👋 Good morning. Chris Dreyer here. Something PI firms often overlook...
The road to success in personal injury isn’t hiring a bunch of vendors and deploying every legal tech tool out there. Real success depends on the operating system your firm runs on.
Ryan McKeen started with one goal: a $10 million jury verdict in 10 years. His Connecticut trial firm got a $100 million verdict in five years and made the Inc. 5000 three times.
Now he's co-founder of Best Era, a consulting firm that helps law firms set up an operating system built for smaller practices.
On the show, we talked about what still matters now that AI can do almost anything.
 Legal tech has been focused so much on the how. But I think the question more is really why and what matters.
Best Era |
Here's our full conversation
In this episode
 | 🎯 How one big goal tells you what to say yes and no to. He set out to be one of the top trial firms in Connecticut. You'll hear the simple test he used on every decision, from paying for a trial workshop when money was tight to whether to take a neighbor's fence dispute. |
 | 📋 How to decide who you hire and what you buy. The same goal shaped what he needed in a paralegal and in case management software. You'll hear what he looked for in each. |
 | 🧭 How to run your firm on a system when you don't have a leadership team. Ryan's first consulting clients told him they didn't have director-level people to form a leadership team. So he built a simpler system around the people they did have. You'll hear how it works for a solo operator or small firm. |
 | 🤖 Why buying every new AI tool won't grow your firm. He says a first-year lawyer with a $100-a-month AI plan can now get the same depo outline as a 20-year veteran. So stop asking which tool to buy. There's a better question to ask first. |
EOS, the Entrepreneurial Operating System from the book Traction, is what Ryan used to grow his firm. In fact, we both tried to set it up on our own first. Listen for how far we each got, and what finally made it work.
Meet Ryan McKeen
Ryan is co-founder of Best Era, which helps law firms grow with its operating system, The Way. Before Best Era, he spent more than 20 years as a trial lawyer, built Connecticut Trial Firm into a three-time Inc. 5000 honoree and won a $100 million jury verdict. He also teaches trial advocacy at Yale Law School.
Connect with Ryan on LinkedIn or at bestera.com.
If you're looking to implement technology the right way at your firm, this is a great listen.
Chris Dreyer
Host, PIM Podcast
P.S. What's the one big goal your firm is chasing right now? Hit reply and tell me. |