Gary C. Angiuli & Stefanie L. DeMario-Germershausen Of Angiuli & Gentile LLP | CEO's You Should Know
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Listen
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi, Run, This is Steve Dallison and welcome to this
week's edition of CEOs. You should know I am thrilled
to be joined by Gary and Julie, the managing and
founding partner of and Julie and Gentili and his partner
Stephanie de Mario.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
So thank you both for being here today.
Speaker 3 (00:13):
Thank you for having us appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
Yeah, we're excited to jump in today and to learn
more about your background and also learn more about the firm.
So why don't we kick it off with you Gary.
I know that you started practicing law in New York
in nineteen eighty four, later with the US Supreme Court
in nineteen eighty eight. Looking back at the last forty
years of practice, what initially inspired you to pursue law.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
To begin with?
Speaker 4 (00:36):
It was just a bad decision from the beginning, So
it was interesting. You know. My personal background came from
a place where I needed to do something for myself.
I came from an entrepreneurial family and I never just
wanted to be the son of the entrepreneur. So I
decided that I needed to create my own business model,
(00:57):
and from day one decided I wanted to build a
meaningful and substantial law firm in Staten Island.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
That's awesome.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
And after all those years, how do you continue every
single day to still be motivated.
Speaker 4 (01:09):
Well, that's a great question. I think the answer to
that comes down to if you really don't care about people.
Because what we do in our law firm, I always
refer to it as middle class law or up a
middle class law, and the people we deal with are
dealing with everyday real life stuff. Right They need a will,
they've had a death in a family, they need medicaid planning,
(01:29):
they need divorce, they're buying a home, they're buying a business.
And I think for me personally, it really starts because
my background, as I said, was from an entrepreneurial family.
For me, I like people, and I think if you
like people, you know sometimes someone will be Steffan. You'll
be talking with someone in the conference room and I'll
just come in just to say hi, and just to
meet them, to see what do they do for a living,
(01:51):
you know, does their kid play basketball? Whatever it might be.
I think it really stems from actually liking people. If
you don't like people, then you need to be in
a law from where you're just doing sort of you know,
mortgage closings or something, and you know, you start at
nine and you end at five, and there's nothing wrong
with that. But the type of law Stephanie and I
practice is very community interactive and we like people love that,
(02:14):
And I think I could say that about my partner
Enomory gentility, my other partner, Aaron Colegan. They really the
four of us go out of our way to really
connect with people. You know, doing documents is only a
small portion of the law if you're not willing to
listen to people and talk to them and go that
extra step and keep talking till all of a sudden
(02:35):
you hear something and go, ah, you have a special
needs child. I know that now, or whatever it might be.
The things that we don't know if we don't probe.
So I think you have to like people. I think
you have to be inherently empathetic to the fact that
nobody's life is a straight line. You have to gently
prod out of the thing, prod out of them the
(02:55):
things that they may not want to say because they
have a difficult marriage, or they have a problem child
or whatever it might be, or they're having financial problems
and they're buying a house, and they don't want to
tell you that they're not making the income that they
technically need in their mind to qualify for the house.
So if you can really connect with them, I think
(03:15):
that's the key.
Speaker 1 (03:17):
That makes the world a difference too. And I'm sure
that that really shows through that you care as you're
meeting your different clients and working with.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
Each of them.
Speaker 4 (03:23):
I think authenticity matters, and you do have to care,
like pretending you care, which I think a lot of
businesses pretend to care. I can say I have very
empathetic partners. There's so many times that Stephanie would say
to me, for example, you know, I was at eleven
o'clock last night, I was thinking about this. Am I
(03:45):
overthinking it? Like no, it's because you really care and
just the way you want to have a successful podcast.
We're not excited when we get a retainer in. We're
excited when somebody writes a positive review because we feel
like we might have made a difference in someone's life.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
I love that.
Speaker 4 (04:03):
So that's really truth. I love that people talk that talk,
but we live it. You do our best to live it.
All can't please everyone, but true we try really hard,
and it's a thankless profession because it's not like television, right,
if somebody's getting a divorce, it doesn't you know, you
watch something on television and it starts and it ends
within an hour, but technically, I don't know, forty eight
(04:25):
minutes or something when you had the commercials. In real
life goes on for years and people are paying hard
earned money for bills and they think the lawyers are
dragging it out and all the things that the perceptions
that people have. So it's not only about caring, but
it's about people believing you, believing in you, believing you're authentic,
being authentic. So I think that's the key for the
(04:45):
whole thing.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
It's a great mindset, Stephanie.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
I know you also have a very impressive background, earning
your jd at the New York Law School and serving
as the president of the Moot Court Association at Saint
John's University. How did those early years really ape your
leadership style into the turney you are today.
Speaker 5 (05:03):
So I've always wanted to practice law, as boring as
that may sound, and I knew that.
Speaker 3 (05:11):
Oh thank you, thank you.
Speaker 5 (05:13):
So I was pre law in Saint John's and I
wanted to help my peers by giving us real life,
real world experience, and the Moot Court allowed us to
do that because you were given questions in a fact
pattern and you were given an opportunity to present your
matter and get feedback.
Speaker 3 (05:30):
And when you're in that safe space of.
Speaker 5 (05:32):
A school, that really really helped in preparing at least me,
I can say for myself in going out into the
real world, that's awesome.
Speaker 3 (05:40):
Thanks.
Speaker 1 (05:40):
I love that background too, and I'm not going to
hold it against either in Saint John's. I went to Yukon,
but I appreciate that perspective, and I think that's great
that you knew right from the start what you wanted
to accomplish and all the accomplishments that.
Speaker 4 (05:53):
You have stard Boards of lou Carlaseca.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
All good Gary.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
One of the things I love that I looked up
was that your firm's philosophy is the time to get
the map is before you enter the woods. How does
that mindset influence the way that you guide your clients
through some of the more complex transactions that they have
to take place throughout their lives.
Speaker 4 (06:15):
So we've been in business since nineteen eighty five, and
that has allowed us the benefit of seeing countless matters
in countless areas of law. I don't think you can
say that right, look at the map before you go
into the woods unless you have seen things go from
beginning to end. Sure, and sometimes they take two years,
(06:37):
three years, four years, five years, six months, whatever it
might be. Maybe it's a simple real estate deal that
went awry because there was an illegal deck or an
illegal pool. So the mindset of saying you have to
have a blueprint, you can't have a blueprint unless you've
ever seen a building. And we've seen many buildings and
many buildings that were not built properly. So for us,
(07:02):
I think we're because of the amount of time that
we have been in business. We have seen so many
fact patterns, and seen so many personalities, and dealt with
so many psychological profiles and understand that when someone comes
in and says they want to they have a custody battle,
or they're in a divorce matter, or whatever it might be,
(07:24):
how we need to really explain to them because their
perception of what is going to happen comes from television,
it is not from real life. They cannot understand why
there's four months between somebody filing emotion and getting an
answer from a judge of what the answer to that
motion is, and they wrote a check for X dollars
to do that, and they just to them it's simple.
It's like, well, of course I would get this. You know,
(07:46):
this seems logical. But there wouldn't be there's an old
saying a small town can't support a lawyer, but it
can support two lawyers. Right, So there wouldn't be judges
if there weren't disputes, and there weren't interpretations of the law.
So we've seen things that seem like a slam dunk
that we go we just can't believe that we didn't
win this, like we just can't believe it, and things
(08:07):
that we you know, say this is amazing, Like, you know,
we went into this thing thinking there was no chance.
So when we talk about the roadmap or blueprint for
the future or going into the woods, every person is
if you're I'm using an example of divorce. But Stephanie
does a lot in estate planning, all the law, and
(08:27):
she could tell you some stories about those things. But
if you're going into something you need to understand it
might very well be a painful process. But we try
and communicate to people is that we have done this before.
It is going to be difficult, but it is finite,
and whether it takes six months or three years might
(08:49):
depend on you and your spouse. I love this one.
People always say the lawyers charge us so much money,
and I'm like, well, okay, so you came in day
one and in three years, right before trial, you settled
on a settlement agreement for whatever the matter is. All
you really needed to do was day one, agree on
(09:10):
that with your spouse or the person in commercial litigation
with you, and then your legal bill would have been
You know this big, but human beings being what they are,
and emotion getting into it. I think the roadmap that
we're referring to most is we've seen a lot of
psychological profiles, and that is the key to real advice
(09:30):
going forward, to really knowing that when you get into
the woods, there is going to be a fork in
the road. You can go left or you can go right,
but it's not ever going to be a straight path through.
And because we understand that, I think we can try
and help prepare people for what's happening and also to
make them know that when we get to the end
of this, They're going to get a better life. They
(09:51):
are going to get the life they deserve, They're going
to get a rebirth, They're going to get a chance
out of better life.
Speaker 1 (09:55):
Yeah, and you guys have seen that firsthand through tons
of experience, and you could be the ones that help
them through those w Stephanie, I loved before we jumped
on the podcast. Obviously, something that you both talked about
and the entire firm does, is how much you care
about your clients, Ole, and I think it's even come
through so far in our conversation. And as Gary mentioned,
I know you work on a stay planning and special
(10:15):
need plannings. How do you ensure that the clients feel
so supportive throughout making those really important pivotal decisions and
emotional decisions in their lives.
Speaker 5 (10:26):
I hear them, and I involve them, and I will
share with clients numerous times a week. No two plans
are going to be the same. So we start with
a conversation.
Speaker 3 (10:37):
Just talk to me.
Speaker 5 (10:38):
Tell me what you're thinking, tell me what your goals are,
Tell me about your family, tell me about that in
law that you may not like, tell me everything. Let
me understand it, and then once I gather that, I'll
ask do I have it?
Speaker 3 (10:51):
I got it all? Is there anything else?
Speaker 5 (10:52):
And then we can put together a plan and I
tell them we're doing this now, that we don't have
to reconfront it hopefully in the future, and that they
have a home to come back to to ask questions.
We have clients that we hope are for life, and
we instill that in Nirow State Planning clients. I tell people,
you can call me every day, you can ask me
(11:15):
questions every day. I'm not going anywhere. I may have
to call you back, but I will, and that's okay
because people need to feel comfortable when they've placed their
entire lives into your hands to now meld and make
sure that they have a transition into their older years
where they are protected in addition to their children and grandchildren.
Speaker 1 (11:35):
And stay on that topic. From your experience, what are
some of the biggest mistakes you know as family making
throughout the process?
Speaker 3 (11:42):
Wait?
Speaker 2 (11:42):
How can they better educate themselves not to make those.
Speaker 3 (11:45):
I would say waiting a little too long.
Speaker 5 (11:49):
We call that crisis planning sometimes and listen, we can
do it, yep, but it may not be exactly the
same as we would have if we had a little
bit more time. And that's where the word planning comes in.
It has to be a plan or it should be
a plan. So many times I'll meet with children of
(12:09):
clients and they'll say, if I can just have gotten
my parents here a few years ago, and I say,
don't worry about that. Hindsight's twenty twenty.
Speaker 3 (12:16):
We're going to do it now. But have you thought
about yours? Yeah, that would be a good thing. So
I would say waiting too long is usually the biggest pitfall.
Speaker 1 (12:25):
That makes a ton of sense, So everybody tuning in
make sure you get that planning done early. A. We
talked about your very impressive background and the experience you have.
When you look at the industry of today, how do
you see it evolve and how do you see AI
being part of that evolution.
Speaker 4 (12:43):
So there's no question that AI is going to have
a dramatic impact on how laws practice. Sure the mistake
people make is thinking that AI is a lawyer. Because
AI is a tool. It's great to draft a document
with AI, but what AI only responds to two things? Right?
(13:07):
The way you feather the question in which from our
breath of experience will Stephanie will sit with somebody and
she'll talk to them and in between asking them about
their kids schooling or basketball game. So at some point
when they get comfortable, they might say, you know, I
have one adult child who has a gambling problem or something.
(13:28):
Now a people may not necessarily know to integrate that
into their question in AI. B AI does have many
inaccuracies and hallucinate sometimes, But I think it comes down
to the difference between what I refer to. You know,
you see the attorneys and councilors at law, what we do,
(13:51):
what we bring to the table. We are not drafts people, right,
you can go we are drafts people. But with the
advent of AI, you can draft documents here. But that
is not the same as being a counselor at law.
Speaker 2 (14:03):
Totally right.
Speaker 4 (14:04):
And to be a counselor at law you need the
breath of experience. You need to have seen how things
go wrong. You need to get people to trust you,
and you do need to probe. You need to gain
their trust. So they will say I went through this
in my life. Well I didn't know you had a
health problem. People don't. Sometimes they're ashamed of problems they have. Yeah,
(14:25):
it may be recovering alcoholic or drugs or whatever. Right,
and so the more they tell us, the more we
can help them. AI is a tremendous.
Speaker 2 (14:34):
Tool, yep.
Speaker 4 (14:35):
But it is just that a tool. And you know,
somebody said, had somebody say to me the other day
we were working on something and we're talking about Claude,
which is it's a remarkable I mean, it's remarkable if
you've used it, right, But you know, AI is about
eight years old. Would you trust your future to an
eight year old? And the other thing with AI, what
(14:56):
I mean, maybe five six months ago, I remember putting
into I think it was Chad Gpt trying to look
myself up. It was really interesting because I got, you know,
three pages about me and how brilliant.
Speaker 2 (15:07):
Boy that however, tell me, however.
Speaker 4 (15:12):
I know why I got it, because all it did
was look at my website and whether I got an
award here. And all AI knows from a data point
of view is the data that's on the internet. It
doesn't know my childhood background. It doesn't know where I
worked at eighteen years old, It doesn't know the pluses
and minuses of my life. It doesn't know how we
(15:32):
built the law firm. What it's picking up is data
that is available on the Internet, some of which was,
you know, I put my own bio in LinkedIn or
whatever it might be, so it searches that. But I,
you know, I don't say where I grew up, or
what high school I went to, or whether I got
honors here, or you know, none of that stuff is
necessarily in there. So I think there are severe limitations
(15:53):
to A. I do think AI will get better and better.
But what AI is not a substitute for is judgment.
So we've fed a contract in the other day, just
for example, and somebody had sent us a contract, We
had done all the analysis, and then we put it
in and I would say it came back maybe with
about eighty percent of the stuff that we would calculate
in right, and maybe twenty percent of stuff that we wouldn't. However,
(16:14):
what A does, I doesn't tell you and what it's
not a substitute for his judgment Because just because here's
fifteen things that might be pressure points in this real
estate contract does not mean that you should bring them
up in a deal that you really want this house
because it's the one house that you and your spouse
really want, and is it worth changing five days to
(16:35):
ten days. So the untrained I who might not understand
that you have no place else to move to, or
you've sold your house already, or all the intervening factors
are not in AI. AI is a great tool, just
the way a hammer is a tool. But somebody swings
a hammer, and the more experienced the carpenter, the better
straight of the nail is going to go in. And
(16:56):
I would say that I think that's accurate about AI.
I think AI is going to change the world, and
it's going to displace people from work, so on and
so forth. And it may be months, you know, if
you're doing coding or data entry or something like that.
But when it comes to human judgment, I think we're
going to be many many years before AI can remotely
(17:17):
substitute for human judgment. I think it's going to be
a generation because again, the only data that is in
there is the data that is in there. It's on
the Internet. It may look at ten billion pieces of information.
I don't know what the statistics are. But what it
doesn't know is when I sit and say to you,
you know, David, you don't look great to something up. Uh,
(17:39):
you know, my mom's sick, right, So so like that's
what's missing from AI as a data tool, as a
drafting tool, but it is not a counselor at law.
Speaker 1 (17:49):
So I think that's what you were saying earlier about
really listening to the people that walk through those stores, right,
it's chat SHEBT is not going to do that.
Speaker 4 (17:55):
It's more than listening, it's it's knowing how to peel
back the lay of the honest to get them to
to tell you what's really going on. Yep, And I
think it's be a long time. Although there were you know,
I read an article right before Valentine's Day there was
some some restaurant in Manhattan that said you can bring
(18:17):
your you can bring your AI companion and you could
sit there for Valentine's Day. I mean, I hope we
don't become that as a human race. And I'm not
knocking people who might want to have that relationship whatever.
Although I think back to the movie Her, which didn't
have the happiest ending. If you if you have a sword,
But anyway.
Speaker 2 (18:34):
The same exact mindset.
Speaker 1 (18:35):
We we just recently announced that we were guaranteed human
anytime you turn it into one of our radio stations
across the entire country, you're going to hear a human
being and it's important to let them know.
Speaker 2 (18:45):
So we have it's going to be the death of
the end for it. But there's also places that shouldn't
be If.
Speaker 4 (18:51):
If we don't have the human experience and the stories
that we tell in entertainment, yep, then we're just gonna
have drivel completely.
Speaker 2 (19:00):
So sticking on the human element.
Speaker 1 (19:02):
I know something that you also are very proud of
is the numerous nonprofits boards that you sit on in
different pro bonus services you do. How has that community
involvement really shaped your perspective, both as a lawyer and
as a leader.
Speaker 4 (19:17):
So Stephanie, my partner, Anna, Marie, Aaron, myself, we've all
been an integral part of our community for years, and
I think that it goes back to just the being human,
to understanding, to understanding that you don't just sit on
a board to get prestige. You sit on a board
because you find you know, meals on wheels for example, right,
(19:39):
I was on the border wheels.
Speaker 2 (19:40):
Right.
Speaker 4 (19:41):
You know, if you're blessed and you have food on
your table and someone who visits you and whatever. You
might not think anything of that, But when you sit
on a board and you hear about what is involved
in the human experience and to make to make people
feel that they have a place in the world, I
don't think there's any higher calling in that. And I
think you know, we try and carry that same philosophy
(20:04):
in both directions. It's whether it's a not for profit
or whether it's the law firm. I think it goes
back to the same philosophy. If you don't inherently like people,
care about people, understand the human condition, want to make
a difference in the world. You know. I went to
a seminar years ago why this guy named the Branden Burchard,
and he said, you know, on your deathbed, nobody says
(20:26):
if I only had that Ferrari right, They only ask
themselves three questions. Did I live, that I love, did
I matter? And I hope that we bring that. I
know that Stephanie does because her clients love her. They
love her, and my partner around me, the client's love her,
and Aaron, my partner who handles the matrimonials. I'll say
they like her because no I'm kidding. I mean she's
(20:48):
a wonderful attorney and a very caring person. But they're
going through hell, right, and they're going through hell, so
they right. But the bottom line is it's not a
popularity contest for us, but it is a contest to
connect with the human experience. And I think if you
haven't and Stephanie's been on not for profit, but everybody,
every one of us has been on boards, and we've
met people, and we've heard about the difficulties that people
(21:12):
have in their lives that most of us don't ever
hear about. Yeah, right, you don't think about, well, there's
meals on wheels being an example. I was on that
board years ago. But you may not understand that because
you might have a family structure. It's like, well, I'm
gonna go visit mom on Tuesday and I'll bringer right.
But there are people who are homebound elderly, can't get
out and have nobody visiting them because their kid lives
(21:33):
in California, not New York or whatever. So they may
get a call, but they're by themselves. They are not
in a position to drive to a the food store.
So I think the answer to your question is just that, right.
Speaker 1 (21:46):
Yeah, absolutely, Stephanie, do you have any nonprofits or boards
that you've worked with in the past that stand out?
Speaker 5 (21:52):
So I started on boards with the Young Entrepreneurs group
of the Staten Island Chamber of Commerce, Okay, And that
was really, really nice when I was first getting my
feet wet in the community, and it was nice to
be around people my age.
Speaker 3 (22:08):
And now I'm blessed with you.
Speaker 5 (22:13):
I'm blessed to be on the board of the Staten
Island Chamber of Commerce. So I've moved up now to
where the adults sit, and I do enjoy hearing about
individuals in the community and how other businesses are faring
and getting that feedback from individuals. And I do take
happiness in being able to help individuals that may sit
(22:36):
on the board with me that have a quick question
and want to pick my brain, because you know, that's
why we do it.
Speaker 1 (22:40):
Absolutely So sticking on that your earlier board you mentioned
right the younger entrepreneurs. If someone is tuning in right
now that might be a young entrepreneur, someone that might
be considering the field of law, what advice would you
give them? What advice would you wish someone had given
you all those years back when you first started in it.
Speaker 3 (23:01):
My advice to them would be do it.
Speaker 5 (23:04):
Many times when I was in law school, you would
meet attorneys or I would meet attorneys that would say, oh,
you know, don't go do something else.
Speaker 3 (23:12):
Don't go to law school, don't go do something else.
Speaker 5 (23:15):
And I wasn't swayed by that, And I fear that
sometimes young people now maybe so if you have a
passion for it, do it. Go get that juris doctorate.
You don't necessarily have to practice, but you're still learning
what you want to be learning and what your passion is,
and then you can take it into whatever field you
(23:35):
consider important to you.
Speaker 4 (23:38):
Can I just say that comes back to the DNA
of our firm yep, and my amazing partner. I have
amazing partners, right, And I'm not saying it's not like
a public relations I have three partners who go to
sleep at night actually trying to achieve something for people.
All those lawyers who say don't practice law, don't do
(23:59):
it whatever, they probably went into the you know what
they saw television. They thought there was it was going
to be exciting to practice law, and it's not like that.
The real practice of Again, what I refer to as
middle class. Law is about connecting with regular families. We're
not talking Corporate America or you know, representing General Motors
or AIG. We're talking about people who are buying a house,
(24:22):
buying a business, selling a business, have a problem with
their landlord, need a divorce, need a will, need a trust,
need an a state, need medicare planning, you know, all
those types of things. So I think at the end
of the day, Stephanie loves what she does. I love
what I do. My other two partners love what we
(24:42):
do because we actually like dealing with people. It's difficult
some days because we can't snap our fingers and achieve
the things that people achieve in television law. But the
reality is we are counselors at law, and if you
allow us to befriend you, we will take the opportunity
(25:05):
and help to guide you back to what you said earlier.
You know, the time to have the roadmap is before
you go into the woods. I think that's the bottom line.
We have experience, we want to share it, yep, and
in many cases we can guide people to a much
better result then they might have otherwise. And I think
(25:27):
that's why we do what we do.
Speaker 2 (25:29):
That's amazing.
Speaker 1 (25:30):
It's really important to one obviously have that passion and
have that mindset, but also to have an amazing team
around you. I think that having the right team, having
the right players makes that the world of the difference.
That's amazing to say. So we covered a lot, but
I wanted to ask, is there anything new on the horizon,
any new exciting developments or other things that you want
(25:50):
to share?
Speaker 4 (25:52):
Look, how farm is always growing, and I'll say, stay
tuned in that regard. We're walking on a few things.
Speaker 2 (25:59):
Love that, but unfortunately I can't be.
Speaker 4 (26:03):
Specific at the moment. Let's just say we have a
big plan for the next year. So we'll leave it
at that. And I think that probably wraps it up
for anything I can say about what's igno and exciting.
Speaker 1 (26:14):
Absolutely, and we'll be looking forward to hearing what that
is once you're able to share. So before we conclude,
is there anything that one takeaway that you want anyone
to tune in to know about yourself or about the firm.
Speaker 5 (26:28):
I would like to instill in anyone who's listening that
sometimes it may be a daunting thought to reach out
to an attorney's office. You may have to build up
the courage to even dial depending on what your problem is,
and I would ask you to just do it. Give
us a call, sit with us, give me an hour,
and I'll give you a cup of coffee and see
(26:50):
how you feel. Let us have the opportunity to help
you with whatever problem that you're having, and hopefully we
would be able to go on whatever journey it is
that you're going to go through. But don't hesitate because,
as I say to clients, we're not going anywhere. We're here, Okay,
We're here for you and we want to be there
for you, So don't hesitate.
Speaker 4 (27:13):
Well, firstly, I didn't know Stephanie was giving away free
coffee partner. I think I have to get that under control.
But no, I think that pretty much what we've said
in the past. We are here to connect with people.
We can't solve everything's it's not television. It doesn't always
(27:35):
have an easy path, but it is a finite process,
no matter goes on forever. And our firm's philosophy. There
was a book I read, Cold Fanocracy. I forgot the
name of the author, but the main takeaway from the
book was if you want to build your business, create
raving fans. And I saw him speak and then I
(27:56):
read the book and I thought, that's really it, right,
So we have a sign over the area where all
the lawyers and staff works. It just hays create raving fans.
And that is our mission statement. And I tell everybody,
if somebody writes a positive Google review or sends a
basket of fruit to the office, or even a thank
(28:16):
you note, you made my day, that's what we want.
That's as real as it gets. Because we're gonna make
a living. We're gonna make money. This is what we
do for a living, like this is what you do
for a living. We're all in business. But Richard Branson
wrote a book years ago called Screw Business as Usual,
and it affected my thinking for a really long time
because what he postulated in that book was we're all
(28:39):
in business to make money. But while you're at it,
why not try and do something positive for the world.
And so from my perspective, and I hope I've put
that entrepreneur in the firm, and I have the most
wonderful partners. It's just the DNA of our culture. I
think we're all here to try and make a positive difference.
And I think that that it may not be how
(29:00):
people perceive. You know, Stephanie talked about lawyers and you're
afraid to make a call because they're intimidated. And we
don't want to be seen that way. We want to
be seen as an extension of your family. We want
to give you a better life. Whatever your problem is,
we can't just snap our fingers and solve it, but
we hope that in the end that whatever your problem is,
(29:23):
we've given you. We've taken some weight off your shoulders
or rebirth. What you do with it after that, right,
it is yours after that. I mean, if you getting
a divorce, it seems painful process, but many people go
on to have a second half of their life that's
very happy. So maybe your best chapter hasn't been written
yet for many people. And I think that's what I
(29:44):
would like to take away to be. I think your
best chapter hasn't been written left yet for many people,
and we hope to help you write that chapter.
Speaker 1 (29:52):
It's great advice. Garys Stephanie, thank you both for being
here today. I really appreciate you both sharing your background,
advice and more about of course Andrelian Gentilly in the
overall firm you guys are doing great work and I'm
looking continue to watch you guys that admire the work
you're doing.
Speaker 4 (30:07):
So thank you, thank you so much. We really appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (30:10):
Thank you, thank you, thank you so much, and thank
you all for tuning into this Theasey Edition of CEO.
Speaker 2 (30:14):
As you should know,
Hi, Run, This is Steve Dallison and welcome to this
week's edition of CEOs. You should know I am thrilled
to be joined by Gary and Julie, the managing and
founding partner of and Julie and Gentili and his partner
Stephanie de Mario.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
So thank you both for being here today.
Speaker 3 (00:13):
Thank you for having us appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
Yeah, we're excited to jump in today and to learn
more about your background and also learn more about the firm.
So why don't we kick it off with you Gary.
I know that you started practicing law in New York
in nineteen eighty four, later with the US Supreme Court
in nineteen eighty eight. Looking back at the last forty
years of practice, what initially inspired you to pursue law.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
To begin with?
Speaker 4 (00:36):
It was just a bad decision from the beginning, So
it was interesting. You know. My personal background came from
a place where I needed to do something for myself.
I came from an entrepreneurial family and I never just
wanted to be the son of the entrepreneur. So I
decided that I needed to create my own business model,
(00:57):
and from day one decided I wanted to build a
meaningful and substantial law firm in Staten Island.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
That's awesome.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
And after all those years, how do you continue every
single day to still be motivated.
Speaker 4 (01:09):
Well, that's a great question. I think the answer to
that comes down to if you really don't care about people.
Because what we do in our law firm, I always
refer to it as middle class law or up a
middle class law, and the people we deal with are
dealing with everyday real life stuff. Right They need a will,
they've had a death in a family, they need medicaid planning,
(01:29):
they need divorce, they're buying a home, they're buying a business.
And I think for me personally, it really starts because
my background, as I said, was from an entrepreneurial family.
For me, I like people, and I think if you
like people, you know sometimes someone will be Steffan. You'll
be talking with someone in the conference room and I'll
just come in just to say hi, and just to
meet them, to see what do they do for a living,
(01:51):
you know, does their kid play basketball? Whatever it might be.
I think it really stems from actually liking people. If
you don't like people, then you need to be in
a law from where you're just doing sort of you know,
mortgage closings or something, and you know, you start at
nine and you end at five, and there's nothing wrong
with that. But the type of law Stephanie and I
practice is very community interactive and we like people love that,
(02:14):
And I think I could say that about my partner
Enomory gentility, my other partner, Aaron Colegan. They really the
four of us go out of our way to really
connect with people. You know, doing documents is only a
small portion of the law if you're not willing to
listen to people and talk to them and go that
extra step and keep talking till all of a sudden
(02:35):
you hear something and go, ah, you have a special
needs child. I know that now, or whatever it might be.
The things that we don't know if we don't probe.
So I think you have to like people. I think
you have to be inherently empathetic to the fact that
nobody's life is a straight line. You have to gently
prod out of the thing, prod out of them the
(02:55):
things that they may not want to say because they
have a difficult marriage, or they have a problem child
or whatever it might be, or they're having financial problems
and they're buying a house, and they don't want to
tell you that they're not making the income that they
technically need in their mind to qualify for the house.
So if you can really connect with them, I think
(03:15):
that's the key.
Speaker 1 (03:17):
That makes the world a difference too. And I'm sure
that that really shows through that you care as you're
meeting your different clients and working with.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
Each of them.
Speaker 4 (03:23):
I think authenticity matters, and you do have to care,
like pretending you care, which I think a lot of
businesses pretend to care. I can say I have very
empathetic partners. There's so many times that Stephanie would say
to me, for example, you know, I was at eleven
o'clock last night, I was thinking about this. Am I
(03:45):
overthinking it? Like no, it's because you really care and
just the way you want to have a successful podcast.
We're not excited when we get a retainer in. We're
excited when somebody writes a positive review because we feel
like we might have made a difference in someone's life.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
I love that.
Speaker 4 (04:03):
So that's really truth. I love that people talk that talk,
but we live it. You do our best to live it.
All can't please everyone, but true we try really hard,
and it's a thankless profession because it's not like television, right,
if somebody's getting a divorce, it doesn't you know, you
watch something on television and it starts and it ends
within an hour, but technically, I don't know, forty eight
(04:25):
minutes or something when you had the commercials. In real
life goes on for years and people are paying hard
earned money for bills and they think the lawyers are
dragging it out and all the things that the perceptions
that people have. So it's not only about caring, but
it's about people believing you, believing in you, believing you're authentic,
being authentic. So I think that's the key for the
(04:45):
whole thing.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
It's a great mindset, Stephanie.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
I know you also have a very impressive background, earning
your jd at the New York Law School and serving
as the president of the Moot Court Association at Saint
John's University. How did those early years really ape your
leadership style into the turney you are today.
Speaker 5 (05:03):
So I've always wanted to practice law, as boring as
that may sound, and I knew that.
Speaker 3 (05:11):
Oh thank you, thank you.
Speaker 5 (05:13):
So I was pre law in Saint John's and I
wanted to help my peers by giving us real life,
real world experience, and the Moot Court allowed us to
do that because you were given questions in a fact
pattern and you were given an opportunity to present your
matter and get feedback.
Speaker 3 (05:30):
And when you're in that safe space of.
Speaker 5 (05:32):
A school, that really really helped in preparing at least me,
I can say for myself in going out into the
real world, that's awesome.
Speaker 3 (05:40):
Thanks.
Speaker 1 (05:40):
I love that background too, and I'm not going to
hold it against either in Saint John's. I went to Yukon,
but I appreciate that perspective, and I think that's great
that you knew right from the start what you wanted
to accomplish and all the accomplishments that.
Speaker 4 (05:53):
You have stard Boards of lou Carlaseca.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
All good Gary.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
One of the things I love that I looked up
was that your firm's philosophy is the time to get
the map is before you enter the woods. How does
that mindset influence the way that you guide your clients
through some of the more complex transactions that they have
to take place throughout their lives.
Speaker 4 (06:15):
So we've been in business since nineteen eighty five, and
that has allowed us the benefit of seeing countless matters
in countless areas of law. I don't think you can
say that right, look at the map before you go
into the woods unless you have seen things go from
beginning to end. Sure, and sometimes they take two years,
(06:37):
three years, four years, five years, six months, whatever it
might be. Maybe it's a simple real estate deal that
went awry because there was an illegal deck or an
illegal pool. So the mindset of saying you have to
have a blueprint, you can't have a blueprint unless you've
ever seen a building. And we've seen many buildings and
many buildings that were not built properly. So for us,
(07:02):
I think we're because of the amount of time that
we have been in business. We have seen so many
fact patterns, and seen so many personalities, and dealt with
so many psychological profiles and understand that when someone comes
in and says they want to they have a custody battle,
or they're in a divorce matter, or whatever it might be,
(07:24):
how we need to really explain to them because their
perception of what is going to happen comes from television,
it is not from real life. They cannot understand why
there's four months between somebody filing emotion and getting an
answer from a judge of what the answer to that
motion is, and they wrote a check for X dollars
to do that, and they just to them it's simple.
It's like, well, of course I would get this. You know,
(07:46):
this seems logical. But there wouldn't be there's an old
saying a small town can't support a lawyer, but it
can support two lawyers. Right, So there wouldn't be judges
if there weren't disputes, and there weren't interpretations of the law.
So we've seen things that seem like a slam dunk
that we go we just can't believe that we didn't
win this, like we just can't believe it, and things
(08:07):
that we you know, say this is amazing, Like, you know,
we went into this thing thinking there was no chance.
So when we talk about the roadmap or blueprint for
the future or going into the woods, every person is
if you're I'm using an example of divorce. But Stephanie
does a lot in estate planning, all the law, and
(08:27):
she could tell you some stories about those things. But
if you're going into something you need to understand it
might very well be a painful process. But we try
and communicate to people is that we have done this before.
It is going to be difficult, but it is finite,
and whether it takes six months or three years might
(08:49):
depend on you and your spouse. I love this one.
People always say the lawyers charge us so much money,
and I'm like, well, okay, so you came in day
one and in three years, right before trial, you settled
on a settlement agreement for whatever the matter is. All
you really needed to do was day one, agree on
(09:10):
that with your spouse or the person in commercial litigation
with you, and then your legal bill would have been
You know this big, but human beings being what they are,
and emotion getting into it. I think the roadmap that
we're referring to most is we've seen a lot of
psychological profiles, and that is the key to real advice
(09:30):
going forward, to really knowing that when you get into
the woods, there is going to be a fork in
the road. You can go left or you can go right,
but it's not ever going to be a straight path through.
And because we understand that, I think we can try
and help prepare people for what's happening and also to
make them know that when we get to the end
of this, They're going to get a better life. They
(09:51):
are going to get the life they deserve, They're going
to get a rebirth, They're going to get a chance
out of better life.
Speaker 1 (09:55):
Yeah, and you guys have seen that firsthand through tons
of experience, and you could be the ones that help
them through those w Stephanie, I loved before we jumped
on the podcast. Obviously, something that you both talked about
and the entire firm does, is how much you care
about your clients, Ole, and I think it's even come
through so far in our conversation. And as Gary mentioned,
I know you work on a stay planning and special
(10:15):
need plannings. How do you ensure that the clients feel
so supportive throughout making those really important pivotal decisions and
emotional decisions in their lives.
Speaker 5 (10:26):
I hear them, and I involve them, and I will
share with clients numerous times a week. No two plans
are going to be the same. So we start with
a conversation.
Speaker 3 (10:37):
Just talk to me.
Speaker 5 (10:38):
Tell me what you're thinking, tell me what your goals are,
Tell me about your family, tell me about that in
law that you may not like, tell me everything. Let
me understand it, and then once I gather that, I'll
ask do I have it?
Speaker 3 (10:51):
I got it all? Is there anything else?
Speaker 5 (10:52):
And then we can put together a plan and I
tell them we're doing this now, that we don't have
to reconfront it hopefully in the future, and that they
have a home to come back to to ask questions.
We have clients that we hope are for life, and
we instill that in Nirow State Planning clients. I tell people,
you can call me every day, you can ask me
(11:15):
questions every day. I'm not going anywhere. I may have
to call you back, but I will, and that's okay
because people need to feel comfortable when they've placed their
entire lives into your hands to now meld and make
sure that they have a transition into their older years
where they are protected in addition to their children and grandchildren.
Speaker 1 (11:35):
And stay on that topic. From your experience, what are
some of the biggest mistakes you know as family making
throughout the process?
Speaker 3 (11:42):
Wait?
Speaker 2 (11:42):
How can they better educate themselves not to make those.
Speaker 3 (11:45):
I would say waiting a little too long.
Speaker 5 (11:49):
We call that crisis planning sometimes and listen, we can
do it, yep, but it may not be exactly the
same as we would have if we had a little
bit more time. And that's where the word planning comes in.
It has to be a plan or it should be
a plan. So many times I'll meet with children of
(12:09):
clients and they'll say, if I can just have gotten
my parents here a few years ago, and I say,
don't worry about that. Hindsight's twenty twenty.
Speaker 3 (12:16):
We're going to do it now. But have you thought
about yours? Yeah, that would be a good thing. So
I would say waiting too long is usually the biggest pitfall.
Speaker 1 (12:25):
That makes a ton of sense, So everybody tuning in
make sure you get that planning done early. A. We
talked about your very impressive background and the experience you have.
When you look at the industry of today, how do
you see it evolve and how do you see AI
being part of that evolution.
Speaker 4 (12:43):
So there's no question that AI is going to have
a dramatic impact on how laws practice. Sure the mistake
people make is thinking that AI is a lawyer. Because
AI is a tool. It's great to draft a document
with AI, but what AI only responds to two things? Right?
(13:07):
The way you feather the question in which from our
breath of experience will Stephanie will sit with somebody and
she'll talk to them and in between asking them about
their kids schooling or basketball game. So at some point
when they get comfortable, they might say, you know, I
have one adult child who has a gambling problem or something.
(13:28):
Now a people may not necessarily know to integrate that
into their question in AI. B AI does have many
inaccuracies and hallucinate sometimes, But I think it comes down
to the difference between what I refer to. You know,
you see the attorneys and councilors at law, what we do,
(13:51):
what we bring to the table. We are not drafts people, right,
you can go we are drafts people. But with the
advent of AI, you can draft documents here. But that
is not the same as being a counselor at law.
Speaker 2 (14:03):
Totally right.
Speaker 4 (14:04):
And to be a counselor at law you need the
breath of experience. You need to have seen how things
go wrong. You need to get people to trust you,
and you do need to probe. You need to gain
their trust. So they will say I went through this
in my life. Well I didn't know you had a
health problem. People don't. Sometimes they're ashamed of problems they have. Yeah,
(14:25):
it may be recovering alcoholic or drugs or whatever. Right,
and so the more they tell us, the more we
can help them. AI is a tremendous.
Speaker 2 (14:34):
Tool, yep.
Speaker 4 (14:35):
But it is just that a tool. And you know,
somebody said, had somebody say to me the other day
we were working on something and we're talking about Claude,
which is it's a remarkable I mean, it's remarkable if
you've used it, right, But you know, AI is about
eight years old. Would you trust your future to an
eight year old? And the other thing with AI, what
(14:56):
I mean, maybe five six months ago, I remember putting
into I think it was Chad Gpt trying to look
myself up. It was really interesting because I got, you know,
three pages about me and how brilliant.
Speaker 2 (15:07):
Boy that however, tell me, however.
Speaker 4 (15:12):
I know why I got it, because all it did
was look at my website and whether I got an
award here. And all AI knows from a data point
of view is the data that's on the internet. It
doesn't know my childhood background. It doesn't know where I
worked at eighteen years old, It doesn't know the pluses
and minuses of my life. It doesn't know how we
(15:32):
built the law firm. What it's picking up is data
that is available on the Internet, some of which was,
you know, I put my own bio in LinkedIn or
whatever it might be, so it searches that. But I,
you know, I don't say where I grew up, or
what high school I went to, or whether I got
honors here, or you know, none of that stuff is
necessarily in there. So I think there are severe limitations
(15:53):
to A. I do think AI will get better and better.
But what AI is not a substitute for is judgment.
So we've fed a contract in the other day, just
for example, and somebody had sent us a contract, We
had done all the analysis, and then we put it
in and I would say it came back maybe with
about eighty percent of the stuff that we would calculate
in right, and maybe twenty percent of stuff that we wouldn't. However,
(16:14):
what A does, I doesn't tell you and what it's
not a substitute for his judgment Because just because here's
fifteen things that might be pressure points in this real
estate contract does not mean that you should bring them
up in a deal that you really want this house
because it's the one house that you and your spouse
really want, and is it worth changing five days to
(16:35):
ten days. So the untrained I who might not understand
that you have no place else to move to, or
you've sold your house already, or all the intervening factors
are not in AI. AI is a great tool, just
the way a hammer is a tool. But somebody swings
a hammer, and the more experienced the carpenter, the better
straight of the nail is going to go in. And
(16:56):
I would say that I think that's accurate about AI.
I think AI is going to change the world, and
it's going to displace people from work, so on and
so forth. And it may be months, you know, if
you're doing coding or data entry or something like that.
But when it comes to human judgment, I think we're
going to be many many years before AI can remotely
(17:17):
substitute for human judgment. I think it's going to be
a generation because again, the only data that is in
there is the data that is in there. It's on
the Internet. It may look at ten billion pieces of information.
I don't know what the statistics are. But what it
doesn't know is when I sit and say to you,
you know, David, you don't look great to something up. Uh,
(17:39):
you know, my mom's sick, right, So so like that's
what's missing from AI as a data tool, as a
drafting tool, but it is not a counselor at law.
Speaker 1 (17:49):
So I think that's what you were saying earlier about
really listening to the people that walk through those stores, right,
it's chat SHEBT is not going to do that.
Speaker 4 (17:55):
It's more than listening, it's it's knowing how to peel
back the lay of the honest to get them to
to tell you what's really going on. Yep, And I
think it's be a long time. Although there were you know,
I read an article right before Valentine's Day there was
some some restaurant in Manhattan that said you can bring
(18:17):
your you can bring your AI companion and you could
sit there for Valentine's Day. I mean, I hope we
don't become that as a human race. And I'm not
knocking people who might want to have that relationship whatever.
Although I think back to the movie Her, which didn't
have the happiest ending. If you if you have a sword,
But anyway.
Speaker 2 (18:34):
The same exact mindset.
Speaker 1 (18:35):
We we just recently announced that we were guaranteed human
anytime you turn it into one of our radio stations
across the entire country, you're going to hear a human
being and it's important to let them know.
Speaker 2 (18:45):
So we have it's going to be the death of
the end for it. But there's also places that shouldn't
be If.
Speaker 4 (18:51):
If we don't have the human experience and the stories
that we tell in entertainment, yep, then we're just gonna
have drivel completely.
Speaker 2 (19:00):
So sticking on the human element.
Speaker 1 (19:02):
I know something that you also are very proud of
is the numerous nonprofits boards that you sit on in
different pro bonus services you do. How has that community
involvement really shaped your perspective, both as a lawyer and
as a leader.
Speaker 4 (19:17):
So Stephanie, my partner, Anna, Marie, Aaron, myself, we've all
been an integral part of our community for years, and
I think that it goes back to just the being human,
to understanding, to understanding that you don't just sit on
a board to get prestige. You sit on a board
because you find you know, meals on wheels for example, right,
(19:39):
I was on the border wheels.
Speaker 2 (19:40):
Right.
Speaker 4 (19:41):
You know, if you're blessed and you have food on
your table and someone who visits you and whatever. You
might not think anything of that, But when you sit
on a board and you hear about what is involved
in the human experience and to make to make people
feel that they have a place in the world, I
don't think there's any higher calling in that. And I
think you know, we try and carry that same philosophy
(20:04):
in both directions. It's whether it's a not for profit
or whether it's the law firm. I think it goes
back to the same philosophy. If you don't inherently like people,
care about people, understand the human condition, want to make
a difference in the world. You know. I went to
a seminar years ago why this guy named the Branden Burchard,
and he said, you know, on your deathbed, nobody says
(20:26):
if I only had that Ferrari right, They only ask
themselves three questions. Did I live, that I love, did
I matter? And I hope that we bring that. I
know that Stephanie does because her clients love her. They
love her, and my partner around me, the client's love her,
and Aaron, my partner who handles the matrimonials. I'll say
they like her because no I'm kidding. I mean she's
(20:48):
a wonderful attorney and a very caring person. But they're
going through hell, right, and they're going through hell, so
they right. But the bottom line is it's not a
popularity contest for us, but it is a contest to
connect with the human experience. And I think if you
haven't and Stephanie's been on not for profit, but everybody,
every one of us has been on boards, and we've
met people, and we've heard about the difficulties that people
(21:12):
have in their lives that most of us don't ever
hear about. Yeah, right, you don't think about, well, there's
meals on wheels being an example. I was on that
board years ago. But you may not understand that because
you might have a family structure. It's like, well, I'm
gonna go visit mom on Tuesday and I'll bringer right.
But there are people who are homebound elderly, can't get
out and have nobody visiting them because their kid lives
(21:33):
in California, not New York or whatever. So they may
get a call, but they're by themselves. They are not
in a position to drive to a the food store.
So I think the answer to your question is just that, right.
Speaker 1 (21:46):
Yeah, absolutely, Stephanie, do you have any nonprofits or boards
that you've worked with in the past that stand out?
Speaker 5 (21:52):
So I started on boards with the Young Entrepreneurs group
of the Staten Island Chamber of Commerce, Okay, And that
was really, really nice when I was first getting my
feet wet in the community, and it was nice to
be around people my age.
Speaker 3 (22:08):
And now I'm blessed with you.
Speaker 5 (22:13):
I'm blessed to be on the board of the Staten
Island Chamber of Commerce. So I've moved up now to
where the adults sit, and I do enjoy hearing about
individuals in the community and how other businesses are faring
and getting that feedback from individuals. And I do take
happiness in being able to help individuals that may sit
(22:36):
on the board with me that have a quick question
and want to pick my brain, because you know, that's
why we do it.
Speaker 1 (22:40):
Absolutely So sticking on that your earlier board you mentioned
right the younger entrepreneurs. If someone is tuning in right
now that might be a young entrepreneur, someone that might
be considering the field of law, what advice would you
give them? What advice would you wish someone had given
you all those years back when you first started in it.
Speaker 3 (23:01):
My advice to them would be do it.
Speaker 5 (23:04):
Many times when I was in law school, you would
meet attorneys or I would meet attorneys that would say, oh,
you know, don't go do something else.
Speaker 3 (23:12):
Don't go to law school, don't go do something else.
Speaker 5 (23:15):
And I wasn't swayed by that, And I fear that
sometimes young people now maybe so if you have a
passion for it, do it. Go get that juris doctorate.
You don't necessarily have to practice, but you're still learning
what you want to be learning and what your passion is,
and then you can take it into whatever field you
(23:35):
consider important to you.
Speaker 4 (23:38):
Can I just say that comes back to the DNA
of our firm yep, and my amazing partner. I have
amazing partners, right, And I'm not saying it's not like
a public relations I have three partners who go to
sleep at night actually trying to achieve something for people.
All those lawyers who say don't practice law, don't do
(23:59):
it whatever, they probably went into the you know what
they saw television. They thought there was it was going
to be exciting to practice law, and it's not like that.
The real practice of Again, what I refer to as
middle class. Law is about connecting with regular families. We're
not talking Corporate America or you know, representing General Motors
or AIG. We're talking about people who are buying a house,
(24:22):
buying a business, selling a business, have a problem with
their landlord, need a divorce, need a will, need a trust,
need an a state, need medicare planning, you know, all
those types of things. So I think at the end
of the day, Stephanie loves what she does. I love
what I do. My other two partners love what we
(24:42):
do because we actually like dealing with people. It's difficult
some days because we can't snap our fingers and achieve
the things that people achieve in television law. But the
reality is we are counselors at law, and if you
allow us to befriend you, we will take the opportunity
(25:05):
and help to guide you back to what you said earlier.
You know, the time to have the roadmap is before
you go into the woods. I think that's the bottom line.
We have experience, we want to share it, yep, and
in many cases we can guide people to a much
better result then they might have otherwise. And I think
(25:27):
that's why we do what we do.
Speaker 2 (25:29):
That's amazing.
Speaker 1 (25:30):
It's really important to one obviously have that passion and
have that mindset, but also to have an amazing team
around you. I think that having the right team, having
the right players makes that the world of the difference.
That's amazing to say. So we covered a lot, but
I wanted to ask, is there anything new on the horizon,
any new exciting developments or other things that you want
(25:50):
to share?
Speaker 4 (25:52):
Look, how farm is always growing, and I'll say, stay
tuned in that regard. We're walking on a few things.
Speaker 2 (25:59):
Love that, but unfortunately I can't be.
Speaker 4 (26:03):
Specific at the moment. Let's just say we have a
big plan for the next year. So we'll leave it
at that. And I think that probably wraps it up
for anything I can say about what's igno and exciting.
Speaker 1 (26:14):
Absolutely, and we'll be looking forward to hearing what that
is once you're able to share. So before we conclude,
is there anything that one takeaway that you want anyone
to tune in to know about yourself or about the firm.
Speaker 5 (26:28):
I would like to instill in anyone who's listening that
sometimes it may be a daunting thought to reach out
to an attorney's office. You may have to build up
the courage to even dial depending on what your problem is,
and I would ask you to just do it. Give
us a call, sit with us, give me an hour,
and I'll give you a cup of coffee and see
(26:50):
how you feel. Let us have the opportunity to help
you with whatever problem that you're having, and hopefully we
would be able to go on whatever journey it is
that you're going to go through. But don't hesitate because,
as I say to clients, we're not going anywhere. We're here, Okay,
We're here for you and we want to be there
for you, So don't hesitate.
Speaker 4 (27:13):
Well, firstly, I didn't know Stephanie was giving away free
coffee partner. I think I have to get that under control.
But no, I think that pretty much what we've said
in the past. We are here to connect with people.
We can't solve everything's it's not television. It doesn't always
(27:35):
have an easy path, but it is a finite process,
no matter goes on forever. And our firm's philosophy. There
was a book I read, Cold Fanocracy. I forgot the
name of the author, but the main takeaway from the
book was if you want to build your business, create
raving fans. And I saw him speak and then I
(27:56):
read the book and I thought, that's really it, right,
So we have a sign over the area where all
the lawyers and staff works. It just hays create raving fans.
And that is our mission statement. And I tell everybody,
if somebody writes a positive Google review or sends a
basket of fruit to the office, or even a thank
(28:16):
you note, you made my day, that's what we want.
That's as real as it gets. Because we're gonna make
a living. We're gonna make money. This is what we
do for a living, like this is what you do
for a living. We're all in business. But Richard Branson
wrote a book years ago called Screw Business as Usual,
and it affected my thinking for a really long time
because what he postulated in that book was we're all
(28:39):
in business to make money. But while you're at it,
why not try and do something positive for the world.
And so from my perspective, and I hope I've put
that entrepreneur in the firm, and I have the most
wonderful partners. It's just the DNA of our culture. I
think we're all here to try and make a positive difference.
And I think that that it may not be how
(29:00):
people perceive. You know, Stephanie talked about lawyers and you're
afraid to make a call because they're intimidated. And we
don't want to be seen that way. We want to
be seen as an extension of your family. We want
to give you a better life. Whatever your problem is,
we can't just snap our fingers and solve it, but
we hope that in the end that whatever your problem is,
(29:23):
we've given you. We've taken some weight off your shoulders
or rebirth. What you do with it after that, right,
it is yours after that. I mean, if you getting
a divorce, it seems painful process, but many people go
on to have a second half of their life that's
very happy. So maybe your best chapter hasn't been written
yet for many people. And I think that's what I
(29:44):
would like to take away to be. I think your
best chapter hasn't been written left yet for many people,
and we hope to help you write that chapter.
Speaker 1 (29:52):
It's great advice. Garys Stephanie, thank you both for being
here today. I really appreciate you both sharing your background,
advice and more about of course Andrelian Gentilly in the
overall firm you guys are doing great work and I'm
looking continue to watch you guys that admire the work
you're doing.
Speaker 4 (30:07):
So thank you, thank you so much. We really appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (30:10):
Thank you, thank you, thank you so much, and thank
you all for tuning into this Theasey Edition of CEO.
Speaker 2 (30:14):
As you should know,
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
The Girlfriends: Trust Me Babe
When a group of women from all over the country realise they all dated the same prolific romance scammer they vow to bring him to justice. In this brand new season of global number 1 hit podcast, The Girlfriends, Anna Sinfield meets a group of funny, feisty, determined women who all had the misfortune of dating a mysterious man named Derek Alldred. Trust Me Babe is a story about the protective forces of gossip, gut instinct, and trusting your besties and the group of women who took matters into their own hands to take down a fraudster when no one else would listen. If you’re affected by any of the themes in this show, our charity partners NO MORE have available resources at https://www.nomore.org. To learn more about romance scams, and to access specialised support, visit https://fightcybercrime.org/ The Girlfriends: Trust Me Babe is produced by Novel for iHeartPodcasts. For more from Novel, visit https://novel.audio/. You can listen to new episodes of The Girlfriends: Trust Me Babe completely ad-free and 1 week early with an iHeart True Crime+ subscription, available exclusively on Apple Podcasts. Open your Apple Podcasts app, search for “iHeart True Crime+, and subscribe today!