Is it really always possible to follow your dreams, even if those dreams involve taking on huge legal cases while traveling the country in an RV? For Crystal McDonough, owner of McDonough Law, the answer to that question is “yes.”
McDonough Law is based in Colorado, but they service clients in Colorado, Wyoming, and Nebraska—and that’s just for now. We spoke with Crystal at the 2019 Clio Cloud Conference about how she designed the life she wanted around a successful practice, and how other lawyers can do it too. This is also the subject of Crystal’s course, Law Adventure.
While the pandemic may have put a damper on travel for now, Crystal’s spirit, clarity, and tenacity are certainly inspiring for lawyers looking for something better.
Teresa Matich:
So, officially, you’re based in Colorado. But you actually founded your law firm while traveling around the country in an RV. Can you tell us about that?
Crystal McDonough:
Yes, that is right. So I came to law a little bit later in life. I went to law school with three children. My youngest was three. They were three, five, and seven when I started law school.
So for me it was a challenge, to say the least, and so my husband and I determined that I would get through it as quickly as possible. The goal was to start a law firm and provide the flexibility and income that we needed for our family. All along we knew we wanted to travel and we wanted to experience as much as we could with our kids while we have our kids with us—because once they go off to college, they don’t want to hang out with mom and dad anymore. So I had this idea of traveling around the country in an RV and just exploring everything. Going to national parks, museums—anything we could see and experience. And we enjoy huge outdoor activities like mountain biking, kayaking, paddleboarding—anything we can do outside.
So once I graduated law school, I designed the firm around this concept of this flexible lifestyle and we bought an RV—a giant 40-foot fifth wheel—and took off and started exploring the country.
Teresa Matich:
Wow, that’s amazing. And what do people say when you tell them that that’s your life?
Crystal McDonough:
They’re very confused. They wonder, first of all, how I can work from the road. They want to know the logistics of, well, “How do you talk to your clients? How do you get your work done? How do you get paid? How do you …” There are all these questions that immediately come to their minds, but then the second comment is, “How cool! How do I do that?”
Read more at https://www.clio.com/blog/legal-practice-travelling-country-rv/
