After studying law and being admitted to the Bar in Germany, I moved to Los Angeles in 2001. I began my career at a small law firm in downtown Los Angeles in a different country with a completely different legal system. It was quite overwhelming, and I felt like I partially had to start from scratch.

Since I had not yet been admitted to the Bar in California, I had to take the California Bar Exam, which was another exciting and challenging adventure.

My experience being part of a litigation law firm handling international business disputes was eye-opening, to say the least. While I initially found the work stimulating, I grew increasingly disillusioned with the industry's focus on billable hours rather than client connection and satisfaction.

Here’s what I mean ...
First of all, everything we did was billed on an hourly basis. And, as you can imagine at more than $400/hour, our clients wanted us to do everything as quickly as possible with as little communication as possible. They didn’t want to talk about their last vacation or their kids and they were afraid to call when they had changes in their life because they didn’t know how much that call would cost them and whether it was “worth it”. At the end of almost every month there was a call from a surprised, shocked and unhappy client after they received the invoice. Especially from the European clients, since they were not used to this billing modality, nor did they understand the terms/words listed in the invoice. It was highly frustrating. I tried to convince the partners of the law firm several times to switch to a flat fee basis, but they were not open to deviating from the hourly billing model.
As a result, oftentimes the clients did not call BEFORE an important decision had to be made, and sometimes we learned about it when it was too late, and the “damage” could have been avoided by a simple phone call which the client avoided out of fear of the unknown charges.
In 2008, when I left the law firm and started my own practice, I made a promise to myself to work on a flat fee basis whenever possible to provide the client with transparency and allow open communication whenever it is needed. Since then many of my clients have become close friends, which would most likely not have been possible had I billed by the hour as that stifles the communication flow and interaction with the client.
When starting my own practice initially I focused mainly on immigration law and business law serving predominantly German - American clients. Over the years I noticed a need for estate planning in both the USA and Germany as many of my clients had either assets both in the USA and in Germany, or expected an inheritance in either or both countries, they had minor children and wanted to ensure that they are taken care of in the event something happens to both parents and make sure the children are safely brought to the long term guardians, which oftentimes are in another country (Germany e.g.). I heard and experienced several stories where a lack of advance estate planning, meaning no trust and or will, health care directive, planning for short and long term guardians, left family members in disarray and resulted in unnecessary stress through lengthy and costly probate proceedings.
The last event that had me shift to an estate planning practice was a former client of mine in California, who suddenly died overnight in his mid fifties. I had assisted him in a different matter. He was married, had a house and had no estate plan in place. His father, in his early 90’s lives in California, the sister lives in Germany. This matter resulted in a complete sad story of a family that got into fights, the body of my client not being able to be buried in honor because his wife was blocked everything that the father and sister wanted, they all don’t talk to each other any more, the case is in probate court and all in all a complete sad mess that could have been avoided.
Over the years, I also learned that the traditional transactional model of estate planning actually fails families too. I learned a new and better way to do estate planning which I would love to share with you. So first of all, in many estate planning practices, everything is billed on an hourly basis. You know, lawyers often command average hourly rates of $300- $500/hour. And, this is often a problem in the world of estate planning because the plan that you’re creating today is not going to be your forever plan. Your life is going to change, your assets are going to change, your circumstances are going to change, the laws are going to change and you need to feel free to call me when you have changes without worrying about what it is going to cost you. So I’ll share with you a little bit later about how I handle that in my practice now so that you’re not worried about getting hourly bills in the mail.
When you work with a traditional lawyer practicing under the traditional, transactional model, what will probably happen is you’ll create an estate plan, your lawyer will prepare some documents for you, you’ll sign those documents (most often not having a clear sense of what they were signing), you’ll take those documents home, stick them on a shelf or in a drawer and never look at them again. That is the traditional estate planning experience. And what I’ve come to learn is that that’s how estate plans fail. And they fail because most lawyers do not have any systems for regularly following up with their clients, making sure that their assets are titled properly, or even communicating with their clients regularly to make sure that their plans stay up to date. And I didn’t go to law school to just put in place form documents for my clients. I went to law school to make a real difference in my clients’ lives, in your lives. And when I decided on a practice area and how I wanted to serve clients, I decided that estate planning was the right way, was the way that I could make the biggest impact in the community for the families or for the small business owners in our community, but that I would have to learn to practice estate planning in a new way. And that’s why I became a Personal Family Lawyer and I’d love to share with you how we do things differently here at my practice.
I opened this firm with the idea of bringing back the Personal Family Lawyer relationship - where initial planning is just the beginning of the relationship and we’re focused on putting in place a plan we know will work for you and the people you love.
So, here are some of the things we do differently based on my experience with the traditional model of estate planning.
First of all – nothing we do is billed on an hourly basis. Everything we do is billed flat fee, agreed to in advance, so there are no surprises. You’ll know exactly what it will cost to work with us after we’ve gotten clear about what you want, and you’ll even be able to choose your own fee. Then, after the initial planning process, we have options so that you can ensure your plan stays up to date throughout your life, and again you’ll know exactly what that costs and choose your own fee there.
Second – I am here to support you. That means, if you are at the bank and call our office to get a quick answer about how to title an account, you don’t have to leave the bank and return on another day because there was no one available to answer your question for hours or days. You’ll be able to speak to me to get your questions answered right away. And, if you need to speak with me about something, we’ll get a call scheduled so that I can be prepared and you can be prepared and we won’t waste your time playing phone tag.

Third – we see planning as just the beginning of the relationship whereas in the past the plan was viewed as a one-time transactional event.
Once you sign your planning documents, that is when the relationship really begins. At no additional charge, we review your plan at least every three years. And, we have two levels of membership programs that almost all of our clients participate in – either the gold program which provides you with a yearly plan review and unlimited changes to your plan, or the gold plus program which includes an annual meeting with your attorney, CPA and financial advisor, plus ongoing legal guidance throughout the year.

Finally, we don’t just focus on passing on your financial assets, but your whole family wealth. Sometimes family members leave behind a little money, but more importantly, they may leave a voicemail on your phone. To preserve valuable things like this, we guide you to pass on more than your money, but also your intellectual, spiritual, and human assets. We include that with every plan and our clients and their families love having that as part of their plan.

These are just a few of the things that make our firm different. We’re the best fit for people who don’t just want to leave their family a set of documents that may or may not work, but instead want to use the estate planning process to pass on a legacy of love and care, and ease. And keep their family out of court and out of conflict.

You won’t be the one to benefit from the plan we are going to design for you today – the people who will benefit are the people you love the most who will be dealing with things after you’re gone. So, before we get started talking about you and the people you love, do you have any questions about me, the firm, or anything else that I said or didn’t say?

Education

• J. D., Supreme Court Cologne, Germany, 2001

• Bachelor of Law, University of Bonn, 1998

• California Bar, 2005

• Notary Public (California), 2018

Admissions

• Superior Court, Germany

• United States Supreme Court

• U.S. District Court in California, Central District

Professional Memberships and Associations

• Bar Association (Anwaltskammer) Berlin, Germany

• California Bar Association