Valley Estate & Elder Law

Holistic estate planning and asset protection.

Owner

U.S. House of Representatives

Intern

I help families and small businesses plan for the future by crafting a life and estate plan. 

Together, we’ll plan for what we know will happen (death) as well as what might happen. We’ll plan to protect assets from creditors, predators, and spenders.  We’ll maximize family harmony.

I also help individuals and families with the buying and selling of real estate as well as adoptions.

Follow me on TikTok @alabamalawyerzach



Zach Anderson

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

Matthew and I had never spoken. He never commented on my posts. Never liked them. Didn't show up in my (absurdly delayed) notifications either. 

But there he was...reading, paying attention. 

He saw some of my content and comments, reached out to a mutual connection (Anthony Degli Obizzi Jr.), and Anthony made the intro and we booked time to chat. I only mention this part of the story to highlight the small chain reaction that would have never happened without this platform. 

Anyway, moving on...

On our call, Matthew walked me through what he's building at Dad, Esq.. It's a small private online community for lawyer dads who are trying to juggle billable hours, client work, and actually being present at home. 

His vision is to create a space where lawyer fathers can talk about things like how to carry both the job and the responsibility of raising actual human beings without burning out or checking out. 

The community has grown to nearly 400 lawyer dads, hosts regular sessions with outside experts, curates resources most don't have the time to go find, and in January he's running a two-day virtual summit to go even deeper. 

The community is free (and the Summit will help him keep building and sustaining it). 

I left our chat genuinely impressed by the intention behind all of it. And although I can't join...ya know, since I'm not a lawyer, I really love what he's building. 

Since my most of connections are lawyers, I encourage you to check it out if you're also a dad, or you know one. I think the help would go a long way. 

So, if there's at least one lawyer dad in your network, please send them this post, or point them to Matthew, to help get the word out. 

🙏🏼

Law Firm Fractional CMO and Marketing Strategist

Lot of new people have recently entered my orbit, so I thought a short re-introduction of sorts would be worthwhile. Most lawyers don't wake up thinking about legal 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 never quite added up. 

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

-Strategy wasn't aligned with business goals
-Success was never clearly defined 
-Vendors operated without accountability
-Firms spending real money w/o 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 their investment, connects the dots, and keeps everyone moving in the same direction. 

Today, we work with some of the most thoughtful and strategic 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're agency agnostic and don't take commissions or kick-backs. We don't sell ads, SEO, or build or design websites. We focus on what the firm needs to achieve its goals. And 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, we can help you get there. 

All you gotta do is reach out and ask. 

🐦‍🔥

If you’ve ever hosted Thanksgiving, you know it’s less of a meal and more of a full-scale production. The grocery list, the cooking timing, the people who show up early, the ones who show up late, and the kids who have to agree on how to share one toy among many grubby (and germy) hands.
 
In our house, November is double duty...we’ve got twin birthdays and Thanksgiving landing within days of each other. I love it, but it’s freaking chaos. Flour in our hair, a turkey that won’t fit in the oven, and this year likely a constant barrage of kids saying siiiiiix-seven (brutal). 
 
In a lot of ways I’m at home in an environment like this, in part because of what I do for a living. As a small business owner, you’re always doing your best to plan, to prep, to serve a great experience. But there’s also a part of you that’s simply trying to make sure nothing catches fire.
 
What I’ve learned (the hard way) is that you can’t control everything. Not the oven, not the weather, not the three-year-old who decided to finger-paint the dog. But you can create systems that make the chaos manageable. You can delegate, simplify, and focus on what actually matters...the people sitting around the table.
 
That’s the approach I’ve always taken with my clients. Yes, there is an overwhelming list of things you’re “supposed” to do. But most of the magic happens when you slow down, pick your priorities, and let go of the need for perfection. This time of year, sometimes “good enough and done” is the best recipe.
 
So this Thanksgiving, I’m reminding myself (and maybe you) that the goal isn’t to have a flawless spread. It’s to be present. The dishes will get done. The memories will be made. And if the turkey’s a little dry, well, that’s what gravy’s for.
 
Wishing you a calm kitchen, some strong coffee (or maybe something stronger if that's your vibe), and a reminder that imperfect can still be beautiful.
 
Happy Thanksgiving from my family to yours, and from all of us at LegalFenix!

🦃

Next Thursday, I'm sitting down with Andrew Zihmer to talk shop on how he builds marketing systems where everything works together. Paid search, offers, content, follow-up, webinars...all of it supporting one another instead of operating in isolation.

Andrew's got a rare mix of perspective. He runs a law firm. Builds marketing systems. And is in the weeds on what actually produces qualified opportunities and what drains budgets. 

Every time we talk, I walk away with practical takeaways. This final 2025 installment of the LegalFenix Webinar Series will be no different. 

If you want to understand what separates firms who grow predictably versus ones that rely on luck, this will be well worth the hour. 

You'll walk away with usable guidance you can apply inside your own firm, whether you're doing this work yourself, or managing a team or agency. 

📅 Thursday, December 18th
🕐 1:00p EST
🔗 https://lnkd.in/eS2BfXXH

We've worked with dozens of firms over the past two years and across that entire client base there's very minimal overlap in agencies. Everyone is working with someone different or has unique agency mix (usually by marketing channel). 

What's even more interesting is how two firms, working with the exact same agency, can have entirely opposite experiences. One will tell me that agency is the worst partner they've ever hired. Another, just as credible, will insist they're the best relationship they've had in years. 

Both of those things can be true at the same time. 

When you dig deeper, the reasons are almost never about technical capability. They're rooted in what happened long before campaigns went live. 

Expectations were rushed or never clearly set. Success wasn't defined in a way both sides understood. Sometimes a sales rep (or agency owner) promised the world and left an account manager holding the bag they never agreed to carry. 

Other times the firm wasn't clear about what they needed, didn't provide timely feedback, or assumed the agency could read their mind. 

Add on top of that convoluted reporting (confusing dashboards, no explanation behind decisions, no visibility into the "why...) and its easy to see how trust deteriorates on both sides. 

This time of year (aka Agency Switching Season), firms tend to either spend leftover budget on marketing or start shopping for a new agency because the current one "isn't cutting it." Before making that jump, it's worth stepping back and asking whether both sides have actually given each other what they need to make the relationship work. 

A lot of firms underestimate the true cost of switching agencies. It's not just a lift-and-drop of the SEO retainer. It's the operational lift, onboarding, the learning curve, loss of momentum, and the opportunity cost. And if the core issue is misalignment instead of competence, those issues will follow right behind you into the next engagement. 

Don't get me wrong there are real situations where you need to make a change. But there are just as many where the best fix isn't firing the agency (or the firm). It's aligning on goals, tightening on communication, defining success in measurable terms, and actually running the playbook both sides agreed to. 

These relationships succeed when they're built on shared expectations, mutual accountability, and communication that goes both ways.

So, how much does legal marketing agency performance depend on the expectations and alignment set before the first dollars are even spent?

You tell me...

If you haven't built a solid foundation, no agency will feel like the right one. If you have, you'd be surprised by how many "problems" disappear. 

💨

From lawyers, past clients, and trusted partners. They keep firms alive, increase margins (most of the time), and stabilize growth. But they don't maintain themselves. 

I'm not talking about SEO, paid search, or social. 
I'm talking about referrals. 

While they may feel automatic, they aren't. Strong pipelines dry up when the relationships behind them aren't nurtured. And as acquisition costs continue to climb, firms that rely solely on advertising are trying to rebuild what they never invested in...

Trust, community, relationships, human connection.

It shouldn't be surprising marketing for referrals is become a competitive advantage again. Firms using actual systems to stay top-of-mind in a genuine manner. They're developing real habits for showin' up and creating conversations that lead to opportunities. 

And if you need someone who teaches this better than anyone I know, pay attention to people like Delisi Araceli Friday, who legit spends every day helping lawyers build these systems that work in the real world. 

There are few channels that match the compounding effect of a strong referral system. Past clients. Current clients. Friends. Family. Colleagues. Community partners. All of them can widen the surface area to help you generate the next case. 

Finally, a reminder a lot of firms need today...don't assume a referral relationship lasts forever. Show appreciation. Stay visible. 

The firms that treat referrals with the seriousness they deserve are the ones that can keep growing in even the most competitive markets. 

🤝

Hard believe we're at the final series installment of 2025. 

What I thought might last a few months turned into one of the most valuable ways we've connected with lawyers, legal marketers, and operators across the industry this year. 

I've you've joined any of the sessions, thank you 🙏🏼

If you haven't, this last one is a good time to jump in...

This time I'm talking shop with my good friend and colleague, Andrew Zihmer, to walk through how firms can turn ads, webinars, and content into a steady and reliable growth engine. 

It's gonna be a strong finish to an incredible year and we both hope to see you there.

Many firms treat marketing as a set of disconnected activities. 

They run Google Ads.
They host an occasional webinar. 
They post when they remember.

But without a unified marketing ecosystem, none of it compounds, and firms end up depending on luck rather than strategy.  

In this installment of the LegalFenix Webinar Series, I’ll sit down with Andrew Zihmer, founder of Vertex League and Vice President of Zihmer Law Firm.

We're breaking down how he brings paid search, webinar strategy, offer creation, and content under one cohesive system (and how lawyers can do the same inside their own practices).

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘄𝗲’𝗹𝗹 𝗰𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿…
• Decisions that determine if your ad spend produces qualified opportunities or burns cash
  
• How to align landing pages, follow-up, and intake so the entire funnel works as intended
  
• How to run webinars that people actually want to attend and take action from
  
• Ways to repurpose your content so it strengthens your email list and social channels
  
• The steps to take to move from an idea, to manuscript, to publishing a book
  
𝗪𝗵𝗼 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗻𝗱…
• Law firm owners, marketers, and operators who want a clearer understanding of how ads, webinars, offers, and content work together (not as individualized tactics, but as an integrated system that grows a firm).
  
We’ll walk through the practical decisions Andrew makes inside his own firm and business and translate those into frameworks any firm can apply, regardless of size or practice area.

You’ll leave this session with a sharper view of how to connect your marketing channels, simplify your approach, and build campaigns that generate measurable results over time. 

If your goal is to build a firm with a steady, reliable growth engine, join us live...

📅 Thursday, December 18th
🕐 1:00p EST
🔗 https://lnkd.in/ewPUhC97

Nick Werker, Ron Latz and 62 other attendees

View event: How Law Firm's Turn Ads, Webinars, & Content into Growth

How Law Firm's Turn Ads, Webinars, & Content into Growth

Sales tactics matter just as much as the product being sold.

That’s not a shot at salespeople. It’s a lesson I’ve had to learn. And most of those lessons came from my time carrying a quota. 

There’s a line between persistence and ignoring the signals someone is giving you.

I’ve recently been on the receiving end of some highly questionable solicitation attempts. 

In the right context, I’ll always take a conversation or point someone in the right direction.

But if you want to build trust with the people you’re selling to, one of the best ways to start is by respecting how they operate.

After that, things get a whole lot easier.

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Zach Anderson

Ron Latz

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The Battle

Zach Anderson

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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