Good Neighbor Podcast: Cobb County
Bringing together local businesses and neighbors of Cobb County. Good Neighbor Podcast hosted by Milli M. helps residents discover and connect with your local business owners in and around Cobb County, Georgia.
Is your business serving the residents of Cobb County? Then, we need to talk! Visit gnpCobbCounty.com to schedule your free interview.
Good Neighbor Podcast: Cobb County
E55: The Stone That Glowed: How Caring for Clients Transforms Legal Practice
What does it truly mean to care for clients beyond just handling their legal needs? Fred Bauerlein, a veteran attorney with 25 years of experience in Marietta, takes us on a deeply personal journey through his legal career evolution and the wisdom he's gained along the way.
Fred's story begins with his transition from Texas to Georgia for law school—a leap of faith that brought him to the community he now serves. With refreshing candor, he traces his professional path from personal injury work to civil litigation, then to becoming "DUI Fred" in criminal defense, before finally finding his true calling in end-of-life planning. "I want to be a problem solver instead of a processor," he explains, revealing the thoughtful philosophy that guides his current practice in wills, trusts, and estates.
Never shying away from vulnerability, Fred shares how failing the bar exam initially crushed him but ultimately enriched his character. "All things of worth have to be pressed a little bit, whether it's wine or diamonds or olive oil," he reflects. This hard-earned wisdom permeates his approach to estate planning, where he dispels common myths and helps families navigate emotionally complex decisions. His most touching story involves a client with terminal cancer whose sole remaining possession—a stone that glowed under moonlight—needed to reach his daughter. Such moments of trust, Fred explains, make his work profoundly meaningful.
Whether you're considering estate planning, facing a career transition, or simply appreciate stories of genuine human connection, this episode offers both practical guidance and heartfelt inspiration. Discover why Fred believes technical expertise means little without compassion, and why end-of-life planning often reveals what truly matters. Connect with Fred at 678-797-9700 or visit bauerleinlaw.com to learn how caring legal counsel can make all the difference for you and your family's future.
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Millie.
Speaker 2:M. Hello everybody, Welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast. My name is Millie M. I'm your host. Are you in need of expert legal advice? Well, someone who can help you with that is closer than you think. I have the pleasure of introducing your good neighbor, Fred Bauerlein of Bauerlein Law. How are you, Fred?
Speaker 3:Hey, good afternoon. I'm doing great. How are you?
Speaker 2:Doing quite well. Thank you for asking. We are excited to learn all about you and your business. Tell us a bit about Bauerlein Law.
Speaker 3:Well, okay, that's going to take longer than either of us have, but A bit, just a bit A bit. I have been a lawyer here in Marietta for about 25 years. I started long ago doing personal injury kind of phased out of that into civil litigation, kind of phased out of that into criminal litigation, kind of phased out of that into criminal litigation. Now I'm in kind of the final chapter of my legal career. I do wills, trusts, estates, I do an end of life kind of practice.
Speaker 2:Understood, understood. Now tell us what kind of prompted some of those changes, because all of those are very different versions of law.
Speaker 3:Well, you know, when I first started as a lawyer, I had been working for a firm doing personal injury, so it was just like moving addresses rather than anything else, right, and I just got tired of it. It was just you know. And then I got into civil litigation and it was fun, but it also was one of those things that after oh my God, 10 years of it, I had had enough and it was time to move on to something else. I started doing criminal litigation. I was DUI Fred for many years. I've done a lot of DUIs.
Speaker 3:I got tired of processing people through without addressing their problems, of processing people through without addressing their problems. That's the thing. And I want to be a problem solver instead of a processor. I really love my clients, but it was time for me to move to something else Now. I wasn't a young guy when I started in law and I'm not a young guy now, and when, a couple of years ago, I turned 60, it was time to make that last change and to start. And also this I got tired of going to court. I got tired of going to court. I enjoy doing wills. I'm an amazing will writer, I pat myself on the back here, and I'm very, very good at helping people make those decisions that need to be made when one ages and has to make a series of final decisions for themselves and for their families.
Speaker 2:Makes perfect, perfect sense. So what are some of the myths and misconceptions about your industry or what you do in general?
Speaker 3:about your industry or what you do in general. You know, one of the myths that I run across that people pay me to fix is that it's easy enough to do yourself. It is not easy enough to do yourself, you know. Occasionally we hear on the news about legal technicalities. Well, law is technical all of it.
Speaker 3:And if you mess up with a will or a trust or an estate, that technicality is going to cost someone a lot of money. Right, and I make sure that doesn't happen. Another myth is that if it's done right, it will go fast. Nothing moves fast and the system we have here moves faster than almost every other system. So there you go. Also and I've run across this myth several times If you put off a decision, it will be easier to make. Make the decision up front and make the decision and stick with it. I promise it's the best decision you could ever make.
Speaker 2:Wow, great advice to people out there. So I just want to kind of circle back to what you were talking about, about your clients and addressing their needs, because you do something very interesting that I think could have helped them. And is there a connection? Yeah, yeah, tell everybody your secret your secret?
Speaker 3:My secret is this Get a lot of experience in 62 years and then deal with a lot of problems. Then you'll learn how to be a problem solver. My secret sauce is this I truly care about my clients, I truly enjoy my clients and I truly want to help them do what they want to do. And you're not old enough, you're a kid, but you know when you have someone who is looking to leave their estate, it's not an easy decision on how to handle things, how to address particular personalities, how to address, you know, very difficult situations.
Speaker 2:Or to leave people who are grieving with those types of decisions. You're not in a mental place to be clear about how to divide things and who gets what, and how do we even go about handling who's in charge? You know things like that.
Speaker 3:Well, and you're absolutely right. You're absolutely right, and it's hard to take emotion out of the equation at that time. It's time. It's hard to set aside everything that's going on, so you can deal with it in the moment. You know, and, by the way, dealing with things in the moment, part of my package is that I set up a series of powers of attorney so that the person who is moving on gives the right of decision making to someone that they trust, someone who is trustworthy, and that really helps to smooth the process and to make things easier.
Speaker 2:Absolutely so. Let's just talk about outside of work a little bit. What do you do for fun?
Speaker 3:So let's just talk about outside of work a little bit. What do you do for fun? You know I didn't expect that. What do I do for fun? Well, I tell you this I live in Marietta and we live in one of the most beautiful places in the world. I love to go hiking. There's a book Georgia Waterfall Hikes Go hike all of it. Yeah, look at you. Yeah, georgia Waterfall Hikes and go hike the Georgia waterfalls.
Speaker 3:We have amazing, amazing beauty at the tail end of the Appalachians and I enjoy that. Also, here we are in Atlanta. We have this giant immigrant community and we have amazing food, and if you could see me in person, you could see that I like food. Okay, me too. Okay, there you go. So I like hiking, I like eating, I like doing those things Occasionally and I'll share my. I like eating, I like doing those things Occasionally and I'll share my Instagram with you. It's catdaddyatlaw. Love the name. Yeah, I've got a couple of cats, I love my cats. But if you scroll back in my pictures, a couple of years, I was scuba diving in the Maldives and it was gorgeous, just wonderful.
Speaker 2:Oh, I can't wait to see it. Well thanks, so let's switch gears a little bit. Can you describe a hardship or a life challenge that you overcame and how it made you stronger?
Speaker 3:You know, yeah, I can tell you about a couple of things I was living in. I'm from Texas, okay, born and raised in Texas. My family goes back to the Alamo, I mean, it's all. We're written in stone there. I was living in Houston and I had to move to Atlanta to go to law school and I had never been east of Houston and it was like, oh my god, a whole new world a whole new world.
Speaker 3:And I was a friend of mine, gina pardon, that was my computer, I'm getting emails. She had lived in Atlanta and she told me they will not kill you and eat you, just go. And so, sight unseen, I moved to Atlanta, started law school and I love it here. Yeah, it's a great place to live. It really is. And you know, I'll tell you another hardship, and this is this is quite humbling I did not pass the bar exam on the first time.
Speaker 2:OK.
Speaker 3:Oh, that hurt my feelings badly.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, and you consider yourself successful and and talented and intelligent and you're like wait what? Yeah?
Speaker 3:yeah, and the thing is, I've sacrificed so much, I've worked so hard to move to a brand new land Move to a brand new land, really, really.
Speaker 3:And all of a sudden it's a complete failure on its face and all I could think was you know, oh my God, I'm going to lay down and die now. And I did not lay down, I did not die, I got up, I dusted myself off. I did not die, I got up, I dusted myself off. I went back to work the next day, I started studying again and I passed the bar exam later. Um well, thank you. It really hurt my feelings, oh my God. But but you know, um, um, I could always use a slice of humble pie. I could always use a dose of humility. I got it then and there, and it gave me a bit of depth, a bit of character, and I understand where other people All things of worth have to be pressed a little bit, whether it's wine or diamonds or olive oil.
Speaker 3:There you go. Oh my God, you made such a beautiful analogy there. I like that, thank you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you are valuable, you just need to be pressed a little bit. So, fred, please tell our listeners one thing you would like for them to always remember about Barrel Iron Law.
Speaker 3:That I care about my clients. I really do love my clients and it's ironic. I was talking to an old friend, an old employer, a longtime member, a guy named mentor member, mentor Bill Swank, who I really loved working for, and we were talking about a client that we shared and I told him the problem is that I wind up really loving my clients and it's one of the things that takes a long time to see in in oneself but I really do care about them and it's fun. It's fun to take care of people and to do right and do good for them.
Speaker 2:I love that perspective that it's fun, especially in this world. Nowadays the world can be unkind, so to say that it's fun to care for people is a beautiful sentiment and I know your clients feel that.
Speaker 3:Well, you know, I thank you for saying that and I hope my clients feel that I've had. You know, every kind of person come in, some quite wealthy, some quite poor. And you know, I'll tell you this, I had a client come in. He had one thing in his estate and it was I can't even remember the name of the kind of stone, but it was an iridescent stone that basically glowed under moonlight.
Speaker 3:Get out of here. He had found it as a child and kept it all of these years and he had made millions and lost everything and the only thing he kept was that stone. And we were talking about it because I'm drafting his will and he just looks at me and he says, fred, please make sure that this gets to my daughter. She's the only one I have left and this is the only possession I have left. I don't want her to have it.
Speaker 2:It's like oh, my God, you know People are trusting you. People trust me.
Speaker 3:And they do trust me. They do trust me and they do trust me. They do trust me, Millie, and it's beautiful to have that faith, you know, and it's wonderful. You know. I've dealt with clients that had a lot, and the more they have, the I don't want to. The more they have, the easier it is to get through the fluff, Because there's so much stuff that when you're old, doesn't matter that much. Right? This particular client that I just mentioned? He's diagnosed with terminal cancer. The only thing that matters to him is the thing that has mattered all of his life yes, yes. So you know I have his trust and I'm grateful for that.
Speaker 2:You're part of the family at that point. Well, Fred, tell our listeners how they can get in touch with you and build that type of relationship with you.
Speaker 3:Well, first of all, my office is 678-797-9700. I'm a small office and I answer my own phone. I'm a small office and I answer my own phone. My website is wwwbauerlinelawcom, and it's an incredibly difficult German name. Uh-oh, I'm not going to come around. So you know, please come and find me. I would love to help you.
Speaker 2:And if I can't help you, I would love to find somebody who can Thank you so much. I have really enjoyed chatting with you and just feeling your heart. I really feel your sincerity through this conversation and we just wish you and our landline the best moving forward.
Speaker 3:Thank you so much, millie, and thank you for inviting me here. I've had such a good time doing it. I've never done this before. It's my maiden voyage and I'm glad I could do it with you.
Speaker 2:And I'm glad to have had you. Thank you so much. All right, bye.
Speaker 1:Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to gnpcobbcountycom. That's gnpcobbcountycom, or call 470-470-4506.