Maurice Giro

I began my career on my own right after I finished working for a Judge. I had no idea how to be a lawyer or how to be a business man so I jumped into the deep end of the swimming pool on my own. I spoke to other attorneys and I read books to help me learn how to practice law and how to run my office. I sometimes felt that the way I was being taught to run the office was unusual and the reality of being a lawyer was very different from what I had in mind when I decided to go to law school. In many ways, it felt like the what some lawyers were focused on was to try to squeeze as much money out of clients with as little effort as possible. First, everything was billed on an hourly basis. If a client called you, they were charged. If the other lawyer called you, the client was charged. If you went to court for 5 minutes, the client was charged. At $250 per hour, this could become very expensive for people that could not afford it, but needed the help. Because clients had difficulty budgeting for their legal fees, they would avoid calling to discuss their matter in order to save money. Clients often did not look forward to hearing from me out of fear of what it would cost them. Even when they did call, it often took a long time to respond to them because I did not have a team supporting the firm. It was just me and one assistant who was overworked. By the time the clients came in to meet with me, the relationship had become very transactional. We would finalize their matter, I would close their file and that was the end of the relationship. If they needed my help again, they might not even know it because they never heard from me again. Whether it was helping a person with their divorce, helping families to protect their children and assets, or helping a small business to grow and prosper, this is how lawyers are taught to treat their clients. I always felt that there had to be a better way to service our clients while ensuring that we could follow up with them.