Podcast

ESPN Radio: [00:00:00] Leadership, putting the goals of the team ahead of personal ones with a steadying force and setting the example for teammates while making a positive impact to the community. Welcome to the leadership team with Roger Wilen on ESPN radio. Because business is a sport.

Rodger Wyland: [00:00:21] I want to start with with Lamarsh and Sofranko. How does how did that evolve? How did that come together so and now so successfully over the years? Do you guys know each other for a long time? How did the partnership develop?

Andrew Safranko: [00:00:37] So we met while doing work. We were both in law school together at the same time. George was two years younger than me, but we really didn’t know each other in law school. But when we came out of school, we both worked at major law firms, and we would see each other almost every night and night court handling cases and then our, our mentors and our partners at the time,Stuart Jones and Steve Coffee would have a lot of work that they would do together. So we just inherently started working together. We would see each other all the time. And then ultimately,in 2011, George ended up leaving the Jones firm and had a year by himself. And during that year we talked a lot. We met a lot. And I just saw that it was an opportunity that if I didn’t go join with George, it was going to be something I would regret forever. And in February 2012, we started and have never looked back. Best decision we ever made. Yeah.

Rodger Wyland: [00:01:32] And George, I’m hearing coming off your arguably your your best year in 2023. How has this thing taken the climb to the top?

George LaMarche: [00:01:43] I think it’s you know, it’s sort of this grassroots effort. Uh, we’ve built relationships in the community. Having grown up here. Our parents are here. Andy’s dad was a lawyer in the community, so we just, uh, firmly believe in relationships, building those relationships. When I first started, it was, I’m going to breakfast with people, other people in the community. I still do it. Uh, it’s my biggest source of business is friends in the community that I meet at the diner and chat with on a pretty regular basis, and they’re great sources of business for us. Uh, I think we’re a go givers. There’s a there’s a book, actually, it’s called go go givers, not go getters. And I think giving back to the community is something that we’ve believed in and it’s resulted in success. We give and think about giving first, whether it’s to our clients, to the community. And that’s been a great source of business for us. So,you know, it’s we haven’t looked back. Like Andy said, it’s it’s been the greatest move that we’ve ever made. And when we first did it, when I first did it, you know, having worked with Stuart Jones, who’s a tremendous mentor, when I left, people said I’m either brilliant or crazy for leaving him because he’s such a wonderful lawyer and an amazing,philanthropic person and wonderful man. He was like a father figure to me but I just saw it as as as the time for me to leave, and it was a scary time, but, uh, you know, it’s been an amazing run for Andy and I, and it’s getting better every year.

Rodger Wyland: [00:03:15] Yeah, there’s no question. And and you and you touched on it now and I’ll ask you, uh, Andrew, about what differentiates you from from the rest. I know you have a lot of competition, but you were talking about community involvement and and the way you go about your business, how how have you been able to separate yourselves?

Andrew Safranko: [00:03:32] I think we’re really separates us is is the personal attention. We do and we give. And I think a lot of law firms say it, but we actually do it. We get to know our clients and our particular practice areas. We’re dealing with people in the worst times in our lives. They’re seriously injured. They’ve been arrested. They’re accused of a crime, or somebody’s trying to take their ability or their livelihood to work away from them. And we get to know them. We get to see what is going on, and we really are on a holistic approach while we’re their lawyers and we’re helping them, we really are trying to help them get out of a situation. If it’s a criminal side, if there’s an addiction, we get them to meet with the right providers. On the personal injury side, we get them to meet with the right doctors and team to get people to back to where they started from and help mitigate against what are sometimes extreme circumstances.

Rodger Wyland: [00:04:22] How many do you serve? How many, how many clients have you built over the years here? And in terms of even in the community, how how what’s your reach?

George LaMarche: [00:04:33] Thousands, uh, hundreds of clients a year come into the firm. And we’re not a large firm. I mean, we have four lawyers, a couple of of council lawyers, which means they’re not partners in the firm or members of the firm, but they’re affiliated with our firm. Um, so in our reach is statewide, although it’s primarily the Capital District. Sometimes we venture outside of the Capital District. Um, but, yeah, thousands of clients that we’ve helped and serviced and who have become friends to the firm and referral sources. But like Andy said, when people come to our office, it’s at a bad time. They’re dealing with some major crisis in their life, and we get to know them and we help them. That’s selfishly one of the benefits that we get in our business is trying to help people, and that makes us feel good. And they become friends of the firm and people who recommend us to other people. That’s how our business has grown. And, uh, you know, they stay in touch with us even after they leave.

Rodger Wyland: [00:05:32] So reputation, reputation impeccable with with your with your group, uh, and with you guys and I mean, that’s right. Word of mouth and that that seems to be a large part of your success.

Andrew Safranko: [00:05:44] Yeah, it absolutely is. And I think what also, you know, differentiates us is we get a lot of work from other lawyers in town that don’t do what we do. So lawyers, judges, you know, people involved in the police community when their family member or friends or neighbors get in trouble or are injured, they call us. And that’s and that’s a huge part of, you know, satisfaction. Our end when people in the profession, people in the know reach out to you when someone close to them has an issue or a problem they call you.

Rodger Wyland: [00:06:15] How do you continue to grow this? The success you had. What’s what’s what’s the what’s the next level here?

Andrew Safranko: [00:06:22] Don’t ask him.

George LaMarche: [00:06:23] That’s the difference between me and Andy. Um.

George LaMarche: [00:06:26] You know, I like to push the envelope a little bit. So more social media putting us out there to a community that’s that may not know us directly, but, um, who have gotten to know us and feel like they know us because they see us on video, whether it’s on our YouTube channel or. Or TikTok or Facebook, you know, just constantly putting ourselves out there and not in a way that’s trying to sell anybody, but to provide knowledge, just to provide information to people about something that might be relevant to their lives. But we’re not we’re not looking to to sell you if you need us. You think of us because you’ve seen us or you know us, call us. And if we can help you, we will. And if we can’t, we’re going to refer you to somebody in the community that we know and trust who can help you.

Rodger Wyland: [00:07:13] So he’s a little more aggressive than you. Is that what you’re saying?

Andrew Safranko: [00:07:16] He’s definitely more aggressive on the marketing, but we’ve been grassroots from the get go. Right. We’ve built our names. We built our firm based upon, you know, our reputation and the work that we’ve been able to do through the community, through our legal work, through our work in different boards and other activities and through giving back. But the reality of it is, is we get cases from our friends, we get cases from our neighbors, we get cases from our clients that are happy with the work that we do. And then, you know, the social media aspect that, you know, that we do. And that’s that’s his baby. And I, I go along, but, um, you know, we’ve our presence is is huge on the internet and especially for a small firm.

Rodger Wyland: [00:08:01] Have you been successful because you are just regular down to earth people. Is that is that I mean, that’s how the I get that feel. And I know successful people, business people and businesses get to number one when they’re just known as kind of regular people to deal with. Is that is that is that fair?

George LaMarche: [00:08:20] I think that’s very fair.

George LaMarche: [00:08:21] I mean, we’re totally down to earth people. Normal, normal guys are married kids running around doing, you know, the sports thing and bringing your kids everywhere. And, you know, we’re dealing with the same thing that everybody else is dealing with. And, you know, by the way, we are also lawyers and bust our butts at, you know, at our job and try to do the best job that we can for our clients as well.

Rodger Wyland: [00:08:44] And, and listen, I’m a sports guy, right? And I and Andy, I know, I know you are too. And we have we share some common things with kids playing sports and growing up. And and you’re very much involved in that. You’re a community guy.

Andrew Safranko: [00:08:56] We’re very community, you know, acclimated and um, you know, from day one, we both had the same common, you know, scheme. That family’s first. So we leave the office to go to this. I don’t we don’t miss sports. We don’t miss our kids sports games. We don’t miss practices. We go to the travel events on the weekends, and we’re there for everything. But then we’re always available like everybody else. We have a cell phone, we’re mobile. We take calls for for business. But, you know, we don’t miss games.

Rodger Wyland: [00:09:22] What’s the greatest sense of accomplishment for you in the line of work that you do right now?

Andrew Safranko: [00:09:30] So the greatest sense of accomplishment we have is helping someone. You know, it really, truly is. And I know it sounds cliche, but being able to help somebody get through a difficult time and this difficult situation is great. You touched upon it earlier about having people reach out to us every year. One of the clients that I had early on, one of the biggest trials or the biggest cases I had, was an attempted murder trial where there was an acquittal. And every year on Thanksgiving, I get a text from his wife, and every year I get it. It sends it gives me chills because I’ve changed somebody’s life. And that could have gone an entirely different way. But it’s just having that impact on someone. And now seeing him and his family grow and have this opportunity is just the cherry on top. And George.

Rodger Wyland: [00:10:17] How much do you win? I mean, everything these days is about winning and losing, right? I’m a sports guy. You win, you lose. You must have a great sense of when it’s all over and and it’s victory time and you’ve won.

George LaMarche: [00:10:30] Yeah. We, uh, we wouldn’t be in business if we weren’t successful for our clients. So that’s the goal. Every time a client comes in the door, uh, we’re trying to win for them. And winning can be defined in different ways for different clients. But, you know, as an example, uh, you know, last night there was a client, uh, whose case I had been handling for a while. Uh, he was seriously injured in a motorcycle crash and, uh, couldn’t work. Doesn’t know how he’s going to pay his bills. And that that stress and that anxiety that produces for something that wasn’t his fault, uh, is almost overwhelming for him. And as you know, I’ve spent time with him and gotten to know him. And last night we settled the case in the sense of relief that he expressed on the phone, knowing that this is behind him, but he’s also going to be compensated for everything that he went through to make up for those harms and those losses with money that’s going to be able to cover. Now, those back bills and the expenses and all those things that he had outstanding, that’s life changing for him. And that gives me such a sense of purpose and gratefulness that I’m able to get up and do this thing every day and help people like that make their lives just a little bit better.

Rodger Wyland: [00:11:44] Is is there a next step for you, Andy? George? Is there is there the next step? And you’re winding down 20, 23 and now you’re getting ready to roll into 2024. Do you guys, as a team set goals for what is next?

George LaMarche: [00:11:58] Yeah we do. We set goals. You know, right now we’re we’re looking to the future and how we can continue to grow our firm. And we have some great attorneys that work for us. And it’s about building them up and introducing them as the next level of lawyer at our firm. We have just great people. We have a great staff that works at our office. And, uh, these attorneys who are up and coming and who are the next line and the next generation of lawyers who are going to continue on and continue to grow this firm so we can just expand what we’re doing for our clients, the number of people that we can serve and, and just continue to make people’s lives better every single day. Through the team that we’ve established.

Rodger Wyland: [00:12:42] You’re on the same page with that, Andy.

Andrew Safranko: [00:12:43] Absolutely. We you know, we have a tremendous staff. We have a tremendous other lawyers that help us and and help us get to where we want to be. And every year the goal is to do better than, than the year before. But in the same sense, you know, we’re still young and we’re still at it and, um, going to be at it for a long time still. And, you know, it’s just nice to be able to be able to know going forward that, you know, that we’re going to be successful.

Rodger Wyland: [00:13:12] Is this a 9 to 5 job or 8 to 4?

George LaMarche: [00:13:19] It’s a 24 seven job. Uh, this.Is a job because of the line of work that we do. It’s an emergency. Every client’s case is an emergency. Uh, so it’s not unusual to get calls at 2:00 in the morning, 3:00 in the morning. We have an answering service that’s 24 hours a day, and somebody from the firm is always on call. You can always reach us or somebody in the firm any time of the day or night, because of the nature of what we do.

Andrew Safranko: [00:13:41] And we still take those calls, you know, whether it’s Christmas Day or somebody’s birthday, 24 over seven, we are available. And that’s the nature of the work we do. And that’s another one of the differentiating factors for our firm. Yeah, that.

Rodger Wyland: [00:13:54] That’s where you you have that reputation. Right. That’s they know that when they call they’re going to get a response. Absolutely.

George LaMarche: [00:14:01] And we’ve given our cell phones from day one. I mean, we’re getting text messages from clients and calls from clients and emails from clients. And with social media, it’s, you know, Facebook messages. It’s every possible way that they can reach us. They do. And we accept the calls and we receive the messages and we respond to every single one.