Monday Mentors with Litigator and Law Firm Founder Brandy Austin

Litigator and General Practice Lawyer Brandy Austin

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