Not just reading files, dictating papers and going to court
Attorney-at-Law: businessman, manager and psychologist all wrapped into one

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung - Career and Opportunity
Saturday, 4 September 1999, Elke Bohl

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For Jürgen Reiß these matters are the staff of life. Since the end of 1996 the lawyer from Karlsruhe has been his own boss. Reiß is a example of how a lawyer can take a good idea and, with the necessary stick-to-itiveness, make it on his own. Early on he took up Italian law and, through a parallel study in Romance languages and literature, acquired the necessary language skills. He spent his elective placement during his lawyer's training in a German law firm in Bologna and used this time to earn an interpreter's diploma in Italian on the side. After his second state exam and an additional year in a law firm in Italy, his decision became clear: he wanted to make it on his own. A city in Baden-Württemberg in where many Italians live seemed to him to be the perfect place to set up shop, so he chose Karlsruhe. The initiation in the suburbs was quickly followed by a move downtown. His law office is located in the middle of the pedestrian zone on the first floor "above an Italian designer fashion shop."

Getting there was not a pleasant stroll. Reiß quickly brushes aside the misconception that finding a gap in the market was just enough. "At the beginning I didn't have a single Italian client." Instead he did have plenty of start-up problems to deal with. There was a time the phone didn't ring for two days. "At the time I thought that the phone must be broken," the attorney looks back. During this period he benefited from the relaxation of the regulations concerning the options available for lawyers to advertise. With the regulations changing, he could, for example, include his interpreter's diploma on his letterhead. Of course, this alone was not enough to gain clients. Reiß attributes his financial success to "smart acquisitions." He doesn't want to go into further detail though. "Trade secret," he says laughing. At any rate, the firm is doing very well. He even had to expand his new offices in order to have sufficient room for more employees. At present, Reiß employs two attorneys, as well as two junior lawyers and three secretaries.

His typical day of work begins at 9 and ends at 8 in the evening. Telephone calls, client conferences, and court sessions take up most of his time. It is not unusual that at 5 pm that he firstly finds the time to dictate papers, read files and consider his cases. Reiß believes that taking time for his clients is very important. If a client is only confronted with a rushed lawyer, then he will not be very likely to have the feeling that he is in good hands. Any lawyer who wants to advise his clients properly and also to have financial success needs more than just legal knowledge. "I'm a lawyer only 20% of the time; during the other 80%, I'm businessman, manager and psychologist." In the meantime, Reiß includes amongst his clients numerous companies, not only in Germany but also in Italy.

As a result, he is often on the go on the other side of the Alps. His next project is to get admitted to practice in Bologna so that he can represent his clients in court there. In his charming manner Reiß leaves questions relating to his turnover unanswered. Nevertheless, he does go so far as to say that things are going well enough to leave his colleagues in charge of the firm one day a week. Then he devotes himself to another ambitious project --- his doctorate, which, naturally, is in the realm of Italian law.