The breadth and variety of my over thirty-five years of experience as a lawyeris unique. I have gained privileged insights through years of practice inspecialty areas of commercial law, contract law, employment law, real estate law, tax law, estate law, succession law, and alternative dispute resolution (“ADR”). I have also worked in the full range of client relationships as a member of large firms, small partnerships, and as a sole practitioner. Furthermore, I have represented an ethnoculturally and financially diverse range of clients, satisfying a spectrum of needs spanning from personal legal problems to major corporate decisions.
Very few lawyers can make this claim at a time when the large firms have driven their partners into narrower areas of specialization and when the arrival of artificial intelligence has weakened the need for development of personal relationships between counsel and client. As legal services havebecome more commodified, the value placed on expert input has shifted to a financial premium on outputs, whether in the form of billing pressure in highoverhead mega-firm environments, or in the form of online shopping for the lowest fee.
Given these trends, it is a privilege for me to serve as a trusted advisor, combining the specialized skills I’ve gathered, to the benefit of my clients.After all, every client is unique. Their needs typically aren’t satisfied as simply as they might wish. A combination of perspectives must be brought tobear on the strategies and solutions that will serve them best.
Service at this level obliges me to demonstrate genuine care for clients on acase-by-case basis. No marketing claims build the kind of trust I require to domy best work. Personal interaction, supported by hard-earned reputation, isnecessary. In short, I strive to deliver a deeply personal service rooted in substance, not appearances.
This principle is as firm in my transaction work as in dispute resolution. It’seasier to put the client at the center of service design when you have a broadarray of tools, than when you approach from the perspective of a specialist.I’m able to identify legal and financial risks, measure them against myclient’s tolerance, and craft a strategy that respects their needs.
My experience is especially valuable in my ADR practice because almostevery arbitration or mediation arises from a defective or misunderstoodagreement. As a lawyer who has drafted, communicated, enforced, orchallenged hundreds of agreements, in many fields of professional or personal endeavor, I am quick to spot soluble problems in the documentation and narrative of complex disputes.
If there is a single principle underpinning my practice, it is respect for theclient. In dispute resolution, a measure of compassion is helpful as well.
Legal service, at its best, provides what the client needs at a cost that is commensurate with the value they place on the result. Too often, the servicelawyers offer reflects their narrow expertise, defined by their firms’ internalsystems and fee structure. In this regard, conventional firms get it wrong for the clients who really need a customized approach.
Sincerely,
Jonathan C. Yen