How Jeff Hughes Scaled Sterling Lawyers with Fixed Fees, Offshoring, and Innovation (Ep. 120)
Update: 2025-06-24
Description
Ever wondered how to break free from the billable hour grind and truly scale your law firm? On today’s episode, host Darren Wurz sits down with Jeff Hughes, founder of Sterling Lawyers, who shared exactly how he built a 100% fixed fee family law firm, leveraged offshore talent, and embraced innovation to transform his business. We talked about aligning client and firm interests, the power of transparent pricing, and why documenting your processes is essential if you want to grow—or even exit—your practice. If you’re ready to build a scalable, profitable, and future-ready law firm, this episode is a must-listen!
Jeff shares:
How Sterling Lawyers transitioned to a fixed fee model?
The top challenges law firms face when switching to a fixed fee model.
Why Sterling Lawyers offshores many roles to the Philippines?
How to effectively train your team and build scalable processes
The mindset shift from technician to business owner.
Resources:
* Book: Smuggler by Roger Reaves
Connect with Darren Wurz:
* Schedule a Call with Darren
* The Lawyer Millionaire Founders Network
* The Lawyer Millionaire: The Complete Guide for Attorneys on Maximizing Wealth, Minimizing Taxes, and Retiring with Confidence by Darren Wurz
* LinkedIn: Darren P. Wurz
* Join The Lawyer Millionaire Founders Network and Book Club for Free
* The Lawyer Millionaire Money Mastery Assessment
* Financial Advisor Decision Checklist
Connect with Jeff Hughes:
* Linkedin: Jeff Sterling Hughes
* Website: J. Sterling Hughes
* Website: Sterling Lawyers
About Jeff Hughes:
We operate Sterling Law daily with the conviction that we must empower clients enduring a family legal crisis, which are some of the most painful, bewildering moments of life.”
When someone utters the word “divorce,” specific images pop to mind. Expensive and never-ending bills, uncaring lawyers, and drawn out cases ending in heartache, to name just a few.
But why? Family law is supposed to be about serving people during some of the difficult moments of their life when they need a helping hand the most.
Jeff Hughes chose law as the platform to impact his community and the families in it. After working as a lawyer for many years, he saw that the status quo was broken, and radical changes had to be made.
As a co-founder of Sterling Law Offices, he turned his focus to obliterating the archaic family law “old school” system.
First, and this may strike you as crazy radical – Jeff does not want you as a client of the firm. He would much rather live in a world where families never broke apart. Sadly, that is not reality. The truth is that good, loving people find themselves in a family legal crisis.
Consequently, Jeff’s core belief is simple: “When people in my community find themselves in a family legal crisis, we desperately want to serve them. They need us. So, we are obsessed with creating a modern firm that focuses on them and their families. I have this unshakable conviction, that if we build a client-centered firm, we will be wildly successful. If we empower clients, we will dominate.
Jeff shares:
How Sterling Lawyers transitioned to a fixed fee model?
The top challenges law firms face when switching to a fixed fee model.
Why Sterling Lawyers offshores many roles to the Philippines?
How to effectively train your team and build scalable processes
The mindset shift from technician to business owner.
Resources:
* Book: Smuggler by Roger Reaves
Connect with Darren Wurz:
* Schedule a Call with Darren
* The Lawyer Millionaire Founders Network
* The Lawyer Millionaire: The Complete Guide for Attorneys on Maximizing Wealth, Minimizing Taxes, and Retiring with Confidence by Darren Wurz
* LinkedIn: Darren P. Wurz
* Join The Lawyer Millionaire Founders Network and Book Club for Free
* The Lawyer Millionaire Money Mastery Assessment
* Financial Advisor Decision Checklist
Connect with Jeff Hughes:
* Linkedin: Jeff Sterling Hughes
* Website: J. Sterling Hughes
* Website: Sterling Lawyers
About Jeff Hughes:
We operate Sterling Law daily with the conviction that we must empower clients enduring a family legal crisis, which are some of the most painful, bewildering moments of life.”
When someone utters the word “divorce,” specific images pop to mind. Expensive and never-ending bills, uncaring lawyers, and drawn out cases ending in heartache, to name just a few.
But why? Family law is supposed to be about serving people during some of the difficult moments of their life when they need a helping hand the most.
Jeff Hughes chose law as the platform to impact his community and the families in it. After working as a lawyer for many years, he saw that the status quo was broken, and radical changes had to be made.
As a co-founder of Sterling Law Offices, he turned his focus to obliterating the archaic family law “old school” system.
First, and this may strike you as crazy radical – Jeff does not want you as a client of the firm. He would much rather live in a world where families never broke apart. Sadly, that is not reality. The truth is that good, loving people find themselves in a family legal crisis.
Consequently, Jeff’s core belief is simple: “When people in my community find themselves in a family legal crisis, we desperately want to serve them. They need us. So, we are obsessed with creating a modern firm that focuses on them and their families. I have this unshakable conviction, that if we build a client-centered firm, we will be wildly successful. If we empower clients, we will dominate.
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