On this episode of Retained, Scott Bishop talks with Charles Hatley, CEO of Melone Hatley, P.C. His wife, Rebecca Melone, started the firm as a solo practice in Reston, Virginia in 2014. Today it has nine offices across Virginia, South Carolina, Texas and Florida, doing only family law and estate planning. The firm was ranked #3 on the Law Firm 500 and has made the Inc. 5000 three times. Charles talks about what growth costs, the numbers he watches and how the firm uses AI.
Key takeaways
- Watch the cash in the bank. Charles says the first lesson was that profit and loss reports don't mean much on their own. What lets the firm grow is the cash in the bank.
- Track retains first. Retains are the number he checks every day. Each week he looks at total cost per acquisition and the share of gross revenue spent on marketing.
- Hire real data help and test on purpose. The firm hired a true data analyst early. That helped them see where their clients came from and where to spend. They keep a separate test budget, run each idea for about three months and track it, for example with a separate phone number on a booklet.
- He bet on the map. Charles noticed his eyes went straight to the Google map in search results, so the firm put time into showing up there. He also asked AI tools how to show up in their answers and followed the steps.
- A clear line on AI. His firm uses AI for marketing work like content calendars. Charles says he has built "a brick wall" between marketing and the legal side, and AI stops before a caller shares their situation. This is his firm's own policy and view, not ethics guidance.
- Get out of production, then sales. His advice to owners of small firms: plan how fast you can step away from doing the legal work, then from running consultations, and only spend on help when it pays back.
In his words
"Growth burns cash."
"The only thing I care about is retains."
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