#2.8: Andrew Finkelstein in The Heart of Law

EPISODE #2.8: The Heart of Law with Andrew Finkelstein

Aptly called by Mirena “a visionary”, Andrew Finkelstein, a pioneer in integrating technology into his law firms in the mid-1990s, shares his trade secrets in The Heart of Law. At the inexperienced age of 22, Andrew first felt ambivalence toward acquiring an MBA or pursuing a law degree. Yet a chance encounter with business mogul Larry Tisch (CBS, Tisch Company, CEO of the New York Giants) at a wedding gave him all the guidance he needed. So with the heart of an entrepreneur, Andrew set off to become a lawyer. Despite not having any plans to join his father’s firm, he subsequently found himself helping run the family practice. With Finkelstein & Partners, thriving since 1959 (founded by his father, Howard S. Finkelstein), he acquired a deep quarry of knowledge and tradition passed down from six generations. Equipped with rare business acumen, Andrew shares sage insight into running a firm effectively. He tells Mirena a business strategy where “centrally conducted operations ensure optimal quality control,” attributing this efficiency to his decision of having ”a 100% paperless firm by 1995 … I viewed what we do as a pure service industry grounded in technology—a technology firm that happens to practice law.” Long before savoir-faire CRMs came into play, their firm established systematic transfer of documents, uninhibited communications, a stable workforce, and functional operations. Ergo, their efficiency generated the attention of other firms who, in turn, partnered with Andrew and his team.

One valuable method used in his practice is how meticulously they acquire and disseminate information. He breaks it down to “two very big buckets,” keeping two defined questions and methodologies in mind: (1) “Who do we gather information from?” and (2) “Who do we have to deliver it to?” Once they’ve found the best information source, Andrew says they reformat the material, build a straightforward process to streamline the data, then efficiently deliver it to those who specifically need it. A second design lending to the sophistication of their operation rests within the stability of a clearly defined workflow: “We limit the tasks that people are required to do … we have a very streamlined business where people have clear, identifiable responsibilities … they become experts [where] they don’t get distracted from doing what their core competencies are … We’ll look at somebody’s job and see how I can break it down so that they are hyper-specialized.” So when he talks about having his eye on “the big picture” and delegating to specialists, we now have a small window to the workings of a well-oiled, progressive, stalwart legal organization. Too simplistic? Not quite. It takes all the discipline and patience in the world to manage and maintain this functionality one decade after the next.

As Mirena and Andrew huddle over the nuances of the legal industry, insurance companies, the justice system, and some cases, they also discuss Andrew’s remarkable book, I Hope We Never Meet. Ultimately, the unique challenge of balancing family and career comes up. With three children and a supportive wife, Andrew pleasantly (yet wisely) remarks, “It’s very simple. I don’t call and say I’m coming home until I’m in the car.” Even as Mirena calls Andrew “intuitive, thoughtful, and reflective,” onscreen he remains unpretentious, practical, and humble to a tee (and gives a lot of credit to his wife). Through it all, we realize we’ve just met an unassuming—yet incredibly successful—lawyer who just happens to be a solid family man through and through.

 

EPISODE SURVEY:

• [00:02:18 - 00:08:22] - The Modern Law Firm
• [00:09:22 - 00:11:30] - Taking Advantage of Opportunities
• [00:11:31 - 00:16:41] - Andrew’s  Journey to Law 
• [00:17:45 - 00:23:26] - Struggles of Balancing Life and Work
• [00:24:11 - 00:30:29] - How Technology has shaped Law
• [00:30:31 - 00:34:09] - How to Manage at Large Workforce
• [00:34:13 - 00:37:09] - Andrew’s Book
• [00:37:13 - 00:39:41] - A Premature Loss
• [00:39:43 - 00:44:27] - Client Care
• [00:44:30 - 00:58:55] - Two Courtroom Doors
• [00:58:57 - 01:07:10] - It’s Not About the Money
• [01:08:27 - 01:10:55] - Andrew’s Take on Sound Financial Planning

 

QUOTABLE QUOTES:

• "When you delegate, you can't be a “big-picture” person. You have to delegate with great specificity. You have to micromanage when you delegate … Spend the time to delegate [the task] the right way, so it's clear. If you micromanage after that, then why did you delegate?"
• "[My passion to seek justice] totally flows from my clients 100%. When you sit with somebody, they're counting on you to make things right for what they've gone through. I don't need anything else."
• "There are far more frivolous defenses than there are frivolous cases. But you never hear about the frivolous defenses."
• "It's the minority of the Decision Makers who make some bad decisions … it's not the majority of corporations or people. There are bad apples, and when those bad apples act … what we need to do is root them out and do the best to get rid of them if the corporations don't do it themselves."
• "I don't cast a broad brush and assume everybody is bad ... I presume everybody is good. And there were just a couple of bad apples that it shouldn't have happened. But the real test is once that happens, what do the corporations choose to do?"
• "So my role isn't really outcome-oriented. It's information based … I can do my best to influence [to] have the best outcome possible, but I can't precisely predict the future … When I sit down with clients, my job is to educate and inform them [about] the risks they're facing and let them know it is their case. It's not mine."
• "But the 'deny, delay, defend' really is just the mantra of insurance companies. And their ultimate business goal is [to] hope people quit because ( ...on a real macro-level,) if they have 1000 claims that come in and they create these obstacles, and 500 of the people quit because of the obstacles, and then by denying 500 drop off, and then delaying another 300 drop off, and then defending another 100 drop off. So I'm down to 100 cases or 200 cases … And they pay on those 200 cases [what]  they really owed on 1000 cases. So they're making money hand-over-fist. People forget about what is not on the blackboard."
• "I can't get [the insurance companies] to acknowledge it in words, but I certainly can in action. And the action is a financial resolution. So I don't care what they say. If it's somebody paying millions of dollars, if they don't apologize through words, they're apologizing through actions."

ABOUT OUR GUEST:

• Managing Partner at Finkelstein & Partners, Jacoby & Meyers, LLP, Fine, Olin & Anderman, LLP, Finkelstein, Blankinship, Frei-Pearson & Garber, LLP, and Diller Law, LLP
• Handled several multi-million dollar settlements, representing personal injury cases against corporate wrongdoers.
• Executive Board Member of National Trial Lawyers of America and New York State Trial Lawyers Association
• Named One of America’s 100 Most Influential Trial Lawyers (2014-15) by The Trial Lawyer Magazine
• Member of The National Safety Council, Trial Lawyers for Public Justice, and several steering committees across the nation.
• Member of the New York Bar Association and the Orange County Bar Association

LINKS FROM THE SHOW:

• Check out Andrew Finkelstein’s Trial School
• Read Andrew’s Book: I Hope We Never Meet
• Visit Mirena’s chic website and LinkedIn
• Shownotes and podcast production by Caryl Veloso and her team at Writers’ Ink