Meet Sebastian Ohanian | Business Attorney

We had the good fortune of connecting with Sebastian Ohanian and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Sebastian, can you talk to us a bit about the social impact of your business?
Over the course of my career, I have volunteered my time representing clients with criminal allegations pro bono. While our state and country have an incredibly mature legal system, complete with all the checks and balances, all too often, people don’t have the financial resources to legally defend themselves. Everyone deserves a fair shake, and I’m happy to donate my time in support of those that can’t afford litigation.

What should our readers know about your business?
In 2017, I went out on my own to open a boutique law firm. Too many of the bigger firms come with huge price tags just to add you to their overcommitted case loads, only to have you ‘wait your turn’ for your critical legal matter to get attended to. I hated seeing that – legal problems can be very stressful and without focused, careful attention, issues could be slow-walked, or worse, misdiagnosed. My vision was to create a practice that would provide the highest level of personalized service to small business clients, combining the breadth of a general counsel with the depth of experience to handle more complex legal matters.

And I did just that – I started with a small portfolio of commercial real estate firms and fitness studios, building on my experience with responding to subpoenas, evictions, and other lawsuits. Success followed my ‘lightning litigation’ strategies, creative solutions, zealous advocacy, and reasonable cost. With that success, I built trust, and from that trust came more referrals. Now, I also serve physicians, lending institutions, and car dealerships. My expertise has grown in many different disciplines in both the civil and criminal arenas, with emphasis on repossessions, injunctions, arbitrations, and appeals. Part of why my clients continue to retain me is that they know that if there is a legal basis to defend their case, I’ll find it. I love looking at cases from every angle and coming up with creative strategies to get the most for my clients, even if other attorneys have said there’s nothing they can do. In fact, last year, I filed a successful Amicus brief in the Supreme Court – an accomplishment I’m very proud of!

Of course, my path hasn’t been without challenges: building out my practice while also learning to be a small business owner has been one of the most challenging aspects. Perfectly orchestrating the variety and volume of tasks that need to be done by sometimes – just you – can be daunting. For example, setting up the accounting and billing systems as well as creating websites while also researching statutes to best defend your client is no small feat. That’s what makes developing a system to optimize your time management that much more important when you’re a sole practitioner.

I’m most proud of the fact that, with essentially no marketing investment ~ all word-of-mouth referrals ~ I’ve built a very successful practice that allows me to fully support my clients the way they deserve to be supported and choose the types of cases that I work on.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I’m a simple guy and a big fan of Coral Gables. The City Beautiful has literally everything to offer – incredible restaurants, bars, and community/art events all year long. So, a basic perfect night out for me would start with drinks at Cebada Rooftop bar, with dinner at Frenchie’s Diner. Frenchie’s is an intimate French restaurant with an authentic and homey feel – chalkboard menu and all! I like the steak frites with a Bordeaux, and chocolate mousse for dessert.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I’d like to thank Alex Fox for the generosity of his mentorship, which I found invaluable as I began building out my practice. But an especially loud shoutout to my wife: without her support, sacrifice, and advice, I wouldn’t be where I am today.

Website: www.ohanianlegal.com

Instagram: SebbyEsq