NACA’s Business Development eCourse 101: Build a Successful Consumer Law Practice

Your success as a small law firm is just as dependent on your skills as a litigator as it is on your ability to successfully manage your small business. It’s time to change your mindset from being an attorney to an entrepreneur.

Learn how to build the business systems to set your practice up for sustainable success. This brand new eCourse helps you organize your priorities, establishing goals and creating an achievable action plan.

The eCourse includes:

• Nine webinars given by experts in the field
•  Instructional materials, including videos, handouts and readings

Please note that this course is available at no cost to former and current federal attorneys. Email [email protected] to learn more.

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What You Will Learn
• How to align your finances to achieve your firm goals
• How to define your target audience for marketing efforts
• How to create a sales system
• How to create an intake system
• How to optimize your office workflows and integrate AI solutions

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Course Topics: 

The Cases: Selecting Winners

Learn how to identify the types of cases you want to accept and determine which cases to decline.

Instructor: Christina Roseman

Marketing 101: Who Are Your Clients?

Determine who you want your client(s) to be and create a communications and marketing plan to reach these clients that conveys how you could assist them.

Instructor: Russell Dombrow

Sales: Turning Interest into Intake

Learn how to develop a pitch system that will turn prospectives into clients.

Instructor: Michael Cardoza

Optimizing Your Intake System

Learn how to optimize your intake system once you have your ideal client and a case you want to take.

Instructors: Christine Anderson Ferraris and Melissa Huelsman

Workflow Optimization 101

Learn how to create systems to serve your clients with top-notch representation without burning out yourself and your team.

Instructor: Dave Maxfield

Using AI to Increase Optimization

Learn how to identify specific areas where AI can add value (e.g., document review, legal research, client communication.

Instructors: Sarah Ritchie and Subhan Tariq

Using Financial Metrics to Drive Your Goals

Discuss what finances you need to make your vision a reality.

Instructors: Suzanne Iazetta and Matthew Vocci

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Course Instructors

Michael F. “Mike” Cardoza is a California Consumer Financial Protection Attorney who helps people regain control of their financial lives by getting the upper hand on creditors, debt collectors and credit reporting agencies. Trained as a trial attorney in the U.S. Marine Corps, Mike Cardoza has tried countless cases in federal and state courtrooms. Mike founded The Cardoza Law Corporation in order to share the truth about consumer credit and finance with clients and to be their “partner in prosperity.”

For over eighteen years, founder Christine A. Ferraris has worked relentlessly in the legal arena to help those hurt by fraud. As a business owner herself for most of those eighteen years, she understands the challenges small-business owners face.

Melissa A. Huelsman is the principal of Law Offices of Melissa A. Huelsman, P.S. Her practice involves plaintiffs’ civil litigation in the areas of predatory lending and mortgage loan servicing, foreclosure defense, fraud, and foreclosure rescue scams. Ms. Huelsman is a founder and vice chair of the board of directors, Northwest Consumer Law Center, a nonprofit dedicated to the representation of consumers on financial issues and she sits on the board of CENTS, financial literacy nonprofit. She was named King County Bar Association’s Pro Bono Lawyer of the Year in 2006 and was previously recognized by VLS as one of its Volunteers of the Year. She has been interviewed by foreign and domestic journalists regarding predatory lending, mortgage loan servicing, foreclosure rescue scams, and wrongful foreclosures, including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Business Week, and others. Ms. Huelsman received her B.A. in English from California State University at Fullerton in 1993 and her J.D. from Southwestern University School of Law in Los Angeles in 1997.

Suzanne Iazzetta is the Directing Attorney for the Consumer Law Unit. Suzanne is also an adjunct law professor at University of California at Irvine, teaching a course/clinic in Consumer Law.  Suzanne has been practicing since 2005, and is licensed to practice law in New York, New Jersey, North Carolina, and California.  She previously clerked for Judge Katharine S. Hayden of the United States District Court, District of New Jersey, and practiced civil litigation and bankruptcy at Lowenstein Sandler PC in New Jersey for many years. While at Lowenstein Sandler, Suzanne was granted a fellowship to work at Legal Services of New Jersey at the Newark, NJ office, which re-sparked her interest in working in Public Interest. While at LSNJ, Suzanne worked in the housing unit, assisting low-income clients obtain section 8 vouchers and defending voucher holders against HUD’s attempts to terminate the vouchers. Some of the areas of law that Suzanne has worked on in her career are consumer law, bankruptcy (business and personal), housing/eviction matters, foreclosure defense, FDCPA, FCRA, TCPA, and UDAAP claims, and debt collection defense. Suzanne also was a staff attorney for a chapter 7 bankruptcy trustee in New Jersey, and has had her own solo practice since 2012.

Dave Maxfield runs a boutique consumer protection practice in Columbia, South Carolina. He has represented thousands of individual consumers in cases against banks, credit reporting agencies, and insurance companies, obtaining a verdict of over $480,000 in a furnisher credit reporting case exclusive of fees, numerous six-figure settlements, and in 2019 concluded a vehicle churning class action with total settlement value exceeding $21 million. A self-described “Systems Geek,” Dave became obsessed years ago with how law firms might use Lean methods and technologies pioneered by the manufacturing world to run more profitable practices. In 2018, with co-author Larry Port, Dave wrote the ABA top-selling book, The Lean Law Firm, a manual for translating lean and agile methods into a simple, month-by-month template that law firms can use to become more profitable. Besides co-hosing The Lean Law Firm podcast, Dave consults with other law firms to help them transform their practices through Lean methods.  As an Adjunct Professor at the University of South Carolina School of Law, Dave teaches both Consumer Protection Law and “The Lean Law Firm Lab” classes.

Sarah Ritchie serves as the Paralegal and Office Manager of John Steinkamp & Associates, bringing over a decade of experience, particularly in lawsuits under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA). As the firm’s national footprint has expanded, Sarah has taken on a liaison role, coordinating with law firms and clients across the country, bridging complex legal communication with a tech savvy approach. An innovator in legal technology, she recently spoke at the Consumer Rights and Litigation Conference on the ethics of AI tools in litigation. Sarah combines her extensive legal expertise with cutting-edge technological solutions, helping her team navigate the evolving landscape of legal practice.

Christina Gill Roseman, Esq. is the founding attorney of Roseman Law Firm, PLLC, where she represents consumers in the areas of dealer fraud, lemon law and breach of warranty.  Ms. Roseman has successfully tried numerous cases against vehicle manufacturers and dealerships, including a verdict in 2019 against Winnebago, a 2021 verdict against Mercedes and a 2020 verdict against Kia.  She is the Chair of the Allegheny County Bar Association Civil Litigation Section Court Rules Committee and is a member of the invitation-only Academy of Trial Lawyers of Allegheny County.  Ms. Roseman was the 2010-2012 Co-President of the Women’s Bar Association of Western Pennsylvania and the Co-Chair of the CLE Committee for the WBA from 2012 to 2017.  Ms. Roseman is the West Virginia state NACA Co-chair.

Subhan Tariq regularly handles complex commercial litigation, with particular experience in consumer finance litigation in individual and class action cases in the areas of federal and state consumer protection laws. Mr. Tariq has successfully helped thousands of consumers exercise their consumer rights against large institutional banks, debt collectors, and consumer reporting agencies. Subhan also consults with other lawyers and law firms on blockchain automation, working towards a streamlined efficient network of client files, document automation, and cost-effective workflows.

Matt Vocci is a partner at Santoni, Vocci & Ortega, LLC. The majority of his work relates in some way to housing. He represents tenants against landlords and property managers on a variety of cases, such as consumer protection and consumer debt collection issues, habitability, Fair Housing Act violations, illegal evictions, and personal injuries. Matt has served as class counsel on several class actions, including a recent case that resolved favorably for tenants against a large, out-of-state property management company. He is a member of the MSBA’s Delivery of Legal Services Committee Council and the ACLU of Maryland Committee on Litigation and Legal Priorities. Matt deeply believes in Santoni, Vocci & Ortega’s mission to provide high-quality legal representation to low-income Marylanders. He graduated cum laude from Temple University, Beasley School of Law in 2006.

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NACA would also like to thank the following members of the eCourse Development team: Ron Burdge, Michael Cardoza, Ian Chowdury, Russell Dombrow, Christine Anderson Ferraris, Melissa Huelsman, Suzanne Iazetta, Sarah Ritchie and Joseph Sternberg.