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Each episode, we sit down with someone new in the lawyers risk management space to discuss ideas, personal stories, and more. Take a break, have a listen.
ALPS In Brief - Episode 82: How to Build and Maintain a Strong Legal Practice
The ALPS In Brief Podcast
30 minutes
1 year ago
ALPS In Brief - Episode 82: How to Build and Maintain a Strong Legal Practice
Hello. I'm Mark Bassingthwaighte. I'm the risk manager here at ALPS, and welcome to another episode of ALPS In Brief, the podcast that comes to you from the historic Florence building in beautiful downtown Missoula, Montana.
For those of you that aren't familiar with me, I've been practicing at ALPS, serving in the role of risk manager for over 26 years, and, recently, it's been about two and a half, maybe ... Coming up on. Well, two and a half. Two and a half. I got to think through this.
I have been blessed to be able to have my wife and I move to Florida, so I'm coming to you from our remote location here in St. Cloud, Florida on a beautiful day.
I want to continue with some conversations that I've had over the years, and this fits in the category of listening to your life, focusing on some growth issues, and really the purpose of this particular podcast is to talk about how to build, and, perhaps, even more importantly, how to maintain a successful law practice.
There's a lot written out there on the importance of marketing, networking. I've lectured, and written on a lot of this, myself, and I really don't want to dismiss that. That's very important, in terms of building a practice, as is understanding the marketplace, having all the correct tools. There's lots of things, if you will, on the business side that need to be addressed, and they are very important.
But the older I get, I continue to discover, and appreciate the value of something else, and it really is what I would describe as the foundation, and foundations in relationships, as an example, and in many aspects of our lives, I've come to learn, are so important, whether that's a foundation ... To become a foundation for your children, as they grow, to have a foundation built on commitment in personal relationships, particularly, in the context of a marriage. It's just something that I have found to be very, very relevant.
So, I'm going to talk about the foundation necessary to build and maintain a successful law practice, and really what I'm talking about is wellness. I have written and talked for years about how impairment issues are significant, in terms of their role in practice claims, in grievances, and all that, but I'm coming at it from a different angle, and I really do believe that a foundation in the practice of law, a personal foundation, based on wellness is absolutely essential, and fundamental to the long-term success of a successful law practice.
And I'm going to be, as we talk today, sharing a little bit about myself, and I'm not here to suggest, in any way, shape, or form that I've got it all figured out. I absolutely don't, but I do want to say I'm on a journey, and it is a wellness journey. I have yet to find the end point, if you will, and I mean I remain a work-in-process.
That's going to be true for me for the rest of my life, because life is a journey, and I guess, at some point, the journey will come to an end, and perhaps, in some way, that's an end point, depending on what you believe, but while we're here, in a physical body, in this wonderful place we call Earth, for all of us, it's a journey, and so I encourage you to consider that, and let's talk about what is important, in terms of wellness, as we go through this journey.
In my mind, wellness ... This is far more than just about health. Okay? I'm going to talk a little bit about health, but it really is about all aspects of one's life. We need to have wellness in our personal lives, in our professional lives, in our spiritual lives, it just goes on and on.
And, again, to the degree that we struggle individually with any aspect of wellness, in any aspect of our life, that can create some problems. How do you think impairments arise? If we're not taking care of ourselves, we can get overwhelmed, we can get burned out, we can get depressed, we can turn to alcohol, et cetera, et cetera. I don't want to rehash all that.
All I'll say is to really stay strong, to s
The ALPS In Brief Podcast
Each episode, we sit down with someone new in the lawyers risk management space to discuss ideas, personal stories, and more. Take a break, have a listen.