Robert N. Cooperman

We have had corporate employment issues which could have led to lawsuits; real estate issues where we needed to determine whether a property could be occupied in its then present configuration; personal issues whereby seasoned advice and counseling was highly valued; in all of these instances and mo...re, some of them taking months or longer to resolve, we were relieved and pleased in the outcome especially considering the alternatives which might have resulted. In one case, we had a verbal agreement with an employee which we both interpreted differently. There had been ample opportunity for the employee to recognize that the "deal" was over long ago, had not been discussed for 5 years, had not been fulfilled for 5 years, had not been questioned for 5 years, and was patently no longer in effect. And we discovered the employee double dealing, being employed with another firm while collecting a paycheck from us, which led us to terminate his employment. And yet, and yet.......hope springs eternal - and he engaged a labor attorney to come after our firm for damages of all kinds - Bob was able to negotiate a fair solution without the difficulties and uncertainties of defending an actual suit in court. And we learned a powerful lesson about "putting it in writing". As a matter of fact our employee "manual" which lays out all the conditions under which an employee is treated, including termination, was written in collaboration with Bob such that it covered all contingencies. In another instance my wife was the subject of a lawsuit for personal injury (i think the expression was "nail and mail" which shocked us out of the blue; and Bob soothed her (and my) anxiety and explained how these issues find solution and relieved a lot of the personal pressure on our psyches while the negotiations wended their way to a satisfactory solution thankfully covered by insurance. In another instance my son was keenly interested in a property which had, it developed, an "illegal balcony" and we were challenged to consider the contingencies (what if we had to remove it from an adjacent building supporting it, could it be cantilevered from the proper building and/or be required to be removed?" Bob was able to engage the services of a prestigious architect who willingly examined the property to provide his professional advice on what exactly, we were facing, and what our options were (it ultimately was removed). The ability to turn to Bob and his firm for advice no matter what the subject and thereby be able to make informed decisions has been a constant in all the years of our association, we could not be more satisfied.