Robert Silverstein works such lengthy hours, daily, habitually, that in order to have family time, his wife and their two young children routinely drive over to Daddy’s top-floor office in early evenings. Sharing a tasty, homemade dinner and a passel of laughs, soon enough it is time for everyone to embrace before Daddy returns, almost slavishly, to the task to which he has dedicated his life.
So where is the plus-side, the tradeoff for one of the more feared attorneys in Southern California? In money? Prestige?
He speaks quietly and evenly, as if discussing the latest plot in a children’s book. Of course there are a number tradeoffs.
At least 98 percent of his California peers do not subscribe to Mr. Silverstein’s philosophy of professional life. They don’t practice law so they can sniff bus fumes. They dash down more glamourous corridors.
Mr. Silverstein specializes in eminent domain cases, galloping, astride a big white horse, to the rescue of petrified, vulnerable small-business owners whose property the government attempts to seize.
He describes the government — city, county, state, federal — the way comedians in the last century joked about their mothers-in-law. Only Mr. Silverstein is not kidding.
Look Out, America
Two years ago, at the tender age of 37, he splashed to national attention.
Committing to the deep kind of research that keeps a family man away from evenings at home for months in a row, he pulled off a legal miracle.
He saved a tiny, middle-class, family-owned 60-year-old business on Vine Street in Hollywood, Bernard Luggage. Mindful of the Biblical account of Jonah and the whale, , a gigantic, billion-dollar high-rise development surrounded Bernard, and the city of Los Angeles Redevelopment Agency was about to re-enact the whale’s role and swallow the luggage company without leaving a trace for scavengers.
Through two different connections, owner Bob Blue heard about Mr. Silverstein and his reputation for turning his legal cannons onto the government, and winning.
Rub Your Eyes and It Still Is There
Gazing disbelievingly at modest, distinctly unglamourous Bernard Luggage, stunned developers and their attorneys have wondered ever since how this pimple on an elephant’s back could survive.
Sit down, children, and Mr. Silverstein will tell you a story that is as astounding as it is true.
“There are a number of tradeoffs,” he says— read advantages — to practicing a dimension of law that scares off all but a wheelbarrow full of competition.
“Few colleagues have a practice similar to mine, and the reason is, the vast majority of attorneys who have anything to do with land use or eminent domain usually are working for the government or the private developers.
The Reason Seems Obvious
“That is where the money is, where the steady, reliable, dependable payments are. By contrast, in representing business owners, small property owners, community groups, the economic model for me is far less lucrative, far less certain.
“So that is one tradeoff. At the same time, another tradeoff is that, generally, I can feel good about what I do. I can lay my head down at night and be proud of the things I have done to help individuals.
“Often, literally, the only thing that stands between somebody’s home and the government’s wrecking ball is me.
“That, in a way, is a very privileged position, a tradeoff in gratification, trying to make the world a better place, trying to protect the underdog, is worth it in terms of economics.”
Without blinking or budging, Mr. Silverstein admits with disarming bravery, “My wife might disagree.”
The Vote Sounds Unanimous
Fifteen years ago when he chose to travel one of the least crowded legal highways in America, he knew what he was letting himself in for. So did his parents. So did his friends. So did his wife.
“All of them have been supportive. They all come from a similar mindset. There was an understanding…
“Occasionally, my wife, who has the patience of Job, has to be reconvinced on certain cases because there is a tremendous amount of self-sacrifice that goes into some of these cases because the government has all of our taxpayer dollars to fight us with.
“Literally, there is a juggernaut of government stupidity, malice. They will take the most intransigent, unreasonable positions because they can
“Because they will try to grind the little guy down. That often necessitates a tre-men-dous effort to counter this almost evil force of government.”
(To be continued)
