Jason Epstein is the founder of Premier Law Group, PLLC, a personal injury firm with offices across Washington State. He is an adjunct professor at Seattle University School of Law, where he teaches Trial and Pre-Trial Advocacy and Law Firm Entrepreneurship, and the author of four books on Washington personal injury and wrongful death law.
I asked Jason what led him to start his own firm.
"I tried to hang my own shingle right out of law school, and that was a complete disaster," he told me. "I was fortunate that someone took me in and taught me how to practice. After a few years working for others, it became clear to me that I needed to do this myself. I met my now-partner at a CLE, we hit it off, and that was the genesis."
In the years since, Jason has grown the firm through a combination of instinct and intentional structure. Reading Traction and implementing EOS was a turning point.
"It wasn't until I started running EOS that things got a lot more intentional about structure and team building," he said. "That was a key shift for our business."
Jason also runs his firm on a four-day work week. He came across a factory that tested the model and found productivity held steady with fewer hours. He tested the same approach at his firm.
"I pay my staff for a 40-hour work week, but they only work 32 hours," he explained. "Your fifth day is always off. And we have metrics that we track. If people fall behind, the whole group loses that fifth day off. So everybody participates as a team to make sure that everybody keeps it."
Jason leads his team with the same logic: keep it simple, keep it honest. He just shows up as himself.
"I'm just me. I'm always me. There's never any sort of veil or projection I'm putting up with anybody, including my staff," he said. "When I don't know stuff, I'm like, I don't know. We'll figure it out together."
That honesty extends to how he works with his associates. One of the harder shifts as the firm grew was learning to let go of the idea that every decision had to be made the way he would make it.
"When we found peace with our associates was when we got to the point where it doesn't need to be the way we would do it all the time. Even if it's 80% as good, it's still good enough."
"It doesn't need to be the way we would do it all the time."
Are you dealing with a personal injury matter in Washington State? Connect with Jason G Epstein and check out Premier Law Group PLLC.