Vivian Sobers, Virtual Office NYC Lawyer, Takes on Necrophilia

This week in the Young, Hungry and Committed blog series, virtual office NYC attorney Vivian Sobers talks about new cases and necrophilia. (Not in that order.)

I never thought my law firm’s name, never mind my own personal name, would be associated with the following words:

“Also we would like to thank you for allowing our directors to f**k the hell out of your loved one…there is nothing like a dead piece of a**.”

Maybe some context is in order.

This blog is a little out of order from the narrative arch of my first three blog posts. Those first three, and many more to come, chronologically detail my first year in solo practice.

When I first began practicing, I was taking as much per diem work as possible.

I needed to gain the “on-the-job training” attorneys normally get at their first associate job.  But, my first associate job is technically a as partner of my own law firm, Sobers Law, PLLC, so I had to learn the art of practicing law through non-traditional means.

Plus, the steady paychecks allowed me to focus on marketing and growing my practice. Because of it, I have never been forced to take a case I am uncomfortable with, possibly exposing me to malpractice, just because I was in a financial bind.

As my first year progressed, I have been slowly weaning myself off the per diem work as I spend more time working with my own, carefully chosen clients.

My newest client, and the subject of this post, was a direct result of my marketing efforts. Like many other solo attorneys and small firms, I am an active participant in the avvo.com legal forums.

For the uninitiated, Avvo is a website that matches potential with attorneys. Potential clients have access to a forum where they can ask their legal questions. Then, attorneys respond with legal advice. The goal of every answer is to persuade the potential client to set-up a consultation.

The best part, Avvo is free. When you start your own practice, budgetary concerns are an omnipresent issue. I am always overanalyzing my finances. And my favorite price is free.

As part of my marketing, I made a point to answer one question a day on Avvo.

My investment lead to a good amount of phone inquiries,  three in-person consultations, and zero paying clients. I gave up. I went dark. I figured the time I spent answering questions could be better utilized executing other marketing campaigns.

Then, a month ago, I received a phone call out of the blue from a prospective client.

I began the phone call as I do with every new client phone call: “How did you learn about me?”

As it turns out, this client found me through an answer I posted about civil litigation on Avvo!  She started telling me her issue. I could never have been prepared for the story.

Her mother had recently passed away. She entrusted her mother’s corpse to a Brooklyn funeral home. Two days before the funeral, she received the following email from an individual claiming to work for the funeral home:

“Also we would like to thank you for allowing our directors to f**k the hell out of your loved one…there is nothing like a dead piece of a**.”

I thought it was a hoax! I thought one of my friends was pranking me!

The potential client was seeking my advice on necrophilia.

I didn’t even know what to say. So, I didn’t say anything. I just let her get all the emotions out.

I felt compelled to meet with her.  If the story was true, then, I had a moral obligation to help this woman. We set a meeting time for the next day, for which I was fully prepared to be stood up at.

She showed up. The case was legitimate. After performing my due diligence, I filed a complaint on her behalf in Brooklyn Supreme Court. A copy of it can be found here.

Immediately after filing the complaint, the story went viral.

The Huffington Post and The Village Voice published articles about the case. A reporter from ABC News even learned about the filing and interviewed my client for the 11 PM news.

My name is Vivian Sobers and I am representing a client in a necrophilia case that made the 11 o’clock news.

In my wildest dreams, I could have never imagined that my first year in solo practice would end like this and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

My name is Vivian Sobers. I’m young. I’m hungry, and despite the challenges that may lie ahead, I’m committed to making this law practice a success.

Vivian Sobers is a commercial litigator pursuing a solo law practice right out of law school. She is a client in Law Firm Suites’ Virtual Office Program. Vivian’s weekly blog series “Young, Hungry and Committed” documents the trials and tribulations of a young attorney navigating her way through the challenging world of self-employed legal practice.