How did you start your Law practice?
I began my practice with a small downtown law firm specializing in contract/bankruptcy
litigation. If Robert Lipman wanted a challenge, this was it! The firm was too small to
provide mentorship, so it was “baptism by fire” as I started trying cases into my second
year of practice. My third year, we merged with a much larger firm and I felt early on
this was not the place for me as I was unable to represent friends and prospective
clients in cases outside of contract litigation.
I received an invitation to join a smaller firm from an opposing attorney whom I beat in
trial and quickly decided to join his firm with an option to grow my practice in addition to
handling his litigation. I began developing relationships with chiropractors and other
physicians who began sending me personal injury cases which I discovered was a
perfect fit for the type of practice I wanted to pursue for two major reasons. First and
foremost, I never asked my clients to pay me a penny on their injury cases which
eliminated having to bill my clients and ultimately writing off fees; and secondly, I can
relate to anyone whether the dregs of society or the CEO of a company and quickly
appreciated the interpersonal relationship which always developed with every client
beyond just being their lawyer. Within my 4 th year of practice, I started my own firm as
Robert B. Lipman Attorney at Law and a whopping staff of just one lawyer – ME!
I am very proud of the fact that my practice grew every year without spending a nickel
on advertising.
With hard work and long hours, word-of-mouth advertising was by far the
best. My practice grew from one chiropractor referral to representing over 14,000 clients
spanning a 36 year career prior to retirement. I am equally proud that many lawyers
worked for me over the years as I changed my firm’s name to Robert B. Lipman and
Associates, and who after gaining knowledge and experience in personal injury
litigation, amicably departed my firm to start their own respective practices.