I think every social media outlet in the world does something cheesy to put themselves on your radar for every passing holiday. I am not going to pass up that opportunity either, but I thought I might do it a little differently. How do I know that this firm and this area of law is my passion? For that I want to thank my “work” family publicly on the blog – rest assured that I am thankful for a great many other things, and for my personal family like my wife and my mother and my siblings, but I don’t talk enough about the team here and what they mean to me.

If you’ve talked to me long enough you will hear me mention my law partner, Grant, who staffs and manages our Monroe Township office. He and I have been friends for at least seven years, and it was a big risk for him to leave practice with another firm to build a stable base for his family. It was a bigger risk if you ask me to join forces with a good friend. Yet, it has worked out well for both of us, and for his family as well. He is a valuable colleague and the voice of reason when I am eager to strangle an adversary or the Board of Social Services. His practice is expanding, and it has been fun to see that success accelerate.

That growth in Monroe would not be possible without our client liaison George. To meet George is to love him. He enjoys his work and his interactions with staff, referral sources, new contacts, and strangers (who are just friends he hasn’t met yet). He keeps me informed on the constant turnover in the industry and how we can help them and our clients by constantly adding value. I would not have the ability to reach the community in Monroe and surrounding areas without him.

There have been others that have recently joined the team that are making an impact already. Larry, our paralegal in the Monroe office, also staffs the phones and is a friendly and stable influence when things get a little goofy over there. He just joined us and is already making big positive strides toward helping us serve our litigation clients. Joe, my law clerk, is currently a third-year student at Rutgers-Camden, and if some judge doesn’t have the good sense to snatch him away from me for a clerkship I hope he comes to work for us once he takes the bar exam next July. His earnest hard-working demeanor and endless charm have not gone unnoticed from clients who are still asking where he is. Walter, our of counsel attorney, is a former administrative law judge and lends gravitas and good humor to the cases he has brought into the firm. The others who have helped us this year (Rosanna, Nelson, John, Connor, among others) have inevitably done so in spots where Grant or I or both of us were in a bind and needed help with a client or a deadline, and for that we are grateful.

And of course I would be remiss to forget my paralegal, Lisa, who joined the firm at the beginning of the year and almost immediately became indispensable. She learned quickly, adapted to the management and flow of the firm, and took charge of key administrative tasks that freed me and Grant up to help clients and grow the offices. She has become a key resource for me as I prepare Medicaid applications, estate planning documents, and letters on important cases. She is also a (mostly) calm sounding board with the life experience and the moxie to tell the lawyers in this office that they’re out of line. She is, to paraphrase Reggie Jackson, the “straw that stirs the drink.”

If I really wanted to get maudlin about it I could thank family, friends, clients, you the visitors to the blog, key referral sources, the web designer (Ed: he added that!), and a host of others. You’ve read enough about that this year already. I wrote this article for me, because sometimes I need to be reminded how lucky I am to have this great group of people working for our clients. Now at least I have a place I’ve written it all down.