Monday Mentors with Waco Estate Planning and Probate Attorney Kristen Mynar

Kristen Mynar, a board certified estate planning and probate attorney and partner with Naman, Howell, Smith & Lee in Waco, joins us on today's show. Kristen talks about learning from mentors, caring about your clients, and what she looks for when hiring (hint: it's not on a resume!).

Her firm/practice

• Offices in Waco, FW, San Antonio, Austin
• Most of the attorneys specialize in something, and there isn't much they don't do
• Her typical client has high-net worth and a closely held business, so you wind up working with them both on the estate planning and business related issues.
• Board certified as soon as she could, five years after starting practice
• Law is always changing so always have to stay on top of it; changing administrations can have an impact certainly so watching for whether new laws get passed at the federal level
• Current exemptions are at all-time highs but set to expire and be cut in half in 2026.
• Waco is a great community; friendly/competent lawyers; way more money here than you would think, and those people keep their money here.
• Does a lot of work with partners in the other offices, as well as with clients in the small communities around Waco. Also succession planning for client businesses.
• Estate Planning can touch a lot of practice areas

Advice to lawyers in practice

• Her grammar was a problem in the beginning! So she got red inked on everything for three years.
• She had great mentors and was a sponge. She listened/learned. Did push back when it looked like there was more than one way to do something.
  • Fortunate to have someone who wanted to teach her how to practice.
• Much of her practice is drafting/writing, and she kept making the same mistakes at first. So she made a list of all the mistakes she would typically make, and then before submitting anything to the partners would go over that list to see if she had made any of those mistakes.
  • Learn to compensate for yourself
  • Be humble
• Take a minute and think about it! See if you can figure it out. The reader should be able to tell that you at least thought through it.
• RE: Business development: just be out in the community and make sure people know what you do. Offer to go speak to different groups. Do a good job and care about the client!

Advice to Lawyers On The Lateral Market

• Not a big believer in resumes.
• In interviews, looking for personality. Are you a person that I want to practice with? Personable? Easy to talk with?

Rapid Fire Questions

1. Name one trait/characteristic you most want to see in an associate: ability to use their brain
2. What habit has been key to your success: keeping my time every day
3. Favorite app/productivity tool: N/A - all apps are anti-productive
4. What would be listed first on the interest line of your resume: mothering, (low-carb) cooking, lounging
5. Favorite legal movie: Bull; The Case for Christ

Thanks again to Kristen Mynar for joining us on today's show!