She's an Engineer Running an AI First Law Firm | Main Street AI Podcast

Their Clients' Homes Made Them Sick. This Firm Takes On the Landlords Nobody Else Will. Carmen Paz is the COO and CFO of Just Well Law, a boutique contingency law firm in Texas that represents families sickened by toxic environments, primarily mold in rental housing, dorms, and apartment complexes. Carmen isn't an attorney; she's an electrical engineer with a master's in engineering who was hired as the firm's first business person to run operations, finance, and lead an AI-first technology transformation. The firm was founded by Christina Baer, an attorney who started the practice after her own family was made sick by mold and she couldn't find a lawyer willing to take her case. In this episode, you'll discover: ✅ The founding story: an attorney whose own family got sick from mold, couldn't find representation, and built the firm she could never find ✅ Why Carmen says bringing a lawsuit against a negligent landlord is "a brave act" and the only mechanism in the US to enforce housing safety standards that no certification board checks ✅ How the firm bears 100% of litigation costs on contingency, connects clients with specialized doctors, and even arranges medical lending for clients who can't afford treatment ✅ The remarkable metric that past clients have become employees because they were so moved by the care they received ✅ How the firm built a "Christina voice" by feeding the founder's client emails into ChatGPT, creating a consistent tone across all communications that is plain-spoken, caring, and strong ✅ Their transition from ChatGPT to Claude in the last four weeks, and why Carmen calls it "a game changer" because it moved from helping write faster to actually performing tasks and creating agents ✅ How non-technical attorneys and paralegals have already built their own AI agents for specific workflow tasks within a month of adoption ✅ Using AI to generate opposing counsel's likely arguments so the team can strengthen their own case before trial ✅ Why intake calls at Just Well Law sometimes last one to two hours because the team prioritizes listening to families describe what happened to them ✅ The growth challenge of a contingency firm where cases take two to four years to resolve, and how Carmen is analyzing case phases to shave days and weeks off cycle times ✅ How some of the firm's best reviews come from potential clients they couldn't represent, simply because of the care shown during intake Connect with Just Well Law: Website: justwelllaw.com 🎙️ About Main Street AI: Exploring how AI creates opportunities for traditional businesses to grow and scale while maintaining humanity. Subscribe for conversations about AI and its transformational impact on real world businesses. ➡️ To learn more about implementing custom AI solutions for your business, schedule a free consultation: https://satoricoach.io #MainStreetAI #LegalTech #AIForLawyers #JustWellLaw #ContingencyLaw #LawFirmGrowth #EnvironmentalLaw #AIFirst