Firmly Profits

I am a fractional CFO that provides law firm owners with confidence to make strategic financial decisions in their firms. As a former law firm administrator I have the real world firm experience to know how a law firm runs day to day. 

I provide bookkeeping for law firms and small businesses in a way that gives you data to make financial decisions about the future of your firm.

With the mission to reach as many law firm owners as possible and give them financial confidence, I have appeared on many podcasts and pursue other speaking opportunities.

Fractional CFO

Parvey & Cavenago Attorneys, P.A.

Litigation/Trial Paralegal
Firm Administrator

Chief Financial Officer/Florida Registered Paralegal

Dellutri Law Group

Paralegal

As a fractional CFO I use the 10+ years I spent working IN a law firm to help law firm owners gain an in-depth understanding of their firm’s financial picture. 

I am on a mission to help law firm owners become confident in their law firm finances. When firm owners have big financial goals, the first step to reaching those goals is making strategic financial decisions.

I started as a legal assistant and worked my way up through the “law firm ranks”. I know how a law firm runs day to day. When you hire me as your fCFO I bring my financial expertise and my law firm operational experience to our meetings. 

I love working with law firms because they are unique in the small business world. Revenue can be a roller coaster and expenses are unique to law firms. 

I work with law firm owners who are in all different growth phases. This includes.

•	Firms who are hiring their first employees and making the jump from a true solo firm to a firm that has growth in their future. 
•	Firms that are pushing towards their first 7-figure year, hiring associates, and taking their expenses to the next level. 
•	Firms that have reached the big 7-figure milestone and are looking to grow in the coming years. 
•	Firms that are generating revenue but feel overwhelmed with expenses and very little profit. 
•	Firm Owners who are looking for an outside consultant to give them confidence in their finances. 

As a fractional CFO for law firms, I improve financial operations by providing strategic financial guidance, managing cash flow, and analyzing financial data to identify opportunities for growth and improvement.

When we work together you receive my unique consulting style. I believe education never stops. We should always be seeking to learn more about the world around us. From a “consultant” perspective, I believe it is my role to be the educator. I want those I work with to understand the WHY behind why we do what we do.

Understanding the “why” prepares you as a firm owner to continue to make strategic financial decisions in the future.

As we work together guiding your firm into the future, I want to give you the information for you (and your leadership team) to make the best decision. This is not a one size fits all approach.

If you are a law firm owner who is looking to feel more confident in your financial decisions as you reach and exceed growth goals this year we need to talk. Send me a DM or visit my website to schedule a free 30-minute consultation. 

WWW.LNMFinancial.com

Leah Miller, MBA

Most lawyers don't wake up thinking about marketing. They think about serving clients. They think about growing a firm they're proud of. But somewhere along the way, marketing became one of the biggest sources of frustration in the industry. 

That's why I started LegalFenix. I've spent fifteen-plus years in that world.

Sales. Agency work. Managing campaigns for firms of every size. Sitting in rooms where agencies promised the world. Sitting with firm owners who were left trying to make sense of reports, results, excuses, and invoices that didn't add up. 

I started to see the same story repeat itself...

-The strategy wasn't aligned with business goals
-Success was never clearly defined 
-Vendors operated without accountability
-Firms were spending real money without knowing what was and wasn't working

LegalFenix was built to change that. Not by selling another marketing product...but by stepping into the role firms actually need. A strategic partner who sits on their side of the table. Someone who protects the investment, connects the dots, and keeps everyone moving in the same direction. 

Today, I work with growth-minded law firms as their fractional CMO. Our work covers the full ecosystem that drives marketing performance: strategy, vendor management, technology, reporting, and the operational mechanics that makes marketing succeed. 

We don't take commissions or kick-backs from agencies. We don't sell ads, SEO, or build or design websites. We focus on what the firm needs to achieve its goals. 

Our goal is simple...restore trust, build clarity, and create sustainable growth. If you want your firm's marketing to operate with precision, transparency, and real accountability, LegalFenix can help you get there. 

🐦‍🔥

Ron Latz

Some additions to a team increase capacity.
Others change your ceiling. 

I've learned this lesson many times over. I've also learned that when the right person shows up, and you know it's right in your gut, don't overthink it. 

Make the move. 

LegalFenix is about to look different.

Announcements dropping soon.

🚀

LegalFenix—Law Firm Fractional CMOs & Marketing Strategists

Nothing recalibrates your ego faster than parent-teacher conferences.

This morning, I'm a strategic legal marketing advisor.

This afternoon, I'll be a 6-foot adult trying to look composed, while struggling to pretzel myself into a chair built for a first-grader. 

The chair wins every time...

🪑

A few very simple ways LegalFenix is leveraging AI right now to run the operational side of the FCMO practice. 

The core of these are built in Claude Projects and each has it's own specific purpose, although they can be used together. 

First, weekly client engagement recaps and summaries. All meaningful client interactions are connected to the project through the Connectors (HubSpot, Fathom via HubSpot, Slack, Drive, Gmail). This way relevant context is getting captured..strategy updates, headlines, open items, next steps, cascading messages, etc. Since we, and all of our clients, are operating off of some form of EOS/Fireproof, the output is somewhat formatted to match the agenda of an L10/Accountability meeting. Still needs work on better output consistency though. 

Two, cross-channel communication alignment. Slack updates, email threads, performance notes from agencies, Google Docs. All of it now gets synthesized in one place so we're not chasing context across multiple platforms. The goal here was to ensure the left hand knows what the right's doing. Also, when you're responsible for the accountability layer sitting above multiple agencies or vendors for a single firm, this really, really matters. 

Three, deliverable drafting with institutional memory. If I need to quickly send an update or even strategic recommendation, the Project already knows the engagement history. I'm not re-explaining the context every time. Admittedly, I need to improve instructions here since the output doesn't always reflect where we actually are. But with a bit of fine-tuning, this one could have the biggest impact of all. 

On deck, looking at Cowork to automate scheduled client comms. For example, recap summaries could go out consistently without requiring a (human) manual trigger each week. I'm on the fence with this one and without question, will test this first by sending updates to myself to review for accuracy, errors, etc. 

Now, before the AI engineers and power users come for me..I know. This isn't some sophisticated, multi prompt architecture. And I'm not out here building agents and tying ridiculous workflows together. The intent was figuring out a cleaner way to keep client engagements organized and communication consistent. 

If you're doing something similar, or doing it significantly better and want to me feel bad about it, I'm open to both conversations.

😎

LegalFenix

22.5 days. That's all it took.

Not going to sugarcoat it since it still stings a little, but that's how long it took a client to end their engagement with us. 

In those very, very short 3 weeks we audited every marketing channel. Met with every vendor in their ecosystem. Pulled YTD spend reports and marketing transaction history. Built a financial analysis of 2025 marketing investments. Developed a channel mix breakdown and forward-looking 2026 allocation draft. 

It's not nothing, but it's a decent amount of work. And in complete transparency, there wasn't a lot of channel or vendor sprawl, so we were really efficient. 

That said, the issue wasn't the work being done. 
It was the expectations. 

This firm believed that at the three-week mark, the audit would be complete, processes would be reviewed, strategy would be finalized, the adjustments would be put into motion, and execution would already be underway. 

I know I'm biased, but that's not how it works. Just for anyone who believes otherwise, a proper marketing audit, isn't just a weekend project. Identifying what's performing, what's bleeding budget, and building a recommendation grounded in the firm's growth targets takes time, access, and a lot of conversations. 

The misalignment was all about expectation-setting. 
And missing that is on me. 

I talk a lot about qualification on here. About making sure a client is the right fit before an engagement starts. Well, I'm clearly still a work in progress and learning. This one taught me to go a layer even deeper. Making sure the client's timeline truly maps to reality. I just hadn't uncovered the issue early enough. 

Some firms want strategic partners. Others, a fast fix. LegalFenix is definitely build for the former. We're not the right call for the latter. The sooner both sides figure that stuff out, the better off everyone is. 

Now, the exit was clean and amicable. It wasn't easy or a fun conversation. But both sides were honest with each other and no bridges were burned. 

So we move on and continue putting in the work that takes time to do right with the clients who understand us most. That's the only way I know how to operate. 

🧱

Fix this first. 

A lot of firms I talk to are obsessed with generating more leads. More, more, more. They want more leads. Yet the majority have no formal process for converting the ones they already have. 

Intake is where marketing returns go to die. Sometimes you have no idea it's going on. Other times are more obvious. Either way, it's always expensive. 

I'm a broken record, I know. But you can have the "best" marketing in town...billboard saturation, fully optimized Ad campaigns, a referral network that's consistently sending you business. None of it matters if intake is broken. 

Or somebody answers and they treat a PNC like a nuisance. Or follow-up takes 48-72+ hours, or there's none and all. And worse, the phone rings...nobody answers. Do your firm a favor. Audit intake before spending another dollar on marketing. Mystery shop your firm. Call it, submit a form, send a text, engage with chat. See what happens. 

The answer will tell you more than any marketing audit ever could. 

📝

Being known for what you do before you're needed. 
That's the goal and should be the standard. 

There are law firms that have reached out asking us about AI search after being pitched by agencies trying to sling AEO/GEO services. Generally speaking, the majority of what they've shown us is complete snake-oil, but that's a different post. 

SEO basics still matter. Authority, content, backlinks, reviews, technical hygiene. I believe all that stuff's non-negotiable. 

AI search surfaces mostly what already has authority and recognition. SEO fundamentals will help you here. But if nobody knows your name, and you're still only competing on head term keywords, buckle up because your future is going to be painful. 

Firms investing in traditional channels, getting actively involved in their local community, the one's also shedding some light into who they are outside of the legal profession and the causes they support...they're building something that an algorithm can't take from them. Direct search behavior. Brand recall. Being top of mind when it matters most. 

When you think about your marketing channel mix, it's gotta be balanced. Don't think, 'this or that', try to switch to a 'this and that' mindset. Diversification is key. 

Organic, Paid, and (not or) Brand. 

Being known before you're needed.
Take aim at that standard. 

🎯

I've walked into my fair share of partner meetings where someone on the team thinks building brand on LinkedIn is a complete waste of time. The argument is usually consistent. 

They don't see a clear line between a single post and signed cases. They find it hard to attribute "ROI" and that bothers them. They're watching their attorneys spend time on content when there are billable hours on the table. To them, personal branding is a vanity project. It doesn't work. It can't be tracked. There are more important things to focus on. 

Then there's the other group. 

There are firms where at least one attorney has leaned into it. They've watched that visibility compounds (quietly) over time. 

A referral partner recognizes the name before the call. A recent hire mentions they followed the attorney for months before reaching out. A prospect says they felt like they already knew the firm before they booked a consult. The benefits don't always show up in those pretty marketing dashboards, but they show up. More awareness. Better talent. Stronger credibility with clients and the referral partners that matter most. 

It's not coincidental that the second group is having more success. 

Being out here build community, influence, awareness, and a whole lot more...those things don't tie up neat and nicely in an attribution model. But ask the firms who have them whether they'd trade them away...and you already know the answer. 

Which camp are you in? 

🏕️

Before you start interviewing legal FCMO candidates, get clear on these four things. 

Most firms hiring fractional leaders jump to "who should I hire" before answering "what specific problem am I trying to solve."

That's Question 1. What are you solving for? Strategic oversight, vendor accountability, internal team development, building toward a full-time hire...all of these, some of these? These can all be components of a fractional engagement. They aren't interchangeable. What do you need most?

Next one. Do you have internal resources that need direction? And how much direction...complete management, or oversight? How much time do you want them spending building and training up these resources. If you've got more than one, you need a leader. If none exist, you'll likely expect the FCMO to become a "doer". I'm not saying one way's right, and the other's wrong. Just know what you're getting into. Align on these expectations. 

Question 3, what's the growth timeline? Aggressive growth and operational efficiency can require different profiles. Do you have in internal operator (Firm Admin, Ops Director, COO, FCOO)? Or, are you expecting the FCMO to handle a portion or all of it?

Last question for now...is the FCMO truly independent? If your FCMO also runs an agency, or takes commissions and referral fees from marketing agencies they recommend to you, did they disclaim that upfront? Again, not saying one way's right, and the other's wrong. But, if they also provide/sell the services they're recommending, are you aware? Our approach is pure agency neutrality. We don't take commissions. Our only financial relationship is with the firm. 

If you want the full framework or wanna talk through these and other questions you should be asking, reach out. 

The LegalFenix model isn't for everyone. 

But that's the point.

"𝗠𝘆 𝗯𝘂𝗱𝗱𝘆 𝘀𝗮𝗶𝗱..."
 
"My buddy's cost per click is half of ours."
 
Cool.
How many are qualified and convert?
And what does it cost them to acquire a case?
 
"Their search impression share is also higher."
 
Interesting. 
How many leads are qualified and convert?
And what does it cost him to acquire a case?
 
"Their firm is spending half our budget."
 
Good for them.
How many leads are qualified and convert?
And what does it cost him to acquire a case?
 
"My buddy gets 516 web forms a month."
 
How many are qualified and convert?
And what does it cost him to acquire a case?
 
Here's the thing about your buddy.
 
Your buddy probably isn't your direct competitor. Their market isn't your market. Their intake team isn't your intake team. Their case mix, close rate, average fee...none of it is yours.
 
Benchmarking against anecdotes isn't a marketing strategy. Context can't be optional. Ask better questions. Know your own numbers. 

Do they help hit your growth targets/objectives?

🍎 🍊

Last week I mentioned something was coming. 
Here it is. 

A business relationship turned friendship and now the joining of forces. Robert Williams has officially landed at LegalFenix as our VP of Operations & Technology. 

Having someone of Robert's caliber step in, fully aligned with our mission and values, raises our standard as a consultancy and delivers a direct impact to every client we serve. 

He's been in digital marketing since 2010 and in legal marketing since 2014. He knows how the industry operates and what it takes to market law firms successfully. 

On top of that, he's one of the sharpest operators in the space at building the technical infrastructure and reporting that helps firms tie their marketing investments to business outcomes. More on that to come soon...

I've worked with and watched Robert operate for years. And I know, without question, that every firm we work with will be better for it. 

Welcome to the team, Robert!

For everyone else, go find and follow him on here. 

🚀

Most law firms have a list.
But few, actually use it. 

That's a problem. And the more that AI floods into legal marketing, the more valuable a direct line to your audience becomes. Lessening reliance on channels in which you don't own distribution is in your firm's best interest. 

I'm not here to debate that newsletters works. They do. Period. Firms doing it right now are maintaining top of mind awareness, generating referrals, reviews, and consults from contacts they already have. 

My very good friend and colleague, Charley Mann and his company, Red Kraken Creative, are on pace to deliver over 250,000 emails on behalf of their clients by EOY.

He and his team are some of the best in the biz, and 𝗧𝗢𝗗𝗔𝗬 at 11a EST, he's sharing his complete playbook. 

If your email list is collecting dust, I can promise you that joining him for this short hour, will be time very well spent. 

Register here 👇🏼
https://lnkd.in/exVShHN7

🐙

Whenever I'm talking with firms or hopping on as a guest on a podcast, I make a simple promise. 

I don't know everything, but I'll promise to share whatever I do know. Sometimes people agree, sometimes people don't. But what I share comes from over two decades hands-on sales and marketing experience. 

When it comes to legal marketing and intake (i.e. sales), I don't look at them as completely separate departments. I look at them as one function operating in different lanes. 

When they're aligned everything compounds. When they're not, you're burning budget on one end while losing cases on the other. 

The firms growing consistently are the ones treating these both as living systems, part of an entire marketing ecosystem. That ecosystem consists of people, process, and technology. And each of those parts should be prioritized in that order.

Thomas Tona and I go deeper on this concept and whole lot of others in this pretty wide ranging chat. 

Hope you enjoy.

CEO & Founder @ TonaLaw Personal Injury & No-Fault | Your trusted partner for PI referrals | Great outcomes for your clients, trusted fee participation payments for you | 24+ years serving injured New Yorkers

If youre a law firm owner and your marketing is stuck, look in the mirror. 

It’s likely that you were told, “always be marketing,” by a well meaning business coach or consultant. 

Its not bad advice but at some point it’s too simple. It’s also somewhat inaccurate.

It should be “always be selling.” But for most lawyers “selling” is a dirty word. 

Sales and marketing are two very different things, and most firm owners don’t know the difference and also aren’t very good at one or both. 

The truth is once you cross a certain revenue threshold if you’re still trying to manage marketing your literally burning money. Lighting it on fire.

If you don’t understand marketing and all of its iterations, KPIs, data, budgeting, etc, you need to stop. 

You cannot manage what you don’t understand. You cannot hold others accountable for what you don’t understand.

So you continue to spend $10k, $20k or more on marketing but feel stuck and lost. 

I started working with Ron Latz at LegalFenix roughly six months ago. 

Ron is our fCMO. He’s brilliant. 

I had him on the Lead Counsel podcast to discuss true law firm marketing and what an fcmo is, when to hire one and the value they bring. 

DO. NOT. MISS. THIS. EPISODE. 

Listen wherever podcasts are distributed. 

Bonus: Ron gives away the keys to true AI marketing and how to budget your marketing for your goals. The book is open.

Sometimes, the real issue isn’t the agency.

When we're brought in to “find a new agency,” we don’t start by hunting for replacements. 

We start by asking for time.

Time to understand the full situation.
Time to talk with the current agency.
Time to evaluate what’s working.
And time to figure out what’s not.

A lot times, the real issue isn’t the agency.

It’s the lack of shared strategy. It’s fragmented communication. It’s unclear expectations or no clear measures of success. It’s internal bottlenecks or intake breakdowns. It’s goals that were never clearly defined in the first place.

That said, there are also instances where agencies do need to go. I’ve seen plenty who overpromise, underdeliver, and dodge accountability. But I’ve also seen great agencies lose trust because no one was steering the ship or communicating what success should look like.

From the firm’s side…firing an agency might feel like action. But the cost of constant off-and-onboarding is real. Every time you hit reset, you pay in time, money, and momentum.

From the agency’s side…it’s easy to blame the client when results stall. But sometimes the strategy you agreed on is outdated, or the business has evolved. Your team has to keep listening, adapting, and aligning.

The fix might be a new agency. It might not. 

Look at what both sides are bringing to the table before you start blaming the people sitting at it. 

🍽️

A lot of firms walk into marketing agency meetings asking the wrong questions (specifically when evaluating new partners). 

I'm not saying you shouldn't do your due diligence. Far from it. But just know case studies are curated and you're only getting references from the best clients. Every agency's got their highlight reel. 

Some of the best clients I've worked with, didn't ask me about my best clients. They asked about the ones that left. 

-What happened?
-Why did it happen?
-What did we learn?
-Would the same thing happen again?

They know almost everything they need to know about us by how those questions are answered. Confident partners own their misses. They don't deflect, disparage others, skirt ownership, get defensive. They tell you what broke and whether or not they came out stronger because of it. And if nothing was ever their fault... 🏃🏼‍♂️

No business can account for its failures if it hasn't learned from then. And unfortunately, the firms that hire partners that haven't learned, are about to fund the same lesson. 

Choose accordingly.

If you can't answer the question, your firm isn't ready for a strategic partner. You're just shopping for vendors.

What does success look like to you?

Not to me. 
Not the firm down the street. 
Not your cousin's best friend's brother-in-law. 

The most successful marketing engagements start with alignment. Clarity on terms, definitions, results, etc. It's alignment on your vision and what you want your future to look like. It looks different for every firm. 

-What's going to exist that didn't before?
-What does success look like at each stage?
-What does progress look like in terms of deliverables?
-And, what does it look like when things aren't working?

Admittedly, I'm guilty of not asking the last one enough. Even when I'm vetting partners, I get caught up on the "success" side of the house. It's hard not to. 

Nobody (well, most people) don't want relationships to end badly, with money wasted, time wasted...nothing to show for it. When you define success up front, it's for both sides. This way everyone's staying honest. 

I know it's easier said than done, but try asking some of the harder questions first. Even if it's awkward. It'll feel a whole lot worse if you don't, six months down the road, after real money was put on the line. 

😬

taplio

The Battle

Leah Miller, MBA

Ron Latz

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taplio

The Battle

Leah Miller, MBA

Ron Latz

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Ron Latz's LinkedIn Performance

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