About Simone Fulmer Gaus
The Early Years in Traditional Law Firms
Simone Fulmer Gaus has practiced law for nearly thirty years. For seventeen of those years, she worked in traditional law firms—the kind where everything ran through the senior lawyers, where teams followed orders without understanding why, and where burnout was simply part of the job.
“Burnout was just part of the job.”
By 2014, Simone had reached a breaking point. She had almost lost herself entirely to the system. Determined to create something better, she launched her own firm in Oklahoma City, focusing on personal injury, bad faith, and mass torts. She believed she was building something better.
She was wrong.
The Crisis That Nearly Ended Everything
“The truth was devastating: I’d brought the broken system with me.”
Eighteen months into running her firm, Simone hit a financial crisis that nearly ended everything. She had drained her savings to build the practice. The team was strong. The work was excellent. But the numbers weren’t adding up.
Then came the devastating realization: she had carried the old system with her. She had recreated the same top-down structure that nearly destroyed her in the first place. Everything still ran through her. The team still waited for her approval. Cases still stalled without her direct involvement. Simone had become the bottleneck—and the firm was failing because of it.
Rebuilding From the Ground Up
“It wasn’t effort. It wasn’t talent. The structure itself was broken.”
The crisis forced Simone to confront what was truly broken. Traditional law firms are built like a triangle: the owner at the top, everything flowing through them, the team below waiting for direction. That model dates back to the Middle Ages—and it is failing firms of every size.
Determined to rebuild from scratch, Simone began a new discipline. Every Friday morning, she locked herself away to work on the business instead of in it. She joined a mastermind with business owners outside the legal industry. She devoured everything she could find on business systems, leadership, and sustainable growth.
Over time, a pattern emerged.
Discovering the Five Pillars
Nearly everything required to run the firm fell into one of five areas: People, Pipeline, Process, Product, and Profitability. She called hem pillars. And she discovered that when these five pillars work together—not as isolated efforts but as a unified foundation—the entire firm transforms.
She calls it The Set-Up.
What Changed—and What It Made Possible
Eleven years after founding the firm, its revenue has grown 1,200 percent. The practice has become nationally recognized, handling complex litigation across multiple states.
More importantly, the firm no longer depends on Simone being in the middle of everything.
“The team leads. Cases move. Decisions get made. The work gets done whether I’m in the building or not.”
And no one has to lose themselves in the process.
Why She’s Writing and Speaking Now
Simone is not just a consultant. She is a practicing attorney who nearly lost everything and had to figure out how to rebuild. She remains in the trenches—leading the firm, practicing law, and continually testing what she teaches.
That is what makes The Set-Up different. It is not theory. It is not borrowed from another industry. It is a system she built, tested, and refined through more than a decade of real practice.
She wrote The Set-Up: Build What Matters. Fix What’s Broken. Finally Make Your Law Firm Work. because she kept meeting law firm owners who were exactly where she was in 2016—exhausted, overwhelmed, and unsure whether things could get better. She knew they could, because she had lived the transformation herself.
The book launches March 26, 2026, along with The Set-Up Workbook for Law Firms—a step-by-step companion that helps firms implement the entire framework.
Her Mission
“My mission is simple: change how law firms are run.”
Simone’s mission is simple: to change how law firms operate. To show owners they do not have to choose between success and sanity. And to give them a proven system that helps them build firms that work—for their teams, their clients, and themselves.
If a law firm owner is carrying all the weight, if nothing they try seems to stick, and if they’re questioning how long they can keep going, she wants them to know this:
They are not alone.
And there is a better way.
Schedule Simone Fulmer Gaus
Known for her honest storytelling and actionable insights, Simone Fulmer Gaus speaks nationally on law firm leadership, burnout, rebuilding broken systems, and the five pillars that make firms run without chaos. She’s the guide lawyers trust because she’s still in the trenches—leading a firm, practicing law, and testing everything she teaches.
Simone is available for conferences, bar associations, workshops, retreats, and podcast conversations that challenge the traditional model and show firm owners there is a better, more human way to run a law practice.
