Life Beyond the Briefs

Mastering Law Firm Money: How to Create Predictable Profit in 2026 | Leah Miller

This episode of Life Beyond the Briefs is a breakout session from the GLM Summit with Leah Miller, founder of Firmly Profits and fractional CFO for law firm owners. Leah started as a paralegal, worked her way up to firm administrator and CFO at a PI firm, and now helps firms around the country actually understand their numbers and build real profit on purpose.If you have ever opened a profit and loss statement, stared at it, and quietly closed it again, this one is for you. Leah walks through the basics of law firm finances in plain language. She shows you how to read your financial statements, set a realistic budget, and use a few key benchmarks so you know if your expenses, wages, and marketing spend are in a healthy range. Then she connects it all back to something practical. How much you bring home, what it really costs just to keep the lights on, and how to build predictable profit instead of just taking money when it happens to be in the bank.In this session, you will learn:The three financial statements every firm owner should review each month and what numbers to focus on firstHow to break your expenses into revenue driving, profit driving, and personnel so you can see where the money is actually goingSimple benchmarks for marketing, operations, and wages that help you spot when something is offA straightforward way to build a budget using your real historical numbers and adjust it for your goalsHow to plan for bonuses and growth hires so they are baked into the budget instead of last minute stress decisionsLeah’s goal is not to turn you into an accountant. It is to help you feel confident with your numbers so you can make better decisions, spot problems early, and pay yourself what you actually want to earn.Connect with Leah MillerFirm: firmlyprofits.comSocial: www.linkedin.com/in/leahlnmfinancial ____________________________________Brian Glass is a nationally recognized personal injury lawyer in Fairfax, Virginia. He is passionate about living a life of his own design and looking for answers to solutions outside of the legal field. This podcast is his effort to share that passion with others.Want to connect with Brian?Follow Brian on Instagram: @thebrianglassConnect on LinkedIn

How To Plan 2026 So You Actually Love It

The rush to “do more” is loud, but the quiet work of designing a year you actually want to live is louder. We break the high achiever cycle—always chasing 2x—by starting with gratitude, then building a plan that respects seasons of life, family, and the reality of running a law practice without becoming its prisoner.First, we look back. Pull up your photos and calendar to build a 2025 highlight reel and remind yourself how much good you already lived. From that steadier place, we map the core “gardens” of life—business, finances, health, relationships, growth, adventure, and environment—and define what a true 10 out of 10 looks like in each. You’ll hear practical examples for setting clear metrics and feelings that prove progress, plus simple ways to capture weekly wins so momentum doesn’t get lost.Then we choose a Masogi: one bold, year-defining challenge with a real chance of failure. Whether it’s your fastest marathon in a decade, that first million in revenue, or coaching your kid’s team, we show how to pick it, put it on the calendar, and make it public so accountability does its job. From there, we swap outcome obsession for activity excellence. You’ll get an easy growth cadence—one referral lunch, three handwritten notes, five thoughtful posts each week—and a health and relationship rhythm you can actually sustain. We focus on quarterly lifts for the lowest-scoring areas rather than trying to fix everything at once.Finally, we talk time. Big rocks go on the calendar first—vacations, family events, races, retreats—so trials and tasks don’t swallow your life. If you run your firm, teach your team to guard their time, too. The law doesn’t have to be a pie-eating contest where the prize is more pie; the real prize is a rich life shared with people you love. If this resonates, follow the show, share it with a lawyer who needs permission to plan boldly, and leave a review with your 2026 Masogi.____________________________________Brian Glass is a nationally recognized personal injury lawyer in Fairfax, Virginia. He is passionate about living a life of his own design and looking for answers to solutions outside of the legal field. This podcast is his effort to share that passion with others.Want to connect with Brian?Follow Brian on Instagram: @thebrianglassConnect on LinkedIn

Simple, Profitable Marketing for Law Firm Owners | Michelle Pippin & Johnine Clark

This episode of Life Beyond the Briefs is a breakout session from the GLM Summit featuring Michelle Pippin (founder of Women Who Wow / WoWX) and Johnine Clark, a Maryland family law and estate planning attorney who has built a busy, referral driven practice by getting very clear on who she serves and how she wants to work.This is not a “do all the things” marketing talk. It is two women being straight with you about what actually brings in good cases and a sane schedule. Michelle shares how she turned about fifty bucks and a big idea into a seven figure business. Johnine walks through how she niched her practice, tightened her brand, and became the obvious choice for a specific kind of client without living on social media.You will hear them get into:How to build a real referral ecosystem instead of just hoping people remember youGetting honest about your best clients and being okay that not everyone is a fitUsing micro niches so your ideal clients feel like you are talking directly to themCreating “surround sound” visibility so your name comes up in rooms you are not inReusing and reshaping content you already have so marketing feels sustainableIt is candid, funny, and very real about money, motherhood, and being a woman who is serious about growing a law firm on her own terms.Connect with Michelle PippinWebsite and visibility resources: www.womenwhowow.comSocial: www.linkedin.com/in/michellepippinConnect with Johnine ClarkLaw firm website: www.jnclarklaw.comSocial: www.linkedin.com/in/johnine-clark-86461178 ____________________________________Brian Glass is a nationally recognized personal injury lawyer in Fairfax, Virginia. He is passionate about living a life of his own design and looking for answers to solutions outside of the legal field. This podcast is his effort to share that passion with others.Want to connect with Brian?Follow Brian on Instagram: @thebrianglassConnect on LinkedIn

Growth and the Good Life (Live Q&A with Ben and Brian)

What if the biggest threat to your law firm is not your competition, but the noise you let into your life and calendar?In this live Q&A from the GLM Summit 2025, Brian and Ben reflect on what it really means to pursue growth and “the good life” as a lawyer. This is not a tactics-only conversation. It is about how you think, what you allow into your head, and how you design a practice that serves your life instead of swallowing it.You will hear Brian and Ben talk about conferences, community, and why most of us go home with notebooks full of ideas and then change almost nothing. From there, he gets very practical about the next 90 days, how to close out the year strong, and how to plan for the future without lighting yourself on fire.Inside this episode, we get into:Turning conference inspiration into actual calendar commitmentsSeparating “noise” from inputs that really move your firm forwardUsing 90 day plans to make 2026 less chaotic and more intentionalBlocking real thinking time so your firm is not run out of your inboxImproving the velocity of money in an injury practice so you are not waiting forever to get paidIf you are a lawyer or law firm owner who wants both a profitable practice and a life you actually like waking up to, this one will hit home.Hit play and use this as your own private debrief from the GLM Summit. ____________________________________Brian Glass is a nationally recognized personal injury lawyer in Fairfax, Virginia. He is passionate about living a life of his own design and looking for answers to solutions outside of the legal field. This podcast is his effort to share that passion with others.Want to connect with Brian?Follow Brian on Instagram: @thebrianglassConnect on LinkedIn

The 4 Numbers You Must Know Before Your 2026 Law Firm Planning

If you’re planning for 2026 without knowing your numbers, you’re not planning, you’re guessing.In this solo episode, Brian breaks down the 4 numbers every law firm owner must know before heading into annual planning:Average case value (including your zeros and how to handle those big outliers)Cost to acquire a new client (and why messy QuickBooks are silently killing your clarity)Total owner compensation (the real “am I winning?” number, not just revenue)Wanted lead to client conversion rate (the lowest-hanging fruit in your firm)If you’ve ever thought: “I sign everyone I want to sign,” “I’m spending ‘about right’ on marketing,” or “I’m making okay money, but it doesn’t feel worth the stress…”…then this episode is your wake-up call.Brian walks you through how to use these four metrics to:Build a firm you actually like showing up to on MondaysStay in the game long enough to build real wealthStop burning cash on marketing that doesn’t convertDecide if you’re truly better off as an owner, or just self-employed and exhaustedNo fluff. No guru talk. Just a practical, numbers-driven framework so you can walk into your 2026 planning retreat with confidence instead of vibes.Hit play, grab a notebook, and start measuring what actually matters.Bonus: Want to steal notes from the latest Great Legal Marketing (GLM) Summit? Get them for free at: glmsummitnotes.com____________________________________Brian Glass is a nationally recognized personal injury lawyer in Fairfax, Virginia. He is passionate about living a life of his own design and looking for answers to solutions outside of the legal field. This podcast is his effort to share that passion with others.Want to connect with Brian?Follow Brian on Instagram: @thebrianglassConnect on LinkedIn