Thank yous are in order for the amazing attorneys who make up Law Firm Suites’ NYC shared office space Community. It’s been a great month for referrals, guest blog articles and other generous contributions.
For their exemplary contribution to the LFS Community during the month of December, we’d especially like to thank…
December Guest Bloggers
Jason Huf. Special thanks to virtual office NYC client and New York-based transactional business attorney Jason Huf, who contributed an amazing two-part article called: “A Funny Thing Happened on My Way to (Not Getting Paid in) Saudi Arabia” Through his firm, Jason Huf International, pc, Jason focuses on a variety of corporate issues, but most interesting, his extensive experience with in Middle Eastern legal systems. Jason’s article was the most popular “how to” piece published in December. An impressive feat.
Owie & Vivian Sobers. Owie is the husband of virtual office New York attorney and LFS blogger, Vivian Sobers. Vivian is quickly achieving celebrity status among New York solo attorneys with her blog series, Young, Hungry & Committed, which describes her journey starting a solo law practice months after law school graduation. As part of “Family Month” at the Community Counsel Blog, Owie graciously accepted our invitation to be interviewed for an article about what it’s like to be married to a solo attorney who recently started a law practice. It was a courageous (and generous) move, for both Owie and Vivian, that we greatly appreciate. The article, Owie Sobers: The Truth About Being Married to a Solo Attorney, was published on December 6 and was December’s most popular article, followed closely by…
Neena Dutta. LFS blogger, corporate immigration guru and all-around great person, Neena Dutta, pens the popular blog series, Bigger than BigLaw: The Dutta Diaries where she describes how she left a high-paying BigLaw job for the excitement and financial freedom of a solo law practice. Incidentally, Neena started her firm in Law Firm Suites’ executive suite for law firms after looking at A LOT of other spaces (can’t help it, we can’t resist the shameless plug). This month Neena wrote a revealing article about how her parents took the news about her leaving what seemed like a “dream job” for the uncharted waters of legal self-employment. The article, How My Choice to Go Solo Was Received By My Family was published on December 4, 2013. It was the second most popular article in December.
Attorney Spotlight Volunteers
Peter Berger & Jane Linowitz. In keeping with our “Family” theme this month, we wanted to know what it was like to be law partners with your spouse, and how, exactly, that gets done successfully. So, we went directly to the pros for advice. Patent attorney, Peter Berger, and his wife, trademark attorney, Jane Linowitz, have been running the successful IP law firm Levisohn Berger LLP for over 25 years. If you’re lucky enough to spend any time with Peter or Jane in the office or out, you’ll quickly learn that they’ve found the secret to success both in business and in life. They shared some of their “secret sauce” in the article Partners in Law and Life: How to Run a Successful Law Firm with Your Spouse, published on December 26, 2013. It’s a must read for anyone thinking about practicing law with their spouse. Thank you Peter & Jane.
Survey Participants
This month we dipped a toe into the Survey Monkey pool. Our survey, How did your spouse influence your decision to start a law firm?, was a resounding success. Thank you to everyone who participated. The results were very, very interesting – like this one: a full 1/4 of you have zero interest in your spouse’s opinion about your law practice! We can’t wait to share the rest of the results with you when we publish them in the Community Counsel Newsletter on Thursday, January 2. Look for it in your email.
Community Referrers & Advisers
Our promise to our clients is that, if you choose Law Firm Suites’ NYC shared office space as the home for your practice, you will find enough additional business opportunity from the Law Firm Suites Community to (at least) pay your rent for the year. And you’ll do it for no other reason than showing up to work every day.
Our clients do this with any combination of the following:
- They receive referrals or co-counsel opportunities from other Law Firm Suites’ colleagues.
- They get practice advice from a colleague that saves time and/or money.
- They refer a client to Law Firm Suites and we pay them a generous 10% commission (found money baby)!
But, none of this works without the generous participation of the lawyers that make up this amazing Community, to whom we owe our most sincere gratitude. In particular, we’d like to give special thanks to the following attorneys for their exemplary contributions in December:
Notable Referrals:
The following are referrals from December that we are aware of (because they came through us). Every month there are dozens of other referrals that take place without our direct involvement or knowledge:
- Real estate and international tax attorney, Benjamin Tolub, offered a co-counsel opportunity to a LFS colleague on a SEC regulatory matter, a potential $30,000 project.
- Commercial litigator, Frank J. Monteleone, referred a landlord/tenant case to a LFS real estate attorney, a project with a potential of $5,000 in fees.
- Patent and IP attorney specializing in the Mixed Martial Arts industry, Stephen Kunen, referred a commercial bankruptcy case to a LFS bankruptcy attorney, a project with a minimum potential of $15,000 in fees.
- Art law attorney, Richard Lehun, referred a divorce and mediation case to a LFS matrimonial attorney, a project with a potential $8,500 in fees.
- Trusts and estates attorney, Thomas Chu, referred a commercial liquidation case to a LFS bankruptcy attorney.
- Corporate immigration attorney, Neena Dutta, referred a divorce case to a LFS family law attorney, a project with a potential $10,000 in fees.
- IP and entertainment law attorney, Alexandra Arneri, referred a probate litigation case to a LFS trusts and estates attorney, a project with a potential $2,500 in fees.
- Immigration firm, Blackman & Melville, referred a recurring per diem opportunity to a LFS commercial litigator, an on-going project with a potential $3,000 in fees.
Notable Advisory:
Lending a hand to help a colleague with a problem is part of what makes our Community great. We know of several “hallway” advice sessions that took place over the past month, but the following is an example of an attorney going “above and beyond” to help a colleague.
- Personal injury attorney, Jared Levine of Morgan Levine Dolan, P.C. assisted commercial litigator, Vivian Sobers with media training and PR advice on a high profile necrophilia case that resulted in national press coverage for Vivian.
Be a Leader in Our Community
(All you guys who keep asking us how to drive
more traffic to your website will want to pay close attention!!)
Did you make an exemplary contribution to the Law Firm Suites Community that was not recognized this month? Then you didn’t tell us about it!!
Our Quid Pro Quo Guaranty
In addition to the good JuJu that you will get from writing a guest blog, making a referral or helping a colleague in the LFS Community, if you let us know about it, we will gladly feature your contribution in the next monthly Recap and Thank Yous article, complete with back links to web pages or social media profiles of your choosing.
Why is this good for you, you ask?
Four solid reasons:
1. Greater visibility among your peers means more referrals. This article will be a prominent feature in the Community Counsel Newsletter, which gets read by every LFS client, increasing your visibility in the Community. More visibility means more referrals.
2. JuJu’s Return: It reminds those who you’ve helped of their obligation to reciprocate. The beneficiary of your generosity will be reminded of their obligation to reciprocate – it’s a powerful phenomenon that shouldn’t be overlooked.
3. Back links means traffic to your firm’s website. Back links to your website or social media pages from authoritative sources is good for search engine rankings. Better rankings means more traffic. We’re publishing an article every day on the Community Counsel Blog, have a growing social media outreach and are an authority on small law firms and NYC shared office space. The questions is really: Are you ready for the traffic boost?!?
4. You get on our radar screen, which means we will direct referrals to you. Did you know that, every month, LFS Staff gets dozens of requests to direct client referrals to attorneys in our Community? Guess what, just in the same way referring a piece of business is currency to you (in the form of a reciprocal referral), it is to us. And like you, we have a reputation for being a good referral intermediary that we want to protect.
So when we have an opportunity to direct a referral, who do you think it goes to first?
We’ll tell you: First we look for the attorney in the Community who is the best fit (in terms of practice expertise and reliability for being a classy referral recipient). Then, if there is more than one candidate, we give priority to the attorney who we know has been referring cases into the Community.
So, if we don’t know that you are a referral superstar, then you’re missing out on easy business.
Want to learn more about sharing office space with Jason, Vivian, Neena, Peter, Jane and all the other awesome lawyers mentioned here?
Experience the benefits of sharing office space with dozens of self-employed, entrepreneurial attorneys. Schedule a tour of Law Firm Suites’ NYC shared office space today.
photo credit: woodleywonderworks via photopin cc
