The Mostly Legal Podcast

She tore up her law school applications in her senior year, planned to get a PhD, and instead built a career that did not exist yet. Meet EJ Stern, co-founder of Fractional Law Firm CMO and a 20-plus-year veteran of AmLaw business development.
In this episode of The Mostly Legal Podcast, Amanda Koplos and Rob Joyner sit down with EJ for a candid and very funny conversation about how small and mid-sized firms can compete with the big shops, why succession planning for business services is the issue keeping her up at night, and how LinkedIn quietly became the most important business development tool in legal.

Topics Covered:
  • Why she chose marketing over law school, for a dollar more and an extra half hour of sleep
  • How women build business differently, and the book No Clubs Required
  • The fractional CMO model and why a 30 to 75 attorney firm is the sweet spot
  • Why less than 10 percent of partners are classic rainmakers, and the other paths that work
  • Succession planning for the people who actually keep the firm running
  • Why "non-lawyer" is the wrong word, and what to say instead
  • Building a personal brand on LinkedIn without the cringe and skipping the AI slop
  • Being a mom boss and getting real presence, not just the promise of it

Creators and Guests

Host
Amanda Koplos
Mostly Legal host
Host
Rob Joyner
Mostly Legal host

What is The Mostly Legal Podcast?

A lot goes on behind the scenes of law firms and we’re here to finally uncover it all. With interviews from some of the greatest minds in the business of law, we’re about to laugh, yell, and cry our way through some stories that we bet you never thought you’d hear.