About Tal Rappleyea
As a municipal lawyer, Tal Rappleyea gets asked this question all the time: What is a municipality?
A municipality is actually just a technical term for a county or city. Although municipalities are mainly responsible for creating their laws, they hire municipal lawyers that are responsible for enforcing those laws. Tal Rappleyea covers the following municipal law issues to reflect the needs of area residents:
- Education policies, which governs the safety and standards of education in public schools, accommodating students with disabilities, and job security for teachers.
- Property taxes, which outlines how taxed income from residents can be used to benefit the community.
- Police power, which oversees how police officers monitor resident behavior.
- Zoning, which determines how land in the municipality is used.
Some municipal lawyers work internally for one municipality, while others practice law individually for multiple municipalities. Tal practices law individually in his own private practice and serves several counties in the Albany metro area in New York state.
Tal Rappleyea was admitted to the New York State Bar Association in January 1989. This chapter of the bar association is actually the largest voluntary state bar organization in the nation with a membership of more than 74,000 lawyers. Tal is proud to be a member, considering former presidents Grover Cleveland and Chester A. Arthur were members of the New York State chapter as well.
With nearly three decades of experience and a Juris Doctorate from Hamline State University, Tal Rappleyea has explored municipal law in several roles as an attorney, ranging from positions as Attorney for the Town and Attorney for the Village of several municipalities. Currently, Tal is a solo practitioner in his own Law Offices of Tal G. Rappleyea in Valatie, New York and lists municipal law as one of his main concentrations.
Tal is a supporter the New York State Conference of Mayors and Municipal Officials (NYCOM), which is an organization that trains municipal officials and operates as a general support group for municipal officials in each state. He is also very active in his community, as he is a member of the Capital District Trial Lawyers Association and holds a position in the County Bar Association of New York State.
Although Tal Rappleyea maintains an active lifestyle by volunteering in his community and maintaining memberships in his field of practice, he still makes time for one of his pastimes, golf, by on the range.
- “Deal of the Year” Award from the Real Estate Board of New York (REBNY)
- Named one of the three new inductees to the Ethics Committee of REBNY
- Named to the Executive Board of New York Residential Specialists (NYRS).
Creating Success in a Small Law Practice
It’s no secret that small law firms and solo practitioners have their work cut for them in our current society’s legal landscape. Larger firms tend to generate the largest amount of business and hold the most clout. Individuals who are seeking more affordable legal counsel aren’t a guaranteed client either. Those seeking a lawyer often go through a careful selection process based on research and word-of-mouth. With the apparent over saturation of law school graduates, it’s even more important today to set your small firm up for success.
If you are looking to open up a solo (or small) practice, these are a few tips to keep in mind during your journey:
Specialize
While it may feel counter intuitive to narrow down the number of potential clients that are available to you, specializing is absolutely the more promising route for your small firm or solo practice. You can create a specialization in one of two ways. One, you can determine exactly which kinds of cases you will work on. Alternatively, specialization can be built by specifying which cases your firm will not work on.
The reality is that clients are not looking for a jack-of-all-trades when it comes to their lawyers. Clients want to know exactly what your firm is good at, and they want to know that the firms’ proficiencies align exactly with their individual issues.
Network
No matter what route you took to get to law school, it’s highly likely that you’ve been told how important your network is. That importance never weans. As a solo practitioner or small firm, it’s supremely important to have other lawyers in your corner.
When clients come seeking advice that doesn’t align with a particular firm’s specialty, they refer them to other lawyers in their network. Being a part of a large network of lawyers gives your firm a larger referral base.
Build a Brand
Small firms need to establish themselves as both reputable and consistent. There are several different resources that a firm should access in order to gain exposure and create a notable brand.
For one, the firm should engage with the local news outlets. Offer news sources your expertise, and provide expert legal opinion on a pro bono basis in order to build up credibility in the community. In addition to offering services to news outlets and the press, your firm should also offer pro bono publico services. Try to be strategic about the cases that you offer free legal services to; work with cases where the public is likely to engage. You want to your achievements in these cases to be twofold: to win the case for your client and to gain public recognition.