Brian A. Raphan

I had several issues needing resolution when my "common law" spouse of well more than a decade died. I am not wealthy. Att'y Raphan was recommended to me by a business acquaintance. When I first called to ask if I could see him for a short consultation, he inquired about the nature of the p...roblem(s), & gave me the advice I needed over the phone. The call was about 15 minutes. He said there'd be no charge, but if I needed more advice on this in the future, he would have to charge me, but that he would at that time waive his usual retainer and just charge me for time I actually used. A year later a problem came up and I called for a consultation again. His assistant wanted to schedule it for 2 weeks later. I said it MIGHT be urgent -- though turned out it wasn't -- so she gave me a 1/2 hour slot for a phone call the very next day and gave me a price that was substantially below the usual rates NY lawyers charge these days. I called at the appointed time, he was promptly on the phone, I refreshed his memory from a year earlier, explained the new problems, conversed for about 20 mins. He explained patiently and clearly and anticipated other concerns I hadn't thought of. He advised me how NOT to create the need for unnecessary further legal fees. We finished and I asked where to send the check in the amount his assistant had mentioned. He told me he'd email me the address (which he did within a few minutes), and to send an amount substantially LOWER even than the original one specified. I then thought of another question, so our conversation time crept up to about 25 minutes (I was keeping an eye on the time cuz I know that's how lawyers usually work -- HE never mentioned it). I thanked him, and said "I owe you one -- how about if I send you $X?" which was a little bit more than the very reasonable amount he'd told me 5 or 6 minutes previously. He said "I leave that to your discretion." We hung up, and I remembered one more question, called back, his assistant put him on the phone, and it took about 2-3 mins more to answer. No mention of an additional charge. He mentioned that because he'd sent me an email I would now have his email address should I need to contact him again. I have used lawyers several times in my life -- I'm retired but I had my own business for a while, plus a normal life which lawyers do usually pass through on occasion. I've known lawyers I liked and disliked. Brian Raphan is just a very nice "regular guy" without any of the vices or shortcomings which are frequently attributed to lawyers. He knows his area of specialty very well, and has the integrity and ethics of a good man. I recommend him to anyone, and you'll suspect he's my brother or cousin or whatever when I say this (not the case, met him only twice by phone per above), but my encounter with him was the first time I've ever felt that I was the beneficiary of a great favor when dealing with a lawyer. There are lawyers I would praise for their competence, honesty, and character and Att'y Raphan is amongst them, but but corny as it sounds, he also gets my praise for his kindness and genuine empathy for his clients, which he shows by his actions and tone rather than with words. For these reasons I am actually grateful for the opportunity this AVVO site offers me, to tell others in the hope it helps his business and other people. That's because I was being very straightforward when I told him "I owe you one" -- I really feel that way, and since I like to feel that I pull my own weight and pay my own way through life, I'm happy to recommend such a good fellow, and hope it ends up being a benefit to all concerned. If you deal with him, he's pretty much all business, but based on my own experience on HOW he does business, and the broader perspective he seems to carry over into his business, I think you'll gradually notice that my positive "review" of him above is very accurate.