Owili Eison: Owning Your Career in the Modern Legal Market

In this episode, Steve Fretzin and Owili Eison discuss:

• Thinking like an intrapreneur, not just an employee
• Balancing legal skill with business development
• Networking intentionally to build referral pipelines
• Using technology and AI to stay competitive

Key Takeaways:

• Lawyers who rely entirely on their firm for work risk having little control over their future. Building a personal brand, developing referral relationships, and generating your own clients creates long-term career security and flexibility.
• A successful legal career has two sides: practicing the law and building the firm. Lawyers who focus only on technical legal work often miss the larger opportunity, since referral relationships and originations frequently generate the greatest long-term value.
• Effective networking is targeted, not random. By focusing on lawyers in complementary practice areas and building genuine, reciprocal relationships, attorneys can create steady referral partnerships that grow over time.
• Modern legal practice increasingly relies on tools that improve efficiency and insight. Lawyers who adopt technologies like AI for document review, intake summaries, and research can work faster, scale their impact, and stay ahead in a rapidly changing profession.

“There’s two aspects to our business and the law operation. There’s the law and the firm… You need to focus on both and have a holistic approach to the business and practice of law, otherwise I think you’re going to find yourself in a tough position.” —  Owili Eison

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About Owili Eison: Owili K. Eison is a Los Angeles-based personal injury attorney and Partner at BD&J, where he focuses on catastrophic injury litigation. He also supervises a team of 20 associates and staff, helping train the next generation of trial lawyers to advocate for those harmed by negligence.

A graduate of the University of Southern California and Loyola Law School, Los Angeles, Owili participated in Loyola’s Trial Advocacy Program and later completed both the CAALA Plaintiff’s Trial Academy and the Jack Daniels ABOTA Trial Academy.

Owili was inspired to pursue personal injury law after suffering serious injuries when he was struck by a negligent driver in a crosswalk. Since then, he has handled thousands of cases involving automobile accidents, wrongful death, premises liability, and medical malpractice. In just over nine years at BD&J, he has recovered more than $500 million for his clients and built a reputation as a tenacious yet pragmatic advocate.

Connect with Owili Eison:

Website: https://www.bdj.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/owilieison

Connect with Steve Fretzin:

LinkedIn: Steve Fretzin

Twitter: @stevefretzin

Instagram: @fretzinsteve

Facebook: Fretzin, Inc.

Website: Fretzin.com

Email: Steve@Fretzin.com

Book: Legal Business Development Isn’t Rocket Science and more!

YouTube: Steve Fretzin

Call Steve directly at 847-602-6911

Audio production by Turnkey Podcast Productions. You’re the expert. Your podcast will prove it.

FULL TRANSCRIPT

Owili Eison  [00:00]

There is no real such thing as job security. I needed to have an established book of business or way to feed myself, in case. You know, market conditions changed or my employer decided they didn’t need my services anymore.

 

Narrator  [00:17]

You’re listening to be that lawyer, life changing strategies and resources for growing a successful law practice. Each episode your host, author and lawyer coach, Steve Fretzin, will take a deeper dive helping you grow your law practice in less time with greater results. Now here’s your host, Steve Fretzin, hey everybody.

 

Steve Fretzin  [00:40]

Welcome, welcome. Welcome to the be that lawyer podcast. What’s be that lawyer? It’s where you go every single week, twice a week, to be confident, organized and a skilled Rainmaker. We’re here to help you build your book of business. We’re here to help you go solo. We’re here to help you in big law wherever you find yourself. You didn’t learn this stuff in law school. You’re going to learn it here, or you get your money back, and it’s free, right? A whole high. So who cares? What are they getting back? They’re not getting back. Jack, that’s okay, you know what? Though, I just love sharing, not only my ideas and concepts and things, but even more, I love, love pulling ideas from my guests. I’m really excited to have this conversation today and allow you to share your wisdom with my people. But let’s, of course, go to our show number 500 be that lawyer podcast, the great John Morgan, his quote is the best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is today. So welcome to the show, Owili, and tell us why you love that quote.

 

Owili Eison  [01:38]

Steve, thanks for having me. Man, the content that you’re putting out is amazing, and I’m glad to be a part of the show, awesome. But John Morgan, as you know, is a titan in the PI space. And obviously one of the things I always tell myself is, hey, if there’s past opportunities you didn’t capitalize on that’s okay, but just time to get after it today. So it plants a sense of urgency into what I’m doing. That’s why I love the quotes from his book. You can’t teach hungry.

 

Steve Fretzin  [02:02]

You can’t teach hungry. I love that. And you know, it’s that’s the thing. Like, there’s we all have, you know, whatever they call them regrets, or whatever things that we wished we had done sooner. But today, you know, I wish I could have lost some weight. Well, start today, you know, just taste, you know, make a decision.

 

Owili Eison  [02:20]

No time, like the present time, you know? Yeah, I

 

Steve Fretzin  [02:24]

was doing intermittent fasting, right? You know, it’s I’d have dinner and then I wouldn’t eat again till lunch the next day. And I got into, like, the bad habit of, like, having a little bowl of popcorn or something in the evening. And I just started, like, going down that i Two weeks ago, bam, just like that, made a decision, no more of that crap. It’s dinner, and I’m done, and I go lost like four pounds already, and I’m feeling great, sleeping better the whole thing,

 

Owili Eison  [02:47]

good man. I’m glad you got back on the track. Yeah. Well, let’s talk about your track.

 

Steve Fretzin  [02:51]

So everybody. Owili is the senior partner with BD and Jay, and give us a little bit about your background. How you came to be, yeah.

 

Owili Eison  [02:58]

Well, I’m from the Bay Area. I was born and raised in Stockton, California, and the best thing about Stockton is the seven freeways to get the hell out of there. I moved down to Southern California for college and law school. Graduated in 2010 immediately started my career at the late great Johnnie cochrans firm. I got my trial experience there. Didn’t do pi at Johnny cochrans firm. I did a lot of med, Mal, criminal and some employment. There was some fracture within that firm after he’s passing, and I ended up moving on to start my own sports management company, where I represented a lot of NBA and NFL talent. At the same time, BD and J was trying to expand their traumatic brain injury practice. I knew some clients from the NFL that had been involved in those type of injuries. So sort of preparation meant opportunity, and I found my way to BD and J and I’ve been here for the last almost 11 years now.

 

Steve Fretzin  [03:55]

Awesome, awesome. And what’s your so your focus is primarily personal injury, like, what are some of the things that you’re that you get excited about helping.

 

Owili Eison  [04:03]

Our firm does 99% personal injury law, usually involving car accidents, but we also handle product liability, sex abuse cases, anything involving catastrophic injury. We handle it from the northern tip of California to the southern boot of California and everything in between. We handle those cases from intake to trial. Yeah.

 

Steve Fretzin  [04:23]

And then, how did you sort of come upon, okay, being a great lawyer. Check, right? Entrepreneurship. Check. And now it’s like building your own sort of business under the umbrella of the firm. Like, how did you get, like, get into that and get excited about, you know, business development and growing your practice.

 

Owili Eison  [04:40]

Well, Steve, it started long before then I came out of law school in 2010 on the hills of the great financial collapse and crisis, and I saw a lot of these big firms with big corner offices and, you know, nice compensation packages. A lot of my friends that joined those firms quickly after found their pink slips, had to find a new way of living. And a new way of life or new career paths all together. So that really struck a chord with me, because I was like, hey, there is no real such thing as job security. I needed to have an established book of business or way to feed myself in case, you know, market conditions changed or my employer decided they didn’t need my services anymore. So that really, got me going on. I need to acquire clients. I need to establish my own book of business. I need to be an intrapreneur, even if I’m working in the context of another company.

 

Steve Fretzin  [05:30]

Yeah, I don’t mean to put you on the spot, but like thinking about the mindset of attorneys that don’t get it, that never see that light. What’s going on in their heads?

 

Owili Eison  [05:40]

I really can’t tell you, but I think they’re playing a dangerous cat and mouse game, okay, right? I always tell my associates. I meant I managed around 20 Junior associates. Now, there’s two aspects to our business and the law operation. There’s the law and the firm. And the law is the technical application of what we learned in law school and what we do in the day to day servicing of our clients, you know, taking depots, doing discovery, and that’s all well and good and very important. It’s an integral part of what we do. But on the other side of that coin is the firm. What keeps the lights on? How do we generate revenue? How do we keep and retain and generate more clients? You need to focus on both and have a holistic approach to the business and practice of law, otherwise, I think you’re going to find yourself in a tough position, especially, what’s going on now in the developing issues in PI at least in California, yeah.

 

Steve Fretzin  [06:29]

So then, what are the, what are the suggestions that you give lawyers who maybe aren’t doing anything or much at all, they’re just kind of going along to start getting their mind shifted, or get just to get started. Like, maybe there’s like, you know, like, I’m deciding to work out, or I’m deciding to go out on my own, or there’s these big decisions we make in life, and there what are, what’s like, the first thing that you would say that they should start doing,

 

Owili Eison  [06:55]

I’m with my own mentee group. I don’t really preach. I show by example, and I try to show up every day and show them there’s multiple avenues to be successful in this space. One is, and I agree with being a really good lawyer, litigator, trial attorney, having those skills down pat. But on the other coin, it’s obviously the way referral fees are structured. If you originate a case without your firm’s marketing initiatives or their ad spend, your referral fees are a lot more than what you would earn on a case, on a commission or a piece of the case that you worked on. So I let them see, you know, the real dollar dynamics, and allow them to make the decision. And what if they come under my umbrella and want me to show them how to do it. I get in the weeds with them.

 

Steve Fretzin  [07:42]

Yeah, that’s incredible. So a lawyer is listening right now. That is, you know, on the cusp of it, they’ve got 30 days to make some changes. What do you suggest they do?

 

Owili Eison  [07:53]

I mean, there’s no real way to get around grassroots networking. But I would network with a purpose. I wouldn’t just simply go to every event or every association with my handout or be a wallflower at all these, you know, dinners. I would network intentionally and with the purpose I’d know who was there, what my angle was with that person, or persons, if I had anything to offer them. Because the one thing you don’t want when you’re networking is it for it for it to be a one way street where there is no reciprocity, where you’re only taking people are willing to help, but over time, they need to have some ROI on their investment as well. So make sure you do grassroots stuff, but do it intentionally. Do it with the purpose.

 

Steve Fretzin  [08:36]

Well, let’s you and I play a little game. You know, you say, I say, and essentially, let’s go back and forth and give some best practices for networking. So you said something important that was really about targeted networking, or intentional networking. You’re not just going out and attending things and just like running around, just having coffees with everybody. There’s intention that needs to be put. Like, when I think about personal injury, I think about it’s plaintiff side. So the people that are going to refer you are typically, you know, if it’s lawyers, they’re going to be plaintiff side criminal attorneys. They’re going to be estate planners. They’re going to be, you know, the attorneys that are, you know, they’re the criminal attorneys, right? They’re going to be the attorneys that they’re the only attorney. Maybe their friend knows when they get hurt or when they get hurt. So meeting with those people specifically, versus meeting with, you know, everybody that you can, you know, that you could see and touch on the shoulder, right? Is that kind of your thought as well?

 

Owili Eison  [09:31]

Yeah, that’s one thing that I always focused in on. Was not necessarily going to associations where I just met with other personal injury attorneys on the plaintiff side. We’re direct competitors in that context, so I don’t anticipate getting any real business from other PI lawyers, unless they’re younger lawyers that are just trying to cut their teeth in the game and figure out how to do it. Sometimes I’ll take those one off cases, but generally it’s practitioners in employment law, workers compensation, criminal law. Law, other aspects of law, where they don’t understand the PI side. And, you know, I try to do as best as I can, and working up those cases and six months, nine months down the road, they might get a nice referral fee from me.

 

Steve Fretzin  [10:12]

One of the things that I talk about quite often is that it’s a little bit like dating. So let’s say that you’re dating, you know, 10 criminal attorneys to see who is interested, has the capacity, the capability of helping, you know, send things your way. And you might take 10 or to get to one or two that you actually connect with, right? So I’m dating, and this one, you know, I don’t like because she’s got a weird laugh, and this one I don’t like because, you know, profile said one thing, and she’s, you know, 12 feet tall or whatever it might be, right? So, like, there’s some people you’ve got to meet and you got to sort of disqualify them out. Doesn’t mean you can’t be friends, doesn’t mean that you can’t know each other and like each other, but there’s going to be a certain few that you’re going to want to really attach yourself to. Is that kind of how your methodology is? And if so, can you take it further?

 

Owili Eison  [10:59]

Yeah, it’s a numbers game. And, you know, luckily for me, I had an amazing mentor in the space early on in my career, and he introduced me to a number of people when I was a lowly junior associate. So those people I’ve maintained contact with over the years. But I think, you know, as a general practice, you’re right. It’s a numbers game. Yeah, you throw it, cast your net wide. You might meet 10 or 15 people. Two of those might be, you know, people that you keep in your referral pipeline for, you know, 1015 years, some people I met when I initially started practicing in 2011 I still have relationships with now. And we, you know, send each other business. So, yeah, I think it is a numbers game,

 

Steve Fretzin  [11:37]

you know, a line that I typically give away. Probably shouldn’t, but I do, because it’s such a great line that it changes the game for people who are networking. And so you’re, you know, 45 minutes into an hour coffee, and you really like this person, and everything seems like it’s going in the right direction. And this is someone that could potentially help you generate a bunch of business, right? And you think you can help them to, like you could send them stuff, and you just ask them, just, you know, out of curiosity, John, you know, how often in an average year are you running into personal injury cases where you need to find a great lawyer to hand them out to, and then zip your lip and wait and just hear what’s going to come out next? Is it that’s never happened in 10 years, or that’s happening 10 times a year. That question and that answer are really critical for qualifying and understanding. Is this person, you know, you know, seeing those kinds of opportunities. Obviously. The next part is, you know, do you like them enough and feel good enough like you could, sort of, you know, figure out a way to make it reciprocal

 

Owili Eison  [12:38]

100% and one aspect that we didn’t mention Steve yet, I’m sure we’ll get to it, is, if you do get those cases, you need to service those cases with the white glove. Yeah, you have to connect the dots. A lot of people can acquire the cases, but they can’t service the cases. So when I do get cases from my referral base, I make sure, with the level of paranoia that’s probably unhealthy, that I service those cases.

 

Steve Fretzin  [13:02]

Yeah, well, again, you know, you’re only it’s only going to take one bad experience of one client getting back to the referring party, it’s over. They’re not going to send you another case. And it could be, you know, 20, 3050, over a career, if you do it, right? So I think you’re spot on with that. So networking is a part of it. I think the other part that we talk about is the intersection of business development, networking, relationship side and then the personal branding side. How do you sort of view that other side of it?

 

Owili Eison  [13:30]

I think it’s as important, especially in this day and age. I really ramped up my marketing and branding efforts right around the height of covid in 2020 when we were all inside looking at phones with nothing else to do besides worry about our health, rightfully so. But I saw a unique opportunity to try to position myself as a thought leader in the Southern California pi space. So I met with my other partners, and I was an associate at the time, and I asked them if I could, one, market myself outside the firm, and two, run marketing or cross marketing campaigns with BD and j so that I could bring an originate business to them without any dollar spend. And they saw that opportunity as a potential Win, win scenario. Gave me a, you know, decent marketing budget, and I hired a PR team, a marketing team, you know, nothing too expensive. But I built my own website. I built out my LinkedIn page. I started posting content regularly on Facebook as well as Instagram, and I grew a grassroots following. Within one or two years, I reached 1000 2000 followers, and I was putting out what I thought was quality content. And I think in year two or three of doing that, I got like, I want to say, 15 or 16, really good, solid referrals off that, just off of social media and digital media.

 

Steve Fretzin  [14:49]

Hey everybody. Steve Fretzin Here and@lawyer.com They don’t just market law firms. They help them grow from connecting millions of consumers to trusted lawyers to smarter intake and industry leading advantage. Business. They’re building stronger connections across legal, visibility, intake, events, growth. That’s lawyer.com Check them out today with proven SEO and digital marketing strategies that drive actual clients to your firm. Rankings.io. Prides itself on proof, not promises, mentality. The best firms hire rankings.io when they want rankings, traffic and cases, other law firm, marketing agencies can’t deliver, get more rankings, get cases and schedule a free consultation@rankings.io today. Hey everybody. It’s Steve Fretzin as the you know, I’m the host of the be that lawyer podcast, and if you’re serious about growing your law practice, let’s talk. I’ve coached hundreds of attorneys to build bigger books of business without selling, chasing or wasting time. This isn’t a sales pitch, it’s a real 30 minute strategy session to explore what’s possible for you in your practice. Just head over to fretzin.com and grab a time that works for you. And let’s make this your breakout year. And how much of it was branding about you the lawyer, and how much of it was you bringing your sort of authentic personality into the mix? Was it just straight up the law, or was we trying to also, like, show a little bit of your your side,

 

Owili Eison  [16:12]

100% I try to do everything in my authentic voice, because I can only be the best version of me. I’m the only one. Yeah, so I think that that’s the thing that I brought to the marketplace, was just being authentically me. And one of the things that I did that was unique at the time was every Thursday, I would host a Q and A in my home office where I was in the Nike sweatshirt, nothing too pretentious, and I would answer questions as ethically and honestly as I could from potential clients, potential referral network partners, and just people that were interested in the subject matter that I was speaking on. So I think you hit the nail on the head. You need to be your authentic self and keep your reputation intact.

 

Steve Fretzin  [16:54]

And I think the other piece of it is in I’m sure you’ll, you’ll agree with me on this. It’s you, because you kind of mentioned it is consistency. You can be authentic today, and then you don’t come back for, you know, three months, and then you’re authentic again, and then you don’t come back for three months. You’re not really getting any kind of real momentum. You’re not really getting any kind of real following. So speak to we spoke to the authentic side, and now let’s speak to the consistency side.

 

Owili Eison  [17:19]

100% couldn’t agree more with you. So when I initially started my social media pages, I posted consistently every week from 2020, to 2025, every week. Thursdays, every viewer could count on me being on there, giving a Q and A session. And then I would, you know, try to mix up the content with different graphics, different images, different slides, just to keep the content fresh and new. But you’re right, I kept it consistent for a long period of time. John Morgan talks about planting the tree 20 years ago, I really started planning mine around 2020, and it started to pay dividends a little bit later. But it really did work out.

 

Steve Fretzin  [17:59]

Yeah, I have a graphic I use on LinkedIn occasionally. It’s, it’s like a series of colored flags, a pinwheel, and says, you know, books, articles, podcasts, video, there’s one other thing is speaking something like that. And I’m like, you don’t have to do I’m doing, like, six of those things all at once. And I’m repurposing all this content for social and and for YouTube and for all this stuff. And it’s it all adds up, but you don’t have to do it. What I’m doing, you know, you lead by examples. I think I do too. Ultimately, though, people just need to pick one, pick two, right, right. Create some videos on your phone, write some articles. I’ve got lawyers that are doing nothing but posting once or twice a week on LinkedIn, some really good content, and it’s already, over just a period of a short amount of time, starting to pick up some real steam. So just just get started. Might be that might be one of the takeaways.

 

Owili Eison  [18:52]

I agree, one of the things that people don’t like to do is get outside their comfort zone. But I think you have to. I didn’t like shooting content at the beginning, but you start to find your footing and find your pacing. And once you see that, hey, I can convert some potential clients to actual clients, it sort of sparks your interest in keeping and keeping on going.

 

Steve Fretzin  [19:11]

Yeah, yeah. I mean, I also try to take things from my life. I mean, people know that I fish with my son and have for, you know, his whole life. And you know, so I will occasionally, you know, do a Facebook type post about my son and I fishing, but I try to relate it back to the business and and so, you know, it could be, it could be that you’re, you’re sharing about, you know, why you’re a foodie and have a great taste for food, and then relate it back. I think for LinkedIn, that’s kind of the play for Facebook and Tiktok and everything. You can do whatever you want. There’s no, you know, there’s no guardrails there, but I think LinkedIn, you got to be a little bit safe, more buttoned up. Yeah, a little more buttoned up. I think that’s fair. That’s fair. So then I guess I would ask you, like, how should lawyers be thinking about marketing and business development? And they’re in. Futures, and how to how they should consider the growth and what’s the risk if they don’t and just like, take us through what you what you’ve seen, maybe with one of your associates that has kind of taken that, taken the bite, and moved it forward.

 

Owili Eison  [20:13]

Yeah, initially, the initial work in setting it all up is a little bit scary to some of my young associates, they see how much you know, front end work goes in to actually building a separate, not separate, but like you know, standalone business. So to speak, the you link that you spoke of in your former podcast, which I like, so I really, you know, tell them and counsel them. Listen. Even if you work at a small firm or a mid size firm or big firm like ours, you need to be worried about your own brand, because you don’t know when the day comes where you’re no longer needed. And I would hate for you to have to start your career all over in a complete different space. So I would counsel all young lawyers that are trying to build their book of business, do it within the rules and ethically within the rules of your firm, but make sure that you’re taking care of you and establishing your own personal brand and your own referral channels, so that if you have to go and you can hang your own shingle, or you can bring that book of business to another firm who would love to partner with you.

 

Steve Fretzin  [21:13]

Yeah, and keep in mind too, we’ve got, you know, we’ve got solo, small firm, big, big law. We’ve got people on the B to B, the B to C. We got all the different, you know, we got, we’re, you know, we’re in a lot of different countries, a lot of different cultures. So things are, are kind of, you know, mixed all over the place. But what is, you know, what’s one truth about success that people need to hear, that you would want to just share with everybody?

 

Speaker 2  [21:36]

Well, there’s a lot, but if there’s one, keep it to one. Will you?

 

Owili Eison  [21:41]

I’ll try. I’ll do my best. I would say it takes longer than you think. Okay, there are no shortcuts to anywhere worth going. So, you know. So if you think that you’re going to be an overnight success, it’s going to take you some years. That’s the truth. I don’t know many one hit. Excuse me, I don’t know any many overnight success stories. Everybody that I see that has done well, at least in the PI space, it’s taken years to develop their skills and their practices. So just be patient. Yeah, just be patient. Yeah.

 

Steve Fretzin  [22:10]

I love that. As they say, a 20 year overnight success, right? That’s correct, the joke. But I think what we’re sharing is so important that it’s, it’s it’s consistent business development, consistent personal branding, finding something that you can enjoy and that you know where you know where you know where you’re comfortable going. You can get outside your comfort zone, but you know you’re going to be more likely to do things that that where you are have some level of comfort, right? So like, I’m fine doing a Zoom video with you right now. But if you said to me, Hey, Steve, I need you to go outside, and I need you to, like, you know, talk about your business and juggle a bunch of this or that and do a silly Tiktok ish type video. I that might do well. Like, honestly, that might do well in, you know, various circles online. I but that’s not my comfort zone. I just, I see other people doing that, and I’m just just not me.

 

Owili Eison  [23:03]

Yeah, well, you found your lane. Well, people that haven’t found their lane, you got to explore sometimes. I mean, you got to find out what you’re comfortable with. And in order to do that, I think you have to get a little get comfortable being uncomfortable.

 

Steve Fretzin  [23:15]

Yeah, I love that. I love that. So, all right, so let’s talk about, let’s talk about, you know, getting down to it. There’s a lawyer listening right now, and they’re already doing business development. They’re starting to see some success. What separates someone from doing well at business development and someone that’s an absolute superstar Rainmaker?

 

Owili Eison  [23:35]

Think there’s a lot, but one of the things you already touched on is consistency. The other thing is, I believe, is intentional networking and then converting after you get those, those cases, and then three in this space, as you know, your new technologies are emerging every day. And if you’re not integrating artificial intelligence or these new technologies or these new mediums of communicating with the larger audience, I think you’re going to fall by the wayside sooner than later. There’s so many different ways that in my firm and in my own personal business that we use these new technologies, not only for business development, but for the entirety of the case, from intake all the way to trial prep. We’re using these new technologies, and I think that’s going to be what separates the good to great lawyers in the future is using every tool that’s in your toolbox, well,

 

Steve Fretzin  [24:24]

in your space, more efficient, the better, right? Like it’s only going to make you more money and help you get things resolved. I think the issue is going to be in big law, where you know something that takes 1000 hours can be done in 20 and that’s that’s going to be kind of their problem, right?

 

Owili Eison  [24:39]

Yeah, and that’s what I’m saying. You either evolve your practice or grow or die. You saw what happened to Blockbuster when they didn’t see the streaming that Netflix was putting forth. You evolve or die. And you see what happened to taxicab companies when they didn’t anticipate Waymo or Lyft. So you got to embrace these new technologies, otherwise you’re going to become.

 

Steve Fretzin  [25:00]

Esteemed, yeah, I’ve been doing one with mention on the show once or twice. But just, you know, the email automation, just, you know, I’m, I’m typing the same emails over and over again, you know, connecting people or, you know, telling, you know, group of my clients. Hey, let’s, let’s do this together on this date or that date. And there’s all this great AI now to help you really organize, you know, learn from what you’ve done and what you’ve received on email and get it out there. What’s What’s one thing that you’re seeing in your software without getting enough to give specific names, but that that’s really helping you guys to be efficient

 

Owili Eison  [25:31]

100% it’s transcribing intake calls into digestible tidbits and then medical record summaries. Steve, it used to take me, you know, five to six hours to go through 400 pages of medical records, you know, extract what I needed for the case and then make sense of it. So medical record summaries, deposition summaries, and then our trial briefs are, you know, taking a third of the time that they used to using these new technologies.

 

Steve Fretzin  [26:00]

Yeah, that’s just awesome. So let’s, let’s get into what’s, oh, Will, I’s big mistake. What’s, what’s that thing that happened to you that you’d like to share?

 

Owili Eison  [26:08]

You know, I wouldn’t call it a mistake. I call it a pain point that taught me quite a bit. Okay? And that was, you know, I had, historically speaking, waited till conditions were perfect to act right, everything had to be set up. I had to know all the information. I had to de risk everything before taking a step. And I think that that held me back and prevented me from capitalizing on a lot of opportunities in the past. But hey, you know, I didn’t plant the tree 20 years ago, but I’m planning it today. Okay, so if you see the opportunity act on it before you have all the information.

 

Steve Fretzin  [26:44]

Is that where, like the perfectionist attorney, comes in correct, yeah, 100%

 

Owili Eison  [26:49]

I wouldn’t limit it to just what I did in business. I’m pretty sure I did that my personal

 

Steve Fretzin  [26:55]

life as well. Okay, yeah. I mean the, you know, the analysis paralysis, I think, affects us all to some degree. And in we’re all, you know, we’re all risk averse in our own special ways. It’s hard, but I think you to your point, we just have to take action. We have to make, you know, make, try to make, try to make small mistakes like take shots at things. But it’s not, you’re not risking everything because of it, but you’re risking something with an understanding that that it’s, it’s there to learn, right? You’re, you’re risking something to fail. Maybe it’ll fail, but you’re learning, and then you come across better.

 

Owili Eison  [27:30]

Yeah, small bets, you know, fail fast, but fail forward, yeah, but don’t be, don’t be scared. I mean, fear is good to a certain extent, but you can’t let it paralyze you.

 

Steve Fretzin  [27:39]

Yeah? Well, really fantastic. I mean, we covered a lot of ground in a short amount of time. And I just really appreciate, you know, all the advice that you’re giving, any other tips you want to share before we wrap up?

 

Owili Eison  [27:52]

I mean, here’s one thing I would tell my younger self, just to piggyback off of our last comment. It was, hey, if you have a vision for what you really want executed. And if there’s something that distracts you from it, ruthlessly, cut it out of your life, unapologetically. That’s that’s one thing I would

 

Steve Fretzin  [28:08]

say, that’s great. So I mean, there’s a dozen, you know, tidbits and tips and ideas that you’ve given in this show that have really struck me, and I know we’re gonna be striking the audience that the folks that are listening. Let’s take a moment, just take some time to thank our wonderful speaker. Wonderful sponsors. If you guys don’t know about lawyer.com check it out. Great directory, great way to get found online, of course, rankings IO and pimcon. Are you guys? Pimcon folks? You like pimcon?

 

[28:33]

I would like to say I know what that is. Oh

 

Steve Fretzin  [28:35]

no, the personal injury mastermind conference. Yeah, all right, we’re gonna have to get you out there. Please do. It’s fantastic. Yeah, run by rankings IO and our friends. Chris dryer, it’s just a first class experience. In fact, do you know the comedian Nikki Glaser, of course. Okay, she was our keynote, I say ours like I was running it. But she was the keynote speaker at pimcon in last October. She spent the first, I think, 10 minutes doing nothing but nasty lawyer jokes. I mean, she just to like, four or 500 people, just like, shut everyone down. It was absolutely beautiful, like that, the funniest and most uncomfortable experience think I’ve ever had in a room full of lawyers. So sounds like my kind of party? Yeah, yeah, we’ll get if you guys, if you haven’t checked out, Pim con, check it out. And of course, we are now syndicated legal broadcasting company, so check us out on their website, legal broadcasting company.com, all right. Owili people want to get in touch with you. They want to jump ship from their firm and come work for you. What’s the best digits?

 

Owili Eison  [29:35]

Yeah, you can contact me via my email address, at oe@bdj.com, or DM me on Instagram at OK, Esquire, O, K, E, S, Q, U, I, R, E, yeah.

 

Steve Fretzin  [29:47]

Awesome. Awesome, awesome. Well, I really appreciate you coming on the show sharing your wisdom. I just again, I’m so thrilled that we got to meet and that yeah, and by the way, your first time podcasting. So let’s give you a little in a little round of applause. I mean, I know that. You’re a speaker, and you do a lot of this stuff, but you know, it’s always good to have someone you know, have their first shot on my show. It’s only downhill from here.

 

Owili Eison  [30:07]

I believe it’s Steve. Thank you for having me on. I’m glad I got to be part of episode 500 so, you know, I’ll give myself a little pat on the back, but thank you for the opportunity. I had an amazing time.

 

Steve Fretzin  [30:17]

Yeah, absolutely my pleasure. And hey, thank you everybody for hanging out with us for the last 30 just getting getting more and more information for you know to you about how to be that lawyer, confident, organized and a skilled Rainmaker. Take care, be safe, be well. We’ll talk again soon.

 

Narrator  [30:36]

Thanks for listening to be that loyal, life changing strategies and resources for growing a successful law practice. Visit Steve’s website, fretzin.com for additional information and to stay up to date on the latest legal business development and marketing trends for more information and important links about today’s episode. Check out today’s show notes.