About a year and a half ago, I took a huge leap of faith, quit my law firm job, and opened up my own practice. I have always been interested in working for myself, and the decision to hang out a shingle has allowed me to enjoy the freedom and flexibility of self-employment. As mentioned in a previous article, I partnered up with my brother Jared about a year ago, and the experience so far has been amazing. Not only have we exceeded all of our expectations for the firm, but we have had a lot of fun along the way. My story shows that running a law firm with family can be a great experience in many circumstances.
My partner/brother Jared and I have an interesting family history. I am a triplet and my older brothers (including Jared) are twins. Jared’s picture on our firm website is a little outdated (and at 6’9’’, I’m a lot taller than him), but he is assuredly still my big brother. All five of us siblings are guys, so we like to call ourselves the Roth”men.”
Both of our parents passed away at relatively young ages (although our grandmother is still very much around), so all of the Roth”men” had to rely on each other more than many other siblings. Even though my brother Jared and I have a unique connection, there was of course some fear that going into business with each other may impact our family, and we have seen this happen with relatives in the past. Nevertheless, Jared and I made it very clear from the beginning that we would not let any of our business dealings negatively affect our connection as brothers.
In any event, our first year of partnership has been great, and running a law firm with family has brought a lot of joy to our work. My brother is absolutely hilarious (and this is coming from a guy who used to do stand-up!). I would describe my brother’s comedy as a mixture of Jim Carrey’s physical routine, Robin Williams’ ability to do voices, and Bob Saget’s comedy in the absurdity. He’s really funny. We also work off each other when we are cracking jokes while interacting about the business, and pretty much every time we talk on the phone, I’m either smiling or laughing. Of course, people can have fun with any business partner, but there is something about interacting and joking around with someone who you’ve known since you were kids that can be extremely enriching when breaking the grind of practicing law.
Moreover, running a law firm with family can be less stressful than partnering with people to whom you are not related. I can honestly say that my brother and I have never had a single major dispute as law partners. Obviously, there is give and take with many decisions about running a law firm, but it just doesn’t make sense to escalate matters when you are dealing with family. This is one great benefit of working with relatives rather than business associates to whom you are not related. Pretty much every law firm I worked at had disputes among the partners, whether it was about origination, salaries, firm expenses, or other matters. Nevertheless, when you work with family, there can be less of an adversarial relationship between partners, which can be beneficial to a partnership. Even if there are disputes, my brother and I can always hug it out, which would seem pretty weird for traditional law firm partners!
In addition, running a law firm with family means that someone will have your back at all times, perhaps more than if you were not related to a partner. Law firm partners often need to be backed up, whether it is help with legal work, influencing adversaries, or a number of other issues. Sometimes, law firm partners may prioritize their own clients or take a “CYA” attitude to doing certain types of tasks. Not with our law firm. Both my brother and myself jump in to help each other whenever there is a need to be backed up. Maybe this is because we have been backing each other up for decades. When I was in the second grade, my brother Jared scared a bunch of kids on a schoolbus who were bullying me. He had my back then like he has my back now, and the expression “blood is thicker than water” can apply to running a law firm.
Furthermore, running a law firm with relatives can help with client interactions as well. Clients often like to work with family-run businesses, and they know that we are not another cookie-cutter law firm with which they cannot relate on a deeper level. Moreover, working on matters with my brother also helps when speaking to adversaries and other parties. My brother and I often employ the Rothman “double team” (an apt expression since we both played on the Cresskill High School basketball team with number “51”) where we both hop on calls to adversaries and others at the same time. This approach can help us de-escalate situations, and Jared and I can rely on our strengths during interactions to ensure our clients have the best likelihood of success. Indeed, Jared has a wealth of experience with transactional matters and I am more experienced with litigation, so when we jointly participate in calls, we can provide a well-rounded assessment of a situation.
Of course, the past year has been challenging for many law firms, and our shop has not been immune to the uncertainty caused by COVID-19. Still, the experience of running a law firm with family has been very enriching, and it has made the worst times of the past several months much easier. Of course, it is not uncommon to see family-run law firms in the legal profession, but some people may be hesitant about partnering with family. However, my experience shows that not only can running a law firm with family bring joy to your work, but it can also help you provide the best possible legal services to clients.
Jordan Rothman is a partner of The Rothman Law Firm, a full-service New York and New Jersey law firm. He is also the founder of Student Debt Diaries, a website discussing how he paid off his student loans. You can reach Jordan through email at jordan@rothmanlawyer.com.