Retired Early Because Of SEO Success

Join us on another engaging episode of the Legal Authority podcast! 

In addition to Judy's impressive 30-year legal practice, we're diving into a fascinating chapter of her career—her venture into politics. Formerly the town attorney for Paterson, New York, Judy now holds the role of commissioner in Highland Beach, Florida.

Join the conversation as we explore Judy's unique journey, balancing a distinguished legal career with public service. From her insights into the legal realm to her experiences in local governance, this episode promises a blend of legal expertise and political perspectives.

👉 Hit play now to discover the multifaceted professional journey of Judy Goldberg! Don't forget to subscribe for more exclusive interviews and SEO tips tailored for law firms. 

Visit Her Website: https://judithgoldberg.com/

#LegalAuthorityPodcast #JudyGoldberg #LegalInsights #PoliticsandLaw #Commissioner #HighlandBeachFL #AttorneyLife #SEOforLawFirms #YouTubeEpisode #LegalExpertInterview

Transcript

00;00;00;00 - 00;00;24;27

Unknown

Welcome to the Legal Authority podcast. My name is Jay Rathman with my beautiful co-host, Judith Goldberg. How are you, Judy? I'm well, How are you, Jay? I am doing fantastic. I'm excited about today's episode. We're going to get into detail about your history with your practice and how you started and went out on your own. And we're going to talk to lots of attorneys here that are listening and hopefully you'll be able to give some pretty sound advice.

00;00;24;27 - 00;00;39;07

Unknown

And anybody have any questions, feel free to reach out to us at the Legal Authority podcast. I'm sorry, the legal authority dot com slash podcast. And you can leave a comment or ask us to cover a question for you on a future episode. But here we go. There we.

00;00;39;07 - 00;01;04;02

Unknown

It is a wonderful afternoon in Boca Raton, Florida. Welcome to the Legal Authority podcast. My name is Jay Rathman with my esteemed co-host, Judy Goldberg. How are you? Judy? I'm great today. Great to be here. That's awesome. So not only are you a 30 year practicing attorney, you are also now taking a second run into politics. You used to be the town attorney for Paterson, New York, and now you're a commissioner in Highland Beach, Florida.

00;01;04;02 - 00;01;28;08

Unknown

That's right. That's a surprise to me. Absolutely. Absolutely. Next, we're going to run for president. So we need lots of listeners to build that up. But anyway, so in our first episode, we don't have a special guest, which we normally will have. It'll be an attorney starting on our next episode. Each episode who has built a successful firm from the beginning, from scratch, and you know how they did it, right?

00;01;28;08 - 00;01;41;10

Unknown

What were the things that they did that worked well? What are the things that they did that they wish they could have redone that maybe saved them some time, saved him some money? You know, how are they marketing to to get new clients? What have they done in the past? What works, what doesn't? You know, all of that stuff.

00;01;41;10 - 00;02;03;06

Unknown

We're going to go over that every episode. So I thought we would start with Judy because she is the epitome of starting a law firm and growing it and retiring earlier than she expected and hitting some goals and enjoying life. Now, doing what she really wants to do. And that's dance. She loves to dance. In fact, your dance studio is like right around the corner and all that.

00;02;03;06 - 00;02;23;03

Unknown

So let's get to know you a little bit. Tell us a little about yourself, Julie Well, Law was my first love. Wanted to be a lawyer since I was 15 years old. Didn't happen at 15, right? I was in business, ran a hotel, had some great political background, legal secretary even. But when I became a lawyer, that was the crystallization of what I wanted.

00;02;23;06 - 00;02;48;10

Unknown

That's awesome. And I loved it. Loved it. What was your favorite part of being a lawyer? Trying a case? Yeah. So actually trying a case in litigation and feeling as if I love advocacy, being able to come up with the clue on the case. What's going to settle this case? If not, what's going to be the best trial platform for me.

00;02;48;12 - 00;03;10;00

Unknown

So that was very exciting. I loved it. I love being on my own as well. Yeah. Oh, that's great. I mean, I've known you for 15 years. We have a tremendous friendship. And, you know, you were up in Connecticut, obviously, and you were a pretty dominant player in the family law practice and the family law, you know, genre up there, if you will, not using the right words, but everybody knew who you are.

00;03;10;00 - 00;03;38;13

Unknown

And after people were scared of you and half the people wanted to hire you. So but it took time to time to build that. Oh, sure. To build a reputation. To build a brand. Yeah. I have a funny story. I remember at one point I was working for the NFL. You remember this? Yes, I do. And we were doing the game day program for the New York Giants and I came up with an idea for you based on just your reputation in town, that, yeah, I would have you standing on.

00;03;38;13 - 00;04;03;01

Unknown

Like if you're looking at the image, you're standing on the left side and to the to your left. But the viewer's right would be like at £180 English bulldog with, like, that huge spiky collar and look like he would just, you know, eat a horse. Right. And all the ad should say was getting divorced. Question Mark, if you need a bulldog, hire the one on the left.

00;04;03;03 - 00;04;26;18

Unknown

Yeah, you press you press for that. That that would have been fun to go with it. But we worked around it. Yeah, I thought it would have been cool. I'd have been cool. We just for people to know my history is digital marketing and Judy and I met because I actually discovered her by mistake when I was doing some work for a client and she was running an ad and they actually had it running in Buffalo where I was living at the time.

00;04;26;18 - 00;04;40;20

Unknown

That's where I'm from, like 700 miles from her office. And it's a complete waste for somebody to click that ad. It just costs her money. And nobody in Buffalo is going to be a client of a firm in Connecticut for a divorce. Right? So I just called her up and told her how to fix it and she fixed it.

00;04;40;20 - 00;05;03;11

Unknown

And then we just developed a friendship from there. And, you know, I think it was a couple of weeks later you called me and said, hey, I want to run some ads, you know, help me out. So I did it and it worked. And then it just went on from there. And, you know, I guess it was a couple of years later, you really wanted to get pretty into the digital marketing side and said, you know, I'm working with this guy and he's just not making it.

00;05;03;18 - 00;05;19;13

Unknown

You're not making the needle move, right? I'm not getting the calls and all of that and, you know, help me. And so I devised a strategy and put it in front of her. She said, Yeah, that sounds like a good idea. And then boom, she put me in business. That was back in 2015. So you saved me at that point in time.

00;05;19;16 - 00;05;47;25

Unknown

It was too many years that I lingered with advertising firm. Marketing firm actually was AT&T, You know, that was the time when we were CIG, you know, moving from strictly ads, newspapers to the online presence to the digital presence. Right. And I went through a number of providers that didn't produce. Right. My mistake was remaining with them as long as I did before I made the move.

00;05;47;27 - 00;06;10;12

Unknown

Right? But as a sole practitioner, I was busy practicing law, right? And I didn't want to do that. I was ignoring it. But fortunately I didn't do it, didn't let it go. Too many years kept searching. And then you came into my life and you know everything changed, right? Well connected to reconnect. Yes. It was amazing for me, you know, Now that's cool.

00;06;10;12 - 00;06;29;19

Unknown

And it worked well. The stuff that we did worked and you're able to like I said in the intro of the show, you were able to retire a little bit early ahead of your goal. And, you know, obviously, that gives you a better quality of life. You're down here in South Florida now. You're, you know, in politics doing what you want to do and, you know, being a big voice for the town of Highland Beach and and all that.

00;06;29;19 - 00;06;46;17

Unknown

So and then I got you to help me with this podcast. That's right. Well, I am also doing mediation, divorce mediation in Florida, right. Where I did not have to sit for the bar. Didn't want to do that again. I'm admitted to the bar in Connecticut and New York. Right. And you helped me in that regard as well.

00;06;46;20 - 00;07;10;23

Unknown

Cool. So I take as much business as I want, which is such a pleasure. Now, that's great. That's great. So one of the things that I really want to, you know, talk about for a few minutes on this episode is a little bit more about, you know, once we started having successes, when we when we reconnected back in 2015, you know, what kind of happened to your practice going forward?

00;07;10;26 - 00;07;40;21

Unknown

You know, you started to get more calls. There were better calls. And I actually learned some pretty cool stuff from you, and I'll get into that in a minute. But let's talk a little bit about that. Well, that surprised me. I mean, I it it having had previously poor experience with the advertisers that came for the for my account when I came aboard you, I saw within the first 36 hours an exponential change in the volume of calls.

00;07;40;24 - 00;08;10;25

Unknown

It happened pretty quick. Yeah. And then what was very surprising, I don't know why to this day, but even the quality of client now was better. Now, what do I mean by that? People who could pay, Right? So for the lawyers that are listening, if you're doing like pay per click ads or, you know, even if you're just focusing on organic search and creating content, one of the things that you want to do is zero in on the immediate local geography that you want to target, right?

00;08;10;25 - 00;08;29;25

Unknown

So like we're in South Florida, there are some neighborhoods that are fairly depressed. I wouldn't target those. I would target Boca Raton and Highland Beach people have money, right? So that gives you a better client that can at least write you the check, right? That's right. And so geo targeting is is a big deal. And you can do that with pay per click ads.

00;08;29;25 - 00;08;58;24

Unknown

You can do that with your local service ads. You can do that, you know, with your website content. There's a lot of ways to do it. And Judy is pretty skilled in that stuff now. So you can always reach out to Judy at the legal authority ecom slash Judy. And you know, she's happy to have a phone conversation or you guys can trade emails or or whatever works for you, but she can guide you into to what she did that was super successful and, you know, go well, you help me, particularly with branding.

00;08;58;26 - 00;09;21;05

Unknown

So it was not only that online presence, but it was an opportunity for me to become more involved and more active in branding, which I had done in my early, very early years. Right? Once the practice took off, I had no time. I didn't think I needed it. But I see today you need to maintain that, encourage that and not lose sight of that.

00;09;21;07 - 00;09;39;07

Unknown

Yep. No, I agree, I agree. And one of the things that's interesting, let me just touch on that on a couple of things that I learned from you. One of the things that's interesting for attorneys, especially if you're a solo, right, is you're thinking, well, you know, I really don't want to do much more business. You know, I'm already handling five or six cases a month.

00;09;39;07 - 00;09;59;29

Unknown

I'm doing, you know, 20, $25,000 a month. It's just me and a paralegal and making 150 grand a year. I'm comfortable, Right? I don't want to I don't want to work much more. The thing that I learned from you is you do want the calls to come in, because in most states, first of all, you guys can refer stuff out and get a percentage of the fee for that.

00;10;00;01 - 00;10;16;29

Unknown

So you can more than cover all your marketing costs just by doing consulting and farming cases out. But you can cherry pick the cases that you really want and you did that. And that was one of the reasons that I think you were super successful is because you took the ones that could write you the check right there.

00;10;17;01 - 00;10;38;02

Unknown

You saw a clear path on how you were going to litigate and resolve the case. And I think that was something that I learned from you, that that really made sense. And when you have that volume of calls, the selection doesn't necessarily it depends what's personal to you for your comfort. I mean, you should enjoy your practice, you should love your practice, make money, be successful, collect your fees.

00;10;38;02 - 00;10;56;22

Unknown

That's something I had to work on, by the way. But the that's all very important, but it was also important to pick the clients. I liked. Yeah. You know, someone can come in and you may have just a visceral. I don't want to represent this person, but when you are desperate for that meeting, you know you're gonna take it.

00;10;56;23 - 00;11;19;14

Unknown

You're. You're taking it. Yeah. Sales. Do you know you got to bring the money in? That's absolutely the school tuition is due, you know, So this was an opportunity to really be selective and have a practice that I can enjoy more. You know, another thing that I learned from you, which I thought was pretty awesome, is you're closing rate went way up and we figured out why.

00;11;19;14 - 00;11;38;06

Unknown

I remember having this conversation. I was like five years ago. So when you had an abundance of new calls and new counsel, it's coming in and you have a pile of cases on your desk and you're talking to this person, and it's pretty obvious to them that you're busy. You got all these cases. You know, you ranked really well on Google.

00;11;38;06 - 00;12;02;05

Unknown

So they think that, you know, Google thinks you're a great attorney, not I don't know why Google I don't know why people think that way. It's not true. It's just but whatever. But then that's how people were thinking. And so really they were almost pitching you on why you should take their case. They wanted you to be their attorney and you were the one that was kind of pitching the take away, like taking it away from them and seeing if they would want to grab it back and pull it back.

00;12;02;07 - 00;12;21;11

Unknown

And so all of the sudden, not only were you getting the cases that you wanted, but you were you were closing them like on the spot, people said, Yeah, I want you to represent me. That did happen. And which is unusual in family law, divorce, because someone may come to you, they're thinking about it miserable. But there's so many reasons.

00;12;21;14 - 00;12;45;13

Unknown

Emotional the stock financial dependency, just being concerned that half of their assets more or less right is going to be taken from them. So it may take them a number of years before they close. I think the fact that people were aware that I had a limited practice, I'm going to select my cases. I'm not going to overburden myself.

00;12;45;13 - 00;13;13;17

Unknown

And this is a question also they'd be concerned about. Do you have time? Right. You know, because I did not, as a rule throughout all those years, have an associate, right, for many reasons, which we may go into over the course of this podcast. Absolutely. And I think that that made me more appealing. Again, I was known in the area of Danbury, Connecticut, and that surrounding area.

00;13;13;19 - 00;13;35;22

Unknown

So that helped. Yes. Well, absolutely. So you had a brand, right, where you talked about we helped build a brand. And once people knew who you were and, you know, all of the sudden, you know, obviously you're you're getting cases that people are reading about and you're getting these winds and, you know, other attorneys are realizing that, you know, you're here to to stay and, you know, don't fight with you because you swing a very big bat.

00;13;35;25 - 00;13;52;09

Unknown

You know, all of a sudden people start to realize that. Right? And then they want you to represent them. You know, people what I've learned and I got divorced, but my divorce was was pretty uncontested. But I hear about these all the time because all of my clients are law firms. Right? And so we work with a lot of family law firms.

00;13;52;09 - 00;14;07;28

Unknown

In fact, you'll you'll hear them on some of our future episodes. They're they're amazing people. And they'll tell you everything about how they built their practice. And you're really going to learn a lot if you if you just stay with us and and make sure you subscribe to the podcast, because I promise you it's going to be nothing but value.

00;14;08;00 - 00;14;29;23

Unknown

But the point is, when people get divorced, right, they're not lovey dovey anymore in many cases. So like if if the guy has a lot of assets and they're about to get married and he brings up the subject of a prenup, it's not a comfortable conversation. I don't care how you bring it up. I don't care how eloquent you are, how much diplomacy you use.

00;14;29;25 - 00;14;51;03

Unknown

That conversation can break a couple up. Right. And so, you know, her her reaction is, I don't you trust me, yadda yadda. Yeah. Today I trust you because today we're in love. But if we get divorced, you want to ruin me. You literally. That's how people get to get so spiteful. And so you need to have counsel that can kind of cut through all of that.

00;14;51;03 - 00;15;15;21

Unknown

And, you know, you and your wife, if you're a guy that's listening, you and your wife getting divorced is is definitely not going to be easy. If you let the lawyers work it out. You know, typically they provide a little bit more clarity and sanity is what I find. Well, I found that the you know, you put on a different hat, whether I'm the mediator, that's one thing, because I'm neutral, not legal advice.

00;15;15;24 - 00;15;38;13

Unknown

As an attorney and an advocacy, I'm hired this litigation to start that's one thing, right? When a prenup or for that matter, even a post up. Let's talk about a prenup for a moment that comes before me. This has to the technique is different because these people want to get married. They love each other. Right. We don't want to set up the acrimony that's that's so prevalent in a divorce.

00;15;38;15 - 00;16;04;17

Unknown

Yet you want to protect it in case of a divorce. So it's a narrow line, but certainly one that every attorney that does that work should be cognizant of. And work on that. Right. Of course, it's magic. Yeah. No, I agree. I agree. And I think that there's a lot of opportunity, you know, in further episodes of of our podcast where, you know, you can really provide a lot of clarity for situations like that.

00;16;04;17 - 00;16;25;10

Unknown

Right? Specifically for family attorneys, you know, maybe some different approaches to collaborative divorce or, you know, like you were just talking about, you know, ways to kind of cut through the clutter and in a very diplomatic way, you know, get a prenup done. And then I just think that's really invaluable to a lot of the young attorneys that are going to be listening.

00;16;25;10 - 00;16;45;01

Unknown

So we'll definitely get into that next week. We're certainly going to have a phenomenal episode. We have a law firm that's going to be coming on who we know very well, and they've been super successful in the Phenix market and we're going to talk to them and, you know, go from there. So lots of good stuff to learn.

00;16;45;01 - 00;16;58;01

Unknown

Judy, anything to add before we wrap it up and call it a day? No, I'm really looking forward to this. Yeah, same here. You guys are going to learn a lot from this woman. She's very smart. She's she's done all of it. She's done all the good stuff. She's made all the mistakes, and she's here to share it all with you.

00;16;58;01 - 00;17;22;01

Unknown

And talk to some pretty awesome other law firms that have done the same thing she's done. So hopefully we're able to really help you. So once again, you can get our podcast on any of your any place, any place where you get your podcast right. Google the Apple Store or Shopify and Judy, where else can they go? Well, that's that's simple legal authority dot com legal authority dot com slash pass class.

00;17;22;02 - 00;17;38;18

Unknown

Yes thank you very much. Yeah. And then if you want to talk to Judy directly it's the legal authority dot com slash Judy and she's happy to talk to you You know there's no charge for that and so I'll be anyway she can so. All right well let's go enjoy the rest of the day. It's beautiful down here in South Florida.

00;17;38;18 - 00;17;54;25

Unknown

I'm not sure where you guys are listing from, but if you're in Buffalo like me, like I used to be, I mean, even in the middle of August, it could be really crappy, right? Well, this is a beautiful beach day down here in sunny Florida. Absolutely. I plan on it. All right. Thanks a lot, everybody. We'll see you on the next episode.

00;17;54;26 - 00;17;56;02

Unknown

Take care.

00;17;56;02 - 00;18;15;10

Unknown

Well, Judy, it's a beautiful day here in Boca Raton, Florida. We wrapped up our first episode and hopefully our listeners got a chance to learn who you are and how much experience you have and, you know, get the idea that, you know, you'll really be able to help them with, you know, the wins that you had, the the pitfalls that you wish you could do over so that they don't make the same mistakes.

00;18;15;10 - 00;18;37;27

Unknown

And our listeners have the opportunity to grow their firms. And, you know, that's awesome. So you can find us on all your streaming platforms, whether it's Spotify, Apple or Google. Judy, where else can they find us? Legal authority. Dot com slash podcast. Yes, absolutely. And also, if you have a question that you want us to cover or you want to reach out and have a conversation with Judy, you can literally just get on her calendar.

00;18;37;28 - 00;18;55;24

Unknown

It's free. She's happy to talk to you and, you know, reach out to Judy and get some one on one time. She certainly welcomes that. How do you how do they reach their Judy. Legal authority. Dot com slash Judy. Yep. There you go. Simple enough. All right. We'll see you on the next episode. And everybody stay safe. Talk to you soon.