20+ Year Partner Attorney Shares Law Firm Mentorship Secrets - #151

Law firm mentorship isn't what you think it is – a 35-year veteran shares why most firms get it wrong and associates leave anyway.

Here's what's wild: Lori made partner in 3 years while most associates struggle for a decade. She breaks down attorney career development mistakes and law firm succession planning realities.

Discover how she uses her 20+ years of experience as a law firm partner to scale from overwhelmed attorney to legacy firm builder.

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📄 CHAPTERS
0:00 - Law Firm Mentorship Reality: 35 Years of Legal Career Insights 

1:45 - Attorney Career Development: From Overwhelmed to Specialized 

2:49 - Legal Mentoring Strategies: Learning from Bar Leaders 

5:43 - Partnership Track Secrets: Promoted in 3 Years 

7:08 - Law Firm Culture Building: What Partners Really Want 

9:47 - Associate Retention Programs: The Generation Gap Problem 

11:22 - Attorney Professional Development: Recognition and Growth 

12:13 - Law Firm Succession Planning: Building a Legacy Practice

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Transcript

Law Firm Mentorship Reality: 35 Years of Legal Career Insights

Speaker 1 0:00

Lori Bootwig has been a partner at her firm for over 20 years . Her insights were invaluable . She is continuing to be excited about the work that she's doing and now thinking about what is the future of her firm going to be . I am your host , tyler Dolph . I am also the CEO of our digital marketing agency called RocketClicks . We also own and operate a very large law firm called Sterling Lawyers that has grown to over 30 attorneys across 25 offices . We are here today interviewing Loi . Loi has been a longtime attorney . She's been a partner at her firm for over 20 years and she shares her experience of what it was like being an early partner at the firm and building a legacy over time . I really hope you enjoy it , lori . Thank you so much for being with us today . We're so excited to hear about you and your firm and your journey . Can you give us a little introduction on kind of who you are and how you came to be sitting with us today ?

Speaker 2 1:06

Sure , well , thank you for having me , tyler . I really appreciate it . I'm glad to be here . Well , let's see , I've been an attorney , for it'll be 35 years this September .

Speaker 1 1:18

Amazing .

Speaker 2 1:18

I've been doing nothing but family law since 2001 . Before that I did a more varied practice . So I've been with Nichols Sachs , lank , sondelbach , budewig and Solomon for 21 years . That is amazing . Yeah , pretty kind of a one-trick pony at this point with the family law stuff .

Speaker 1 1:40

You've been at the firm for 21 years . How did you get there ?

Attorney Career Development: From Overwhelmed to Specialized

Speaker 2 1:45

Oh well , that's a good question . So when I was doing the varied practice areas it was a little bit overwhelming to keep up with construction lien law and debt collection law and insurance defense law and no fault in a lot of different areas and so I decided I wanted to just focus on one practice area and my firm that I'm at now has some incredible pioneers , some of whom have retired , and it was really their contributions to the profession that drew me to the firm kind of more than anything . But we have past family law section , state bar family law section chair people . We have past county bar association chair people in our firm , past members of fellows of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers

Legal Mentoring Strategies: Learning from Bar Leaders

Speaker 2 2:49

. So you know it was just a real draw for me to come and join this firm that had so many bar leaders , you know , in it .

Speaker 1 2:59

It's just an opportunity to learn right and level up .

Speaker 2 3:02

Yeah , yeah , yeah .

Speaker 1 3:04

And what's caused you to stay for for over 20 years . I mean , I've got to believe that the culture is great and you're still learning along the way .

Speaker 2 3:11

Yeah , it's , it is , it's a great culture . I mean the substance of what we do . As you know , we help people right , so sometimes they don't really want to be helped , but they need to be helped anyway . And then eventually , you know , they sort of begin to sit with their new normal and appreciate what we do for them , kind of their lowest point in their life or close to it , to turning the page and starting the next chapter in their lives with some optimism .

Speaker 1 3:53

Yes , I love that you have such an amazing career and you've been practicing law for a long time . Give us and our audience , some perspective on how things have changed over the years . What have you had to do to change and adapt in this industry to continue to serve your clients ?

Speaker 2 4:16

I like to think that I kind of have evolved with changes as they occur .

Speaker 2 4:20

I like to think that I kind of have evolved with changes as they occur . I've always been a big proponent of change , not for the sake of change but for the improvement of our processes and our outcomes . So change doesn't bother me . Quite frankly , as devastating as the pandemic was in so many ways , devastating as the pandemic was in so many ways , in my opinion it was a huge benefit to the legal profession to pivot and become more technologically efficient , right the whole . Hey , we can do court on Zoom , we can do mediations on Zoom , collaborative sessions on Zoom , to the kind of the giant shift that we had what 15 years ago when we went paperless . And you know , I'll never forget the day we got rid of these massive binders that we used to break our backs dragging to the courthouse and you could show up with a laptop . You know it was great . So I think those , to me those are kind of the biggest . Two changes I can think of in my career is paperless and just video technology .

Speaker 1 5:40

Sure , yeah , love it . I want to touch on a little bit

Partnership Track Secrets: Promoted in 3 Years

Speaker 1 5:43

on your success and being a tenured attorney . For as long as you have been , you've had to navigate , you know , a lot of different situations . Did you start out as a partner , or were you promoted into that role , and what was that process like ?

Speaker 2 6:00

I was promoted to partner after three years at the firm . I think my name didn't get added until four or five years . I mean , there's in a small firm . There's a lot of cost right to adding that . So we finally just came up with this logo signature block and because now we have , like , too many names and the first three names are retired but you know to change to take their names off . They're really iconic lawyers and you hate to take their names off because they're so recognized and they've been kind enough to allow us to leave their names on . But as you add new partners it gets a little unwieldy and I think the thing to do these days is just have one name right , but when you have three partners that's not going to work .

Speaker 1 6:55

And so you know , in navigating that process right , I'm thinking , if I'm a young'm a young attorney and I want to make partner , what are the things that they should be thinking about , or things that you learned to really be successful

Law Firm Culture Building: What Partners Really Want

Speaker 1 7:08

?

Speaker 2 7:09

Yeah , good question Boy . Can I rattle off a bunch of things ? You probably can too . I would say , ask a lot of questions of your mentors , having in mind , before you ask it , what you think the answer is . Right Like , don't be a lazy asker . Right Like , be like . I'm just double checking . I want to make sure I've got this right . Show that you've thought it through and you've done your best .

Speaker 2 7:46

Recognize the various aspects of small firm ownership and show that you understand what those various pieces of being an owner of a law firm consist of . What are they ? You've ? You've got your marketing piece . You've got your financial piece . You've got your competency piece . You're , you know , you've got your forward facing you . And then you've got the you that works in the business , or rather on the business versus in the business . So are you ? Do you have an eye towards working on the business versus in the business ? So are you , do you have an eye towards working on the business ? Like , hey , I'm thinking it might be more efficient if we made some templates for our paralegals to use . You know stuff like that ? Like hey , I was thinking that if I joined this section of the bar and showed up , then maybe I could get some referrals from these attorneys that don't do family law or something . You know what I mean Like . Come up with ideas to improve the firm in the various ways that the firm needs to have success .

Speaker 1 8:56

Yeah , it's really like how can you add value above and beyond just being a great attorney ? What are you doing to help the firm be successful ? Is that kind of what you're saying ?

Speaker 2 9:06

Yeah , I feel like competency is the minimum right . If you want to be a partner , you've got to be beyond that . And then too , like hey , I see you're going on vacation next week . That . And then too , like hey , I see you're going on vacation next week . What cases can I keep an eye on for you ? Hello , like , does that not sound like a dream come true ?

Speaker 1 9:29

Absolutely , but it's having the wherewithal right you know of , just you know , doing whatever it takes and understanding what the senior partners in your firm are looking for as it relates to like help or value or what you know . What issues are they facing that you can help pick up the slack .

Associate Retention Programs: The Generation Gap Problem

Speaker 2 9:47

Yeah , yeah .

Speaker 2 9:50

That's awesome I mean I do think too , the question for the partners is what is it the associates want ? For the partners is what is it the associates want , and I really honestly have a little trouble wrapping my head around that I don't know what younger attorneys necessarily want or expect from a law firm experience that can be given to them , right . I mean , I just don't know . I don't know if I really feel there's a bit of a generation gap and I need to do a better job of understanding what , like , if I'm going to be attractive to you , what is it you want from me that I could possibly give you knowing I am not made of money with deep pockets and can't give you unlimited , you know , time off .

Speaker 1 10:44

What does that look like for you ? In the past , have you had to hire some younger paralegals or law clerks or attorneys , and did it work out ?

Speaker 2 10:55

I mean we're really blessed with really low turnover in our paralegal staff Associates . I mean we've had a few and I can't really tell you exactly why they haven't stuck around , and that's probably why I said that .

Attorney Professional Development: Recognition and Growth

Speaker 1 11:31

I mean I've been to seminars , tyler , where they've told me you know what associates want and I think that our firm offers that , but I guess I'm not sure I of the day . We're all humans , right . We want to be valued , we want to pursue goals , we want to make sure that we're recognized for our hard work and as your firm grows and as your attorneys continue to be valuable assets to the community , sometimes it could be hard to . Oh yeah , I have to make sure I take XYZ associate out to lunch and I have to make sure that you know I'm recognizing the work that they're doing . So those little things matter when you're young and and trying to make it .

Speaker 2 12:08

See , thank you , that's helpful to me , that's great .

Law Firm Succession Planning: Building a Legacy Practice

Speaker 1 12:13

Lori , tell me about the future of your firm . You know , as we're concluding here , and I appreciate your insight and opportunity when do you see the firm going in the future of your firm ? You know , as we're concluding here , and I appreciate your insight and opportunity when do you see the firm going in the future ? And ?

Speaker 2 12:26

how do you expect to play a part in that ? Well , our firm has been around for , I think , over 30 years , and so it's my hope that it will still be around long after I'm gone , like , gone , gone . So you know , clearly we need to at this point in our in our trajectory , we need to bring on some younger people and I think after this podcast we'll be getting lots of phone calls right and hopefully associates will be clear about this is really what I want , right , like it almost needs to be the associate interviewing the firm and saying you know , can you give me what I want ? Because if we can , then it's going to be , you know , a longstanding , I think , relationship .

Speaker 1 13:27

It might be important , though , for you and the other partners to go through that exercise , to say , well , what can we offer Like what , what benefits and what culture do we want to communicate that we have here to attract you know ?

Speaker 2 13:40

young associates . Well , we do , we do , and then associates come and work for us because apparently it's attractive . But you know , I don't know , I think the pandemic made it very hard to mentor because you know , you didn't know when you could call somebody , because you didn't know if they were in the middle of zoom court or whatever . So you know , it was very hard to mentor and develop relationships for three years .

Speaker 1 14:10

Right .

Speaker 2 14:11

Um . So now that we're on the other side of that , I really hope that , um , that we can bring in some some new talent , some younger talent , and make some new partners and just keep our firm going indefinitely . It's a legacy firm , I mean . I do think you know , I'll just say it . I think we're very well respected in our community , we have some really great talent , we offer some great services to our clients and we work well with other attorneys in our community , and so I would like to see our firm just kind of keep going indefinitely .

Speaker 1 14:51

I love it . Well , if you're a young , young attorney and looking for a great firm to join , you know Lori's here . How can they get in touch with you , lori ?

Speaker 2 15:00

Well , if they go to there's a , the state bar has a tab called rely a guide . I don't know if you guys ever got rely a guide in Illinois or Wisconsin . There's about six or seven States that use it . Um , but if they go to the state bar Michigan website , there's an attorney search button right on the homepage . They can plug my name in it's Butte-like suit B-U-I-T . They start with that . It should pop up , hopefully . E-w-e-g Butteweg .

Speaker 1 15:30

I love it .

Speaker 2 15:32

Make sure not to get my husband , because he's also a lawyer with the same last name .

Speaker 1 15:37

Same firm or different firm ?

Speaker 2 15:39

My son is a lawyer too , but he's in Texas , he's not barred in Michigan .

Speaker 1 15:43

Oh , family of attorneys , I love it .

Speaker 2 15:46

Three out of four . I also have a computer engineer .

Speaker 1 15:49

Very successful .

Speaker 2 15:50

He's the star of the family .

Speaker 1 15:53

Oh , lori , I'm so appreciative of your time , the opportunity to learn from you , and I would love to stay in touch and continue to build a relationship here , but we appreciate the opportunity to learn and share your insights with our audience .

Speaker 2 16:07

It's been great chatting with you , tyler . All right , all best wishes to you and your firm .

Speaker 1 16:12

Thank you so much , you too .

Speaker 2 16:14

OK , take care and go blue .

Speaker 1 16:16

If you enjoyed this episode , make sure to continue to check out our Law Firm Owner series . We try to release a few of these every single month , where we interview successful law firm owners . We hear their story and we learn from everything that they've learned as they've grown and built their firm . I really hope you enjoy it . Make sure to check out the next one right here .