From the Dining Room Table to 25 Employees — and a Retirement.

Two Lawyers. A Dining Room Table. A Vision Nobody Had Built Yet.

Steven Silverberg and Gisel Brito started their law firm together in February 2015. Both had been practicing at separate firms and both had reached the same conclusion: the culture didn't fit, the values didn't align, and the kind of firm they wanted to work in didn't exist yet.

They were also new parents, newly married, and working in an industry notorious for demanding everything from the people inside it.

So they built their own firm. Out of their dining room.

"We found that the best way of having a firm that had the culture that we wanted, the values that we wanted, was to make it ourselves."

Silverberg Brito Law Firm focused on insurance claims and real estate — two areas where clients in South Florida desperately needed real advocacy and weren't always getting it. Steven and Gisel's vision was simple: be the firm they would have wanted as clients themselves.

What the Coaching Work Actually Addressed.

The coaching relationship with Doug lasted three years. The work touched every major dimension of running the firm as a business rather than just as a legal practice.

Returning to the Original Vision

The first and most important shift was getting back to why the firm existed. Steven and Gisel had started with a clear vision of what great client service looked like. In the chaos of rapid growth they had drifted from it. The coaching work helped them re-center around their original mission and build the infrastructure to sustain it.

Building the Right Team

One of the most significant changes was in how they hired. Steven describes their current team as people who come to work every day with a happy face, passionate about what they do, excited to get the work done. Getting there required learning how to hire for fit, build job descriptions with clear performance expectations, and create a culture that attracted the right people.

Learning to Ask for Help

Both Steven and Gisel cite this as one of the hardest and most important things they did. Highly educated people in demanding professions tend to believe they should be able to figure everything out themselves. Acknowledging that running a business was a separate skill that required outside support was, for both of them, a turning point.

"I would ask for help sooner. Knowing what I know now — yes. That would be my one thing. I would have focused on the business side of our law firm sooner."

The Outcome They Set Out to Build.

After three years of coaching, Silverberg Brito Law Firm had 25 attorneys and staff, a culture Steven and Gisel were proud of, and a track record that reflected the original vision they started with in 2015.

They sold the firm. They retired. And by their own account they met every goal they had set when they first started working with Doug.

Two lawyers who started on a dining room table, built something worth selling, and walked away with the outcome they had planned for from the beginning.

"One off decision would have taken us different routes. It's pretty amazing thinking back."