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Vol. 27
No. 12
December 2015
Serving Michigan’s Banks Since 1989
Weltman, Weinberg & Reis Co., LPA
Providing Comprehensive Creditors’ Rights Solutions
Also Inside This Issue...
• The 2015 MBA Bank Management and
Directors Conference
• A Regulatory Reprieve for Community Banks
• $83 Million Judgment Against
Huntington Bank
...and So Much More!
Weltman, Weinberg & Reis Co., LPA: Helping Financial
Institutions Protect Their Assets Since 1930
By Charles M. Cooper
(no relation), and
Weltman, Weinberg &
David Wolfe. Stuart,
Reis Co., LPA (WWR)
a renowned litigator,
has long been recognized
brought a wealth of
as one of the largest
litigation ability to
creditors’ rights law firms
the Michigan office.
in the country. The firm’s
And David, who
Michigan office, however,
now serves as the
has a unique grass-roots
Office
Managing
story that began 17 years
Attorney,
offered
ago and continues to this
deep
experience
day.
in
consumer
David A. Wolfe and Stuart A. Best
In 1998, one of the largest
collections law as
financial services providers in the US, a premier well as financial institution representation.
WWR client, asked if the firm would consider
Today, WWR’s Michigan office counts nearly
expanding its presence to Michigan to provide 60 employees, including 10 attorneys, within
an expanded suite of services and assist with its walls. More importantly, the office has
the institution’s growth in the area. Due to the developed into the end-to-end service solution
strong relationship between this client and the that Dan envisioned nearly 20 years ago. There
firm, particularly with WWR attorney Daniel are few law firms in the U.S. with the ability to
Best, it was an easy decision for both parties. service financial institutions for the entirety of
Within just two months, Dan and a single their receivables management and legal needs.
staffer not only had the new Michigan office WWR offers this not just within the firm as a
up and running, but had expanded their team master entity, but within its Michigan office as
to 10 people. Between the work performed a stand-alone full-service option. This allows
for the founding client and the work that soon the firm’s clients to use a single vendor to
followed from the firm’s other clients desiring handle a variety of matters without having to
representation in Michigan, the new office manage multiple contacts, timelines and pricing
flourished, reaching its one-year projections schedules.
within a few months, and surpassing its fiveWhen asked what they thought has contributed
year business plan in a single year. It was an most to the success of WWR’s Michigan office,
exciting time for Dan and his team.
Dan, Stuart and David named several different
In the years that followed, WWR’s Michigan factors, but they all agreed on one thing – that
office became increasingly focused on the the office’s focus on local banks and small
needs of local banks and small businesses. businesses allows them and their team to
Dan continued to grow the office accordingly, develop meaningful relationships with clients,
bringing in attorneys with unique abilities which translates into a strong understanding
in the creditors’ rights field so that the office of their clients’ businesses. In turn, this allows
could offer its clients a full-service creditors’ them to provide the highest-quality client
rights experience, including consumer and service possible. David in particular stressed
commercial collections, bankruptcy, real estate the importance of his relationships with his
and title service, and litigation. Key among these clients, and that he makes it a point to visit them
talent acquisitions were attorneys Stuart Best on a regular basis in order to stay connected
Michigan Banker • December, 2015
Page 5
with them and their staff. Stuart takes pride in
the fact that his clients can always reach him
directly. “Unless I’m in court, my cell phone
is always on and I am always available to my
clients,” he said. “And if for some reason they
can’t reach me, I know that my assistant or any
one of our other team members is working just
as hard as I would to address the client’s needs
until I can return their call myself.”
WWR’s Michigan office attorneys are also
actively involved in local industry organizations,
such as the Michigan Bankers Association and
the Community Bankers of Michigan. They
believe that it is important to attend and sponsor
a variety of local and statewide events in order
to keep a finger on the pulse of the industry,
and, by extension, the trends and issues that
matter most to their clients. WWR’s Michigan
office covers the entire state of Michigan,
something not many other firms offer, covering
all counties across both the upper and lower
peninsulas. Dan explained that their attorneys
are aggressive when it comes to driving things
through the courts and ensuring that matters
move forward, due in large part to the fact that
they believe in attending hearings in person
whenever possible, rather than utilizing outside
counsel. WWR attorneys strive to maintain
good relationships with the judges, clerks and
court personnel of the Michigan court system.
Being one of nine offices, WWR’s Michigan
office is relatively small – but mighty. David
considers their office’s size to be one of its
biggest strengths, since they are a unified group
that is cross-functionally trained. He believes
the office works well as a whole, encouraging
strong communication among and between
teams, and as a result, offering both broad and
deep experience to every client. David himself
has a breadth of experience that covers the
realm of creditors’ rights, including consumer
collections, bankruptcy, complex litigation,
real estate, appellate work and, most recently,
commercial collections.
Dan is someone who enjoys working with
people and helping them to resolve issues.
Page 6 He always seeks
to add value in
his relationships
with his clients,
and he focuses on
providing
winwin
solutions
whenever possible.
He believes that
most people who
end up in a default
Daniel E. Best
situation honestly
want to honor their obligations, and he enjoys
finding ways that allow them to do so.
WWR’s Michigan office is an established and
reputable operation that provides the intimacy
of a local partner while still providing clients
with the resources of a large national firm
that has been recognized as one of the largest
collection law firms in the country. WWR has
worked exclusively in the field of creditors’
rights for more than 85 years, handling all
types of recovery matters, regardless of file
complexity or volume. WWR was founded
in 1930 as Gardner & Spilka, a practice that
focused on assisting local banks and retailers
with the recovery of debt. In the mid-1950’s,
when Maurice Weltman became a partner, the
name changed to Gardner, Spilka and Weltman.
With the addition of Maurice’s son, Robert
(“Bob”), the Firm continued to grow as a
creditors’ rights centered practice.
In 1979, the firm became Weltman, Weinberg
& Associates Co., LPA, recognizing the
contributions made by Alan Weinberg. Alan
was primarily responsible for the legal side of
the firm, while Bob managed the collections
side, which made for the unique but successful
combination of a collections agency within a
law firm. In 1994, the firm became Weltman,
Weinberg & Reis Co., LPA, acknowledging
the efforts of Allen Reis in developing the
Columbus, Ohio office. The firm today is led by
Managing Partner, Scott Weltman, who is the
son of Bob and grandson to Maurice.
The geographic scope of the firm’s “footprint”
offices include Brooklyn Heights, Cincinnati,
Michigan Banker • December, 2015
Cleveland, and Columbus (OH), Chicago
(IL), Troy (MI), Fort Lauderdale (FL) and
Pittsburgh and Philadelphia (PA). While WWR
is properly licensed and bonded in all U.S.
states and territories necessary to facilitate
upfront traditional collection matters, it also
offers a strong national forwarding network
of attorneys with demonstrated proficiency
in creditors’ rights, should a debtor relocate
outside of WWR’s footprint.
WWR is sharply focused on compliance,
and dedicates an entire partner-led department
within the firm to staying abreast of current
regulatory laws and requirements. In today’s
regulatory environment, the Consumer Financial
Protection Bureau is highly scrutinizing lending
practices within consumer finance markets,
making it crucial for financial institutions to
prepare for and prevent compliance issues.
WWR operates at or above the strictest legal,
ethical and moral standards in order to ensure
that the firm’s clients are also in compliance
with federal and state laws and regulations.
With WWR’s national resources, the Michigan
office has access to firm-wide technology that
is unparalleled within the industry. WWR
invests on a global scale throughout the firm on
technology to make its processes effective and
efficient. The attorneys in Michigan believe
their greatest technical attribute from their
clients’ perspective is eClientNet, a passwordprotected online solution offering clients remote
access to current account information. With
Michigan Banker • December, 2015
eClietNet, clients are given the independence
to view account activity, file status, progress
reports, performance statistics and more. Dan
feels this further strengthens their relationship
with clients because they can see, in near realtime, the work being done for them, and it gives
clients the power to monitor their own accounts.
Ultimately, the WWR Michigan office is
focused on providing the highest-quality
solutions to the local banking and small
business communities within the state. The
firm’s attorneys work diligently to protect their
clients’ assets, which in turn, enables those
clients to better serve their own customers and
strengthen their communities.
For more information, please contact Daniel
E. Best at (248) 362-6139 or email dbest@
weltman.com, Stuart A. Best at (248) 7863124 or email [email protected], or David
A. Wolfe at (248) 362-6142 or email dwolfe@
weltman.com.
Page 7