Profitability, Communication, Clients & Ethics: A Potent Mix

Description:

The first step to running a profitable legal practice is recognizing the valuation of one’s own enterprise. Stressing the importance of balancing both overarching and reflexive perspectives, attorney Gianfranco A. Pietrafesa and Carol Greenwald, PHD., equip attorneys with all the tools they need to run a law firm profitably and openly.  Topics include the identification of what service the hypothetical law firm is selling, what kinds of clients are most likely to make use of this service, how to compile a client profile, and how to facilitate smooth and open dialogue between client and firm.  Extensive attention is also given to the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct and their impact on attorney-client communication.

Agenda:
I.    Identifying Profitable Practice Areas
II.    Understanding “Value” as a Service Prerequisite
III.    Communication Basics
IV.    Ethics and Communication
 

Lecturers:

• Carol Greenwald and Gianfranco A. Pietrafesa

Carol Greenwald and Gianfranco A. Pietrafesa

Carol Schiro Greenwald
Professional Services Marketing Consultant

MarketingPartners
688 Forest Avenue, Larchmont, NY 10538
Tel: 914.834.9320
Fax: 914.834-1101
Email: greenwaldcarol@hotmail.com
Web site: www.greenwaldconsulting.com
      

Carol works with professionals, their firms and practice groups to help them develop business as expeditiously as possible. Carol helps professionals give form and feeling to the "intangible" services they sell by communicating both the benefits for the client and the process they will go through together to produce a result.  

She works in three main areas:

* Strategy: uses research, targeting and planning to reach identified market segments in the most effective manner
* Marketing research: creates and implements client interviews and focus groups with clients or prospects to learn what clients and/or what those in the marketplace say about you, your firm and your services
* Coaching and training: works with professionals [e.g., attorneys, accountants, financial planners] to develop personal marketing and sales skills that enable them to maximize their client relationships, develop stronger referral relationships and identify and take advantage of new business opportunities

Carol works with firms, practice groups and individuals to help them develop business as expeditiously as possible. She uses research to create strategies that target market segments in the best possible way and/or to learn what clients and/or the marketplace know about you, your firm and your services. Carol also works with individual attorneys to maximize their client relationships, cross-selling and referral opportunities, and develop the personal marketing and sales skills that work for them.

 

Gianfranco A. (Franco) Pietrafesa is a business lawyer and litigator.

Gianfranco A. Pietrafesa, Esq.
Herten, Burstein, Sheridan, Cevasco, Bottinelli, Litt & Harz, LLC
Court Plaza South, West Wing
21 Main Street, Suite 353
Hackensack, New Jersey 07601-7095
Phone: (201) 342-6000 x269
Fax:  (201) 342-6611
Email:  gpietrafesa@HertenBurstein.com
Website:  www.HertenBurstein.com

 
As a business lawyer, Mr. Pietrafesa represents clients in corporate, business, employment and real estate matters. His extensive experience includes the formation of business entities, the purchase and sale of businesses, the preparation and negotiation of various business contracts, and advice to clients on general employment matters. He also handles real estate matters for his corporate clients, including the purchase and sale of commercial real estate, the preparation and negotiation of leases, and commercial mortgage lending.

When necessary, Mr. Pietrafesa engages in business litigation and has experience in both the trial and appellate courts. Currently, he focuses his litigation practice on business and corporate matters, such as breach of contract and disputes between business owners.

Mr. Pietrafesa has been a director of the Business Law Section of the New Jersey State Bar Association, and currently serves as its Secretary. He has been a member of the Inn of Transactional Counsel since 2002. He is listed among The Best Lawyers in America in the area of Corporate Law.

In addition to his hands-on experience, Mr. Pietrafesa has lectured on the topics of corporate law, litigation, and legal ethics. He also has taught corporate law at Fairleigh Dickinson University. He is the author of numerous articles on corporate law and litigation topics that have appeared in such legal periodicals as the New Jersey Law Journal and New Jersey Lawyer Magazine. He is a contributing author, on the subject of drafting complaints, to New Jersey Federal Civil Procedure 2d, published by New Jersey Law Journal Books. He is also the author of the post trial motions chapter in Trial Tactics Defense Litigation Manual, published by the Defense Research Institute. He also serves on the Editorial Board of New Jersey Lawyer Magazine. His articles can be found at www.GianfrancoPietrafesa.com.

Mr. Pietrafesa has been appointed by the Supreme Court of New Jersey to serve on both a district fee arbitration committee, where he served as the committee chairman for two years, and a district ethics committee. In 2002, Mr. Pietrafesa was recognized by the New Jersey Law Journal as one of the 40 outstanding attorneys under the age of 40 in New Jersey.

Mr. Pietrafesa received his J.D. from Seton Hall University School of Law, where he was an editor of the Seton Hall Legislative Journal. He received his B.S. in accounting, summa cum laude, from Fairleigh Dickinson University, which better enables him to provide advice to business clients.

Prior to entering private practice, Mr. Pietrafesa served as a Law Secretary to the Honorable Nicholas G. Mandak, the Assignment Judge for the Passaic County Vicinage of the Superior Court of New Jersey.

Mr. Pietrafesa is actively involved in his community. He coaches baseball, softball, and soccer. He has been a member of the Hawthorne Board of Education for many years, where he currently serves as its Vice President. He serves on the Board of Trustees of the Louis Bay 2d Library in Hawthorne. He has also served as general counsel to the St. Anthony Education Foundation, and the Hawthorne Education Foundation, New Jersey Nonprofit Corporations.

 

 

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Profitability, Communication, Clients & Ethics: A Potent Mix