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 Marbet Lewis and Rob Lewis.
Marbet Lewis and Robert F. (Rob) Lewis, Founding Attorneys and Team Managers at Spirit Law Partners, are nationally recognized attorneys with decades of combined experience advising domestic and international clients in the alcohol, hospitality, and other highly regulated industries. Rob and Marbet are trusted legal advisors to major players across the alcohol and hospitality industries. Rob brings unique insight as a former law enforcement officer and special agent with the Division of Alcoholic Beverages & Tobacco, while Marbet offers deep expertise in alcohol regulatory compliance and operational regulation.
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 don’t think either one of us started our careers with a master plan to lead an alcohol-focused law practice. In fact, while Rob has a significant background in law enforcement and specifically, with the Florida Division of Alcoholic Beverages & Tobacco, I had no idea this practice area, if it could be called that at the time, even existed. Like many things in life, though, the development of our practice grew from escalating industry needs we were uniquely positioned to fill. We started to develop our practice while working at a large law firm where there was a growing demand for expanded alcohol regulatory work in Rob’s existing niche practice at that firm, especially from Spanish-speaking clients. This unique combination of industry need, cultural fluency, and legal capability opened the door for us to start expanding this practice and hone in on our craft.
