Top Lawyers: Janet Swerdlow Of Swerdlow Florence Sanchez Swerdlow & Wimmer On The 5 Things You Need To Become A Top Lawyer In Your Specific Field of Law

An Interview with Eric L. Pines

Superior client services must be provided. This involves responding to clients promptly. Some of our clients came to us simply because their prior lawyer took a long time to respond to their calls. Our practice is to respond to clients on the same day as they reach out to use.

Law school primarily prepares lawyers for the practice of law. But leading or starting a law firm requires so much more than that. It requires the entrepreneurial skills that any CEO would need to run a business; How to manage personnel, how to hire and fire, how to generate leads, how to advertise, how to manage finances, etc. On the business side of law, what does an attorney need to know to create a successful and thriving law practice? To address these questions, we are talking to successful law firm principals who can share stories and insights from their experience about the “5 Things You Need To Create Or Lead A Successful Law Firm”.

As a part of this series, we had the pleasure of interviewing Janet Swerdlow.

Janet Swerdlow is a shareholder with the labor and employment law firm of Swerdlow Florence Sanchez Swerdlow & Wimmer, a Law Corporation, representing employers. Janet has been practicing for over 30 years defending employers in labor and employment disputes and providing day-to-day advice to clients with respect to employment law matters. As part of her law practice, Janet also conducts workplace investigations and provides training to clients covering an array of employment law topics.

Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Before we dive in, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your ‘backstory’ and how you ended up where you are? Specifically, we’d love to hear the story of how you began to lead your practice.

Before law school, I worked in the aerospace industry as an entry-level engineer in the mid-80s, and I found it challenging to work as a woman in what was then a male-dominated industry. For advice on navigating these issues, I would turn to my father who was then a labor and employment lawyer for advice. From our discussions, I grew interested in labor and employment law, particularly how employment lawyers had the potential to improve the workplace for employees by advising employers on how to comply with the applicable labor laws. From there, I decided to leave my engineering job to attend law school with the goal of becoming a labor and employer lawyer. I began my career working for a large national law firm, and after a few years, decided to join my current law firm, of which my father was one of the founders.

I’m a huge fan of mentorship throughout one’s career. None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Who has been your biggest mentor? What was the most valuable lesson you learned from them?

I was fortunately to have a number of mentors, but my most significant mentor was my father with whom I practiced for about a decade. Among the many lessons I learned from him was the importance of being available to clients — i.e., returning calls promptly, responding to fax/email correspondence no later than a day after receiving it, and keeping clients apprised of their matters.

From completing your degree to opening a practice and becoming a business owner, your path was most likely challenging. Can you share a story about one of your greatest struggles? Can you share what you did to overcome it?

Being a lawyer is an inherently challenging profession. The initial challenge was working long, hard hours under stressful circumstances to meet court filing deadlines and prepare for trial. After practicing for many years and moving from a very large firm to a small one in which I am an owner, I have been able to gain control over the type of work that I am personally handling and the selection of the people and clients with whom I work, and this has made my practice of law extremely satisfying and enjoyable.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share a story about how that was relevant in your own life?

“Do what’s right, simply because it is right.” Need I say more? It’s behind my professional and personal decisions and actions. It’s the basis for much of the practical advice I give clients, how I deal with opposing counsel, and is what I follow in managing my law firm and my personal life.

This is not easy work. What is your primary motivation and drive behind the work that you do?

I actually thoroughly enjoy my work, which I know is not necessarily the norm for lawyers these days. My primary motivations are the fact that employees in my firm rely on their jobs with our law firm to provide for themselves and their families, and that I am able to help my clients navigate difficult and stressful situations, which is extremely satisfying.

What are some of the most interesting or exciting projects you are working on now?

My practice these days has been primarily working with clients to develop workplace policies, preparing employment agreements, and providing day-to-day human resource advice to clients. Some common issues involve employee attendance problems, job performance issues, and misconduct. I also help clients comply with their obligations to accommodate workers with disabilities.

Fantastic. Let’s now shift to discussing the business of law. Can you tell us a bit about the nature of your practice and what you focus on?

My law firm practices exclusively in the area of employer-side labor and employment law. All of the attorneys in my firm defend employers in all types of employment disputes both in court and before administrative agencies, such as the National Labor Relations Board, the EEOC, the California Division of Labor Standards Enforcement and the California Civil Rights Department. We also provide general labor and employment law advice, prepare employment agreements, conduct workplace investigations, and provide training for compliance with labor and employment laws. Our firm is the Southern California member of the Worklaw Network, which is a group of individual law firms each representing a specific geographical area, which practices exclusively in the area of labor and employment law, representing employers only.

You are a successful attorney. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success?

Empathy, resiliency and reliability.

What unique qualities do you have that others may not? Can you please share a story or example for each?

I would say that my strength is being able to balance legal advice with a business sense. Being a small business owner, I can relate to and understand the business concerns and needs of my clients, who are also running a business, and offer them practical solutions to issues they are facing. I think it is important that lawyers have the ability to not only understand the law, but also offer clients practical business advice.

Do you think where you went to school has any bearing on your success? How important is it for a lawyer to go to a top-tier school?

I would have to say yes, going to a well-regarded law school has had an impact on my success. Were it not for doing well in that law school, I may not have had the opportunity to work at a top law firm where I began my career and received great training. A number of my former colleagues became my close friends and clients, as well as a great source of business referrals over the years. That said, I certainly think that you can have a great career as a lawyer without going to a top-tier law school, particularly if you do well at that school. The great thing about law is that there are so many different paths that a lawyer can take to achieve success, and going to a top-tier school is not necessary for all of them.

Managing being a law practitioner and a business owner is a constant balancing act. How do you manage both roles?

Fortunately, I have great law partners who share in the work of running our firm, and I am surrounded by excellent attorneys and staff who are also nice people, and this has been my key to handling both roles.

Can you help articulate the entrepreneurial skills a lawyer needs to run and lead a successful law firm?

Of course, the ability to generate business is important when running a law firm, as well as the interest in not just practicing law, but also the actual business of a law firm. The ability to establish a team of supportive employees, lawyers and staff alike, who care about the law firm is, in my view, one of the most critical aspects of in establishing a successful law firm.

As a business owner you spend most of your time working IN your practice, seeing clients. When and how do you shift to working ON your practice? (Marketing, upgrading systems, growing your practice, etc.) How much time do you spend on the business elements?

I tend to spend time working on matters for my firm as needed, and shift to it the same way I would shift from one client matter to another. I would estimate that, in any given week, I spend 5–20% of my time on matters involving my law firm.

Can you share some specific, non intuitive insights from our personal experience about how a leader of a law firm should:

• Manage personnel:
• Hire and fire:
• Generate leads:
• Advertise:
• Manage finances:

As far as managing personnel, I would say that the most important advice I have is to treat everyone with dignity and respect and never forget that, while we may hold different positions within the firm, we are all equal as human beings.

Our best hiring decisions have been achieved by our practice of having everyone in our firm interview anyone who is applying to join our firm, after the candidate has passed some initial screening interviews.

As far as developing business, I have found that maintaining strong personal relationships has led to important business referrals. My law partners and other members of our firm are also involved in professional networking groups.

Regarding managing finances, we put significant effort into setting our budget and monitoring our expenses and revenue, and, when necessary, adjusting our budget when we find we are veering from it.

Our firm does not do any advertising, so I can’t offer any insight into that.

What are your “5 Things An Attorney Needs To Know In Order To Create A Successful And Thriving Law Practice”?

1. All work must be done with the highest degree of excellence and ethics. All written work should be proofread, well-written, fully researched, accurate and cite only good law.

2. Superior client services must be provided. This involves responding to clients promptly. Some of our clients came to us simply because their prior lawyer took a long time to respond to their calls. Our practice is to respond to clients on the same day as they reach out to use.

3. Maintain an enjoyable work environment and effective interpersonal relationships, including treating everyone with respect and dignity.

4. Provide economic rewards to lawyers and staff consistent with the success of the firm.

5. Hire and retain only people who are committed to all of the above. We have found that the best way to achieve this is by having all of our personnel involved in the hiring process. For example, you can learn a lot about a candidate interviewing for a position as a lawyer from how they treat the receptionist who is interviewing them.

You are a person of enormous influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)

I would inspire a movement to treat people with kindness.

How can our readers further follow your work online?

Our firm’s website is www.swerdlowlaw.com. On it, you can find our e-alerts regarding current legal developments in the area of labor and employment law, as well as information regarding our practice and attorneys.

This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for the time you spent with this. We wish you continued success and good health!

About the Interviewer: Eric L. Pines is a nationally recognized federal employment lawyer, mediator, and attorney business coach. He represents federal employees and acts as in-house counsel for over fifty thousand federal employees through his work as a federal employee labor union representative. A formal federal employee himself, Mr. Pines began his federal employment law career as in-house counsel for AFGE Local 1923 which is in Social Security Administration’s headquarters and is the largest federal union local in the world. He presently serves as AFGE 1923’s Chief Counsel as well as in-house counsel for all FEMA bargaining unit employees and numerous Department of Defense and Veteran Affairs unions.

While he and his firm specialize in representing federal employees from all federal agencies and in reference to virtually all federal employee matters, his firm has placed special attention on representing Veteran Affairs doctors and nurses hired under the authority of Title. He and his firm have a particular passion in representing disabled federal employees with their requests for medical and religious reasonable accommodations when those accommodations are warranted under the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (ADA). He also represents them with their requests for Federal Employee Disability Retirement (OPM) when an accommodation would not be possible.

Mr. Pines has also served as a mediator for numerous federal agencies including serving a year as the Library of Congress’ in-house EEO Mediator. He has also served as an expert witness in federal court for federal employee matters. He has also worked as an EEO technical writer drafting hundreds of Final Agency Decisions for the federal sector.

Mr. Pines’ firm is headquartered in Houston, Texas and has offices in Baltimore, Maryland and Atlanta, Georgia. His first passion is his wife and five children. He plays classical and rock guitar and enjoys playing ice hockey, running, and biking. Please visit his websites at www.pinesfederal.com and www.toughinjurylawyers.com. He can also be reached at eric@pinesfederal.com.