I am excited that we're going to launch the new podcast called The Initial Consult, where we talk to real people who have real questions and I give real answers as I would as if it was an initial consult.

So yeah, that's the new plan and you're a part of it. 

 Hello, I'm Emily. And I guess you would call me the producer of Lawfully Ever After and the future initial consult.

We have been working on this concept for a while now, and I think we're really excited to bring it to life.  For anyone who's just hearing about this for the first time, can you give a little bit more details about what the podcast is all about, the initial consult?



So I do consults, and I feel like I'm saying the same thing over and over again, which is normal. And I have a lot of things that I repeat. But the reason I wanted to start this is because I hear so much. I'm hearing advice that is not helping people, period. I'm hearing advice that gives people motivation to continue to litigate and to continue to cause really hard issues in their life, but more importantly, how it is going to affect the kids  in the cases with kids.

So I was driving home from a run and I thought, huh, what if I did consults and I see a lot of comments about free, and if you're getting a true free consult, you're getting what you pay for. I do not do free consults, , I have too much work and I don't need to, frankly.

But , this is my idea to do it so that people can ask questions for free. I'm going to give them real answers. I'm not going to be their lawyer, obviously, but I'm going to say,  what they need to hear and not what they want to hear. And sometimes just,  some boring advice, procedural advice, what to expect, what not to expect, because if you're online and you're on certain links,  I see posts all the time.

What about this? What about that? And all the answers mostly are wrong. So my idea here is to get rid of the wrong answers, help people get out of their own way, and tell you things that you need to hear, not what you want to hear.

 On the flip side, from an outsider's point of view, one, you get to hear some insider type drama that family law attorneys get to hear every day that they don't get to share because of confidentiality rules.

And if you are In a similar situation as to the person who's in the consult, it's almost like an extra consult for you or it can help prepare you for your consult. Maybe you'll hear the questions they ask or the questions Julie's asking back to them. And when you go into your consult, you'll be a little more prepared about the questions you have or maybe what's different about your situation than the one you listen to.

 Julie's  an attorney in Pennsylvania, but I think a lot of what she has to say could apply in a lot of the country. So while law specifically will be for Pennsylvania, I think some of the more, yeah,

That's where I'm licensed. But I feel like a lot of the times where I'm actually most valuable, usually goes down to really custody. And just recently I was on the phone with a client, 

 And she cried and said, I don't think you're fighting for me or something like that. I'm like, no, I'm just not telling you what you want to hear.

I'm telling you what you need to hear. And , those are the types of moments that I think attorneys avoid because they want to make their clients happy. They think their clients are going to only be happy. In that moment, but what you have to really worry about is what's going to happen in the future.

So I don't care if you're in California or Oregon, if you're having a custody issue, the core issue is how you're approaching the conflict with the other person and how it's affecting the kids. So it's, people are people. No matter where you are, whether or not the custody laws have to deal with the same factors, it's going to the core of why people are doing what they're doing and how it's affecting the kids.

So for an example of things we talked about on the podcast before, vacations have come up and like, oh, I'm mad because they took them away for the weekend and didn't tell me they were coming. And regardless of the legal minutia that goes along with that, your advice would likely be the same, the procedure itself might be different in every state, but the outcome would pretty much be the same no matter where you

Yeah, because what I really want to talk about with people is like, it's really what's underlying the conflict because the conflict isn't really the issue, right? Sometimes it's simple legal questions like,  just this morning I get an email about the right of first refusal, which I'm sure is pretty common, which means that if you can't exercise your time, for overnights it should be you give it to the other side, and if they can't then you choose child care.

And,

It was simple, but she didn't like it. She didn't want to hear that he gets the right or first refusal, but , I'm not a therapist and I don't have the time to get to the core, but I'd like to talk to people about  you're not liking this piece because you're mad at him.

You know what I mean? So that's the stuff that I want to get into. And I do do that with clients, but at a lot higher hourly rate than free.  Look, every lawyer is different and,  there are certain things that  three good lawyers could give you different answers on, but I'll be right, but there are certain things that are wrong. 

And my goal is to get people on the right track so that when they do go through this process, hire a lawyer, they're hiring someone that's going to take them moving forward as opposed to backwards. And I see a lot of cases and a lot of attorneys who take things backwards. , and that's because either they're too emotional.

I was walking with a judge yesterday who I can't appear in front of. So,  no conflict.  But that judge said, attorneys are way too emotional. I'm like, Hmm.

mhmm,

And. My goal is to help people see that,  emotion is important, but you got to take it out of these moments as best as you can.

I think also if you're an especially anxious person, like maybe I am a little bit, the idea of going to a consult could be really scary in itself. , I don't know, is the attorney gonna yell at me for doing something wrong? Are they gonna tell me, well, why did you do that? That was stupid. Are they gonna tell me I'm a bad parent because I did let them have Chick fil A last night?

Dad's yelling at me, but  I think will give you like an inside look to also maybe ease your anxieties about what it really is involved to visit an attorney, especially if you're just in those  early stages where you're still considering, , do I want this? Do I not want this?

 It's not uncommon, probably more common than not, they sit down  and I sit down,  what's going on? And then they just start to cry,  understandably so. And I usually say, look, this hour, you're going to get to have information.

Information is power. And you're going to feel better when you leave than you do right now. And  there's an exception to every statement for sure, but  I can't remember someone leaving that did not feel better. Even if what I told them wasn't what they wanted to hear,  they at least heard it, they dealt with it,  and, , my advice is okay,  don't avoid it, face it head on.

 I think it is a good point. I didn't think about it that way, but you get a little preview. And like you said, there's a lot of common issues. So if you hear one about someone in custody that has a similar fact pattern, well, you're going to get an idea.



, we'll cover a lot of different topics. We need people we, we're hoping to do 12 episodes prior to launching it. So , this is not going to be out next week.

We're going to be hoping to record, but I do have one of my partners  who's a criminal defense attorney on board. So if there's criminal issues Meaning you have a criminal case, you know, DUI, whatever,  he's going to be able to come on and give the same type of advice because, yeah, a lot of people like to hear about  their interest in, , family law or whatever,  but there's also other issues going on.

So that's something that we can add to it once we get the ball up and rolling.

 If there's other topics that you think would be interesting  Let us know, lawyerjulie55 at gmail. com because Julie has connections to probably almost every kind of attorney out there.

, who would be good candidates if they're listening to this and they're like, Oh, but I already have an attorney.

Oh, but  I'm not in the beginning of my divorce journey. I'm not in the beginning of my custody journey. My kids are already 15 and I just have  a quick question.

 Anybody can, I mean, information is power.

And it doesn't have to be a full half an hour to be honest.  I have three questions and I can answer those three questions. Sometimes I have clients who set up a meeting and based on the emails. I go into the meeting and I go, okay, , you obviously have a lot of questions.

Fire away. So it doesn't have to be complex. , it can be complex., it is anonymous. No one will know who you are. I have to know because I have to run a conflict check. That's the rules of professional responsibility, but only I know no one else will know. Some cases are really specific that.

, someone, you know, from the school might have heard, they might think it's you, but you know what? At the end of the day,  there's how many millions of people in our country, 300 million or something ridiculous like that. I assure you, most people are just thinking they know who it is because a lot of these things happen over and over again.

 We will use a fake name. Yes, we will explore AI to disguise voices and We do plan to video record, but you would not be part of the video.

It would be just Julie on the video.

 And you. 

and me if I'm part of the conversation.

You always are.  Mm hmm.



It's completely internal. It's so that I don't talk to somebody who somebody in my office has on the other side.  That's why we have to know that. No one else will know. It's sometimes a concern, even when people call for a normal consult. But again, , it's protect everybody.

And.  I take the rules of professional responsibility very seriously, so I'm going to follow those.  You know how many times I hear what I call the shaggy defense? It wasn't me. Right? Like  that song, you just, it wasn't me. So again

No one will be able to

it.

No one will

If something comes up in the conversation  if a town name comes up, if a school name comes up, we will either take that out or  we'll Put a beep over it or whatever.  There's no need for that. No one needs to know who you are for the purpose of what the podcast is trying to do.



And it's not live, 



it will all be very,  sensitively done.  

And honestly, I would like to be selective in who we talk to. So , the more people that. Reach out and we can make sure that we get questions that are going to be Helpful to everybody and nice variety. Yeah, so This

yeah, so,

interesting

why don't you let everyone know how they can apply to be on the podcast, if this sounds interesting.  How do I let the podcast know that I would like to be a guest?

So, JuliePottsESQ. com And when you go to that, there's a link to apply to be a participant. I am working on a newsletter. 

Yeah, the form just asks some basic questions. It asks your name, your last name, the opposing party's name. Those are things that Julie needs to do to do the conflict check.

Those are the most important. And then just give us a little bit of backstory so we have some sort of idea of what you're looking for, what kind of questions that you're looking for, so we have some sort of context while we're going. sorting through the applications. And then  if we decide to move forward with you, then there are some legal forms for you to fill out to protect you and your confidentiality.

, so in any event,  this is our project for 2025, and we'll keep you updated.

 Even if you're not sure, just shoot us an email if you have any questions. Again, it's lawyerjulie55 at gmail.

com. The website is juliepottsesq. com. That will be updated with all sorts of things. But right now it is

the page, the fill in. Just

page for the initial consult. But Julie's got a lot of stuff going on, a lot of content, a lot of blog posts, a lot of events coming up. She's a busy person.

do I sleep? I don't know. That's a good question.

I'm not sure when you're sleeping, but here we are adding another project and Lawfully Ever After will not be going away. We want to keep keep this going for a little bit of a different style. You know, no third parties, more just Julie's musings on Different topics and things that come up. 

Alright, hopefully I see some of you on the screen soon and we'll get some of your questions answered and hopefully make everybody feel better because that's the goal of every initial consult that you walk out feeling better. So let me help you feel better.