You know the deal: The cobbler’s children go unshod. Here’s a modern-day update of the parable you never knew would work so well in a business setting, courtesy of Mark Daniele of McCarter & English:
There are attorneys who could handle the unpopular legal work involved with his or her own firm’s retirement plans, Daniele said, but a paying client’s issue is always going take priority. Because of that, the work risks going undone.
Among other things, Daniele’s practice involves working with the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, a technical area of the law that deals with tax-qualified retirement plans.
And he’s welcoming an unexpected set of clients: law firms that, like the shoemaker who spends so much time attending to his customers’ needs that he ignores those of his children, have the potential to do this work but don’t.
“Here’s what I’ve seen over the past five or so years: This area is complicated, and law firms try to do it themselves if they have the capability, but more are willing to source it to us,” he added. “Law firms approach me and say they’d rather have associates work on paying client work anyway.”