FAMILY BUSINESS HELPS CREATE GOOD BUSINESS

Practitioners who have successfully mixed family and business by launching their firms with siblings, children, and spouses say the arrangement can’t be beat.

"No one loves you like family," G. Lawrence DeMarco of DeMarco & DeMarco Said. No one treats you like a family member treats you, and to have that type of environment at work is such a special situation to have. . . . That’s clearly the most significant advantage of a family firm."

Lawrence, in partnership with his brother, James DeMarco, Jr., is carrying on the legacy of his father, the late James DeMarco Sr., who founded the firm as a solo practitioner in 1959. Lawrence said continuing the firm after his father’s death has meant that he and James – despite being siblings – support rather than compete with each other.

When one family member excels, the family excels, Lawrence said. He said nothing an individual does is more important than the family, which is the firm’s mantra.

Lawrence spent two summers during law school working with his father before joining his father’s practice after graduating from Villanova University School of Law in 1993. Father and son continued practicing together until James Sr. dies, in 2001.

Lawrence joked about how, in order to spend quality time with his father, he used to agree to fishing trips during summer weekends at the Jersey shore, even though he was not particularly fond of his father’s favored activity. When the two began working together, the fishing trips ceased since work fulfilled the need to spend time together, Lawrence said.

Lawrence said working with his father was not entirely a bed or roses, however.

After James Sr.’s death, Lawrence realized the extent to which his father, despite recognizing his competency has a lawyer, viewed him as dad’s little boy, practicing law, the attorney said. Lawrence said that he did not emerge from James Sr.’s shadow until he began practicing without him.

It is a paradox that a personal tragedy – his father’s death, became a significant springboard for personal growth, Lawrence said.

James DeMarco told The Legal that he greed with his brother’s assessment of their teamwork: Lawrence is the boisterous risk-taker, while Hames offers a mellow, more conservative approach to matters. Both said that their complementary personalities work out perfectly and that they would not trade their current work environment for any other. . . .

The Legal Intelligencer, Friday, March 14, 2003, Vol. P. 1891