Good Neighbor Podcast: Pittsburgh

E92: Neighbor, Lawyer, Mediator: Courtroom wins to Community Collaboration with Jeff Pollock

• Leila Carter & Jeff Pollock • Episode 92

Share episode

What makes Jeff Pollock with Law & Mediation Office of Jeffrey Lawrence Pollock, Esquire a good neighbor? 

What if hiring a lawyer felt less like bracing for a battle and more like getting a steady guide through tough decisions? That’s the promise veteran Pittsburgh attorney and mediator Jeff Pollock brings to the table- clarity, collaboration, and client-first care grounded in nearly four decades of practice.

We dig into Jeff’s path from Squirrel Hill to Penn and Pitt Law, and why he built a home-based law and mediation office long before remote work was cool. Jeff unpacks the core of his work- family law, collaborative law, mediation, landlord-tenant matters, wills and powers of attorney- and the mission statement he still hands every client. Expect practical insights on how to choose the right attorney, the red flags that lead to client complaints, and the two habits that fix most issues: communicate fast and involve clients in every decision. He explains why he sometimes earns less to deliver better outcomes, how Avvo reviews and word of mouth drive his practice, and when he refers complex matters to trusted colleagues instead of guessing on your dime.

You’ll also hear a lighter side: Jeff’s long-running role in Off the Record, a beloved one-night musical parody that has raised close to a million dollars for the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank. It’s a perfect mirror for his legal ethos- bring people together, use humor wisely, and leave your community stronger than you found it. Along the way, Jeff shares contact details, accessibility promises, and a memorable line to steer your search: “Verily, a man may be known by his attorney.”

If you care about practical legal advice, collaborative problem-solving, and choosing counsel who reflects your values, this conversation will give you tools, language, and confidence. Listen, share with a neighbor who needs a steady advocate, and if you enjoyed it, subscribe and leave a review so more Pittsburghers can find the show.

To learn more about Law & Mediation Office of Jeffrey Lawrence Pollock, Esquire go to: 

http://www.jeffreypollocklaw.com/

Law & Mediation Office of Jeffrey Lawrence Pollock, Esquire

(412)421-2232


SPEAKER_00:

This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Lila Carter.

SPEAKER_02:

Welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast. Are you in need of a lawyer or mediator? One might be closer than you think. Today I have the pleasure of introducing your good neighbor, Jeff Pollock, with the Law and Mediation Office of Jeffrey Lawrence Pollock Esquire. Jeff, how's it going?

SPEAKER_01:

Doing real well, Lila. I had a successful landlord tenant hearing this morning at the local magisterial district judge office. So I'm in a good mood. My clients are happy, and uh this is exciting, and I'm thrilled to be with you uh at this point.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, we're happy to have you here and excited to learn all about you and your business. So please tell us more about your company.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, I've been a lawyer since 1987. Uh, after graduating from the University of Pennsylvania, I came back to Pittsburgh where I grew up, went to Pitt Law School, and because my grandfather was my hero and he was a lawyer, uh, he went to Pitt Law School, graduated from there in 1987, got trained as a mediator in 1994, and founded something called collaborative law in Western Pennsylvania. The group is called CLASP, and as a collaborative lawyer, we try primarily in family law cases, but in other things to uh settle divorces and custody and uh other family-related issues. I particularly enjoy doing things besides helping people fight over their kids and end a relationship, but uh that is the bulk of my practice doing family law, divorce, custody support, adoptions, writing wills, and powers of attorney. And uh I've had an East End-based office. Uh, an East End office uh now is in my home since 1989, and long before COVID, I was trying to help people uh in Pittsburgh with what are uh very competitive rates because having a home office, I have less overhead and I really enjoy helping people and solving problems. I wish I was as good at solving my own issues, but I'm really uh good at helping other people, and that's uh what helps me get motivated each day.

SPEAKER_02:

Sure. And how did you get into this business? I know you said that you have some familial ties, but could you expand on that a little bit?

SPEAKER_01:

Absolutely. Uh I think uh I say this somewhat jokingly and facetiously, but it's kind of true in my situation that when you grow up uh in Squirrel Hill, being Jewish, going to private school, getting good grades, going to an Ivy League college, your family expects you to be a doctor or a lawyer or accountant. So uh, since I'm not great in science and I didn't uh really enjoy math, even though I had an excellent SAT score way back when, um, because my grandfather was someone I really looked up to, and I enjoy persuading people by words and helping people uh through the the written uh language and by being in front of judges and juries, I became a lawyer. I remember specifically in 1980, I believe it was, I was in a uh musical to raise money for um some charity, and I was interviewed by what was then called WWSW Radio. They interviewed two people from our cast, and they asked me, I was 18 at the time, what do you want to be when you grow up, basically? And I said, I'd like to be an entertainment lawyer because I've enjoyed being on stage and doing theater and acting and singing and dancing, and I've wanted to be a lawyer, so uh finally it came true. I've been a lawyer and specifically an entertainment lawyer uh on many occasions. This is Pittsburgh and not New York or LA, but I've helped uh many filmmakers and I've helped people that I've been in shows get divorced or make sure their wills are done correctly. So that's uh the chronology.

SPEAKER_02:

Very cool. Yeah, I know a lot of people in entertainment are still talking about the uh the Jimmy Kimmel situation going on recently. Um, are there any myths or maybe misconceptions in your industry that you'd like to address today?

SPEAKER_01:

Wow. Um I I think that people believe that lawyers are just in it to make money. And I I wish that were more true in my case. I have gotten too focused on helping people uh and kind of forgotten to bill uh people correctly or enough because I really want to solve their problems and help them move on to the next stage of their life. Um there's only two times I think that lawyers are ever uh sought out for a good reason. Adoptions, people are happy when you're done, and typically the judge allows the child or children to come up on the bench with them and bang the gavel, and everybody's smiling at that point. Or real estate closing when the sellers are happy they're getting money, and the buyers are happy because they're getting a fresh start in a new home. Uh, but other than that, most law is really just returning phone calls on time and responding to emails uh on a timely basis and helping people address whatever's troubling them. And uh because I learned early uh that the most important thing for lawyers is to keep their clients involved with their case and up to date with what's going on, uh, I have tried very hard to empower my clients and keep them abreast of their situation. And in fact, I wrote a mission statement back in the mid-90s, which uh I have kept uh next to my desk so that I can remind myself that my mission is to be respected by my clients as a professional, doing his best to be competent, prepared, organized, conscientious, loyal, affordable, and caring as a legal advocate or advisor. And that's important to me that it's a profession, not just a business, and it's a career, not just a job. So I make sure that my goal is to create satisfied customers by providing sensitive counsel through the various stages of the legal system. And if we can stay out of the legal system and I get to mediate a case, or I get to serve as a collaborative lawyer and settle everything with both sides being uh more happy than not, then that's a success. And people didn't waste uh time and money litigating and going before a judge and waiting to uh be dependent upon the court's scheduling. Uh, all of this is is something that I I wrote 30 years ago and I still adhere to. Um the last paragraph also is important to my uh view of the profession. I try to provide cost-effective, efficient legal services at a reasonable fee delivered in a timely manner. I will do my best to involve you in your case and communicate regularly and without delay. I cannot warrant a specific outcome, but I will try diligently to make my clients satisfied with my service. I always seek to empower my clients to be able to act on their own behalf when possible to save legal fees and time. If this office cannot perform to your reasonable satisfaction, please inform me promptly because I welcome feedback. I always want to become better at what I do. I will use my best efforts to resolve and not inflame issues, even if it means reducing legal fees uh or whatever is necessary to make sure that my client is satisfied because I became a lawyer in order to help people. And one of the ways that I gauge how successful I've been is after every case, I ask my client to please consider posting feedback, their thoughts on their experience on social media. And I'm particularly proud of being one of the few, if not only, lawyers that has almost 200 reviews on a website called Avoavo.com. It's a national rating service for lawyers akin to Yelp for other businesses, and I have like 188 five-star reviews, something to that effect. And uh I I use that to reinforce um what I do and to make sure that I return calls promptly and do the best I can. And if I'm not the right lawyer, I just told someone yesterday when they called me about a complex trust issue. I can I said I can do your will and powers of attorney and living will, but if it's something more complex, I have a colleague or two or three that I can refer you to because I don't want to do a half-assed job. I want you to be thrilled with lawyers because uh lawyers sometimes get a bad profession, and to equate us with used car salesmen is not fair. Uh there's always a bad apple in every bunch, but I really take it seriously uh to uphold the integrity and the standards of our profession. I've been uh I'm the only two-time chair of the Allegheny County Bar Association Young Lawyers Division. Uh I give back through pro bono efforts all the time. I volunteer in my community in other ways. Uh, I don't know if you were going to ask this, but uh I want to make sure not to leave out that right now, uh as a frustrated performer who does uh some acting on the side, uh, I'm actually in a musical. It's the 19th year that I'm in, something called Off the Record. And to make a quick plug for that, it's the 25th year of this musical parody that the Post Gazette Writers started in the year 2001. And this is its silver anniversary, 25th year of one of the funniest productions I've ever been in. Every year there's something to skewer, some event to parody, and this year uh the writers have done a great job in writing about making fun of Pittsburgh and the pirates having 20 consecutive losing years or whatever, and um various other things that have perhaps been ripe and rife for uh commentary. We have Larry Richard from KDKA, who's the MC. He was the MC in 2001, and he's coming back for the last year. We're honoring Ken Rice, who was the MC for every other year. We're honoring David Johnson, who's been the target of a lot of our uh joking over the years, and uh, I think we've honored Rob Rogers, who does amazing cartoons uh for the Flyers every year and donates at an auction to raise money for the food bank. And uh we've raised supposedly almost a million dollars over the 25 years for the Greater Pittsburgh Food Bank, and I'm honored to be a part of that, sing and dance, and uh that's why I'm spending my uh free time lately, and my golf game, tennis, and softball playoffs have had to take a back seat uh for the last 19 years during the month of September. So the production, if I forgot to mention, is October the 16th. That's a Thursday evening, one night only, at the Bayam Theater in downtown Pittsburgh. Tickets are$30,$50, or$80, depending upon where the seats are. And uh there's a uh bunch of donating restaurants in the lobby every year that give you something to nosh on before you go into the show, and then afterwards, there's a free dessert reception with a cash bar in the lobby, uh, everything from a chocolate fountain to other things, and the the politicians that show up every year, the KDKA personalities that are there every year. Uh it's really quite a happening, and uh uh I'm looking forward to it. This may be our last year ever, so uh get there before it's it's too late.

SPEAKER_02:

Sounds like quite the event, and I love that the Pittsburgh Post Gazette is involved too.

SPEAKER_01:

And uh the Postgazette and the Blocks were integral in starting this, and Gary Rotstein and Chris Rosson started it, and Sharon Everson is the producer now. It's it's it's funny, it's professional. Uh, to be performing at the biome theater is an honor for me every year because it's such a professional location.

SPEAKER_02:

Very cool. Who are your target customers and how are you currently attracting them?

SPEAKER_01:

Well, um my target audience for uh helping people is just about anyone in the city who has a problem. The uh landlord tenant case that I had this morning was referred through either Google or Avo or word of mouth. Uh, I don't advertise. I am a little old school. My grandfather uh was a success back before you lawyers were allowed to advertise, so I never put my picture in the yellow pages or anything like that. Uh I just like to get clients through word of mouth and particularly through Avo, which I already mentioned. There are various uh rating systems for lawyers, Martindale Hubble, lawyers.com, lawyersratings.com, but Avo uh is a big uh part of how I get my clientele to help them with, again, their divorces, custody, landlord tenant issues, uh entertainment law, wills, powers of attorney, criminal defense. Uh, I have been fortunate to teach CLEs or continuing legal education classes over my 37 years of practice in the areas of family law, criminal defense, and landlord tenant law. And I typically volunteer to teach the ethical portion of those seminars because I believe that there are rules for lawyers that need to be followed while you are helping people. And uh I again I think I mentioned this earlier. The when I first started practice, I went to a seminar and I was taught that when lawyers get in trouble or have a problem with their clients, it's usually for one of two reasons. They gave us a list of 10, but the top two were not keeping your clients informed about their case or not uh having the client approve what's being done on their behalf. So I make sure that the client's involved every step of the way so that when it's over, they feel like they had uh a part of what happened so that they can't complain that the judge did something or whatever because they uh made a choice and were involved with me every step of the way to help their problem and set their future the way they want it to be.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, and just hearing your mission statement too, I can tell that you're a gentleman of a high moral standing. So have you ever thought about perhaps maybe doing a podcast to reach your audience and these people that you could help?

SPEAKER_01:

Um I haven't. Uh I'm so busy with helping people and fortunate to have enough clients. Um, some of them are a lot of them are through neighborhood legal services at a reduced rate uh because I'm on the Neighborhood Legal Services Board and I feel responsible to help the more indigent members of our community. Uh so there's no shortage, unfortunately, of people uh who can't really afford a$500 an hour lawyer from a downtown office building. So that's part of the reason I started in in my home uh back in 1989, long before COVID made it trendy to work out of your home and not commute. Uh so I haven't done a podcast, I enjoy podcasts. I actually did one with a lawyer who was starting to promote podcasts about 15 years ago, and it seemed I I mean, I'm enjoying this with you. You're a great host, you're asking all the right questions. Um, I'll have to consider it, but at the moment I'm I'm really busy in the the few hours a week that I'm not helping clients. I do like to, as I said, play golf, play tennis, do some acting on the side, keep up with the local uh streaming with my uh my family, and and um so thank you for suggesting that.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, so Jeff, please tell our listeners one thing that they should remember about your firm.

SPEAKER_01:

Um I'll go I'll go back to my uh mission statement, I guess. Everyone who comes into my office gets my mission statement so they can hold me to my own words. And on the flip side, everyone gets a free living will. Uh I try I believe in value-added services. I want people to know that when they uh pay me for my time that they got at least uh what they came to get. And at the bottom of my mission statement, it says, the sharp employ the sharp. Verily, a man may be known by his attorney. Someone named Douglas Gerald, a century or two ago, wrote those words. And um, my clients have on occasion said, you know what, you're right. My wife, my husband, hired someone that uh is exactly like them, and that's why they drove me crazy for the last several years together or whatever. But you reflect my values and you do uh remind me of myself in the way that I would want to handle this case just the way you have supported me. So uh a person may be known by their attorney, and I hope that the people who choose me come to me not because they're looking for the sharkiest lawyer or the cheapest lawyer. If someone wants someone with integrity who is conscientious, that's who I am, and uh I again I enjoy helping people, it's how I uh make sure my day was successful. If I helped someone solve their problem and was a support, a counselor, an advisor, uh, and an advocate, but not someone who was so adversarial that I made the situation worse than when they came to me, then I know that I've done my job.

SPEAKER_02:

Uh how can our listeners learn more about the law and mediation office of Jeffrey Lawrence Pollack as far.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, um I'm not as um aggressive about getting out to people. So you're not gonna see a billboard, you're not gonna see a hear a radio ad or see a TV commercial. So to reach me, uh, my phone number, I've had a home and office number that's been the same. I hope people won't call at 2 a.m., but I'm accessible to them. That's another one of my selling points and the reason I think I've been successful for 37 years. Uh 412-421-2232 is my home and office. And my website for people to learn a little more about me is www.jeffreyj-e-f-f-r-e-y pollock, P-O-L-L-O-C-K-Law.com. And my email address, um, I always joke, I have a couple email addresses, but the one I like to give out because it's a talking point and it's a this uh a way for people to remember me is my email address is j-lp for Jeffrey Lawrence Pollock, L-A-W for lawyer, one five two one seven for my zip code at aol.com because I'm old. So uh people always get a chuckle when I say AOL, and but they remember it, and I check my emails incessantly so I can get back to people timely, and that's uh something I'm very proud of that I've made a practice of for decades to keep clients abreast of what's going on in their case and not let the sun go down. 24 hours will not pass before I'll return an email unless I'm out of the country for some reason.

SPEAKER_02:

Very good. Well, Jeff, thank you so much for your time today, and we appreciate having you as a guest on the show. We wish you and the business the best moving forward.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, I wish you success and I really appreciate your great questions and uh look forward to meeting you in person someday.

SPEAKER_02:

Thanks so much.

SPEAKER_00:

Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to gnppittsburgh.com. That's gnppittsburgh.com or call 412 561 9956.