Free On-Demand Interview
How Lawyers Can Turn Expertise Into Opportunity
Patrick Barone has spent decades becoming one of the country’s leading authorities on DUI defense.
He has written more than 130 articles, teaches other lawyers, speaks extensively, and has authored Defending Drinking Drivers for James Publishing since 2006.
He is also aggressively experimenting with AI.
And he is unusually candid about where it works – and where it doesn’t.
Watch the interview!
🕛 50 Minutes
Deep expertise compounds
Patrick’s five years of intensive study became a book, 130+ articles, speaking and teaching opportunities, referrals, and a reputation as a leading DUI authority.
AI should make you better
Patrick uses different tools for research, writing, training, and courtroom practice – but verifies original sources and keeps the lawyer’s judgment in control.
Growth still needs humans
After pulling an AI intake agent that fell short on accuracy, empathy, and trust, Patrick stresses that more leads only help when people and processes are ready to handle them.
Watch the interview!
Marketing Lab from Grow With Kara
What you’ll learn.
In this on-demand interview, Patrick discusses how deep specialization helped build his reputation, how he uses ChatGPT, Claude and legal research platforms differently, why his firm abandoned an AI intake agent after investing heavily in it, and why his best advice to attorneys still has very little to do with technology: Become exceptionally good at what you do.
You’ll learn:
- Why Patrick considers becoming a genuine expert his highest-return marketing investment
- How specialization led to writing, teaching, speaking, books, referrals, and reputationWhy no single AI platform is the right choice for every legal or business task
- How Patrick divides work among legal research systems, ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, and other tools
- Why attorneys still need to review the original authorities before relying on AI-assisted legal work
- How AI can accelerate learning through training plans, flashcards, quizzes, critiques, and simulated practice
- Why Patrick prefers using AI to strengthen his own thinking instead of outsourcing his voice to it
- What happened after his firm invested in and deployed an AI intake agent
- Why accuracy, empathy, comfort, and trust still make human interaction critical during intake
- Why law firms should think about operational capacity before paying to generate substantially more leads
- How Patrick evaluates marketing channels based on his specific audience rather than assuming every tactic belongs in every firm
- Why continuous learning may still be the most important competitive advantage available to an attorney
Patrick’s experience offers a useful counterweight to the constant stream of new tactics and technologies.
There are more tools available to lawyers than ever.
But Patrick’s approach remains remarkably consistent: Learn deeply. Experiment intelligently. Verify everything. And keep getting better.
See how expertise becomes opportunity.
Watch Patrick Barone explain how specialization built his reputation, how he uses AI to improve his work, and where human judgment still matters.
Host: Kara Prior
James Amplifier, President
Kara Prior is president of James Publishing and co-founder of James Amplifier. She spends most of her time talking to attorneys about how to improve their marketing results.
Kara has a vast marketing and writing background, working for several newspapers and managing Entrepreneur magazine’s 100,000-member social network before joining James Publishing 13 years ago. Kara is co-author of three books: More Referrals from Lawyers, The Most Effective Law Firm Marketing Agencies, and How Small Law Firms Can Obtain More Referrals.
She is the mother of two young boys, and was captain of her Division 1 college swim team.
Guest: Patrick Barone
Attorney, Barone Defense Firm
Patrick T. Barone is the founder of the Barone Defense Firm and a nationally recognized DUI defense attorney with more than three decades of experience. Since 2006, he has authored Defending Drinking Drivers for James Publishing and has published more than 130 articles on trial advocacy, forensic science, and criminal defense.
A longtime author, speaker, and educator, Patrick has built his reputation through deep specialization and continuous learning. Today, he is also actively exploring how attorneys can use AI to strengthen their research, writing, training, and courtroom skills—without sacrificing human judgment.