0:04
so the philosophy that guides my work as
0:07
a lawyer is number one to be truly
0:10
truthful with both the clients the
0:12
opponents that are adversaries and the
0:14
court and the reason is that I think
0:17
that truth is so important particularly
0:19
for a lawyer because that’s all you
0:21
really have are your words and so if
0:23
you’re not truthful then you really lose
0:25
in terms of negotiations in terms of
0:27
being in court in terms of being in a
0:29
settle negotiation you really need to
0:31
Stand by Your Word the other thing that
0:34
I think is so important in terms of my
0:36
philosophy of how I run my practice is
0:39
responsiveness and I say that because
0:41
I’ve been through my own divorce and I
0:43
remember how important it was for a
0:45
lawyer to be responsive it’s one of the
0:47
reasons actually that I ended up going
0:49
into matrimonial law I had had the
0:52
experience of having a matrimonial
0:53
attorney who didn’t respond and I know
0:56
that in these such stressful times when
0:59
you’re worried about your children and
1:01
frankly your finances that it’s really
1:04
important to get a response quickly so I
1:06
would say that those those two elements
1:09
are so key for for me um and then I
1:13
would say being prepared as an attorney
1:16
you need to be prepared you need to be
1:17
prepared every time you walk into a
1:20
meeting you need to be prepared every
1:21
time you walk into a courtroom you need
1:23
to know your case you need to review the
1:26
documents to hear what your client is
1:29
saying what your client wants and what’s
1:31
realistic for your client to actually
1:33
achieve and you need to be able to
1:35
communicate you need to be able to
1:37
communicate to the court you need to be
1:39
able to communicate to your client and
1:40
you need to be able to communicate with
1:42
your adversary so it’s very important to
1:45
actually be prepared because if you’re
1:47
not prepared you can’t
1:52
communicate in terms of my background I
1:55
came from the fashion business and I had
1:57
a Showroom on 7th Avenue and came right
2:00
out of high school actually worked for
2:04
um a manufacturer on 7th Avenue then
2:06
opened up my my own showroom I was
2:08
always very entrepreneurial and then I
2:10
went through my own divorce and I
2:12
decided as I was going through my own
2:13
divorce that I wanted to go back to
2:16
college which I did I got my degree from
2:18
forom University and that specifically I
2:20
wanted to go to law school and I got my
2:23
degree from forom law and then very
2:25
specifically I wanted to actually get my
2:28
law degree and practice in matrimonial
2:30
so very early on I made that decision I
2:34
went to school full-time I was raising a
2:36
child and had you know remarried at that
2:39
point had gone through my divorce
2:40
remarried and I really focused on
2:43
matrimonial law a because I felt like I
2:46
could be so helpful to people as they
2:48
were going through the same process that
2:49
I had gone through and I also understood
2:53
how important it was to be responsive to
2:55
the client because as a client that was
2:57
what I really wanted was someone to
3:00
respond to me on a Saturday on a Sunday
3:02
on you know at night if there was an
3:04
urgent issue those were all really
3:06
important factors for me and that’s what
3:09
I did so I interned during law school
3:12
for a matrimonial solo practitioner and
3:15
then I discovered the courtroom and
3:17
settlement negotiations and and learned
3:20
that in some ways what I brought to the
3:22
table was my ability to negotiate and I
3:26
had learned that ability frankly on
3:27
Seventh Avenue because I was negotiating
3:30
for markdown money and I was negotiating
3:33
for you know how much this would cost or
3:35
that would cost or where it was going to
3:37
be placed in a Macy’s or a Bloomingdales
3:40
or any of those types of things and in a
3:42
lot of ways there’s some similarity
3:44
because it’s all about negotiation at
3:45
the end of the day