas of her life. “Why re-invent the wheel?” she asks. And she found a “cheerleader” in her current business coach, who motivated her to onboard and hire the right staff. Deirdre said her coach advised her not to settle when it came to hiring and instead look for the right people who would fit into her workstyle, her department’s culture, and her client values.

And by focusing on the hiring process and who she was hiring, Deirdre has not only been able to achieve the financial goals for the department she leads, but has freed up her own time to focus on the work that truly interests her. One of those interests is tax law. Lately, Deirdre has been co-counseling with other elder law practitioners across the United States, offering them expert legal guidance in the complexities of tax law that often accompany a busy elder law practice. Most recently, Deirdre teamed up with two other NAELA tax law experts to offer NAELA’s inaugural “Tax School,” a passion project she designed to help elder law attorneys feel comfortable identifying and understanding tax issues in estate planning.

Jennifer Akin, Esq.
J. Akin Law
Eastern Florida

Joining an elder law practice just made sense when Jennifer Akin graduated law school. Prior to becoming an attorney, she was a Certified Nursing Assistant at a nursing home. Her first employer used a business coach in the practice, so when Akin made the decision to hang her own shingle three years ago, she immediately enrolled in a coaching program. Jennifer has used more than one coaching program, but believes her current coaching program accelerated her growth. In just three years of opening her law firm’s doors, she already has three offices in Eastern Florida (Jacksonville, St. Augustine, and Palm Coast) and seven employees.

In fact, Akin credits her coach with teaching her the skills she needed to better attract, manage, and retain great staff. Akin, who is a mom of young children, is proud of the law firm culture she has created, which is family-centric and encourages a work-life balance. As a result of her staffing efforts, she has experienced significant growth in law firm revenues and is on track to have a seven-figure revenue firm — a remarkable achievement for someone who graduated from law school less than 10 years ago. As a young attorney trying to differentiate herself amongst well-established attorneys, Akin says coaching also helped her understand how to market herself and identify the channels to market in. “A coach can answer all those questions law school doesn’t teach us!” Akin remarked.

Will Stafford, Esq.
Stafford Law Firm
Houston, Texas

Working from home during the pandemic gave Will Stafford the “entrepreneurial itch.” In January 2021 he launched his own practice — but transitioning from a corporate attorney at a mid-size law firm in Houston, Texas, to a consumer-facing law practice presented new and unfamil iar challenges. Stafford immediately enrolled in a coaching program designed to help attorneys create an estate planning practice. Stafford, who was used to making deals around a table and who has a heart for families, quickly determined that an elder law practice would be the highest use of his collaborative skillset.

Stafford has used several different coaching programs to get him up to speed on business management and drafting estate plans. As his second year of running his own firm comes to a conclusion, he is managing a team of four staff members and is on track to double his first year’s revenue. “I don’t think, realistically, I could have seen such big growth without help along the way,” Stafford explained. As his time frees up through efficient staffing, Stafford is exploring new projects. All the time he spent learning and coaching in a new practice area helped him identify a real need among those in Medicaid-funded assisted living facilities. Although he’s not ready to reveal his plans just yet, let’s just say he now has the “philanthropic itch!”

Tamara Rogers, Esq.
Rogers Elder Law Firm
Indianapolis, Indiana

Tamara Rogers would agree that coaching not only helped her launch her solo practice, but freed up her time to be more creative in her outreach. She too transitioned from an unrelated practice area into elder law, although her path was a bit different. A magistrate judge for five years with Marion County, Indiana, Rogers became personally familiar with the needs of her local community. When she launched her law practice at the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020, she aimed for a more “holistic” approach. Rogers says her elder law practice doesn’t just assist clients with Medicaid asset protection planning, they actively assist with connecting clients to community supports and services as well. Whether it’s meals, transportation, or bereavement support, Rogers Law Firm is there to assist.

But she definitely credits the achievement of these community outreach goals to the coaching tools she implemented. Rogers said her business coaching program helped her understand business financial management and the systems she needed to implement to run her law firm. Before she opened her firm, she sought out mentors who were law firm owners and observed that the most successful ones had a business coach. Rogers has concluded that when attorneys are more efficient and profitable, they have more time to be creative about how they can better help their communities.

Geoff Hoatson, Esq.
Family First Firm
Orlando, Florida

Geoff Hoatson is the CEO and founder of Family First Firm, where he manages a team of nearly 50 employees whose main focus is Medicaid asset protection planning in the Orlando, Florida, region. Hoatson feels passionate about Medicaid planning, explaining how these plans aren’t just a legal solution to an aging population, but are actually helping families to achieve important financial legacies. Through Medicaid planning, they can preserve and pass down assets enabling their children and grandchildren to purchase a home or attend college — opportunities that eluded the prior generation.

Hoatson has used several different coaching programs since he started his law firm in 2009 and attributes the coaching programs to helping him create an efficient and profitable organization that can serve more families. He says he always enjoyed the business development aspect of running a law firm but needed guidance when it came to the more mundane tasks of developing systems, processes, and procedures. But the hard work has paid off and he feels that not only has running a sizeable elder law practice increased his reach within his community, it also has improved the lives of the people he employs. Hoatson says he’s a huge believer in law firm culture and is always striving to make sure his staff are just as passionate as he is about this practice area. “I don’t believe you can create, if you aren’t passionate,” he says. He also explains that the kind of people who seek out coaches are always looking for ways to improve.

The practice of law is as old as time. As many of these attorneys commented in their interviews, “why re-invent the wheel?” They have certainly demonstrated how coaching not only accelerated their growth and their client outreach, but also helped them become creative in how they can better serve their communities.