Media

When Brian Heit was 18, he was involved in a very serious automobile accident caused by a drunk driver.

“I was really grateful to have counsel by my side to walk me through that process,” he says. “To know that my attorney was fighting for me made me want to fight for others.”

While in law school, Brian was on the trial team at the Securities and Exchange Commission in Miami.

“This in part is where I started my corporate background and my litigation skills,” he says. “I also worked at a publicly traded utilities company in Miami, and then after law school, I went on to become a financial broker for Aon.”

In 2015, Brian, along with his wife, Brenna, another attorney, founded Adept Legal Counsel P.C., in Westlake Village.

“We have four practice areas and they’re sometimes intertwined, but we represent businesses in various industries with corporate counsel and business litigation,” says Brian. “We focus on employment law and personal injury as well.”

Having his own firm allows him to practice the law his way—combining legal knowledge and empathy.

“We really try to find the human side of it, so we’re both relationship and results focused,” he says. “I believe clients benefit when you address both of those aspects.”

Good attorneys, says Brian, take the time to thoroughly learn the law, but great attorneys also take the time to figure out their clients and learn how to tell their stories more persuasively and more effectively than the clients can themselves.

“That’s really the mark of the great attorney—when the client looks at you and says, ‘Wow! You put my story together better than I could ever have.’”

He adds, “When you’re looking for someone to represent you in front of a court, you want someone who takes the time to truly understand you in your situation holistically, because a lot of things outside of just the facts of the case may end up being relevant.”

While Brian and his team are zealous advocates, they are also true counselors at law. After all, when people consult an attorney, it’s usually because they’re in the midst of a stressful situation.

“A lot of that counseling comes back to the emotional aspect of law and the biggest thing is to be empathetic with your client’s situation,” he says. “They’re reaching out to an almost stranger and it requires a lot of trust to maintain that relationship.”

Even prior to law school, Brian gained a lot of experience in providing empathy and understanding.

“While I was in college at San Francisco State University, I also worked full-time at an organization called Edgewood Center for Children and Families,” he says. “It was founded in 1851 by nuns as San Francisco Orphanage Asylum. The kids who came through its system were suffering severely from various types of trauma, neglect and abuse. It’s a wonderful organization that provided me with a tremendous amount of training to deal with children who had been through so much in order to allow them to feel safe and heard.”

In order for his clients to be heard, Brian ensures they have easy access to their lawyers.

“Instead of responding to clients within 24 hours, the rule that I try to hold for my team is to respond within 24 minutes,” he says. “We leverage technology and we’ve invested significantly into a client portal so clients can communicate directly with their team.”

In addition to working hard for his clients, Brian also loves spending time with his family. He and Brenna have two daughters, Isla, who is 3 years old, and Addison, who is 2. They also have a dog named Frances who was rescued from a meat market in Korea.

“She’s wonderful and a great addition to our family,” says Brian.

To find out more about Brian and how Adept Legal Counsel P.C. can assist with your legal needs, go to AdeptCounsel.co/.