I hope you and your family had a good summer. This was a hot one around the country, but nevertheless, I hope you were able to be out and about enjoying yourself with friends and family.
On a celebratory note, this year marks the 40th anniversary of the opening of our law firm. It’s hard to believe that this much time has passed, but like they say, time flies when you’re having a good time. After 40 years it continues to be interesting, challenging and gratifying to practice law. I’m grateful to former and present clients, colleagues, as well as opposing counsel, who have all helped us reach this milestone. It’s fair to say we couldn’t have done it without you.
It’s been an interesting season since my last newsletter, characterized by a variety of different areas of law practice.
In a fraudulent transfer case against the wife of a company owner, we had a trial in Federal Court in which we showed that the owner had not only facilitated fraudulent transfers from his company to himself, but that he also made fraudulent transfers to his wife either directly from the company or out of the funds he fraudulently transferred to himself. The Federal Judge who heard the case without a jury, issued a decision against the wife which eventually resulted in a settlement in favor of my client of $315,000.
Over the years, I’ve been involved in numerous real estate litigation matters, running the gamut from disputes between joint owners of property, development issues, zoning, leasing, and condominium disputes, to name a few which come readily to mind. These have included a fair number of intra-family disagreements including fights between siblings, parents and children, and other relatives.
I thought about my experience in handling family financial and business disputes. The interesting thing about business disputes between family members is that it’s not always or primarily about dollars and cents. In some cases, it’s clear to me that behind the “business” dispute, the family members can often be playing out long simmering resentments towards each other. Thus, siblings and cousins – the next generation after the founding parents, aunts and uncles who created a family company – find themselves fighting over how the company should be run, or which members of the next generation should be the officers or boss, or whether the business should be sold and the profits distributed among all family members. I’ve seen siblings or cousins fighting over grievances originating in their roles or placement in the family dating back many years. However, now there may be a substantial amount of money involved in the present dispute. As Winston Churchill reportedly quipped: Never let a good crisis go to waste.
I found this same scenario in divorces I’ve handled, where the money issues were sometimes just another way of getting even for personal complaints and resentments. Thus, money becomes the focus when the real issue is “you never gave me any respect,” ergo, “you’re going to pay for it now.” And of course, there are probate estate proceedings for a deceased relative. When there is, or believed to be, substantial money involved, relatives who were once close or at least courteous towards each other, can quickly go to battle stations. A philosopher once said that you never really know a person until you’ve gone through an estate with him (or her).
One of the very interesting things about law practice is that it runs the spectrum of personal, professional and business dealings, with all of the sometimes long-simmering personal issues featured overtly or lurking under the surface. Business people dealing at arm’s length who argue over a financial/legal issue may get emotional, but add personal grievances years or decades in the making, well that’s quite another thing. It can make for a very rich mix, which perhaps accounts for the popularity of legal and courtroom dramas in movies, plays, books and television series. Robert Frost famously said that “good fences make good neighbors.” Legal disputes, unfortunate as they may be, make good drama.
As many of you know, along with litigation, I’ve represented clients in other areas of the law. I began practice as a corporate and securities attorney and participated from early on in corporate, business and real estate transactions. I’ve continued working in those areas, sometimes working with law colleagues when the issues or circumstances suggest it. Over the past several months I advised clients in such varied areas as employment negotiations, a property dispute, an option to purchase real estate, and the possibility of a corporate reorganization. I find that variety is a good way to meet my clients’ varying needs and to continue growing as a lawyer. Some of these recent activities are in their early stages and I’ll follow up on their progress in future newsletters.
On another note, I recently attended the annual Q-Gala celebration of my alma mater, Queens College. I understand that its students come from homes where some 109 different languages are spoken – then and now a veritable melting pot of people seeking to succeed in the American dream. Academically Queens College was, and still is, quite an excellent school, which made it possible, along with hard work of course, for me to be accepted to Harvard Law School. The rest, as they say, is history.
As always, we continue to practice in a wide range of legal areas, including corporate, commercial and business law, trials and appeals, real estate issues, employment, discrimination, divorce, international and university law. If you have any questions about our areas of practice or about any legal matters where we can be of assistance to you or someone you know, please do not hesitate to call on me.