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The Power Zone for Lawyers: Delegation, AI & Designing a Practice You Love
Manage episode 513773997 series 3680133
In this episode, Tim talks with Karen Dunn-Skinner and David Skinner, co-founders of Gimbal LLP, about how lawyers can build more balanced, profitable, and fulfilling practices. After two decades in law, they saw firsthand how burnout and inefficiency drain the profession — and created The Power Zone Playbook: The Lawyer’s Path to Peak Performance to help lawyers reclaim time and joy in their work.
Karen and David explain the “Power Zone” framework — focusing your energy on work you’re uniquely qualified to do, love to do, and that adds the most value. The key, they say, is delegation: empowering your team, leveraging outsourced and freelance support, and even delegating to technology through AI tools like Spellbook. When the right people do the right work, lawyers can spend more time thinking deeply, leading strategically, and living fully.
They also highlight the mental health crisis revealed by the national Sherbrooke study and the need for creativity and identity beyond law. Their message: lawyers thrive when they design their practices to support their lives, not the other way around.
About David Skinner & Karen Dunn-Skinner
Karen Dunn-Skinner and David Skinner are the team behind Gimbal Consulting, a Canadian consulting and coaching firm helping lawyers run healthier, more rewarding practices. After more than 20 years each in law, they traded billable hours for a mission: to show lawyers that success doesn’t have to come at the expense of well-being.
Through their coaching programs (Practice Accelerator and Reset) and their book The Power Zone Playbook: The Lawyer’s Path to Peak Performance, they guide legal professionals to build firms that are more profitable, less stressful, and deeply aligned with the lives they want to lead. Karen and David are recognized voices in the lawyer-wellness movement, known for their practical tools, candid insights, and unwavering belief that thriving lawyers make stronger communities.
Resources discussed in this episode:
- The Power Zone Playbook for Lawyers (book)
- Spellbook (AI for contract drafting/review)
- Flex Legal Network (Canada) – freelance lawyers, clerks & paralegals.
- Stafi (remote executive assistants & legal VAs for law firms).
- National Study on Wellness in the Canadian Legal Profession (Sherbrooke/CBA/FLSC)
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Contact Tim Culbert:
Contact David Skinner & Karen Dunn-Skinner:
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