Community Profile

Heritage Legal, PC
A passion for law, compassion for all
By Sara Clipper

Most of us never interact with a lawyer unless there is a problem in our lives such as the passing of a loved one, the end of a long-term relationship, or a serious financial hardship.  Many lawyers seem cold and distant during a time when a comforting, helping hand is truly what’s needed. That’s why it is so refreshing to meet the team at Heritage Legal, PC, where they focus on understanding and educating their clients, even though the legal problems they face may be tough. They know that successful legal outcomes require both well-informed clients and the firm’s legal expertise and dedication to clients’ concerns.
At Heritage Legal, the law practice of Christopher Heritage, Esq., the staff knows that each client and legal issue is unique and each one requires undivided attention. And every staff member brings rich and varied experience to the job.
After working days and going to school at night, Chris Heritage graduated from the Washington College of Law at the American University in 1996. His unique background of fifteen years’ experience in sales and marketing, and his years practicing as an attorney, have led him to focus on his professional relationships with people.  Heritage Legal builds solid and comfortable relationships that clients can depend on, and  makes the firm quite different from many others where clients are often treated as commodities rather than people. Most of the firm’s new clients are referrals from previous or current clients —a testimonial that caring about people works.
Over the years, Chris developed his legal practice with special emphasis on legal services for the LGBT community. After law school, he was a volunteer attorney with the AIDS Legal Referral Panel in San Francisco, helping clients with HIV/AIDS with their estate planning. Moving to Palm Springs eight years ago, Chris was a volunteer and then contract attorney at the Desert AIDS Project, helping DAP’s clients with estate planning and bankruptcy issues. 
Growing the practice, Chris extended his expertise to domestic partnerships, dissolution of marriage, child custody, and other family law issues. Two office locations, in Palm Springs and in San Diego, make it convenient for clients in many areas of Southern California to see him. He speaks at seminars on LGBT legal issues and writes articles in major publications.  Heritage Legal is committed to the unique needs of both the LGBT and straight communities it serves. 
Here is a look at the team on a typical day at Heritage Legal:
Chris Heritage is up early and usually off to the gym for a quick workout before office hours, or a breakfast meeting with a professional colleague or two. In the office, Chris opens the day’s calendar on his computer. Vicki Campbell, paralegal, and Lucy Friedman, legal assistant, have arranged the case files for today’s appointments on his desk. Chris checks each one for needed paperwork, and briefly reviews the purpose of the meetings so he is prepared. If anything is missing, he quickly buzzes the staff member to locate it and bring it in. During a meeting, Vicki or Lucy often come in to take notes, bring in documents, make copies of client materials, or when Chris thinks their unique personal skills will add to the quality of the client meeting.
Meanwhile, Liz Heritage is at the reception desk, answering phones, handling mail, managing supply inventories, referring client calls to staff members, and greeting clients who arrive for their appointments. Liz is Chris’s mother, and her bustling efficiency (a hallmark of her German upbringing) keeps the office in order. When you call Heritage Legal it is impossible to mistake Liz for anyone else; she has the German accent.
This morning, Chris has two client appointments: First is a meeting with a lesbian who wants to dissolve her registered domestic partnership - a family law case. Most client prospects are asked to fill out a questionnaire prior to their initial meeting. It organizes the information so Chris can quickly see the important facts of the situation, and can move right into a discussion of issues, concerns and options with the client. This client emailed the questionnaire back to the firm before her meeting. Chris already understands her situation and can focus his full attention on helping her decide how to proceed. She will feel comfortable knowing that Chris is clear about her concerns, and is prepared to support her decisions.
Chris will explain the fees for representing the client. In a dissolution, the fees for court costs and attorney services are quite reasonable if the dissolution is not contested by the other party. If she signs a representation agreement retaining the firm to represent her, Chris will ask Vicki to come in to finish the meeting with her. Vicki will review any additional information that is needed, and go over in detail the various steps of the dissolution process. 
A petition and other documents must be filed with the court, and if it is a contested matter, Chris may have to appear at hearings for the client. After numerous steps in the process, the court will issue a final ruling. Vicki will be responsible for scheduling all the dates on Chris’ calendar, drafting the documents for Chris’ review and signature, and maintaining contact with the client throughout the process.
Vicki has many years of family law experience, and is thoroughly familiar with the procedures of the Family Law Division of the County Superior Court.  Her special interests in domestic relations and her family situation (proud grandmother of six) make her a wonderful resource for clients who need some moral support and direction while dealing with their legal issues. She is active in organizations that focus on domestic violence and juvenile issues, and has many long-standing relationships with legal professionals throughout the area.
The second morning appointment is with a man who lost his job, has many credit card debts, and may lose his house to foreclosure—a likely bankruptcy case. This prospective client was emailed a questionnaire, too, but he felt it was too time-consuming to fill out. Bankruptcy questionnaires require detailed answers to many questions about the person’s financial situation. At the meeting, Chris asks him the questions verbally, but the man isn’t able to give precise answers because the information needed is in documents at his home. Unfortunately, Heritage Legal is unable to give him any advice today. Bankruptcy laws are very strict about full disclosure of financial information. Without it, no attorney can help. The prospective client is asked again to fill out the questionnaire, and call when it is finished. Vicki will follow up with him by phone next week if he hasn’t called the firm by then.
At noon, Chris has a meeting with a CPA colleague to discuss tax issues for a Heritage Legal client who is trustee of his deceased aunt’s estate. Problem? The aunt was a Canadian citizen who owned a part-time residence in Palm Springs. All the beneficiaries of her estate are Canadian. If they sell the property, is the estate required to pay IRS taxes on the profit, even though the decedent wasn’t a U.S. citizen? Chris does not handle tax issues—but when a tax question arises in another case matter, it must be addressed, and other professionals are sometimes contacted for assistance. Chris will come away from this meeting with good advice for the Canadian client.
The afternoon calendar blocks out the first two hours so Chris can finish reviewing the estate plan he designed for a gay couple who want Trusts, Wills and related documents to protect their assets and provide for their personal care as they age. Chris has met twice with them in past weeks, at an initial meeting to discuss their general needs and desires, and a second “design” meeting where the specifics of their estate plans are sketched out and final decisions made. They will come in at 4 PM for a comprehensive review and to sign all the documents—a process that usually takes about two hours.  Heritage Legal usually charges a fixed fee rather than an hourly rate for most estate planning matters. Clients who are making critical decisions about their assets and their future appreciate having time to help Chris get to know them and their most personal needs and concerns without keeping an eye on the clock. 
Lucy is responsible for shepherding all estate planning, trust administration and probate cases from start to finish. For estate planning, she organizes the files, schedules for Chris the three or four meetings that are typical with estate planning clients during the process, and checks regularly on the progress of drafting the documents. Lucy determines that the portfolio of documents for each client is properly organized and complete for Chris’ final review before a signing.
For trust administration and probate cases, Lucy manages the process from opening a new case to filing petitions in court, to the timely mailing of documents to heirs and beneficiaries, and on to the close or final order of the administration or probate period.  The whole process often takes a year or more.
Lucy brings skills and a focus on supportive relationships from her previous careers in education, social work and sales/marketing that are essential to her work with Heritage Legal clients. Her parents were teachers, and strong advocates for civil liberties all of their lives. A grandmother of one, and soon-to-be great-grandmother, Lucy carries on the family tradition with her support of local and national human rights organizations.  She has a special interest in promoting LGBT freedom from discrimination, and works through Heritage Legal to provide understanding and support for all clients who have legal issues to be resolved. Clients connect with her easily and everyone loves Lucy.
While Chris is meeting clients, meeting colleagues, and drafting and reviewing documents for signatures today, Vicki and Lucy are carrying out their daily routine.  They draft documents for Chris to review, work on filings for court and phone or meet with clients to get information or documents for their case proceedings. All day, Lucy receives phone calls from clients, colleagues, business associates, and on an average day, talks with many new prospective clients. There is a phone intake process that is carefully followed, so the firm understands clearly why each person believes an attorney’s help is needed. A questionnaire is usually emailed or mailed to the prospective client, an initial meeting is scheduled, and details of each person’s situation are noted in the firm’s electronic file.
Chris chooses to focus on three areas of practice only—estate planning, family law and bankruptcy.  Sometimes people call with legal issues Chris does not handle.  They are referred on to another attorney, if one is known. Some may have problems that should be handled by a public agency or organization instead of an attorney —such as the lady who called about her husband’s adult daughter from a prior marriage coming into the house and taking items that weren’t hers. This is a police matter, not something for an attorney or family law court. 
Finally, at the end of the day, Chris heads over to a dinner meeting of the Desert Estate Planning Council. His active participation in organizations of his professional colleagues and in organizations of importance to the gay community is a very significant part of his life.  He is a member of the Desert Bar Association, Desert Business Association, Desert AIDS Project’s Partners for Life, is on the Equality California Institute Board of Directors, is a Federal Club member of the Human Rights Campaign, and devotes many hours to these and other organizations to build a broad civil rights foundation for the LGBT community. Every day is a long day for Chris, but he and the rest of the team at Heritage Legal get tremendous satisfaction out of helping solve their clients’ problems and they wouldn’t have it any other way.

Heritage Legal, PC has offices in Palm Springs and San Diego. The firm focuses on LGBT estate planning, domestic partnerships, same-sex marriage, probate, trust administration, and bankruptcy. For more information: 760.325.2020, or email chris@heritagelegal.com.