Law Firm Owner to Marketing Agency Founder feat. Kristen Porter

Aug 26

3 min read

Kristen Porter built a successful niche law firm in Australia, sold 75% of the business, and returned to her first love: marketing. In this episode, Kristen shares how entrepreneurship helped her rediscover her creativity, why lawyers should market according to their personalities, and why choosing one career path doesn't mean you're stuck with it forever.

About This Episode

Background

Kristen Porter didn't grow up dreaming of becoming a lawyer. Marketing was actually her first choice, but her mother strongly encouraged her to try law. Kristen enrolled in both marketing and law at university, discovered she enjoyed her legal studies, and eventually built a career that included private practice, in-house counsel, and owning her own law firm.

"I always wanted to be in marketing," shares Kristen Porter on You Are A Lawyer.

Years later, Kristen's career has come full circle. After building a highly niched Australian law firm serving the real estate industry, she sold 75% of the firm and launched a marketing agency helping law firm owners build, grow, and scale their businesses. She remains involved with her former firm as a partner, overseeing its marketing and stepping back into legal work when needed to support the team's ability to take genuine time off.

Why Law School

Law school wasn't originally Kristen's plan. She wanted to study marketing, while her mother believed she would make a great lawyer. Kristen agreed to try her first law course with every intention of dropping it if she didn't enjoy it. Instead, she liked it enough to continue and completed a double degree in commerce and law.

"I always like to say that I never regret doing anything and I have never regretted doing anything," explains Kristen Porter on Episode 259 of You Are a Lawyer.

Kristen went on to genuinely enjoy practicing law, even though stepping into marketing later gave her a new perspective on just how stressful legal work could be. She still values the education and skill set law gave her, and her legal background now differentiates her in a completely different industry.

What Can You Do with a Law Degree

Kristen's career is proof that earning a law degree doesn't require you to spend the rest of your career practicing law. Legal training gave her skills in writing, strategy, problem solving, and communication that now translate directly into the work she does helping other lawyers market their firms.

"Just because you do go down a certain path doesn't mean you can't change it later," shares Kristen Porter on Episode 259 of You Are a Lawyer.

Kristen also encourages lawyers to avoid letting sunk costs determine their future. A legal career can change as your interests, priorities, and life change. The years spent becoming and working as a lawyer aren't wasted simply because you eventually choose another direction.

Lawyer Side Hustles

Entrepreneurship has been a recurring theme throughout Kristen's career. Her law firm wasn't built like a traditional practice. Alongside custom legal services, the firm developed an online template store, a subscription membership model, courses, and training for real estate agents. Those experiences allowed Kristen to explore the creative and business-building side of herself that had been largely dormant during her earlier legal career.

"I think once I went to law school, the creativity side of my brain just turned off,” Kristen Porter expresses in Episode 259 of You Are a Lawyer.

Building her firm helped turn that creativity back on. Kristen discovered that she loved creating, launching, and marketing businesses, eventually leading her to establish a marketing agency specifically for law firm owners. Instead of leaving her legal experience behind, she found a way to combine it with the career she originally wanted.