Re: Meanwhile, for those of you who practice law.....

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What an uninformed individual you are. Since you attacked my
personal character, honesty, motives, and competency, I have
no choice but to defend what I said and what I have done.

First, I am not advocating that anyone jump from one type of
practice to another. If you read my posts over the last year
or so, you will see that I have always advocated a limited
practice, but not so much that you will go out of business if
one area of law drastically changes (for example, bankruptcy
law, where business slowed after the recent changes). My point
was, there are ways to attract business, no matter what type
of law you are practicing in, and I cited examples from my
personal experiences.

I am in my 12th year of practice. I do not "skate through"
different areas, moving from one area to the next at the drop
of a hat. I have always devoted a large portion of my time on
real estate which has dominated my practice for the past five
years. Before that, I also spent much of my time on
bankruptcy, and wills, estates & trusts have always been part
of my practice. These areas of law are not so different, and
not so diverse, that one cannot practice them all at once. In
fact, they largely go hand in hand; I basically have a
transactional practice, although bankruptcy does involve the
court. A competent real estate attorney cannot practice
without being familiar with trust law, and many if not most
real estate lawyers supplement there practices with some
estate planning. They both involve property law concepts. I
spent years practicing bankruptcy law (along with real estate)
before real estate took over, simply because of the volume of
real estate I was receiving. I started bankruptcy again,
because real estate declined and I saw an opportunity when
local lawyers were dropping bankruptcy from their practices.
While I am not an expert under the new rules, I am carefully
working my way through, just like everybody else.

My practice has been consistent and well-grounded. "Pie in the
sky" might apply if I suddenly took up divorce law, or tax
law, or employment law, or something else that I have not put
time and effort into learning.

I do not suggest that my chosen practice areas cannot be
extremely complex. But as I have posted here before, I
associate myself with experts to take over matters I cannot
handle. For example, zoning is a complex area of real estate
which is different from town to town under their respective
ordinances. I know who the zoning experts are in each of my
surrounding communities who help me with local zoning issues
when I have cases in their towns. I am also associated with an
estate planner with an LLM degree in tax who helps me with tax
and medicaid planning, when called for. In the past, on this
board, I have suggested that others do the same; you would
know this if you paid attention rather than jumping to
conclusions about me.

Regarding business law, this has not been a specialty of mine,
but it is not new either, and it has gone hand in hand with my
real estate practice. I have set up many LLCs for real estate
and condominium developers, and I have dealt with their
pertinent business issues. I am associated with a good CPA
(his office is right across the street from mine) who works
with me on the tax issues. I have already associated myself
with an employment lawyer for employee issues, if and when the
time comes, and I have someone (an old boss, as a matter of
fact) who guides me on licensing issues (part of his municipal
law concentration).

Malpractice claims? I have had none. My bankruptcy clients
receive their discharges. My real estate developers finish
their projects, sell their real estate under the LLCs I
create, make their money, pay me (quite well), and are
shielded from personal liability. A number of my clients have
passed away and my wills have withstood probate, including one
that was challenged by a family member who was written out of
the will. My real estate buyers re-sell their properties with
no title issues, when I was the one who certified title. In
fact, of the many hundreds of title insurance policies I have
issued, I have yet to have a claim.

I make money and stay out of trouble, because I know my
capabilities and limitations. It's not hard to find other
lawyers who are willing and able to work with you. In fact,
it's part of the relationship-building process I advocate.
This is how a solo runs a business. Someone once told me (my
municipal law boss referred to above, as a matter of fact)
that as a solo, you have to "bob and weave". This is what I
do - I bob and weave. This does not make me "one of the most
amazing lawyers in the world" (your juvenile words). It
makes me one more solo who knows how to run a practice.

I write posts with the hope that someone might be helped, and
I read posts with the hope that I might be helped. I do not
spend time here with the intent of leading someone down the
wrong road. It seems that whenever I post something, someone
like you attacks me. This is why I had given up on this board.
I tried to come back, but right now I cannot understand why.

You have accused me of either being a "pie in sky bragging of
a fool who is too stupid to know what type of malpractice
claims await him" or "a lawyer who is both quite skilled but
also a bit of a sadistic twerp spewing this nonsense to
desperate people so that he can laugh while they get
themselves in over there heads". I have demonstrated that I am
neither.

Mr. Nathan, now that I have put you in your place, you are
dismissed. Grow up.

On 5/16/06, joe nathan wrote:
> I don't want to imply that you are telling lies or suggest
> that you are not capable, but you're either one of the most
> amazing lawyers in the world or you have a load of
> malpractice claims waiting to surface.
>
> Business law (i guess you mean corporate - tax issues
> included), will & trusts, real estate, and bankruptcy are
all
> unique practice areas with their own twists and turns. one
> ordinarily does not float so freely from one of these
> practice areas to the other without a fair number of
> mistakes. in fact, even seasoned practitioners in each of
> these areas make many mistakes and often serious mistakes
> with malpractice consequences. perhaps you have years of
> practice experience, but you may have little in the areas
> that you are trying to transition to. that still makes you
a
> beginner.
>
> in the end, i really don't think you practice competently in
> all of the different areas you skate through. maybe you do;
> its possible. but you really should think twice about
> offering this type of advice to struggling solos who will do
> anything for a buck. they just might take you up on it. if
> you are in fact competant in each of these areas, it must
> dawn on you that there are complications that someone of
less
> skill than you could easily stumble over.
>
> anyone reading this should take this for what it is - either
> the pie in sky bragging of a fool who is too stupid to know
> what type of malpractice claims await him or a lawyer who is
> both quite skilled but also a bit of a sadistic twerp
spewing
> this nonsense to desperate people so that he can laugh while
> they get themselves in over there heads. on the other hand,
> if you're like many solos there is nothing much for a
> malpractice plaintfiff to take from you - unless of course
> they would like to have the sheriff come out and seize your
> student loan notes. in that case, maybe this isn't so bad.
>
> On 5/15/06, JF wrote:
>> For better or for worse, I continue to occasionally write
>> posts that may actually help those drowning solos actually
>> build their practices. I have been practicing real estate
>> law for a number of years, but the downturn in the real
>> estate market has forced me to expand into other areas. I
>> have had no problem obtaining new clients and new types of
>> work, and I do this by fishing where the fish are. For
>> example, in the past, I have suggested that solos hand
>> out "Have You Made a Will?" brochures to their existing
>> clients. A great way to get your client to come in for
>> some estate planning. When the new bankruptcy law went
>> into effect, many bankruptcy lawyers dropped that area of
>> practice. I spent an afternoon on the phone calling these
>> lawyers, telling them that I am practicing bankruptcy law,
>> and now a number of them have used me as their referral
>> attorney. I originally built my real estate practice by
>> opening my office next door to a large, busy real estate
>> broker office. The referrals came quickly and
>> consistently. Again, fishing where the fish are. All this
>> has been supplemented by bar lawyer referral programs.
>>
>> My newest marketing endeavor targets business entities,
>> who (in my opinion) ultimately make the best clients. I
>> had ignored business clients in the past (with the
>> exception of real estate developers) largely because I did
>> not believe there were many new businesses in my area, and
>> existing businesses typically already have counsel. Then I
>> checked the new business certificate filings in the city
>> that I practice in and found that there are many new
>> business filings every month. I have been active in the
>> local Chamber of Commerce for over a year, and I am the
>> only lawyer who gives them my time. So I simply called the
>> Chamber director, who confirmed that, yes, a good amount
>> of new business people call her for lawyer referrals, and
>> from now on she will certainly give them my name (since
>> I'm the only lawyer in town who bothers with them). I had
>> my first client within a week. Granted, many of these new
>> businesses will fail, but I will receive the start-up work
>> and retain those that succeed.
>>
>> Virtually all solos know how to practice law. The hard
>> part is obtaining clients, which seems to be the problem
>> people have here. The work is out there; you just have to
>> reach out and grab it. It's all about relationship
>> building, making yourself visible in the community, and
>> letting people know what you do.
>>