“They enjoyed it and we realized it was a value-added service,” says David M. Axelrad, a partner at the 35-attorney firm that focuses on civil appellate litigation. Since then, the firm has given countless presentations to client groups interested in learning about legal matters relating to their legal action--all free of charge.
The seminars are “tailored” to the educational goals of the client, according to Axelrad. Examples include the importance of preserving issues for appeal, brief writing and current developments in the law. While clients enjoy the seminars, why would a law firm invest in educating clients on top of practicing law and counseling clients for money?
For Columbus lawyer Caroline Worley, the answer is easy. “When I first started my practice six years ago, my firm’s mission was to help businesses grow," she says. "Four-fifths of small businesses fail in their first five years, but with education, the failure rate is decreased.”
Educational Offerings
The flagship offering of Worley’s three-attorney firm is a HR Lunch and Learn seminar series geared toward employers. Attendees include business owners, HR professionals and even employees, she says.
The February offering will focus on critical matters to be included in a viable Employee Handbook. When Worley’s firm initiated the Lunch and Learn series in mid-2014, attendance was free. However, today the cost is $15 or $20, for non-profits and for-profit attendees, respectively. Despite charging a fee for attending, the program is not a money maker for the firm.
When the series began, approximately 15 people attended, Worley says. Today, attendance generally hovers around 75. “We lost a few people when we started charging but it rebounded," Worley says. "We didn’t want to charge anything but we had to due to a lack of space. Charging a fee helps keep our numbers manageable.”
The Hofheimer Family Law Firm, with offices in Virginia Beach and Newport Beach, VA, not only seeks to educate clients and non-clients, alike, it also organizes monthly social outings for them, too. The firm is unique in several ways. First, it only serves female clients in family law matters. Secondly, Kristen Hofheimer followed in her father’s footsteps not only to become an attorney, but to spearhead her dad’s family law firm.
One of the educational opportunities offered is a six-hour Child Custody Boot Camp, according to Charlie Hofheimer, Kristen’s father and the namesake of the three-person firm. For $197, women who can’t afford to hire a lawyer for their child custody case are taught the ten factors a Virginia judge considers when awarding custody of the minor children.
“We teach them how to prepare a trial notebook so they can be confident in court,” Hofheimer says. The abundance of information available on the World Wide Web about divorce and child custody hasn’t proven to be a deterrent to the boot camp.
“Even with the Internet, there is a market for live presentations," he says. "People, especially women, enjoy the social aspect of the group presentation. They meet women in similar situations and give one another support.”
Another unique aspect of the Child Custody Boot Camp is that therapists who attend are admitted free of charge. That’s so for a few reasons. First, it’s useful for mental health professionals to learn more about what women experience when engaged in a custody battle. That knowledge can help them counsel their female clients embroiled in those emotionally taxing legal matters.
From a practical standpoint, admitting therapists for free builds a bridge between the Hofheimer firm and mental health professionals. Often, therapists refer female clients to the law firm for legal representation, so offering them the boot camp for free sheds a positive light on the firm.
The Hofheimer firm offers another educational opportunity to women. The ‘Second Saturday’ program imparts practical knowledge about divorce to attendees. For $50, participants not only receive live instruction, but also four books (in hard and e-copy form) about divorce and family law matters. The seminar is offered twice on the second Saturday of each month and on the second Tuesday evening of the month.
Hofheimer says he spearheaded the Second Saturday program 24 years ago because “women are handicapped in the court system.” Women do not have to be a firm client to attend, although many attendees subsequently hire the firm to represent them in their family law matter after participating, Hofheimer says.
Another way the Hofheimer firm differentiates itself from others is that it plans and pays for monthly social outings for women, whether they are clients or not. Since its inception 2 ½ years ago, The Girls Night Out (GNO) program has steadily gained in popularity, says Katie Wilcox Carter, its organizer.
She is an attorney with the firm as well as its Marketing Director, and coordinates the monthly gatherings. According to Wilcox Carter, GNO was Hofheimer’s idea. He observed that “women lose a lot of friends through the divorce process, even just by happenstance. He decided the law firm could organize women to get together with women in similar situations just to have fun.”
The February GNO is the “Second Annual Un-Valentines Party,” she explains. Since it will be held on February 14, the gathering will give attendees an opportunity to do something on a day that might otherwise be sad or emotional taxing.
Past events have included a night at a local comedy club and fishing off a pier in nearby Norfolk. “We want the women to make connections so as their case progresses, they find ways to become more self-reliant. It also helps them develop new skills, make new friends, network and build their self-esteem,” Wilcox Carter says.
There is no question GNO is a homerun. What started off with perhaps 15 women participating has blossomed into an average of 75 attendees. In fact, Wilcox Carter says there is a core group of about 15 women who never miss an event.
Tami Kamin Meyer is an Ohio attorney and writer.