Twelve years ago, Russell Yankwitt sat at his kitchen table to plan his transition out of the U.S. Attorney”™s Office for the Southern District of New York and into private practice. Today, White Plains-based Yankwitt LLP has grown the operation into a 20-person workforce.
In this edition of Suite Talk, Business Journal Senior Enterprise Editor Phil Hall interviews Yankwitt about his place within Westchester”™s legal landscape and the challenges of practicing law in the midst of a pandemic.
Why did you decide to start your own law firm?
“When I left the government 12 years ago, my thought process was that I could run a small firm in Westchester, use my New York City clients and charge less, given that the overhead is much less in Westchester. It turned out that there was tremendous amount of business in Westchester County ”” and there wasn”™t a law firm in Westchester that had former federal law clerks, former federal prosecutors or attorneys of the caliber of my team.
“So, with a little bit of hard work and a lot of luck, it worked out better than I expected. I did not think that 10 years later I would have 20 employees. That was not part of the grand plan.”
What were you doing for the government before you started the law firm?
“After clerking for a federal judge, I was trained at Skadden Arps in Manhattan. And then after working there for years I went to the U.S. Attorney”™s Office where I was a federal prosecutor, which is a phenomenal job ”” you”™re working on behalf of the government and trying to do right every day. It”™s not about winning or losing ”” it”™s really about trying to do the right thing and you”™re working with phenomenal people who are civic minded.
“It was really a fabulous job. My original game plan was to stay there three to four years, and I ended up staying eight years.”
How has the legal landscape in Westchester changed in the years since arriving in the county?
“There are ebbs and flows in litigation, but for the most part it stayed the same. There was a time period during the Obama administration when there was a lot of employment work related to the Fair Labor Standards Act ”” that was almost one-third of the federal docket of the Obama administration. In the Trump administration, a lot of attention was on his immigration policies and fewer people who are immigrants wanted to sue in federal court because they were afraid of deportation and other issues. So, there was a decrease in the Fair Labor Standards Act.
“Right now, there”™s an increase in litigation involving the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and there are a few plaintiff”™s lawyers who go around suing all the restaurants and hotels for lack of complying with the ADA, so that”™s a new line of work people have been doing.
“But for the most part, the breach of contract cases, the corporation cases, the shareholder disputes have remained the same in Westchester.”
How has the Covid-19 pandemic impacted the legal landscape in Westchester?
“In the first quarter, the courts were closed and did not have the infrastructure they have now to handle the caseload while they were closed. Being a defense lawyer and having a fiduciary duty to my clients, we used that to delay everything. Even though my clients all had strong defenses, there was no rush to pay legal fees and no rush to have these cases decided.
“So, we started seeking extensions during the first quarter. Now, both the federal courts and state courts are working fabulously, but I have not been inside a courtroom since March 12. But my team and I have appeared a dozen times in state court and federal court. We are litigators and all we do is litigate, but we”™re appearing on Zoom. Thankfully, business can still progress and people can have their cases heard, but now it is all done electronically.”
Your law firm was also expanding during this pandemic period. Why did you decide to expand at a time when a lot of firms may have put hiring on hold or were laying people off?
“Even if you have a great team, if Mickey Mantle says, ”˜Hey, I”™m willing to play on your team,”™ you”™ve got to hire Mickey Mantle. With the three hires we”™ve made since the pandemic, each one is more fabulous than the next. Every one of them clerked for a federal judge, which is very hard to find among people that want to work in Westchester ”” it”™s a very small pool. And we”™re trying to keep it where everybody in the firm has clerked for a federal judge. That separates us from all the other law firms in Westchester County ”” and, frankly, there”™s very few firms in New York City that can say that.”
How are you marketing your law firm? And where do you get your clients from?
“I think the best marketing we can do is to do great work at a reasonable price. I personally review every invoice that goes out the door and I make sure that every client is treated specially ”” and that we try to give discounts wherever we can.
“And we try to do great work. Winning cases is the best way to market. Pre-Covid, we did very few trials in the state of New York ”” we tended to do two to three trials a year and we tended to win these trials. Word gets on the street that we”™re trial lawyers who are not afraid to try cases, and that”™s been great for business.
“Fortunately, our clients usually have one mistake or one problem that we deal with, and then we don”™t hear from them again. But they”™re very loyal to us and they refer their friends and their colleagues to us.”
Are there clients or cases that you don”™t want to take?
“I don”™t do matrimonial work. My view is when I was in the government, I tried to do what was just and what was right. As a private litigator, my goal is to win. So, when it comes to matrimonial disputes, when there”™s custody issues with children, I don”™t want to be involved in that because I don”™t want to be fighting for somebody who, in my own judgment, doesn”™t necessarily deserve to win. Otherwise, we”™re happy to sue anyone.”
