@lawyerben
March 24th, 2009
Associate Attorney at Gerbers Law, S.C
Today, we’re tweeting with @LawyerBen, a commercial transactions and planning lawyer from Green Bay, Wisconsin
- Thank you for joining us today on Twitter. Tell us: who is the person behind @LawyerBen?
Happy to be here. Minnesota native living in the heart of Packer country. Ex-volleyballer, lover of fishing & MN sports.
- Tell us about your law practice.
I work for a small Green Bay firm. My practice is transactional, focused on mergers along with business and estate planning.
- What type of clients do you represent?
My typical client is a small to medium sized business owner who wishes to grow. More blue collar than white here in WI.
- What is the most important legal issue affecting those clients?
I’d say flux in capital gains and estate taxes; they are controlling timing and structure of deals, and lack predictability.
- What do you tell every new client before you start working for them?
Expect honesty. I will not sugarcoat reality on your options, and if I don’t know an answer, I will tell you so & find out.
- I’m sure they appreciate that. What was the most significant client representation you’ve had?
Most significant personally was emergency estate planning for a client and friend having brain surgery the following day.
- Tell us what happened and what you did
Claim privilege :-) She had guardianship, trust, and power of attorney issues. Feels good to help when they are issues that matter.
- It must be satisfying to know you’ve made a difference. Why do your clients hire you?
We do little advertising. Our clients are almost all referrals from those who have had good experiences with the firm.
- Slightly different take on the question: Why *should* your clients hire you?
Big firm research skills, but small firm relationships. Green Bay is tight-knit and we are well connected to the community.
- How is the economic crisis affecting your clients?
They have slowed down on the merger side. Now more clients come for estate planning to protect what they see flitting away.
- What are you and your firm doing to respond to the difficulties your clients may be experiencing?
We’ve shifted to match the desire for asset protection. We work with more CFP’s than ever to harmonize investment plans.
- How do you sell your practice?
A soft-sell has always been our approach. We are friends with many of our clients before they ever set foot in the door.
- How much time do you spend each day developing / enhancing your brand?
Today more than most :-) With social media, client lunches and after hours networking, probably 2+ hours/day on average.
- Thanks for letting 22 Tweets monopolize that time today! Why are you on Twitter?
Both to interact directly with local people, and on a national level, to keep up with the ever-changing practice of law.
- Are you achieving that objective?
Definitely. I have learned so much in a short time from my colleagues on Twitter, and have strengthened local relationships.
- Beyond Twitter, do you use other social networking tools (blog, FB, LI, etc)?
I am on LinkedIn http://bit.ly/VP1BY We have long written on business but just launched a firm blog http://bit.ly/weaD2
- Congrats on the blog. What is the most significant issue currently facing the legal profession?
As much as the economy, the proliferation of online self-help legal services performed by bots is a threat to the profession
- What will the legal landscape look like in 10 years?
I suspect with big firm layoffs & availability of basic legal materials online, specialization and boutique firms will grow.
- What would you do if you weren’t a lawyer?
I was a physics major in undergrad (dont tell) so I would likely be doing scientific research; at a particle accelerator hopefully.
- Your secret’s safe here…. Perhaps you could be a lawyer at LHC for CERN. How do you want to be remembered?
As a good friend, great family member and touched lives in big ways or small; as dedicated to those causes I believed in.
- What do you do when you’re not working?
I can golf for a couple months per year in Green Bay; the rest of the time I fish, hunt, play volleyball, dote on my niece.
- What languages do you speak?
Fluent in English and Poker-speak. Speak broken French (enough to navigate Paris) and I am trying to learn Spanish…slowly
- Our last question of the day: What advice do you have for people going to law school today?
Take skills-based classes! Mediation, trial advocacy, drafting etc have helped me immensely. Substantive law changes anyway.
Thank you so very much, @LawyerBen, for tweeting with 22 Tweets and answering our questions today
[Ed. note: due to an oversight, @lawyerben got an extra question....]
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