We recently connected with Lisa Pittman and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Lisa, thanks for joining us today. Let’s talk about innovation. What’s the most innovative thing you’ve done in your career?

Create a practice area out of thin air, colleagues tell me. In 2015, I was a 15 year commercial litigation forever associate burned out and beaten down by a variety of life events. I read about the Texas Compassionate Use Act for cannabis for epilepsy, and what the lives of these families were like, and the treatment choices they were having to make. I could empathize with these mothers; my daughter had juvenile epilepsy, and I had to choose between constant monitoring or organ damaging drugs, and between two doctors who gave conflicting diagnoses and treatment plans. The fact that a plant could not be used as a tool lit the fire under me to do something about it. Shortly thereafter, I embarked upon a new calling that merged my passion (children’s health) with my profession (attorney), which involved government affairs, regulatory, corporate, and litigation work – all centered in the nascent cannabis industry. At the time, only two states had adult use, and there were only a few activist lawyers just gaining prominence as “marijuana” law firms. Being in Texas, medieval times, the decision to pursue this was quite gutsy. When I posted about cannabis on LinkedIn, people would disconnect with me. Things have come a long way, acceptance wise, but Texas’ laws have not progressed much. I spent two years in Colorado to immerse myself in a state where it is legal to learn those issues and how to solve them. I can say from observation there that it’s not the same when legalization just falls in your lap right after law school. It is still a crusade in Texas, and creating a practice area in a prohibitionist state, on my own dime without any backing, that can now support me in my own law firm, is the most innovative thing I have done in my professional career. Not only was I motivated by the therapeutic benefits, I saw that with no leader in the legal industry yet, I as a woman could become an early expert and authority if I dove in and stayed the course. I have since been named a Nonresident Fellow of Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy’s Drug Policy Program, appointed to the Texas Department of Agriculture Industrial Hemp Advisory Council, elected Chair of the American Bar Association’s Cannabis Law & Policy Committee, named the “First Lady of Texas Cannabis Law,” awarded state and national Trailblazer recognitions, and have been able to start my own law firm, Pittman Legal.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your background and context?

I am an attorney with a 25 year background in commercial litigation. I got into this because as an English major, I did not want to be a teacher! Now that I have many cannabis industry clients, I am doing a lot of corporate work because they are start ups. When I litigated, I worked at numerous different firms in different areas of law. So, now I know a lot about a lot of topics and how they will end up in court which has made me a very effective contract drafter and negotiator. It is great to be able to broadly advise and protect clients, and with my two years spent in Colorado, I have a depth of experience and knowledge in what I am doing for which there is simply no substitute. I am proud of how diligently I have pursued knowledge in the cannabis practice area to now have a comprehensive business and regulatory mindset, based on experience in multiple states and several countries. As far as my brand, my brand is just me, glamor, and devoted customer service.

How do you keep in touch with clients and foster brand loyalty?

My brand is centered around personalized customer service. I am an attorney because I want to help people succeed, and I care about each client, whether it is a $5,000 case or a $500,000 case, and I want to make sure they know their needs are important to me. I socialize with clients when I can, and some have become friends. My clients see that I am who I am, and there is no contrived distant persona that is projected–that authenticity makes a difference. So part of the loyalty is earned just being myself with them. I keep their various interests in mind to send them articles on topics they would appreciate, so they know I’m thinking about them. I send monthly client and colleague newsletters to keep everyone apprised of current legal developments and events. I speak and write very often, sharing lots of knowledge for free, and I am pretty generous with consultations. I try to put a lot of good will out there, believing everything comes around eventually!

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

The only social I have bandwidth for is LinkedIn, so this is about that. I was on LinkedIn from the beginning, so I have always had a detailed profile and connected with all my colleagues in the early days who gave me endorsements, so, I had a base from practicing law generally going into the cannabis industry. Originally, when I would post something about a cannabis topic, no one would like it and people would even disconnect with me. The U.S. Attorney for Texas routinely visited my profile. But, like a musician at open mic night, I kept believing in what I was doing and kept at it. Eventually, a couple of people would like a post. That was 2015-2016. Now, I have 7,000+ connections, each post gets many thousands of views and often hundreds of likes. I have been very strategic in the types of things I post, what I say about them, and I try to post primary sources so people can read things for themselves. This has cultivated a little following of folks who like the types of things I report on, and it certainly has brought me business and cultivated a leadership role for me. Like the musician who slowly gets a few fans, then a cult following, and that then becomes a superstar, the musician has to keep at it through thick and thin and that is what I liken the LinkedIn journey, as well as the journey of my career, to be. Consistent and strategic effort no matter what the response is at first.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.Pittman.Legal
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisalpittman/

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