The Business Side Of Law: Julie Villalobos Of OakTree Law On 5 Things You Need To Create Or Lead A Successful Law Firm

An Interview With Eric Pines

Be open to growth: things change. Be open to new ways of advertising, new practices, and personal growth and development. I am constantly learning, reading, and growing.

Law school primarily prepares lawyers for the practice of law. But leading or starting a law firm requires so much more than that. It requires the entrepreneurial skills that any CEO would need to run a business; How to manage personnel, how to hire and fire, how to generate leads, how to advertise, how to manage finances, etc. On the business side of law, what does an attorney need to know to create a successful and thriving law practice? To address these questions, we are talking to successful law firm principals who can share stories and insights from their experience about the “5 Things You Need To Create Or Lead A Successful Law Firm”.

As a part of this series, we had the pleasure of interviewing Julie Villalobos.

OakTree Law, founded and led by Julie J. Villalobos, is a successful Southern California law firm specializing in bankruptcy and personal injury. Ms. Villalobos has strategically grown and developed the firm to provide a multitude of legal services from experts in bankruptcy, medical debt, credit card debt, car accidents, falls, dog bites, and more. Ms. Villalobos and OakTree Law have a significant presence and favorable reputation in Southern California and consistently serve clients with empathy, transparency, and resourcefulness, exploring all available options to ensure successful outcomes and provide hope and relief.

Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Before we dive in, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your ‘backstory’ and how you ended up where you are? Specifically we’d love to hear the story of how you began to lead your practice.

I started off as a social work and business major in college because I wanted to help people. I applied for law school in my junior year and was accepted to Loyola Law School on a full scholarship and thought that would be a great way to widen my reach to be able to help people as an advocate and counselor.

I’m a huge fan of mentorship throughout one’s career. None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Who has been your biggest mentor? What was the most valuable lesson you learned from them?

My mentors have shifted and changed as time has gone on. With each stepping stone in my career, I have sought out leadership and guidance from people who have paved the way. Right now, I am focusing a lot on leadership and personal growth following examples like Mel Robbins, Ed Mylett, John Maxwell, and Brendan Bruchard.

From completing your degree to opening a practice and becoming a business owner, your path was most likely challenging. Can you share a story about one of your greatest struggles? Can you share what you did to overcome it?

One of my biggest struggles was actually working for other attorneys as an employee and knowing I wanted more freedom to be able to spend time with my own family and to be able to help others in a deeper way on my own terms. It was scary to jump from a salary to the unknown of self-employment and entrepreneurship.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share a story about how that was relevant in your own life?

“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Philippians 4:13

I got this quote from my godmother who has been a huge mentor in my life, and it just reminds me that I am stronger than I think and I have a tribe to back me up!

This is not easy work. What is your primary motivation and drive behind the work that you do?

Helping others and setting a huge example for my kids is my primary motivation and passion.

What are some of the most interesting or exciting projects you are working on now?

We are expanding the firm into personal injury and medical malpractice as well as growing our litigation team. We already have a strong practice in bankruptcy and estate planning but I am widening our reach to be able to serve more people.

Fantastic. Let’s now shift to discussing the business of law. Can you tell us a bit about the nature of your practice and what you focus on?

I graduated in 2008 at the height of the last market crash, and my boss at the time handed me the bankruptcy code and told me to learn it. I became very adept at the practice of bankruptcy law and estate planning. Over the years, we have branched out to open a litigation department and now personal injury and medical malpractice.

What unique qualities do you have that others may not? Can you please share a story or example for each?

1. Work ethic. I have a very strong work ethic and will outwork anyone, which has been instrumental in my success. I was always the first one in and the last one out in every firm I worked for, including my own.
2. Heart to serve. I try really hard to put myself in the client’s shoes and understand what they are going through, and explain things in a way they can understand.
3. Constant focus on growth. I think learning and growing are vital in continuing to expand and to truly help others. By focusing on my own development in leadership and being growth-focused, I have been able to grow the firm and have a great team along the way.

Do you think where you went to school has any bearing on your success? How important is it for a lawyer to go to a top-tier school?

Yes, I think it absolutely did. There are no coincidences, and I ended up right where I belonged — at Loyola, a top-rated law school with an amazing culture on service.

Managing being a law practitioner and a business owner is a constant balancing act. How do you manage both roles?

You don’t exactly balance as much as you do what you can every day with a focus on the client first. If you are doing the right things each day, everything else will fall into place.

Can you help articulate the entrepreneurial skills a lawyer needs to run and lead a successful law firm?

You need stamina and a willingness to work long hours and not take traditional days off. You have to be able to have a focus on the external, the employees, clients, and peers before yourself.

As a business owner you spend most of your time working IN your practice, seeing clients. When and how do you shift to working ON your practice? (Marketing, upgrading systems, growing your practice, etc.) How much time do you spend on the business elements?

You put great people in place that you trust and delegate those things so you can focus on the clients. I have a great office manager who helped build the firm with me, and I have never had to worry about the systems side of the firm.

Can you share some specific, non intuitive insights from our personal experience about how a leader of a law firm should:

• Manage personnel: Treat people how you want to be treated. Understand personality profiles and how to communicate with your people individually.
• Hire and fire: Be careful when you hire to do so to your workplace culture. When firing, do it with kindness as much as possible and minimize blame or arguments.
• Generate leads: Have a good system in place and really watch the cost per call.
• Advertise: It is vital — you are either growing or dying, but again, watch the cost per click or call for the return on that investment.
• Manage finances: This is vital. You must have measures in place to have an emergency fund, keep cash on hand for six months to a year of operations just in case, both personal and business-wise.

What are your “5 Things An Attorney Needs To Know In Order To Create A Successful And Thriving Law Practice”?

1. Put the focus on the client first: people remember and refer based on how you made them feel. They are not just a file with numbers on a page. I often get compliments on my ability to explain legal concepts to people in a way they can understand without judgment.
2. Put the employees first: without a great staff, you cannot get it all done. Treat your employees well and it will trickle down to the clients. I try to analyze my employees based on a STAR personality profile so I can communicate with them in the most effective way that makes them feel heard and valued.
3. Create a culture: you have got to have a firm culture — what values do you stand for, what business practices are vital to you, etc. Make sure everyone in your firm fits in with this culture. Our firm culture is to put the client first and also to have my door open so my staff knows they can come to me with any problems or issues they are facing, whether that is personal or professional, because life is a continuous circle and one area affects all areas.
4. Be open to growth: things change. Be open to new ways of advertising, new practices, and personal growth and development. I am constantly learning, reading, and growing.

You are a person of enormous influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)

I think I would say, to practice the movement of practicing patience with people. I am not naturally a patient person, so this is something I have had to really cultivate and apply in my own life, and it works wonders if you can be patient with someone and try to understand rather than judge.

How can our readers further follow your work online?

Follow the firm on our website! https://oaktreelaw.com/

This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for the time you spent with this. We wish you continued success and good health!

About the Interviewer: Eric L. Pines is a nationally recognized federal employment lawyer, mediator, and attorney business coach. He represents federal employees and acts as in-house counsel for over fifty thousand federal employees through his work as a federal employee labor union representative. A formal federal employee himself, Mr. Pines began his federal employment law career as in-house counsel for AFGE Local 1923 which is in Social Security Administration’s headquarters and is the largest federal union local in the world. He presently serves as AFGE 1923’s Chief Counsel as well as in-house counsel for all FEMA bargaining unit employees and numerous Department of Defense and Veteran Affairs unions.

While he and his firm specialize in representing federal employees from all federal agencies and in reference to virtually all federal employee matters, his firm has placed special attention on representing Veteran Affairs doctors and nurses hired under the authority of Title. He and his firm have a particular passion in representing disabled federal employees with their requests for medical and religious reasonable accommodations when those accommodations are warranted under the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (ADA). He also represents them with their requests for Federal Employee Disability Retirement (OPM) when an accommodation would not be possible.

Mr. Pines has also served as a mediator for numerous federal agencies including serving a year as the Library of Congress’ in-house EEO Mediator. He has also served as an expert witness in federal court for federal employee matters. He has also worked as an EEO technical writer drafting hundreds of Final Agency Decisions for the federal sector.

Mr. Pines’ firm is headquartered in Houston, Texas and has offices in Baltimore, Maryland and Atlanta, Georgia. His first passion is his wife and five children. He plays classical and rock guitar and enjoys playing ice hockey, running, and biking. Please visit his websites at www.pinesfederal.com and www.toughinjurylawyers.com. He can also be reached at eric@pinesfederal.com.