It’s the thrill that’ll gitcha
When you get your picture
On the cover of The Rolling Stone
–Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show (1973)
While (to some) the ABA Journal may lack the cachet of Rolling Stone Magazine, it is nonetheless an achievement — and a thrill — to grace the cover of the Journal. Seattle lawyer John Coe did exactly that on the April 2007 issue. Although those who have seen the Journal cover would be hard-pressed to recognize Coe from the ultra close-up photograph of him, the article profiling Coe and his practice is accompanied by a photo that confirms to his friends and family that it really is Coe and his law firm being discussed.
The cover article is entitled, “The Secrets of Million Dollar Solos.” The Coe Law Group, PLLC, crossed that threshold in 2006. It’s a remarkable achievement for a firm of one principal, one of counsel, an associate and three staff. It is even more comment worthy when one understands that The Coe Law Group is a real estate and business firm, not a law firm with a contingent fee practice, so the daily slog of hourly billings (which is the fate of the substantial majority of all attorneys) has to be efficiently managed.
Much of the success of the firm is based upon its phenomenal fee-realization rate, which is slightly more than 99% for 2006, a noteworthy achievement for any law practice. Coe is very attentive to his clients, mindful that the best marketing strategy is to maintain satisfied clients and their future business.
Getting There
Coe was born in Seattle in 1967. He attended Seattle Hebrew Academy for 10 years. His freshman year of high school was at Northwest Yeshiva High School, and then he attended and graduated from Sammamish High School. Graduating early in his senior year, Coe lived in Israel for several months before enrolling at the UW.
A full-fledged Husky, Coe holds both his bachelor’s degree (1989) and law degree (1992) from the University of Washington. He attended the Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies as an undergrad, where he was magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa. By the time of his admission to the Washington State Bar in 1992, he had already worked as a Rule 9 intern in both the King County Prosecutor’s Office, Criminal Division, and the Public Defender’s Office.
Coe credits that early training and experience with helping him understand the litigation process, so he is better able to consider and evaluate the potential litigation overlay in advising business clients on structuring deals and transactions. Coe still finds himself in the courtroom, but he prefers that the firm’s litigation be handled by his capable associate, especially since time demands of discovery and trial can disrupt business clients’ ongoing needs.
Coe joined the firm of Franco Asia Bensussen & Coe, one of Seattle’s legendary smaller firms, as an associate in the spring of 1994. Coe’s father, Harold (“Buzz”) Coe, was a long-time partner in the Franco Asia firm. The Coe Law Group was later formed by father and son. Al Franco was of counsel to the firm. Coe enthusiastically credits his father and Franco as the professional and personal mentors who grounded him in the practice of law; Buzz fully concurs.
Coe’s wife, Michelle, is the firm administrator. She devised and implemented extensive financial and operational systems for the firm, which have resulted in a number of efficiencies and cost reductions. Michelle believes the firm’s extraordinary fee-realization rate is only one reflection of the firm’s business structure.
The Cover Boy
The ABA Journal cover story began with an email Coe received asking if he would be willing to be interviewed for an article on sole practitioners. (Don’t tell this to anyone, but Coe is not currently an ABA member.) He was not told how or why he became one of the four attorneys selected from across the United States. Coe and Michelle discussed the pros and cons of such publicity — or notoriety — and agreed to participate. He was interviewed by a staff writer and later photographed for the Journal article; it was a complete surprise when he saw the magazine and that he was the “Cover Boy.”1
The firm’s practice and routine remain unchanged after this serendipitous event, although Michelle has received numerous calls for advice from lawyers throughout the U.S. Coe maintains his marketing efforts and his volunteer work, and has not altered his disciplined approach to law practice.
“I have no intention of changing the nature of our law firm, particularly because of one instance of personal publicity,” Coe says. “My practice is essentially based in the Seattle metropolitan area and will remain so, and I have no desire to become a manager of the work of a large staff of associates and paraprofessionals.”
As is common among sole practitioners and in small-firm practices, Coe finds his greatest satisfaction in being a hands-on attorney who actually does the legal work for and with clients.
“That’s the real reward for me from the practice of law, and I hope that never changes,” he says.
“My father and his partners in Franco Asia were also hands-on attorneys who made their small firm into a very respected member of the Seattle legal community. That’s my professional heritage, and I want to carry it on.”
It’s apparent that “good bloodlines” are not restricted to the Sport of Kings.
Practice Tips and Other Activities
The Coe Law Group emphasizes real estate work, business matters and related litigation, but it is not restricted to those areas. However, efficient management of a small firm requires that practice areas be identified and maintained within certain bounds, both for efficiencies and to permit a small firm to compete with larger law firms.
“We don’t try to do too much or become involved with too many areas of practice,” says Coe, “and we don’t want to.”
To provide a greater range of services to its clients, The Coe Law Group has developed a referral network so that certain types of matters, such as bankruptcy or criminal cases, can be referred on a recurring basis to counsel with f whom Coe has worked personally. This permits him to refer a matter with confidence that the client’s needs will be handled with the same degree of personal attention that Coe provides in his practice.
Coe is not a drudge. Even though he works long hours, he finds personal enjoyment in spending time with his extended family, including his sister and her family in Vancouver, B.C., and in his daily reading (principally history and philosophy). Coe spends a considerable amount of his time away from law practice working for and with a number oorganizations, including the Anti-Defamation League, Herzel Memorial Park and various local non-profit groups and organizations. He stretches the day!
One impediment for all lawyers, particularly those who are sole practitioners or practice in small firms, is the limited opportunity for extended absences from their desks. Coe recognizes that is a built-in issue in small-firm life. “That’s my next problem to conquer,” he says. Knowing Coe, he will do just that and will be creative and successful in doing so.
Coe recognizes that the challenges and rewards of small-firm life can be quite different from those in large and medium-sized firms, but he also appreciates that the projects handled by his firm are sophisticated matters and that his satisfactions and remuneration can be comparable to any lawyer’s.
“I am a very affiliative person and enjoy my relationships with my clients and with other lawyers throughout the area,” he says. “I have chosen this style of practice and find it very satisfying and fulfilling.”
Coe is an enthusiastic proponent of small-firm practice. Available WSBA statistics show that more than 50% of Washington attorneys practice in firms of five or fewer attorneys; more than one-half of that group are sole practitioners. Coe’s appearance on the cover of the Journal may signal an increased recognition nationally that solo practice is an attractive and profitable legal lifestyle.
Dan Caine is an attorney with Ryan, Swanson & Cleveland, PLLC, who has known the Coe family for many years.
1After Coe was interviewed for the prospective article, the Journal sent a photographer to his office to do a photo shoot. After one set had been taken, the photographer asked Coe if he would shave off his beard, which Coe does each week anyway, and then another series of photos was taken of the unshaven Coe. At first, the Journal editor thought that the photographer had sent in photos of two different subjects. As we know, the close-up of the bearded Coe was selected, but Coe had no input in — and doesn’t know — the Journal’s selection process. Laughing while recounting this process, Coe acknowledges that if given the choice, he would not have picked “That Photo” to appear on the cover of a magazine with an international circulation.
