Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Rose Pondel. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Rose, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to hear about how you got your first non-friend, non-family client. Paint the picture for us so we can feel the same excitement you felt on that day.

The first paying client I ever received was an incredibly special case. I worked with a same-sex female couple from Switzerland who were using a sperm donor with their fertility doctor in California. They found me via my website, and we connected instantly on the phone. I absolutely loved working with them, and thirteen years later, we still stay in touch and they send me pictures of their kids!

Rose, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I feel so incredibly fortunate to work as a fertility attorney. I had previously worked as a corporate attorney, and while I found it interesting, I wasn’t connecting with my career on a personal level. Opening up my own fertility law practice was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. Working in the fertility law world has allowed me to connect with family, friends, and clients on such a deep level, certainly on a different level than most people have access to when someone is going through challenges with growing their family. I am very much a relationship-based person, and this is an area of law that is all about strong relationships with both clients and colleagues.

One thing I am most proud of is the way that I treat every case as though it were my only case. I personally handle each and every client that comes into our office, and I take great care to make sure they are receiving the absolute best care from me and my amazing team. My office works with Intended Parents, Surrogates, Egg Donors, Sperm Donors, and Embryo Donors. Being able to play a small role in someone’s family building is truly an honor, and certainly one that I don’t take for granted.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

I worked in PR and marketing prior to becoming an attorney, so I was fortunate to bring this experience to my firm. I also worked in various customer service roles during college in retail and hospitality, so I think that really helped me understand how to provide an excellent client experience, in addition to solid legal counsel.

In the beginning, I wrote a lot of blogs and contributed to as many articles as I could for consumer and trade publications alike. I drafted press releases about my practice (which was quite a novel practice area at the time I opened my firm) and sent them to my media contact list. I also attended lots of in-person networking events, and offered to moderate panels that had a good audience for my firm. I cold-called many potential referrals sources and scheduled coffee and lunch dates with anyone who would meet with me! Fortunately, through my PR and marketing efforts, I did not have to spend any money on paid ads.

I think a lot of attorneys undervalue how important it is to provide a good customer experience. Clients often seek out legal counsel during some of the hardest times in their lives. They need trusted legal guidance, for sure, but they also need to be treated with kindness and respect. I really pride myself on how I treat all of my clients and colleagues and the relationships that I’ve built over the years.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

A few years into running my practice, my husband and I started trying to have a family of our own. After my first pregnancy ended in a devastating miscarriage, followed by significant uterine surgery, my practice became deeply personal. Going through fertility struggles were incredibly difficult, and required me to pivot how I ran my practice in order to provide a more personal experience to my clients.

Later, after I had my first successful pregnancy, I had visions of simply bringing my baby to the office and continuing the work day as usual! Boy was I wrong! My first baby had colic, and was “unputdownable” as we used to call him. I remember Googling “Can I die from sleep deprivation” and I really didn’t think I would survive. Up until this point, I was a true solo practitioner. It was during this time that I took the leap to hire my first full-time staff member and learned how to delegate many of my daily tasks. This moment of forced growth was rocky, and had a steep learning curve, but I was grateful for this push to take my firm to the next level.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.pondellaw.com
• Instagram: @pondel_law

Image Credits
Larissa Block of Beauties and Babies Photography took the picture for the Malibu Times cover.