Lawyering Does Not Get Any Better

Over the last five years or so, my wife an I have had the great fortune of benefitting from the formidable lawyering services of Joseph Gentleman. Most memorable of his several successful representations for us involved a bank’s foreclosure action on a large restaurant we owned with two partners. I had originally hired a different lawyer in the bank foreclosure action who told me we had no chance to defeat the bank’s action, and that we should give up the property to the bank, and pay the bank an additional $300,000+ cash! We did not have the cash during the last recession. Another partner had already hired Joe, and the partner suggested I fire our first lawyer, and hire Joe. I did just that. Joe devised an extremely creative and complicated defense, laid it out to the judge that the bank was greedily taking advantage of us, even though we admitted owing the bank, and had gone to them trying to agree to a work out plan....fair to both sides. The judge agreed with Joe’s representations on our behalf. The judge not only agreed, but punished the bank for being so greedy by decreeing that the bank could only take the building back as full payment for all money’s owed, even though the partners were prepared to have paid an additional $785,000 between them. Joe then convinced the partners to sue the bank. The bank then enforced a mediation provision of our mortgage. At mediation, Joe’s arguments were so convincing that the bank agreed to pay all our attorney’s fees for the mediation, and attorney’s fees for the original foreclosure action, and the bank signed an agreement which was worded so that our personal credit would not be affected in the future. In our opinion, lawyering does not get better than that. My wife and I are very grateful to Joe Gentleman, and consider him a good friend.