Monday Mentors with Dallas Real Estate Lawyer Shameer Soni

Shameer Soni, managing partner and real estate lawyer with Patel Law Group in Dallas, joins us on today's show. Shameer talks about starting a law firm, the real estate practice, communicating via resume, and wide receivers v. linemen.

His firm/practice

Runs the real estate practice: multi-family purchase/sale/development.
Works with retail/industrial/hospitality clients as well
Started the firm 11 years ago with two other partners built around entrepreneurs and business owners. The idea was to represent these clients in their core business as well as their investment portfolio (i.e. real estate).
Started with clients whose core businesses were doctors, IT staffing, hotel
Led to corporate immigration and real estate practice areas
Also had/have a title company
Now have a litigation practice as well that has recently pared down to work with clients adjacent to the real estate practice
Got his start at a larger firm doing entertainment/film finance in Atlanta, but when he came over to start this firm, the Dallas/Texas market didn't support the film finance area, which led to the transition to real estate
He went to every networking event, meetup in the beginning to get the firm off the ground
His partner Anish went to a networking breakfast every week at 6am at Steak and Shake
There is no bad meeting, no bad meetup. Your network has value in perpetuity.
In the early days, he built relationships with lawyers who knew what they were doing and were willing to help when he got into situations he was unsure about
Learned a lot about firm culture and the things they wanted in a firm while working for others, and then used that info to build the culture in their firm. Want to be the un-law firm law firm. From social interaction to limiting hourly billing (they do zero hourly billing on the transactional side). Conduct exit interviews with lawyers who leave and learn more about ways to improve the firm's culture.
Market
90% of their work is in Texas; 60% in north Texas.
Deals ranging from $2M to $300M and all of those are in a strong market right now.
Industrial is hot right now as well.
Community retail is picking up.
Hotels were crushed and remain so for now.
Residential is on fire in Texas, but COVID has slowed down the process with supply chain issues, etc.

Advice to lawyers in practice

Learn business development and client relationships early; be proactive in asking to go with your partner on client visits
Learn everything about a deal, not just your specific task/role
Do as many meetings as you can
You want to become a profit center as soon as possible rather than be a cost center for the firm
Recognize that you are part of the deal and collaborating with the client for a win-win scenario; it is more than just a piece of paper
Clients aren't hiring you to be a title review guy; they are hiring you to do a deal
Must understand the forest and not just your tree
Establish trust with your partners quickly so they are comfortable bringing you along to meet partners without embarrassing them

Advice to Lawyers On The Lateral Market

Recognize what the firm is looking for and make sure your documents clearly communicate your ability to meet those needs
Be specific about what you have done
What size deals?
What type of deals?
What role did you have?
Find ways to connect with the partners (did you go to the same law school?)
He rewrites his bio on the law firm website every quarter! It is a good exercise to think about when writing/rewriting your resume.
Looking for the right fit for the need they have at the time
Broadway show staffing example
Football recruiting example

Final Thought

Attitude makes up for a lot; skills can be learned/taught. Much harder to teach personality/atti