It wasn't until his last few weeks of law school that the father-son team was formally born. A large life carrier had offered Steve a job marketing estate planning techniques. But he decided not to take it and instead moved back to Vegas to work for Richard. "I figured that that would give me the better long-term prospects," Steve says. "Also, my father and I get along really well, so that made the choice very simple."
Richard adds that unlike some parent-child relationships, "there wasn't any friction between us when Steve was growing up. It's always been a very comfortable relationship."
When Steve arrived for work at Oshins & Associates in 1994 as a lawyer, he and Richard quickly discovered to their mutual delight that they had complementary work styles. Soon Steve was the firm's managing attorney. "He loves to do that," Richard says, "and I don't like to do that."
Wanted: A Solid No. 3
Over
the next several years, the Oshins would occasionally hire another
lawyer or two, but they wouldn't last. Things never quite worked out.
Growth seemed elusive. Then along came a young attorney named Heidi
Freeman.
"Heidi was the one that allowed us to grow," says Steve. "It's difficult to grow when the first two lawyers have to review everything the third lawyer does. But once we finally found a third lawyer who was self-sufficient, it was possible for us to bring in enough additional business to need to hire a fourth lawyer." That was Kristen Simmons in 2004, whose performance fostered further growth and led to the 2005 hiring of Katie Colombo.
Today this triumvirate of 30-ish estate planners at Oshins & Associates-Freeman, Simmons and Colombo-each now with about five years of high-level experience, and each recently named by Super Lawyers magazine as a Mountain States Rising Star in estate planning and probate, oversees and trains the firm's newest attorneys. Steve says that's providing the firm with even more opportunity to build relationships and educate referral sources so that they can market to their clients.
"In the past I couldn't always give potential referral sources as much time as I would have liked," he says.
As The Firm Grows
Also
fostering growth at the firm is the recent arrival of two prominent,
veteran estate lawyers. Jeff Verdon moved from California to Nevada and
joined the firm this summer, while Florida-based Jerry Hesch signed on
as special senior tax counsel. The alliances are intended to swell the
client roster and, indeed, Verdon brought in four large clients during
his first three weeks.
The new restricted entity law could aid the firm's growth, although like every valuation discounting technique these days, it's vulnerable to being quashed by Washington. But as of October 1, the Silver State is the only place where you can get a restricted LP or LLC. Many attorneys from around the country who create Nevada restricted entities for their clients are likely to want a local lawyer to look over their documents. Oshins & Associates, the de facto experts on the new law, ought to pick up a fair share of that review work.
As far as public speaking, Steve is traveling to fewer conferences these days. "Rather than fly all over the country like I used to, I'm doing phone seminars and using e-mail and our Web site to spread my articles to advisors and potential clients," he says.