Sharing knowledge and expertise:
Client education is one of the most important parts of my practice. The entire field of property tax and assessment administration is notoriously byzantine and opaque. Frequent client communication done in a straightforward manner is key in order to foster attorney-client trust. Beyond my own practice, I am active in various professional organizations dedicated to taxation issues. I have also engaged with various media outlets such as Bloomberg to provide op-eds and quotes regarding various developments in our field.
Giving Back:
I serve as chair of the New York City Bar Association’s Tax Certiorari Committee. Our Committee monitors changes to the NYC assessment system. This past Winter, the City proposed a set of rules that would have limited a taxpayer’s ability to have assessment errors reviewed by the Department of Finance and would have caused errors to be carried forward on the roll. Our bar committee, along with other interested trade groups like REBNY, mounted a campaign during the public comment period to limit the taxpayer-unfriendly aspects of the proposed rules before they were finalized.
Best advice for new leaders:
The best leaders lead from the front. Your team wants to see that you have skin in the game.