In relation of " commercial interests" of EOS contributors and as a result of an insistent colleague accusing me ( before a client) that I just have illegitimate commercial interests in this site:
The Costaluzlawyers´itinerary
I firstly need to assert I am not very fond of spending time at deffending myself but it is true that sometimes it is necessary(- my whole team has encouraged me to do so-). Also as a matter of being just human ( hi Magicmeg!), let me explain to you where we are and what are our interests in EOS.
When I started Costaluzlawyers in March-April 2006 I was very lonely ( with no office, no staff, no nothing...) . just a`n old laptop, my legal formation and my legal experience at DeCastro. The great guy from Tarifa ( thanks Juan!) who designed my initial 80€ cost blog advised me to introduce constant and relevant good legal information in the blog and to link it with similarly -oriented websites in order to enhance my position in Google.
I was working from home and well...just wanted to have some non resident, english speaking clients to help with their " spanish dream" in Costa de la Luz and make some money for my family: a little local business. My husband does not have a remunerated job as he is in charge of housekeeping, logistics, children´s care.... and a lot of other assignments at home ( thanks Luis!) ; so, with 24000 € to live with received from my grandma´s inheritance ( thanks grandma!) and a baby already in the world... I had to really make the business work.
And I started... with some articles on Real Estate Consumer protection and then one on... Bank Guarantees.
In May-June 2006 and through another forum I used to contribute with I found Justin and EOS. I sent an email to him, offering legal support to EOS members and after a phone call he offered me to start with some articles to be published in the site and see what happens ( thanks Justin!).
In August of same year and due to a general ignorance of rights to guarantees for money return among english speaking real estate buyers in Spain.... the Bank Guarantee article filled my inbox with dozens of emails of people wanting to know. They were my first clients.
In some months I already had a good number of people to help and again just myself and no office, no staff... so, after much consideration ( as I did not want to initially return to the Law firm owned by my family I used to work for)... I talked to brother Nacho ( thanks Nacho!) and he offered to me his invaluable help with Court cases.
Cases started to come and come, people who contacted me showed a commun point: ignorance of cancellation rights despite they already had a lawyer working on their cases.Very sad. That´s how Costaluzlawyers ( initially intended to help peopel to buy and settle in Costa de la Luz) turned to an office for custormer service and legal information for people with weak legal proptection in Costa del Sol, Costa Cálida and Costa Blanca mainly.
We kept our contribution in EOS and some other forums too and finally decided to concentrate forces on EOS ( the most of our clients came from the site, we liked the style and after meeting Justin and Susan personally, we get specially and freely- no payment any of the two ways-committed with the site).
And well, since then , we have just been having lots of fun while working VERY HARD in the mission. Hard work has made a profitable business and we have now 5 employees in the customer service department, 6 lawyers in the litigation department and 2 great administrative persons. We did no intend to grow that much and that rapidly but I need to admitt I love the human resources and I very quickly started to cherish the idea of having a small team working with me and to start a foundation for social aid. That, together with the family needs I had and have to covered ( first and too) have been my driving forces since 2006 to now. Commercial interests? Well, yes... I need money for good things.
I have been always tried to be fully respectful with our proffession´s deothological code in terms of publicity, promotion of services, relationships with colleagues... It is true thatonlince legal advise is a new brand stuff, and sometimes I need to ellaborate my own ethical conclusions out of what is already stablished in the Ethical Code but I think I have done it quite reasonably.
My frustration ( and my challenge) is the lack of confidence of you on the Spanish legal system. That makes many conversations with great team members ( thanks Steven, Rocio, Almudena, Patricia and Mar) as we are very proud of being spaniards and would like to show to you the real good things of our country. I am sure, and I have constantly repeated that in the forums and the blog that there are dozens and dozens of magnificient, honest, proffessional lawyers in Spain and that we all want the system to work in favour of Law. If we have mentioned our success it has been for the sake of offering to you that hope and confidence.
Regarding other colleagues contributing here: I am not the person to allow them or not.. but of course Justin and Susan are always welcoming them and I believe that as far as the good, friendly tone is preserved... we are all happy to see them. Loyal competency is necessary for the good working of businesses and the market.
Anyhow... please have a good weekend!
Best,
Maria
web@costaluzlawyers.es
www.costaluzlawyers.es
Bouganvillas in El Palmar ( Cádiz) by Secret Tenerife at Flickr.com