Living The Red Life - How a Corporate Lawyer Is Reinventing Legal Fees

Episode Date: June 6, 2026

What happens when a corporate lawyer with nearly three decades of experience decides the industry's biggest business model is broken?In this episode of Living The Red Life, Pamela Zimlin shares why she walked away from traditional law firm structures to build a different kind of legal practice. Drawing from years in multinational firms, private equity, and corporate finance, she reveals how fixed-fee legal services are changing client relationships, improving transparency, and creating a more human-centered approach to business law.Pamela discusses entrepreneurship, leadership, mergers and acquisitions, and the courage required to challenge industry norms. She also shares lessons learned from building Corporate Strategic Solutions, hiring her first employee, and creating a business centered on value rather than billable hours.Whether you're building a company, leading a team, or looking to disrupt an outdated industry, this conversation delivers practical insights on innovation, client experience, and redefining success.Key Takeaways:• Challenge industry norms when they no longer serve clients.• Build businesses around value, not outdated pricing models.• Word-of-mouth remains one of the most powerful forms of marketing.• Hiring the right people creates leverage and accelerates growth.• Success comes from aligning business decisions with personal values.Notable Quotes:• "I'm trying to change the way law is practiced."• "The client pays for the value of the work, not how long it takes."• "I could build something and I could build something differently."• "I would rather not make money and work with a really good client."• "Word of mouth is absolutely still the best form of marketing for me."Connect with Rudy Mawer:LinkedInInstagramFacebookTwitter

lawyers billed to the point one. So that's every six minutes. And sometimes I just wanted to have a conversation, an authentic conversation with my clients. But you couldn't do that when you're billing by the hour. I hated it. I'm trying to change the way law is practiced. Pamela Zimlin is a strategic, visionary, results-driven entrepreneur and founder of corporate strategic solutions. Through her expertise, she helps organizations and leaders build clarity, strengthen execution, and drive sustainable business growth. I only practice on fixed fee models. The client tells me the scope of the work and we decide upfront how much I'm going to charge and how much they're going to pay.

And the client pays for the value of the work, not how long it takes. Some lawyers will say, oh, that'll never work. And I did a lot of soul searching and I realized that I could build something and I could build something differently. Rurald. And so... My name's Rudy Moore, host of Living the Red Life podcast and I'm here to change the way you see your life in your earpiece every single week.

If you're ready to start living the Red Life, ditch the Blue Pill. Take the Red Pill. Join me in Wonderland and change your life. Welcome back to another episode of the Living Your Legacy podcast. For Inside Success, I am Regiottierrez. Joining us here on the Red Life set is Pamela Zimbelin, a corporate lawyer apparently, and she's fresh off of filming her episode of Legacy Makers. One of the many shows that we produce here at Insight Success, Pamela. How was it? How'd it go?

It was really fun. Was it? Yeah, actually. Right on. Are you often in front of camera talking about? yourself? No. I've spoken on panels before and never anything like this before. Right on. I'm sure being a corporate lawyer, you don't get a lot of spotlight attention on you or maybe you do? Not really. Okay. No, I mean, I speak to clients a lot. I speak to other lawyers a lot. Like I said,

I've spoken on panels before. But no, I've never done anything like this. Right on. I think you're doing great. You're doing fantastic. Thank you so much for your grace. What will we learn about you in your legacy maker's episode? I am trying to change the way corporate law is practiced. Gotcha. I think that, so I don't know if you know anything about how clients pay for legal services, but everything is based on the billable hour.

Gotcha. And a lot of times lawyers billed to the point one. So that's every six minutes. Wow. So you call your lawyer, you ask a question. It takes five minutes. you get a bill for point one. If it takes 10 minutes, you get a bill for point two.

They read an email. You get a bill for point one, point two. They respond to your email. You get a bill that says read and responded to email. Write the invoice. I hated it. I hated it. I felt like my children would call me and I was at the office and I would look at the clock and that was point two.

That was 12 minutes. Oh, my God, I just wasted 12 minutes of my time. So Rudy doesn't need to hear this. He's going to be like, gee, what about the lawyers are doing that? He's going to create a point system. If Rudy gets and listens to this, he's going to go mad. Well, that is what I heard often. And I hated it.

And I felt like my clients hated it. And sometimes I just wanted to have a conversation, authentic conversation with my clients. But you couldn't do that when you're billing by the hour. Yeah. So I decided when I launched my firm this past January that I was going to do it differently. Wow.

And so I only practice on fixed fee models. So the client tells me the scope of the work, and we decide upfront how much I'm going to charge and how much they're going to pay. And the client pays for the value of the work, not how long it takes. Right. That's kind of like how I practice my art and folks pay me to create art for them. It's right about the experience and my energy onto said product as opposed to, well, I'm going to charge.

It took me. Right. Exactly. Exactly. Were other lawyers kind of like holding of torches and forks at your doorstep going, what are you doing? You're changing things. How are we going to make a living here? Like, what happened?

What was the feedback from your constituents? I really haven't heard much from other people other than some lawyers will say, oh, that'll never work. Others will say, I wish I could do it, but I can't. My overhead's too high. I need. But clients. Absolutely love it. Absolutely.

Absolutely love it. It's just certainty. Yeah. And that's in that consistency and certainty. And especially when you're trying to call someone to do your taxes or someone protect you in a court of law, it's really tricky. It's not easy. It's not fun. It's all left a mystery.

Have you made the onboarding process or the free discovery call, if you will, fun? Well, usually most of my clients either were previous clients or got to me through word of mouth. I haven't done any marketing at all whatsoever. And when I tell them what I'm doing, the response is, I love that. Right. I love that. Cool. And how does this work?

Do you click on an ad? What is the portal to get to you? What is this new way of entry? Mostly somebody gives a client my cell phone number or my email address and so what he sends me an email. And that's it. There is a romance of the old-fashioned way of like word of mouth, like the energy just processing through reality. It's like if people work with you, it's for a reason. Have you found that the quality of your clients have ascended or have descended?

Like, what do you find quality clients? Definitely ascended. And I'm being really choosy about who I work with and what matters I take. And I think I've been fortunate enough that I can do that. I would rather not make money and work with a really good client or wait for a really good client than make a lot of money and work with jerks. I'm just not, I'm not doing that. At this point in my life, not doing that. Do you feel like this was always your calling?

Did you always know when you first took the bar or did your first case? I don't know how this works. Did you always know? Transaction. Deals. Deals, transactions, the guff. Did you always know that you were going to end up where you are now and ascend? to the next level and create your own league?

No idea. It's sort of just evolved. Really? I practiced in big firms. I practiced in boutique firms. I went in house for a little while and worked as general counsel. But I don't know. I just, when my role as general counsel kind of transitioned out, I had the space and

the time to think about what was next for me. Sure. And I did a lot of soul searching. And I realized that I could build something and I could build something differently. Right on. And so I did. What do you tell to folks that are skeptical, like right when you said that I immediately came up with a dumb joke, like, lawyers have souls? Like, what do you, how do you tell to folks that are skeptical and have no idea what a lawyer really does?

Well, I practice in a very, you know, specific field. I do mergers and acquisitions in corporate finance. So I put business deals together. Exilarating. So I think. I think they are. I don't go to a court. I don't go to court.

Okay. So I really just put business stills together. So with the type of law I practice, I think it lends itself perfectly to fixed fees. Got it. But my contemporaries bill by the hour. And transactions can rack up hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees really quickly. Oh, sure. And I'm just not doing that.

Good for you. I got to ask, I worked at PlayStation for a while. Take a shot every time I mentioned that. We did the big keynote events, and there would be a lot of partnerships. Electronic Arts and PlayStation announces the new EA game, the baseball game. A lot of these contracts were being signed moments they took the stage. And they would walk out. What is really happening backstage?

Because you said, you don't see courts. I'm like, oh, mergers and acquisitions. I'm like, maybe she can help me out here. Because when a development house is working on this game and they're about to take the stage, Microsoft is going to knock and go, no, no, no, we'll give you three times more. It just announced Call of Duty on our stage. Those deals are happening in real time backstage before the execs take the stage. What?

How, where, why? How does this drama happen? I would imagine there's a lot going on behind the scenes first. Oh, it's video games. Yes. To get to that point. But there's probably a lot of people negotiating behind the scenes and in the back room arguing over this word or that word. Right.

I believe it. But I almost feel like they're almost like trading team. players in the middle of an actual draft while it's happening, they're actually playing the game before, you know, like it's all happening in real time. How often are you in these scenes of controlled chaos because that signature is what matters? So mostly not. It depends. Sometimes deals are on some deals need to be fast tracked for various reasons. So I have a client that needs to close a deal relatively quickly based on, because it's a very seasonal business. So they have to close before the next season because of revenues and expenses and things like that.

So something that will need to be fast-tracked. So you're going to have to work quicker. You're going to have to be more responsive and be willing to adapt to the situation you're given. Right on. How much of it is the human experience? Like authentically you imprinting yourself in your career, your job. Always. Always and forever, huh? Yeah. Well, right now it's only it's only me. I just hired my first employee. So yeah, she just started last Monday. A great, great segue to a great question. How does one hire their first employee? Knowing what you know and how you know it and why you know it, how do you hire a first employee? She and I used to work together and we were a great team. We closed together. We closed probably over 40 transactions when we were working for our other company.

And when we both left that company, I always said to her, I would love to work with you again. And she said, I would love to work with you again. And then just the timing of it worked out perfectly. And so she just started on Monday. Right on. What are her first action items? How does? She's, I mean, she's been amazing.

Right on. So she, her title is Transactions Manager. And she's really helping me. She'll, she's keeping me organized. She's just really, in her first week, she did more for me than, then I could have even imagined on the back end. Wow. Is that something you were looking for when you were hiring or you just knew her skill set would complement you so well?

How did that work? The latter for sure. Right, right on. Very cool. I could have waited to bring somebody on because right now I just would have missed out on all the organizations and the skill that she brings to the table. It's so helpful to me. And it allows me to really focus on the deals and the drafting of the documents. and things like that if she can handle the back.

Right on. Tell me your day-to-day, what's it like for you today? Do you have your daily morning affirmations or do your journal? Do you stare yourself in the mirror and say, you're a winner? What is your, what are your superstitions? I don't know. I mean, I am really proud of what I built. Yeah, I'm glad for you.

But I don't know. I think I just get up every day. I work out. I focus on my job, my family. and... That's amazing. Yeah. Very cool.

How can folks learn more? Actually, before we ask that question, I want people to know, what is the name of your company? How can people find you? And how can they discover more about you? My company is called Corporate Strategic Solutions. Website is, because old school, so you've got to find me on the web. It's corpstratogenic.com, C-O-R-P, Strategic.com. Check out my website and see what I'm doing.

And if anybody needs help with a transaction, I would love to talk to you. I was just going to say, now that you're changing things up, do you feel like you're going to change the way you market yourself? Or do you feel like you're now to need to market yourself? What is your plan of action? Word of mouth is absolutely still the best form of marketing for me because I'm instantly validated. So, you know, being by myself in my practice,

I mean, right now the firm is me and my colleague right now. Right on, right on. So if somebody comes to me by word of mouth, then I've been validated. Not that I need validation, But there are a lot of lawyers out there. Yeah, yeah. So, but I'm trying to do something different. And I think the response has been really, really positive.

Right on. I got to ask, why do you feel like you were chosen to be a legacy maker? I'm trying to change the way laws practiced. Yeah, yeah. And I'm doing something that people really aren't doing. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You will change the way laws are practiced and you will change the way legacies are written. How about that?

I love it. You're welcome. Thank you. I appreciate that. Oh, Pamela, with such a joy. Thank you so much for your time and energy. I know you've got to jump on a train and head north. Again, what's your website again?

www.com. corpstrategic.com. Pamela, thank you so much time for your time and energy. That concludes another amazing episode of the Living Your Legacy podcast, the Red Life edition. For Inside Success, that's Pamela. And I'm Ray Gutierrez, and we are Inside Success.