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CLE Financial Assistance is available.

2 NY/NJ CLE Credits
(1 Ethics Credit)

Where?   Faculty Library at Seton Hall University School of Law | One Newark Center | Newark, New Jersey | 07102

When? Monday, April 8, 2013 | 4:00 p.m.

Arnie Herz
14 Vanderventer Ave. Ste. 255
Port Washington, NY 11050
T: (516) 767-0800
E: arnie@arnieherz.com

This past weekend, I saw the documentary on Ed Koch, the former mayor of New York City. I highly recommend you see it.  It’s a modern day example of a man with a vision and commitment to transform an awful situation — NYC in near financial ruin, crime, homelessness —  into the thriving vibrant city that it is today.  And, yes, NYC still has major challenges, however, those challenges are much less than they would have been but for Mayor Koch.

In our own way, we each have the ability to gather our own power and use that for the benefit of others. You don’t need to be President, Mayor or in some significant public role.  In our own lives, families, businesses and communities, we can make a difference, and many of us do just that.  Many of my colleagues make such a difference every day in helping people resolve complex legal problems. And, many of my clients make a difference through their businesses. Whatever your situation, ask how you can make a difference today.  Sometimes it’s the smallest act that can make a huge difference.

Turning the mere possible into the new reality takes a clear vision (“I have a dream…”), along with enormous effort, fortitude and good fortune. Wishful thinking is a sure guarantee of failure. The clear vision required is not merely for the future outcome but also for scope of the challenge. If we don’t fully size up the challenge and align resources to meet that challenge, we are doomed to failure.

Over the past 21 years practicing law, I have helped form over a hundred businesses.  Some thrived and became worth tens of millions of dollars, while others failed. The rest have enjoyed various degrees of success. When I look back at what set apart the successes from the failures, the main determinant for success was the ability of the business leaders to constantly size up the challenges and align resources to meet the then present challenges of the business. Sometimes this meant bringing in key personnel, firing employees, raising capital, entering or exiting joint ventures, or taking on or avoiding debt – to just name a few.

A critical element is not taking on too much than you can handle.  Many businesses and endeavors fail because of an over-commitment of resources.  The “If you build it, they will come” mentality was a big success for the Hollywood movie, Field of Dreams. However, it has doomed many organizations.

I have blogged frequently about the need for clients to set clear goals and the role lawyers can play to help in this process.

Wishing you all a happy Martin Luther King day and much success.

Sadly, after a long illness, Steve passed away on Friday, December 7, 2012 leaving his wife and 2 children. Steve will be very missed. I referred to Steve and his work in my blog posts over the years, including, Lawyering Lessons From Oscar the Grouch, Lawyering Skills for the Conceptual Age, Using Passion as a Guide to Life in the Law, Time to Take Care, Apology and the Law, A New Spin on an Old Favorite (Palsgraff) and Legal Life Support. As I have gone back to reread these blog posts and the many articles he wrote, I was struck at how immense his impact has been on me in my career.

It was November 2000 when I decided to go solo. Shortly thereafter, I met Steve in New York for the first time. He ended up writing this ABA feature article on my approach to law. Steve’s article turbo-charged my legal and speaking career. A few years later, in February 2004, I co-presented a keynote program for the Rhode Island Bar Association with Steve. It was the last time I saw Steve. Shortly thereafter, he became ill.

In tribute to Steve Keeva, I ask that you take a moment to be grateful for your life and the many opportunities we have to make a positive difference in the world.

Click here to read more about Steve Keeva.

Arnie Herz, Esq.
Tel: 516-767-0800
http://www.legalsanity.com

He shared that he had no idea that the sale of his business would cost almost $500,000 in legal fees and took over 6 months to close. Because he was unprepared for the cost and process, he ended up frustrated with his lawyer.

I shared with him that the amount of fees was not out of line for a transaction of the magnitude of his sale (although I did tell him that it would have been much less had he used a small or mid-size firm)  and given the few unexpected hiccups, six months was also reasonable.  He was comforted by that information but told me he would not use his firm again. Why? All because he felt they did not properly set his expectations at the outset or throughout the process. So here is a major law firm who will lose out on his next big piece of business not because they did a bad job, rather because they did not effectively communicate expectations.

As much as it’s a firm’s responsibility to set expectations, and as easy and tempting it would be to bash this law firm, the main focus of this series of blog posts is “Client Empowerment.”  Many lawyers are quite skilled but not great at setting expectations. If you want the benefit of such a lawyer, then it’s imperative that you as client make sure you take the lead in getting your lawyer to set clear expectations. Obtaining this critically important information up front will enable you to potentially influence the process and decide if it’s the right firm for you.

A few years ago, a successful doctor, who had gone through 6 lawyers over the past 6 years for his never-ending divorce, consulted with me.  (The wife had been through a few lawyers herself.)  It was the same dynamic each time: The doctor went to a new lawyer, told his sad and angry story and set out his goals.  The lawyer took a large retainer and committed to fight to the bitter end to achieve the doctor’s goals.  After a year or so, the doctor had paid out significant sums in legal fees yet no closer to achieving his goals. The doctor moved on to the next lawyer, thinking the problem is the lawyer.  That is why he kept changing lawyers.

After 20 minutes it was clear to me that the problem was not the high-powered lawyers or the financial or custody issues, but rather that the doctor’s goals were entirely unrealistic.  I told him that if he kept moving in the direction he was moving, he would spend another decade banging his head against the wall.  I told him he had two choices: (1) Buy a good helmet; or (2) Change your Goals.

Because his problem was unrealistic goals based on a  “my way or the highway” mentality and an inability to accept certain difficult realities in his situation, the solution for him was not yet another lawyer, but rather a top notch therapist.  Perhaps, if the therapist could get the doctor to get over his pain and realize that achieving 90% of his goals was sufficient, then I could wrap up the divorce so he, his ex-wife and most importantly, their children, could move on with their lives.

At the end of the 30 minute consultation, the doctor told me I was the first lawyer to tell it to him straight and he only wished he had gotten this advice 6 years ago.  In my blog post titled,  Client Goals 3: What You Need Your Lawyer To Tell You, you, as a client, MUST get your lawyer to tell you what you need to hear, not what you want to hear.

If you don’t get to the bottom of things quickly and efficiently, as I wrote in Client Goals 2: Be Realistic or Get Clobbered, you’ll end up spinning your wheels for 6 years, spending hundreds of thousands in legal fees and wasting so much precious time and energy.  Have you already experienced something like this?

“We are thrilled to recognize the extensive achievements and accomplishments of Arnie Herz,” said Robert Levin, Editor-in-Chief & Publisher of The New York Enterprise Report. “Arnie’s 20-plus-year commitment and dedication to improving the legal profession and in his delivery of extraordinary legal and mediation services is evident through his clients’ success and in the recognition he has received time and again from his colleagues and his profession.

“All applications were judged based on a scoring system. Those applications ranking above the cut-off score were chosen as finalists. The judges of the applications consist of a panel of experts that include business owners, accountants and attorneys.

Arnie Herz was announced and honored at The New York Enterprise Report Best Accountants and Attorneys for Privately Held Companies Awards on Wednesday, June13th at a private gala for 250 people at the Trump Soho in New York City, NY.

“I am extremely honored to receive the Lifetime Achievement Award. I give my sincere thanks to all those who have made this award possible. Many people were instrumental in my development as a lawyer over the past 20 years, in helping make Legal Sanity an award winning blog and in generating over 125 speaking engagements to thousands of professionals in North America and Europe. I thank my clients, family, friends, colleagues, judges, law schools and bar associations and all others who have supported me. It shows that the Legal Sanity way of truly putting clients first, tempering unconstructive emotions, identifying and achieving goals that align with clients’ best interests, and managing matters with a firm commitment to the most cost-effective way possible, is a most viable model for lawyering today. It is my wish that the days of ramping up client emotions, unconstructive goals, wasteful use of resources and scorched earth tactics become a relic of our legal past.” – Arnie Herz

Arnie Herz is a sought after business and trademark lawyer, mediator, blogger and speaker. For more information: www.ArnieHerz.com; arnie@arnieherz.com; 516-767-0800

The New York Enterprise Report is the monthly B2B publication (also available as a digital edition) featuring “how-to” articles written by business experts to help owners of small and midsize businesses grow their companies. Over 100,000 business owners and executives in the New York tri-state area rely on The New York Enterprise Report for ideas and solutions.

Recently, John, a client, came to visit me. He wants to invest $5,000 in a start-up business and asked me for the cost and process to form a corporation and document the deal with his partner.  I was the third lawyer he interviewed.  John tells me what he tells the other lawyers, that he is looking for the quickest and cheapest way to do this.  Both lawyers quote John very reasonable prices and explain the rather straightforward incorporation process.  They are giving John what he wants.  He is happy, or I should say, blissfully ignorant.

The problem is that what John says he wants is not necessarily what John needs.  When John gets to me he’s hit with a barrage of questions. Together, John and I discover that John’s proposed structure with his partner is not optimal for either of them and that John has grossly undervalued his start up costs.  Without proper capital, the business is doomed to fail.  And, even if it succeeds, John will be stuck in a Delaware corporate structure when he really needs a New York limited liability company.

Before any paperwork is done, you need your lawyer to help you take a step back and look at the big picture. As I discussed in Client Goals 3: What You Need Your Lawyer To Tell You, getting critical advice could make a huge difference in your business and life. Your lawyer should help you identify your goals and uncover the concerns.  Your lawyer should be helping you strategically think through the partnership you’re about to get into so you are crystal clear on what role you want to play in that business.  As an end result, you can set realistic expectations of the business and manage them appropriately.

When dealing with such potentially complicated matters as business investments and large amounts of your money, the attorney you hire needs be a strategic business thinker and not just a person that will implement legal paperwork.

What are your experiences with lawyers in the past and how would you have improved them?

The next day when I could not lift my toothbrush, I did what I normally do in these situations — I ignored the problem because I hate having to sit in doctor waiting rooms for hours. Finally, three months later with the pain not subsiding, I met up with a smart friend who happens to be a brain surgeon.  Despite having brain surgeon smarts, my friend knew that she was not the right person for the job.  She told me what my mother had been telling me every twice a day for three months — go to a shoulder doctor.

Unlike my shoulder situation, it’s not always so easy to identify your medical need.  If you feel a general malaise, you are often best off going to a good Internist, who in turn can diagnose your precise problem and direct you to a doctor with the expertise you need.

Similarly, in the law, if you are not clear cut on what you need, a lawyer with extensive experience with a broad range of legal matters may be best suited to diagnose your legal need and give you the advice and strategy you need, or direct you to the right lawyer.

Have you had a situation where you were no clear on the type of lawyer you needed?

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation, so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate—we can not consecrate—we can not hallow—this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

I wish you all a safe & meaningful Memorial Day. After reading these words, does this change your perspective on any pending battle you’re currently fighting in your life?

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