Firm pursues the past-due with interest

Daily News
Tuesday, October 5, 1999

The Law Offices of Spiwak & Iezza is a new breed of law firm that uses the latest technology and legal savvy to serve its customers, challenging the age-old "stuffy" stereotype of law firms.

Established in Los Angeles in 1992 by its two partners Lisa Spiwak and Nick Iezza, then in their early 30s, the law firm represents companies across the country in the collection of their unpaid debts and past-due accounts. The firm combines the aggressiveness of a "streetwise" collection agency with the sophistication of a law firm to provide its clients with the most effective weapons against unpaid receivables.

Both Spiwak and Iezza began their legal practice in a large traditional law firm that provided the typical service for their clients. They soon realized, however;, that the clients were not receiving the quality of legal services they should - and were overpaying in the process. The two believed that if they could combine their legal abilities with their similar philosophies on serving clients, they could provide faster and more effective legal services at a drastically reduced rate. It was a recipe for success.

In fact, they believed this so strongly that they offered their legal services to their clients at no cost unless the unpaid debt was actually collected. Their friends and family thought they were crazy to take this kind of gamble, but they never wavered.

History has shown their gamble paid off. Over the past seven years, the firm has grown dramatically - averaging a 40 percent growth rate each year. The firm represents such corporate clients as City National Bank, Wells Fargo Bank, Sysco Food Services of Los Angeles, Sanwa Bank and GTE Leasing. However, the team also represents mom-and-pop neighborhood businesses with their collection needs.

There are many aspects of this firm that set it apart from others. First and foremost, the firm only handles collection and collection -related matters. This emphasis has allowed the firm to reach a level of expertise in this area that is matched by no other. Combined with this expertise is the firm's use of high-tech computer databases and private investigators. This allows the firm to easily locate and levy upon those assets which the debtor has attempted to hide.

Spiwak & Iezza has recently relocated its main office to Ventura County. In the partners' discussions with local business owners, it has become evident that the majority of bad debt is simply written off as a loss. This shocked the partners. One way the partners have attempted to educate local businesses is to provide free seminars to the business community on how to handle past-due accounts. The response has been so overwhelming that the partners are now discussing scheduling an organized countywide seminar complete with guest speakers.

The firm intends to continue serving its existing client base while concentrating its efforts to expand further into Ventura County and beyond. Based on the untapped market of Ventura County, and the absence of any other provider of this type of service, the firm anticipates tremendous growth in coming months.

Lisa Spiwak
Co-Owner
Law Offices of Spiwak & Iezza