Shows
Elawvate: Build & Grow Your Law FirmBuilding ‘Comes Down to Balance’, with Andrew Garza“Even if it's going to mean we're less profitable, short term, if it provides sanity, we're going to do it,” Andrew Garza says as he reflects on his entrepreneurial journey, including co-founding Claggett & Sykes Trial Lawyers. “It all comes down to a balance.” In this wide-ranging conversation with hosts Ben Gideon and Jeff Wright, Andrew reveals how balance informs the firm’s decisions, from balancing automation and systems to balancing referrals and digital marketing. He also describes why the hardest decisions typically surround maintaining your law firm’s culture, why he rejects the myth of work-life balance, and why he doesn’t m...
2025-11-2154 minElawvate: Build & Grow Your Law FirmSecrets to Scaling a Criminal Defense Firm, with Tim Zerillo“I tell people my practice is primarily sex, drugs, and white collar crime. No rock and roll,” says defense lawyer Tim Zerillo in this conversation about building a criminal defense firm. With hosts Ben Gideon and Jeff Wright, Tim reveals how he evolved from bartering for office space as a new lawyer to running a nationally recognized practice. He shares hard-won insights about managing the economic realities of criminal defense, mentoring younger lawyers, and giving time to professional organizations. “If you are thinking about leaving as an associate of a bigger firm and starting a solo firm, you really have t...
2025-11-0748 minElawvate: Build & Grow Your Law FirmThe “Vivid Vision” Playbook for Growth, with Cameron HeroldBuilding a business without a clear vision is like doing a 5,000-piece jigsaw puzzle with no picture on the box. That’s the metaphor that informs Cameron Herold’s revolutionary “Vivid Vision” model. He describes it in this conversation with hosts Ben Gideon and Jeff Wright. The founder of the COO Alliance and mastermind behind companies like 1-800-GOT-JUNK?, Cameron explains how his jigsaw puzzle approach to business structure guides entrepreneurs as they build the four corners and sides of their organizational foundation. He reveals hard-won lessons about how poor financial management nearly bankrupted a $100 million company, why hiring motivate...
2025-10-2454 minElawvate: Build & Grow Your Law FirmAim, Plan, Honor: Strategic Growth, with Melissa ShanahanMelissa Shanahan encourages her law firm clients to envision a “three-legged stool” that supports growth. The three legs of that stool are: aim, plan, and honor. “When you don't have one of those, you don't really get the traction that you're looking for,” she explains to hosts Ben Gideon and Jeff Wright. The founder of the consulting firm Velocity Work, Melissa discusses her work helping law firms scale through strategic planning. Tune in for her insights about staying on top of data, having quarterly planning sessions, and being honest about staffing. Learn More and Connect☑️ Melissa Shana...
2025-10-1051 minElawvate: Build & Grow Your Law FirmDo You Have a Vision or a Pipe Dream?, with Ben GideonHere’s what a vision is not: a pipe dream or a Christmas wish list. Here’s what it is: a big, audacious goal that’s worthy of your time and energy. Ben Gideon lays out this critical difference by unpacking his own vision for Gideon Asen. In a conversation guided by COO Jeff Wright, Ben shares how their firm's original mission statement evolved from a three-person operation to a market-leading practice. Tune in for insights about how to craft a plan that will define your firm, from opening day to years in the future.Learn More and Co...
2025-09-2654 minElawvate: Build & Grow Your Law FirmThe Art of Decision-Making, with Ben Gideon and Jeff WrightEvery business succeeds or fails based on decisions: making good ones and recovering from bad ones. “Sounds like a pretty rudimentary concept,” says Gideon Asen founder Ben Gideon. To break down that concept, Ben and firm COO Jeff Wright reflect on how decision-making has informed Gideon Asen and its growth. They also dissect crucial contradictions – between the right idea at the wrong time, paid consultants versus honest mentors, and dissenters versus yes-men – that can separate a good decision from a bad one. Learn More and Connect☑️ Ben Gideon | LinkedIn | Facebook | Instagram☑️ Jeff Wright☑️ Gideon As...
2025-09-1241 minElawvate: Build & Grow Your Law FirmFrom Silicon Valley to Legal AI Startup, with Jerry ZhouJerry Zhou and childhood friend Kyle Lam had vast skills in software development by the time Covid hit and they left Microsoft. That’s when they sat down at a Starbucks and wrote “all the ideas that we had about things that we thought we could contribute to the world.” Their coffee-house brainstorming eventually turned into Supio, a developer of legal AI for personal injury firms and a sponsor of “Build & Grow Your Law Firm.” Hosts Ben Gideon and Jeff Wright unravel Jerry’s reflections about finding product-market fit with plaintiff trial lawyers and scaling from a "shadiest part of Seattle"...
2025-08-2948 minElawvate: Build & Grow Your Law FirmLeaving a Law Firm to Start Your Own w/ Ben Gideon & Jeff Wright"Anybody who tells you that leaving a law firm is an easy process is lying to you," says Ben Gideon. To lay out the unvarnished truth, Ben shares his experience leaving a 17-year partnership to launch Gideon Asen. In a conversation guided by Jeff Wright, the firm’s COO, Ben explains why departing from one firm to start your own can feel like a divorce. The duo discusses critical decisions around choosing business partners, financial realities of starting a firm at midlife, and essential first hires needed to maintain operations while building a practice. Tune in for their insights ab...
2025-08-1558 minElawvate: Build & Grow Your Law FirmScale Your Firm, No MBA Required, with Megan PiperMegan Piper says that her job coaching entrepreneurs “is to help them succeed and then to get out of the way.” To do this, she teaches a model called EOS, or “entrepreneurial operating system.” And while EOS is “industry agnostic,” Megan explains to hosts Ben Gideon and Jeff Wright that law firms can use it to clarify their vision, drive accountability, and scale effectively. But they have to buy into core principles, including healthy partner communication and a clear organizational structure. Tune in as she describes the “beautiful simplicity” of EOS. “We can teach people in just a couple of hours some real...
2025-08-0150 minElawvate: Build & Grow Your Law FirmStarting a Firm vs. Growing a Firm, with Ben Gideon and Jeff WrightBuilding a law firm and building a law firm that’s designed for growth “are often mistaken, but very different ventures,” observes host Ben Gideon. The founder and managing partner of Gideon Asen teams up with the firm’s chief operating officer, Jeff Wright, for this conversation about starting a law firm to sell your legal services versus building a growth-oriented business designed to scale beyond the founder's individual capabilities. Tune in for their insights about leveraging existing problem-solving skills, understanding established business models, and defining the kind of firm you want to build.Learn More and Connect
2025-07-181h 01Elawvate: Build & Grow Your Law FirmBuilding a Law Firm: Lessons from the Trenches, with Ben Gideon and Jeff Wright"I really wish when we started our practice, someone had taken me under their wing and said, 'This is how you do this.'" In the premiere of “Build & Grow Your Law Firm,” Ben Gideon takes attorneys contemplating opening their own firm under his wing. Tune in for insights from Ben and co-host Jeff Wright, Gideon Asen's Chief Operating Officer, about the differences between practicing law and building a business. And come back to future episodes for an inside look at missteps, successes, failures, and wisdom from lessons learned. Learn More and Connect☑️ Ben Gideon | LinkedIn...
2025-07-0444 minElawvate: Build & Grow Your Law FirmWelcome to Elawvate: Build & Grow Your Law FirmEverything You Really Need to Build a Law FirmWelcome to Elawvate: Build & Grow Your Law Firm, the podcast that gives entrepreneurial attorneys the playbook for creating thriving, professionally run law practices. Host Ben Gideon shares lessons he’s learned building a firm from the ground up. Top experts in the business of law will join him to lend their insights.Whether you're just getting started or scaling fast, your firm's next chapter begins here.Produced and Powered by LawPods
2025-06-2700 min
Elawvate: The Trial Lawyer PodcastWinning the Hard Trials with Felix LunaSeattle-based trial lawyer, Felix (Gavi) Luna is not afraid to try hard cases. Join Ben ((Ben Gideon | Gideon Asen LLC) ) and Rahul ((Rahul Ravipudi (psblaw.com) for this episode as Gavi explains the strategies and techniques he has used to get extraordinary results in some of the toughest cases, including a case involving highway design and a malpractice case involving failure to prevent a stroke.Felix Gavi Lunaluna@pwrfl-law.comFelix moved to Seattle from Boston, Massachusetts, as a teenager and grew up in Seattle’s Beacon Hill neighborhood. After graduating from Rainier...
2022-03-2855 minElawvate: The Trial Lawyer PodcastDamages Evolving with David Ball Artemis Malekpour Nick and Courtney RowleyWe are kicking off Season 2 of the Elawvate podcast (www.elawvate.fm) with a bang! In our first episode, Ben (Ben Gideon | Gideon Asen LLC) ) and Rahul ((Rahul Ravipudi (psblaw.com) host four of the country’s most respected trial lawyers and trial consultants, to discuss their forthcoming book, Damages Evolving. Those familiar with David Ball’s foundational work, Damages, will learn how his ideas have evolved, shaped through his long-time partnership with Artemis Malekpour and new collaboration with Nick and Courtney Rowley. They discuss how trial strategies have evolved over the past two decades and continue to evolve today.
2022-03-021h 04Elawvate: The Trial Lawyer PodcastHow Big Data Helps Trial Lawyers Get Better Results with John CampbellAccess to Big Data has proven to be indispensable in making key decisions to maximize values of verdicts and settlements. Join Join Ben ((Ben Gideon | Gideon Asen LLC) ) and Rahul ((Rahul Ravipudi (psblaw.com) for our discussion with John Campbell, the leading national expert on Big Data for trial lawyers. Through his company Empirical Jury (www.empiricaljury.com) John has already helped countless trial lawyers get results that many would have thought to be impossible just a few years ago. If you're a trial lawyer, you can't afford to miss this episode!About John CampbellProfes...
2022-01-1757 minElawvate: The Trial Lawyer PodcastNever Stop Asking Questions with Mark MandellWhat is the key to Mark Mandell's success as a trial lawyer? He questions all assumptions and has spent his entire career in search of answers. And what he has uncovered along the way is required knowledge for anyone who wants to try cases for a living. Join Ben ((Ben Gideon | Gideon Asen LLC) ) and Rahul ((Rahul Ravipudi (psblaw.com) for our probing discussion with Mark as he describes his thoughtful approach to trial work that has led to many successful verdicts and settlement and underpins his two widely acclaimed books on trial practice: Case Framing and Advanced Case Framing...
2022-01-031h 03Elawvate: The Trial Lawyer PodcastMastering Cross Examination with Patricia KuendigNationally-recognized trial lawyer Patricia Kuendig joins us to describe the approach to cross examination she and her partner Roger Dodd teach to trial lawyers across the country. Patricia explains the three rules of successful cross examination. She illustrates how the rules work in practice. She discusses strategies for sequencing cross, recovering from problems, dealing with un-crossable witness and preparing you own witnesses for the other side's cross. About PatriciaPatricia Kuendig pursued law out of a desire to help people when they needed it most. For the first few years of her practice, Patricia worked on co...
2021-11-0858 minElawvate: The Trial Lawyer PodcastMastering the Art of Trial Presentation with Dan AmbroseAbout Dan AmbroseDaniel Ambrose started out in Detroit, Michigan as a criminal defense lawyer. Dan has attended programs such as the National Criminal Defense College, Western Trial Advocacy Institute and Gerry Spence’s Trial Lawyer’s College, tried over 150 jury trials, and has studied trial advocacy for 20 years. Dan is known for his exceptional skills advocating for his clients. Through 20 years of practice, he has found a unique method to help trial lawyers efficiently master their skills. THE METHOD, was developed by meeting weekly with five trial lawyers over an eighteen month period. They presen...
2021-08-3053 minElawvate: The Trial Lawyer PodcastDigital Marketing for Trial Lawyers with Seth PriceJoin us for a discussion of digital marketing for trial lawyers with attorney and digital marketing guru, Seth Price. Learn how Seth used his experience building a successful law firm using digital marketing, and then started a digital marketing firm to help other law firms do the same. In this episode, we discuss what works and doesn't work for trial lawyer marketing, pitfalls that lawyers fall into and how to maximize return on investment for marketing dollars spent. In the process, we discuss a number of topics, includingsearch engine optimization (SEO)Google Pay Per Click AdsGoogle Local Serv...
2021-07-1942 min
Elawvate: The Trial Lawyer PodcastPicking a Winning Jury with Sonia ChopraSonia discusses the evolution of jury consulting to trial consultants and, finally, to litigation consulting. Part of that evolution is the constant balancing of the science and the art of human psychology and social psychology. The science is through training -- Sonia's training is as a Ph.D psychologist with an emphasis in litigation. The art is the constant exposure to prospective jurors through focus groups and voir dires. Unlike trial lawyers who, even the best of them on high exposure trials, get to trial four to ten times a year, Sonia has the capacity to accomplish the same volume...
2021-05-241h 11
Elawvate: The Trial Lawyer PodcastBreaking Glass Ceilings and Verdict Records with Kalpana SrinivasanIn this Second Episode of the Elawvate Podcast, Rahul (Rahul Ravipudi (psblaw.com) and Ben (Ben Gideon | Gideon Asen LLC) spend time with a trailblazer, Kalpana Srinivasan. Part of being a successful trial lawyer is consistently making the right decisions. While that is easier said than done, Kalpana has done that her whole career. After graduating from Stanford Law School and receiving offers from all of the "big" firms, Kalpana accepted a job at the then four lawyer Los Angeles office of Susman Godfrey. She did that because she was impressed with the attorneys at the firm from top to bo...
2021-04-121h 12
Elawvate: The Trial Lawyer PodcastSuccess Starts from Within with Rick FriedmanEpisode 01 - Success Starts from Within with Rick FriedmanYou don’t want to miss the Elawvate interview of Rick Friedman, one of America’s pre-eminent plaintiff trial lawyers and teachers. In this episode Ben (Ben Gideon | Gideon Asen LLC) and Rahul ((Rahul Ravipudi (psblaw.com) )talk to Rick about his latest book, The Way of the Trial Lawyer: Beyond Technique (published by TrialGuides and available here: The Way of the Trial Lawyer – Trial Guides).What Will You Learn From Listening to this Episode? The Power of Moral Advocacy. In this episode, you will learn about the power...
2021-02-1657 min