Home of the Practice Playbook Series

Build your practiceby design,not by default.

You did not work this hard to end up in a practice you never intentionally chose. Books, tools, and guided support for lawyers, mediators, and dispute resolution professionals building a practice that reflects their values, and supports the life they want to lead.

  • Three Amazon #1 best-sellers
  • 35+ years in practice
  • Past Chair, ABA Dispute Resolution
The Business Plan Playbook, Second Edition, by Susan E. Guthrie

Second Edition, September 29, 2026

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Chapter 01 · Why this exists

Most professionals never build their practice. They inherit it.

Inherited choices become habits. Habits become systems. Systems become a practice. Years later, many professionals wake up running a business they never consciously chose to build.

There is a better way.

The practice you want is rarely the one you inherit.
The Practice Playbook Philosophy
Start here

Find your starting point in five minutes.

The free Practice Design Assessment shows you where your practice is running on inherited habits, where it is reactive, and where it is already built on purpose, across the five dimensions of Intentional Practice Design.

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Chapter 03 · The Method

The Practice Playbook Method.

A repeatable seven-step architecture. Every Playbook in the series follows it, so the work compounds, book by book.

01

Mindset Shift

Replace inherited assumptions with intentional decisions.

02

Strategic Framework

Define the practice you actually want to build.

03

Build Your Practice

Translate the framework into concrete structure and offers.

04

AI Workshop

Use modern tools to draft, refine, and accelerate the work.

05

Practice Toolkit

Letters, scripts, templates, and worksheets ready to deploy.

06

Implementation

Put one improvement into practice, then the next.

07

Continuous Improvement

Revisit, refine, and evolve the practice over time.

Fig. 01

Build by design.

The Business Plan Playbook, Second Edition
Launching September 29, 2026

The Business Plan Playbook, Second Edition.

The fully redesigned edition, rebuilt around Intentional Practice Design. It walks you through the Living Practice Plan, a document you revisit and revise as the practice evolves, rather than a binder you write once and never open again.

Own the First Edition? Tell us above and we will send the free Business Plan to Living Practice Plan Conversion Kit.

Chapter 05 · More than books

A platform built to grow with the practice.

Frameworks you read, tools you use, and updates that arrive as the practice evolves.

01

Build Your Practice

Each Playbook is a workshop, not just a book. Frameworks, exercises, and decisions you put into practice as you read.

02

AI Workshops

Hands-on sessions for using AI as a thinking partner, drafting, refining, and accelerating the work without replacing judgment.

03

Practice Toolkit

Engagement letters, scripts, worksheets, and templates designed to be used the day you read them.

04

Lifetime Updates

The practice evolves; so do the Playbooks. Your copy stays current as the series grows.

Begin today

You do not have to wait for the book to start building by design.

The Practice Accelerator is Susan Guthrie's ongoing implementation membership. Join at any time and begin immediately, with monthly guidance, live support, practical resources, and a community turning insight into meaningful improvement.

$99Per month
  • Monthly Practice Lab
  • Live Office Hours
  • Worksheets and tools
  • Community of professionals building by design
  • A copy of the Second Edition included

No cohort start date. Cancel at any time.

Susan E. Guthrie, attorney, mediator, and author of The Practice Playbook Series
Chapter 06 · The Author

Meet Susan E. Guthrie.

Susan E. Guthrie is an attorney, mediator, educator, and practice-building strategist with 35+ years of experience in law and dispute resolution. She is the creator of Intentional Practice Design, a methodology that helps professionals build practices that reflect their values, serve the right clients, and support the lives they want to lead.

She hosts the award-winning Divorce & Beyond podcast and The Practice Playbook Podcast, and is the author of Future Proof: Designing a Legal or ADR Practice for the AI Era, forthcoming from ABA Publishing in early 2027.

35+
Years in practice
Thousands
Professionals taught
Top 1%
Podcast host
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