Getting Faster Should Make You More Money. So Why Doesn’t It? feat. Regina Edwards

If you bill by the hour, getting faster at your job can actually mean making less money. That’s a weird incentive when you think about it. Regina Edwards has been thinking about it for a long time. For the past 15 years, she’s built her family law practice around flat fees, creating a model where becoming more efficient is actually good for the firm and the client. In this episode of From Esq. to Owner, Regina joins Jordan Ostroff to talk about what she’s learned along the way, including the pricing mistakes that cost her money, the clients who aren’t a good fit for flat fees, and the systems she had to build to make the model work. Now AI is changing the equation again. Work that once took hours or even days can happen much faster, raising some pretty big questions about what attorneys are really selling and how we should be charging for it. If your firm is getting faster at delivering legal work, it may be time to ask whether your business model is keeping up. ---------------- Inside This Episode: How to structure flat fees for complex legal matters Why strong systems should come before automation How Regina uses AI without removing human review Why client expectations matter when you stop billing by the hour How flat fees can make efficiency more valuable to your firm ---------------- Supporting Resources Regina Irene Edwards https://www.edwardsfamilylaw.com/lawyers/regina-irene-edwards Edwards Family Law https://www.edwardsfamilylaw.com Regina on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/georgiafamilymatterslaw Dye Hard Legal Tech https://www.dyehardlegaltech.com Lawyer on the Beach Facebook Group https://www.facebook.com/groups/lawyeronthebeach ---------------- Curious about what it takes to move from practicing law to truly owning your law firm? Contact Atticus to learn how our law firm coaching can help solo and small firm attorneys build stronger systems, lead better teams, delegate with confidence, and make smarter decisions about growth. From Esq. to Owner is a podcast for law firm owners who want practical guidance on law firm leadership, hiring, delegation, operations, marketing, profitability, client service, and sustainable growth, so the business supports your life instead of running it. You can also sign up for the Atticus newsletter to get practical insights on how to grow a law firm, strengthen your role as an owner, improve your systems, and build a more focused, profitable, and sustainable practice. https://atticusadvantage.com/newsletter-signup/ ---------------- Timestamps: 00:00 Why You Should Trust Your Gut When Taking Cases 01:08 Meet Reginia Edwards: Flat Fees, Family Law and AI 02:00 Why She Walked Away From Hourly Billing 03:00 Building a Flat-Fee Law Firm 06:45 Screening Clients and Setting Expectations 08:00 Explaining Flat Fees to Clients 09:50 Better Client Communication and Proactive Updates 12:50 How to Price Flat-Fee Cases Profitably 17:20 Why You Should Turn Down Bad Clients 19:50 Starting With Flat Fees Without Losing Money 21:45 Building Systems Before Introducing AI 25:00 Using Claude Skills to Automate Legal Work 30:00 Why You Must Verify AI-Generated Work 33:00 Building Better AI Workflows With Checklists 42:00 The Future of AI and Building a Better Law Firm