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- [00:01]
Tyson
Are you tired of the marketing guessing game? Does your website feel more like a digital billboard than a client magnet? If you're nodding along, you're not alone. And it's time to stop the uncertainty and start getting real results. Let's talk about your marketing spend. Are you just shelling out money every month and crossing your fingers? Do you ever wonder what impact your marketing is really having on your revenue? Well, it's time to take the guesswork out of the equation with Rise Up Media. We been working with them for over a year and the feedback from our fellow members has been fantastic. Rise Up Media is here to take your marketing to the next level. They'll even perform a full audit of your online presence, giving you the good, the bad, and even let you in on what your competition is up to that you're missing out on. And the best part, there's no obligation, no catch, no pressure. If you decide to work with them, their contracts are month to month. That's right. No long term commitments tying you down. So what are you waiting for? To learn more about how Rise Up Media can transform your firms, visit RiseUp Media.com max law and Rise is spelled with a Z. RiseUpMedia.com max law all right, real quick. Before we start today's episode, we opened nominations for the very first Max Lock Hun Awards. And honestly, very this one means a lot to me because it's something I've been wanting to do for several years and we're finally doing it. These awards are about recognizing the people who are genuinely making an impact in the legal industry. The people building standout brands, they're innovating, they're creating incredible cultures and teams. Marketers getting attention for their law firms, leaders giving back to the community, people pushing the industry forward and raising the standard for all of us. We created 10 different awards to celebrate law firm owners inside the community and the legal industry. And I'd love for you to take a few minutes and nominate someone that you know. Nominations are open now through June 30th at Maximilian Awards. And hey, make sure you nominate more than one person if you want. There are 10 different awards, so nominated away. Nominate someone for every single category if you know someone that fits that role. There are a lot of people that are in the community, in the Max Law community that deserve to be recognized. And hopefully you will share the love and recognize those that deserve to be nominated. Today's episode is a fun one because we finally get to talk about something we've wanted to do for a really long time. I mean, like several years. And this is the very first Max Law Con Awards that we will ever have done. We've been wanting to do it for a really long time. So this year in Atlanta at Max lawcon, we're going to be recognizing law firm owners, leaders, brands, vendors and community members who are really doing incredible things inside of the legal industry and inside the maximum lawyer community. And what I really love about these awards and what we love about these awards is that it's not just about revenue or size of the firm. Those are really just ego numbers. It's about leadership. It's about resilience, culture, innovation, marketing impact, and the people that are really making this a better legal industry. So today, today Beck and I are going to walk through what the awards are, why we created them, what each category means, and then how nominations work and what we're most excited about heading into maxlock on this year. So let's talk about it.
- [03:40]
Becca
Absolutely. Let's start with the obvious question. You kind of mentioned this in the intro. Why awards and why now? What finally made us decide to do this for Max Lawcon 2026?
- [03:52]
Tyson
I think for me, I was just kind of sick of waiting. I know that it just, it was something that. I've been talking to you about this forever, since maybe since you first started joining Max Law, is that just recognizing people in the community that are part of Max Law. I think it's just really important and I'm just kind of sick of waiting. I just, I don't remember what really triggered it. I think maybe it was a random text for me saying, we got to do this. I'm. I'm sick of waiting. But. So there's no real reason as to why now other than I was just. I was sick of waiting. I think, I think you were too because you were excited about it as well.
- [04:27]
Becca
No, I completely agree. It's something that you have brought up four years, and I think it naturally ties into the in person event because we can have the award ceremony there in person and make it more tangible than virtual or anything like that. So I'm, I'm super excited. So you also kind of teased in the intro that one of the things that makes these different is that this isn't necessarily about who has the biggest firm or the fanciest numbers. One thing that I think is really cool about these awards is we're going to recognize different kinds of success. Not everybody contributes to this community, both maximum lawyer and like legal entrepreneurs in general in the same way. And not everybody's in the same season of business either. So we intentionally made sure that these awards reflected that. What did we really want these awards to represent when we were creating them?
- [05:26]
Tyson
Well, part of it is, okay, so success is a little bit different for everybody. So what success looks like can be completely different. So. And I will even tell you, like, this. This part of my life, success is more like, can I actually hang out with my kids and my wife? Like, that's. Can I spend time with my family? It's less about revenue. It's. But earlier in my career was about revenue is about, you know, growth. And just growth is different. So we wanted to be able to recognize the different types of successes there might be. But also, like, some people are really good about. Good at doing some things, and some people are really good at doing other things. For example, um, we. We want to recognize the people that are really good at marketing. There are some people that are really, really good at marketing, but there are also some people that are really good when it comes to being leaders in the industry. And that doesn't always mean that they are the. Sometimes they. Those people sacrifice success. Sometimes they do because they are. They want to be more of a leader in the community, and so they sacrifice some of their success so they can mentor people. And we want to be able to recognize things like that. So it. You can look at. There's lots of other awards out there, and we wanted to make sure we were different from all those other types of awards. And they. There's usually like, sort of like a cookie cutter way of viewing many of the awards. And we wanted to get. Get outside of that.
- [06:46]
Becca
Yeah, that's a great transition. I want to share how these are. These awards are actually going to work. We're actually doing nominations. And so I think this would be a good time to share with everybody on how they can nominate someone and. And then just how the awards are going to work in general.
- [07:03]
Tyson
Love it. Can I say something before you do that? Because one thing that annoys me. I expressed this to you yesterday. One of the things that annoys me about the awards is that not our awards, because ours is going to be different. But usually what happens is you get a postcard in the mail and you say, hey, you, you've been nominated for this award. Now you got to pay for it. And that is. Drives me crazy. So no one's gonna have to pay for these. These are awards that you were gonna get. Maxlocan, you'll get. Not. You'll get nominated, and then you'll. You'll receive your award at Max Law Con and it's not something you're gonna have to pay for. So I just want to make sure I, I point that out because it's something that really annoys me. It's like these fake awards, these are not fake awards. These are legitimate awards. That, and I think that's part of like us presenting them at Max Locon to show like this is an important award. This isn't something that you got because you sent in a 300 check to some, some company. Someone has nominated you in the community and you have been, you, you've been awarded this because we've looked into you. We've, we've made sure that you are legit. This is, this wasn't some part of grand, some grand marketing scheme that you've created to get nominated for all these awards. We will look into the nominees and the most deserving will be awarded the award. So I just want to point that out. This is a, these are well deserved. You're not just paying for these awards and you're not, you're not paying for it at all.
- [08:29]
Becca
So nominations, I love that. So the nominations are actually open today, June 16, and they're open through June 30. So there's a two week window where you're able to nominate someone for the 10 award categories that we have. The link to nominate someone is maximumlawyer.com forward/awards and that's live now. So you can go and do that today. And I also wanted to mention that anyone can nominate, this is open to anyone. You can nominate anyone. You know, you can nominate yourself, you can whatever, whatever you want to do. And you also, there's no limit. So if you see the categories and you're like, oh, I really think this person deserves this award and I know someone else who deserves this other award. You can go in and you can do multiple nominations for the different award categories that we have.
- [09:22]
Tyson
Yep, exactly. I, I'm assuming we're going to get lots of nominations and, and the more the merrier. It's one of those things where don't be, don't be shy, don't, don't, don't be afraid to nominate as many people as you want. But I'm excited about it. Do you, do we want to get into the actual awards themselves so people can, we've teased a little bit of the awards. We want to get into all of them.
- [09:44]
Becca
We are going to get into all of them. I want to mention one more thing before we move on from that and it's just so that people understand once they make a nomination what's happening. So we, after June 30th, we're going to compile all of the nominations and they will be filtered down into three finalists. And then the actual award winner from those three finalists will be announced live on stage at Max Lock on in Atlanta in October.
- [10:11]
Tyson
This is why you're wonderful, because you get into the details, the things that I typically ignore. Yes, you, you love the detail. People like, hey, what's the dates of the conference? I don't know. As BECCA it's in October. That's what I, what I usually say. All right, I'm glad you mentioned those. So. All right, can I mention the first one because we've already kind of talked about it. Is that okay?
- [10:33]
Becca
Do it?
- [10:33]
Tyson
Yeah, because I think we feel like the no brainer one is like marketer of the year. Like that's one like it just, it was, it seemed really an obvious one that we should have. Not all of them are going to have such obvious names, so. But this is one of the ones where it is kind of obvious. But so we're like, you got the exceptional visibility and you know, authority growth through marketing. And so some of the criteria are creative or innovative marketing strategies, consistent audience growth and engagement, effective use of content and or advertising and just demonstrated business impact from marketing efforts. And so it's, that one's kind of like the obvious one. But I, that I figured I would start that because we already kind of teased that one too. So. But that's, that's one of the ones where like that's what we're looking for when it comes to the, the market of the year.
- [11:25]
Becca
Absolutely. So the next award is the Trailblazer Award. And this is someone who challenges the traditional pushing the industry forward through innovation. So criteria for this award is someone who uses innovative thinking and execution, willingness to challenge outdated norms, leadership through action and experimentation, measurable impact or new ideas or strategies, commitment to growth and evolution. And also I do want to mention that when you go to MaximumLawyer.com/forward/awards, each of the awards are listed and so is this criteria. So as we say these things, you might think of someone and then you can hop onto the website and kind of evaluate the criteria before you nominate someone.
- [12:13]
Tyson
I think this is one of the more important awards, to be honest with you. These are, these are the people that are looking at, okay, where are we now? Where are we going to be in 15, 20 years? And, and they're shifting the practice that way, and they're the ones taking a ton of risk. And I think this is a really important word. This might be my favorite award. I don't know if it's. It's one of the top three. I think this is a really good one. With that, though, we've also got. The next award is the Rising Star Award. And these are the ones where this is for the, the newer firm owners out there. And a, It's a, a new, newer firm owner with exceptional drive, execution, and growth potential. So they're really just kind of starting off with their firm. They've made s. Significant progress or growth within the last past one to two years. Consistent action and execution. You're. You're constantly seeing them out there trying to improve their craft. They got demonstrated business momentum and future potential and then commitment to learning and growth. So. And this is, this is one where you and I, we discussed this a little bit. Okay. Does this have to be a, a young attorney? Can this be an attorney that is older, that just started their firm? And really, this is, this is someone that's a new firm owner. So if you've been working for someone for 20 years and you go out and launch your firm, you're a new firm owner. So you, you, you, you qualify for this award. So we really want to recognize people that have gone out and taken that risk to start their firm and they've seen really good growth in the first couple years.
- [13:48]
Becca
Absolutely. Yeah. I'm excited about that one. I think there's also. There potentially could be a lot of people listening to this episode too, who know of even maybe recent graduates who have decided to just start out by opening their firm. If you know anyone like that, they would be a really good candidate for this award as well.
- [14:08]
Tyson
Absolutely.
- [14:11]
Becca
All right, next up, we have the Culture and Leadership Award. And I think that this is one that a lot of people are going to care about. What does a truly great culture look like from our perspective?
- [14:27]
Tyson
So this is where it's, you know, building a team of people genuinely that generally they want to be a part of it. Right, right. This is, that's, that's what we're looking for. And so the evaluation criteria, you've got a strong team culture, commitment to team growth and development, creative or meaningful team benefits and support systems, intentional efforts to attract and retain great talent, leads by example. And I'm going to avoid mentioning firms that I think might, because I don't want to, I don't want to skew any of this. And I, but I. There's Many firms that I think of, when I think of this award, there's a lot of great culture. Having a great culture is really, really important. We, you know, I think most, most people would agree with that. And so I, I think if you really break it down, it's that first thing I said though, it's, you're building a team that people genuinely want to be a part of. Like, that is. And that usually comes through very clearly when, when it comes to your people. So that's what we're looking for when it comes to the, the award where we're looking for culture and leadership.
- [15:29]
Becca
Yeah. I actually almost was going to name a firm to give an example, and then you said we're not doing that. So I was like, okay, we're not. I think, you know, this might give it away, but just for example, we've actually had people talk on the max lock on stage about this very topic. And those are the firms that I think have done this very, very well. But I think that there's plenty of them out there that we're not even aware of. So I'm excited to see who's nominated and what, what firms are doing in this category.
- [15:58]
Tyson
Absolutely. Yeah. So here's the. Now's the next one. I, I can't wait for you to talk about this one. So what, what? The big one. What's the big one? And this. I know we're not going in order. Maybe the big one should have done last, but, but, but whatever. This is the big one, so go for it.
- [16:11]
Becca
This is the big one. This is Maximum Lawyer of the year. And what does someone have to have to embody to win that award?
- [16:19]
Tyson
So I'd say this is the highest recognition at maxlocan. It's the full embodiment. Embo. It's hard for me to say that word of the SIG community. And what we're looking for is exceptional overall business leadership, commitment to growth and continuous improvement, Positive influence within the maximum lawyer community, strong operational and business performance, and then leadership through generosity, collaboration and setting example. And this is where we're kind of looking at like the big picture here. Like, like overall package kind of thing. And so we're looking for, when it comes to the maximum Lawyer of the year, like, who has got the complete package or like, I don't know if you're a baseball fan, Beckett, but like if you're a five tool player, like if you've got like all the different tools when it comes to, to a firm or running a firm, that's what we're looking for.
- [17:11]
Becca
I agree. I think that someone here too is someone that our community will, will recognize because they are say in the Maximum Lawyer Facebook group, commenting, giving their experience or their recommendations to people asking questions in there. A. I could also see this being an association member who is constantly helping out other fellow members and again, sharing their experience with a struggle that someone else has had just so that they can kind of like skip the line and try out what someone else has tried before. So I think that's what we're going to see with the Maximum player of the year.
- [17:48]
Tyson
Yeah, I agree. And I like, like we said, like that's like the, that's like the top award we think people can get. Now what I think might be the, maybe a crowd favorite is the next one and that's the, the comeback award. And it's probably going to be the one that might be the most emotional award, I guess I would say. So what do you think? What's important when it comes to this and, and why. I guess why is it important to include resilience and adversity as part of these awards? Awards?
- [18:21]
Becca
I mean, this is what the Maximum Lawyer community is all about. You start your law firm and then it is challenging and you really need a community and a network to help you get through it. You can't do it on your own. One thing I will say, and this is kind of teasing a couple of the speakers at maxlock on this year, is we actually have a couple of people sharing their comeback things that happened to them in 2025 and they're going to share their story, their experience, what happened, how they overcame it. So I think that those presentations are really going to align with this award. But I feel like this is especially if you're a member inside the association where we learn a lot more about our law firm owners in there. It's constantly about the comeback. I mean it's, it's the struggle and overcoming it and then moving on and growing from there. So go ahead.
- [19:17]
Tyson
Well, as you say, it's, it's more risk realistic view of how life is where there are so many groups out there that they want to say like it's, you know, everyone's making eight figures and we're like, that's just. The reality is, is that doing this is a hard thing. Running a law firm is a hard thing. And this is a recognition of that, that you're going to have your highs, but you're also going to have your lows. And the, the whole point of it is is when you have those lows, you bounce back from them. You don't just give up, you know, you, you keep fighting. And this is, this is, this award could have had a lot of different titles, but like, this could be like the Fighter award. Like, but these are the people that are like fighting back. They've come back, they've, they've, they've taken a big punch and they've gotten right back up. And so this, that's kind of what this award is about. And this is a recognition of that.
- [20:06]
Becca
Absolutely. All right, so our next award is the Community Impact Award. And this, we did this one because there are so many people quietly helping others behind the scenes, both within Maximum Lawyer that we see, like I said in our Facebook group, that has over 6,000 members in there, but I feel like our nominations, we're going to get to see people even outside of the community and what they're doing, again, we. Not even because they want recognition, but that's why this makes it my favorite is because it's going to be somebody that typically loves to give but maybe doesn't even want the recognition for what they do, but they actually deserve it. So this is someone who's consistently giving back through mentorship, service and generosity. Do you want to run through the criteria for this one?
- [20:59]
Tyson
Yeah, this is another one of those ones where I could, I could think of a lot of different people that they give and they don't ask for anything in return. It's, it's, there's a lot of just great people that I could just, just rattle off right now that I, again, I'm not going to, I don't want to skew it in any, in any direction, but there's so many, so many deserving people of this award. But we're looking for meaningful contributions to the community, demonstrated generosity and service, positive impact on others inside or outside the legal industry, leadership through action and involvement, and creates lasting impact beyond business success. So this is someone that's not just focused on business results. They're, they're, they're looking at the overall big picture.
- [21:40]
Becca
Absolutely. So this next award I'm very excited for, personally. I also will tease. So we're in June, so this is only, I think it's next month, I think it's in July will be the 10 year anniversary of the Maximum Lawyer podcast. I know, I just want to throw that out there. So this next award is the Golden Mic and it's for a standout podcast guest of the year. So within the last year, any guests on The Maximum Lawyer Podcast. What makes someone a truly memorable Maximum Lawyer Podcast guest for you, Tyson?
- [22:17]
Tyson
Well, so this is not necessarily in line with the criteria, but there's some of the, like, they're, they pique my interest. They pique my curiosity. Is, is what it is like, I, I'm guessing if you were to, for those of you that have been with us from the beginning, you can probably tell the, the guests where I'm engaged in. I'm not. Because you pro. I mean, my guess is that they're, they're also engaged, right? The listeners also engaged because they're like, okay, is this person actually giving me anything? Because, like, there are people that will come on and like, they're just kind of toot their own horn and there's other people that are just like, really delivering value and that's what we're looking for. They're. They're coming on and they're delivering actionable, memorable insights during their podcast experience. They're usually a really good storyteller. Now, that's not one of the criteria, but usually they are. I guess it kind of is. So we do have strong communication, storytelling and speaking ability. So. But if you have a story, if, if you have lots of good stories, that's usually a really engaging episode. We're looking for demonstrate authentic authenticity and willingness to openly share and then an ability to educate, inspire and chat or challenge firm owners. So it's, it. I mean, it could apply to many, many people we've had on the, on the show over the years. But I think that if we look at this one, it will probably be obvious to most people as to which probably the top 10 would be in this. I think most people can think of like, oh, I like that one. I like that one. I like that one. I like, I like that one. I like that one. And it's probably because of this criteria is, is my guess is why you remember this or unless it is something that was personally applied to your, your situation. But I, I'm also really excited about this one too. I also really love the name the Golden Mic. It's just hopefully no one steals that. We may need to, we need to, may need to call Joey Vitali and trademark that because I don't know if it's, if it's a, if it's been trademarked, but we might need to because it's, it's a cool name. I like it.
- [24:14]
Becca
And if it has, we won't mention it.
- [24:16]
Tyson
That's right.
- [24:18]
Becca
Okay, I wanted to mention that. Another indicator too. So you're listening to this podcast right now, which means you've listened to other episodes show before. So an indicator that, you know one of the guests might have been one of your favorite or you think they deserve this award is you may have saved the episode because you're like, I want to go back. I want to listen to a part of that. Another indicator might be it's a podcast that you sent to someone. So you clicked the share button and you sent it to someone you work with, another law firm owner, you know, so maybe just consider those two things as well. When you're thinking back to what episodes were my favorite in the last year and who do I want to nominate for this award?
- [24:55]
Tyson
That's great. That's actually really good. That's fantastic. That's great advice. I haven't thought about that. Or maybe if they pause it to take notes, that. That too, like, all. That's a really good insight, Becca. I like that. That's great.
- [25:09]
Becca
Absolutely.
- [25:10]
Tyson
All right, you have. You've got to introduce the next one. And it'll be obvious once. Once she says what it is, but go ahead.
- [25:16]
Becca
Okay, so then we have the Law Firm Champion Award, brought to you by Becca's list, which is specifically for vendors. So why did we want to create an award focused on vendors who genuinely support law firm owners the right way?
- [25:31]
Tyson
Okay, so it's kind of in the question where there are. All of us have had experiences with bad vendors, bad law firm vendors. We've also had really good experiences with good law firm vendors that really care about, you know, the way they treat us. They're not trying to bilk us because we're just attorneys, and so they want to charge us more money. They really do care about the legal industry. They understand the legal industry, and we want to. We wanted to recognize that, and we. We have Becca's list as a brand. Right. And we wanted to. To tie that in as well. And so if we're kind of. Kind of pulling the curtain back a little bit, we wanted to sort of, you know, draw a little bit of attention to Becky's list, but also in the. At the same time, recognize vendors that actually do help support the community and that really do care. And so what we're looking for is consistent, positive impact on law firm owners, commitment to serving and not just selling, strong reputation for integrity, trust, and responsiveness, active involvement through education, collaboration, or support, and then strong praise and referrals from law firm owners. So we're looking at. Looking for vendors that really do understand us as law firm owners and who really do have our best interest in mind and not just their, their, their revenue goals to hit. So that's what we're looking for.
- [27:00]
Becca
Absolutely. I'll mention too, without actually naming names, a good example is if you're an association member. At the beginning of the year, we started to add three quarterly coaches or experts into the membership for people to access 24, 7 inside the group, ask them questions on different topics. And so far this year, Q1 and Q2, I feel like those would be very good examples of people who service law firm owners but really just give so well. They teach and they're just, they're not gatekeeping inside of there. And I think that again, I'm not going to name them specifically. Who we've had so far this year have been really, really great, but those would be really great examples.
- [27:46]
Tyson
Totally agree. Yeah, that's, that's a really good point. I, it's one, it's funny. I really want to. Because I want to kind of get back to the. But we, we got to be, we got to be fair and impartial. But let's get to the last one brand of the year. It's going to be really interesting because branding has become such a huge differentiator. I think that not to go too deep in the weeds with this. I do think it's interesting how these cycles of branding versus personal branding versus firm branding have changed over the last two decades. It's really kind of interesting how things have changed so much and how marketing and branding have they kind of separated and they, they kind of merged back together and then it's kind of separated again. So it's, it's an interesting thing to watch. It really is. But what does a standout law firm braid actually look like today? I think it's interesting because you have, you, I think you're inside now, right, because you're, you're in maximum lawyer. You've been maximal lawyer so long, but you still, you're not a law firm owner technically, I guess. So you, you kind of have the outside looking in perspective, which I think is, is good. So what does a, what does a standout law firm brand actually look like, do you think?
- [28:55]
Becca
So this is something where people instantly recognize the brand and remember it as well. So we're looking for strong and recognizable brand identity, clear and consistent messaging. Not something that, you know, we tried this this month and now next month we're going to try that. If you have your brand locked down, this is consistent and that helps with people like we said being recognizable and people being able to remember you, you have high levels of audience trust and engagement, strong online or community presence, and demonstrated impact of branding on business growth.
- [29:33]
Tyson
Yeah, pretty obvious. And there's, there's a few names that come to my mind. I think the people that are listening to this or watching this, they probably have the same thing. We're like, oh, that mind. That brand comes to mind, that brain that comes to mind. So I think it's going to be. I, I, I'm. I would bet with you. There's a few different names that will come up repeatedly is my guess, but we'll see. The awards are happening live and in person at Max Lock on in Atlanta on October 8th and 9th. I had the dates here because Becca gave them to me on the sheet. That's so I can actually tell you the date. I would have probably told you a different date off the top of my head. So October 8th and 9th in Atlanta. It's going to be absolutely amazing. And so if you were listening to this and immediately thought of someone who deserves recognition in any of these categories, go to maximumlawyer.com forward/awards right now to submit your nominations. Make sure you get those in early and often. Make sure you get those. We will be like, starting to review those as soon as they start to come in. So make sure you start to, to submit those right away.
- [30:39]
Becca
Absolutely. And for anyone listening who still hasn't grabbed their ticket to maxlock Con, you can get your ticket and all the details at MaxLawcon. And we hope to see you in Atlanta.
- [30:50]
Tyson
Absolutely. See everybody.
- [30:53]
Becca
You know that feeling when you leave a conversation with someone and suddenly your brain is firing on all cylinders again? That's Max Lacon. This October in Atlanta, you'll be surrounded by law firm owners who are building smarter businesses, dialing in their systems, growing their teams using AI, improving intake, marketing and finances. All of it. The conversations, ideas and people in this room will push you to think bigger about what's possible for your firm. And honestly, there's just something different about being around people who are actually doing the thing. Go to maxlockcon.com and grab your ticket today.