Brandy Austin is our guest today, and she leads The Brandy Austin Law Firm, a litigation and general practice firm in the Dallas/Fort Worth market. Brandy talks about the benefits of Zoom hearings, the always changing personal injury practice, and rooting out entitlement.




COVID-19 Updates

Interesting to see who does well working from home, and who doesn't
Lots of people want to stay working from home, so not sure what it will look like after
90% of clients have done great. They don't need the attorney or paralegal in the office; just a receptionist or someone who can take their payment or documents, etc.
Not nearly as many personal injury cases
since people aren't driving and getting into accidents;
people aren't going out or to people's houses so no no slip/falls and no dog bites
Court
Zoom hearings in some courts; not all
Has a jury trial set for October but courts are preparing for no jury trials in the late fall/winter
Waivers for in-person hearings coming?
Nothing is universal
What has been learned?
No need to create office space for everyone or make people come to office
Quick hearings by Zoom (eliminates the drive time to the courthouse, waiting time, etc.)

Her Firm and Practice

General practice firm with four lawyers and about a dozen staff
personal injury
family
probate/estate planning
business litigation
bankruptcy
criminal
Personal Injury
changes every legislative session
filing requirements for affidavits (for example)
Also local rules are important, and sometimes need to be challenged!
Dallas v. Arlington v. Fort Worth
Dallas lawyers would attach a motion for sanctions in all their pleadings; completely shocked her!
She filed one in Tarrant County once when it was very deserved and freaked out the other side
Family law is night and day between Tarrant and Dallas counties

Advice for Lawyers

Impostor syndrome is a real thing, and doesn't mean you don't know what you are doing
Rarely is something black/white; almost always a gray case to make!
Ask for help from other attorneys who you don't practice with; they will help you!
Get involved in organizations and take advantage of list servs; she now has a well-stocked portfolio of trial briefs for any occasion
Texas Lawyers Facebook group or your law school alumni FB group (Daniel)
Have a great work ethic
Try to resolve the problem before bringing it to your supervising lawyer; they can work with you from there, but won't want to help if you haven't tried to solve it yet
Entitlement issues. For example, younger lawyers often feel like they should have a legal assistant or paralegal to draft things for them
You have to know everything about your case and be able to take responsibility for all of it
Draft the document and then send it to the paralegal/assistant! That will go a long way, and let you learn at the same time.

When she is hiring:

She always asks for resumes in PDF format; if a candidate doesn't do that, they are not considered. Attention to detail!
She will always stop and look if the resume is visually interesting
Wants to see some applicable legal experience
(Daniel tip) Add your name to the file name of the document (e.g. "SallySmithResume" instead of "Resume"); also know that the more unsual or extravagant the resume, the higher risk/reward
She has her office administrator call and do a screening interview to look for entitlement problems and whether they are tech savvy
Especially if someone is coming from Big Law where they have had so many resources that won't be available in the smaller firm

Parting Shot:

Mental health. She sees it in her staff and younger associates. Make time for yourself and set boundaries. Create outlets for anxiety.
TLAP

Rapid Fire Questions

One trait/characteristic you most want to see in an associate: diversity
Key habit: show up
Favorite app/tool: Macbook
Favorite social distancing activity: building a playhouse for the kids from scratch; Doordash
Favorite legal movie: The Devil's Advocate; Legally Blonde