From Crisis to Triumph with Jeff Grant (Ep. 37)
The legal profession is no stranger to adversity, but the tale of a lawyer's fall from grace and subsequent rise is a narrative that resonates deeply within our community. This episode of The Lawyer Millionaire Podcast explores Jeff Grant's profound journey from facing the ramifications of his actions to establishing an ethically driven law firm. His raw and earnest account provides a cautionary yet hopeful blueprint for law firm owners and attorneys alike.
In Episode 37, your host Darren Wurz sits down with Jeff Grant to navigate the turbulent waters of his past—a past riddled with opioid addiction, financial turmoil, and professional misconduct that led to Jeff's disbarment. Beyond his personal struggles, the episode chronicles Jeff's remarkable resurgence. Listeners are transported through his path to sobriety, ordination as a minister, and unwavering dedication to serving those embattled by white-collar legal challenges. Jeff's shift to a remote and technologically savvy business model is particularly instructive, spotlighting how legal practices can adapt and thrive even amidst crises like the COVID-19 pandemic.
5 Things Listeners Will Learn:
1. The Reality of Confronting Personal Demons: Jeff delves into how his battle with addiction and its impact on his life and legal practice led to a profound personal reckoning.
2. Strategic Business Reformation: Gain insights on restructuring and relaunching a law firm with a focus on value alignment, ethical decision-making, and controlled overhead.
3. Tech-Driven Client Advocacy: Discover the innovative approaches Jeff's firm adopts in leveraging technology to enhance legal services and client communication.
4. Ethics and Reinstatement: The episode sheds light on the nuanced process of law license reinstatement and the importance of maintaining financial and ethical integrity.
5. The Role of Support Systems: Understand the critical function of community and peer support in surmounting professional hurdles and in Jeff's mission to offer guidance and resources to others in need.
The tale of transformation, resilience, and redemption is often one that captivates and inspires. Jeff Grant's journey from a disbarred attorney to relaunching his law firm with a renewed focus on ethics, purpose, and community support embodies such a story. In the latest episode of The Lawyer Millionaire Podcast, host Darren Wurz sits down with Jeff Grant to delve into the pivotal moments that reshaped his career and life.
Hitting Rock Bottom and Rising Again
Darren Wurz opens the conversation with an exploration of Jeff's tumultuous past, discussing the events leading up to his disbarment. Jeff candidly shares his struggles with opioid addiction, his financial challenges within his previous law firm, and his descent into unethical behavior, which ultimately resulted in his arrest for fraud. His vulnerability on this podcast serves as a powerful beacon for lawyers facing personal crises, illustrating that rock bottom can be a foundation for rebuilding.
The Power of Support Systems
A key takeaway from Jeff's narrative is the undeniable power of support systems. After attempting suicide, Jeff sought help through detox, rehab, and became an active member of Alcoholics Anonymous. It was in these communities of support where Jeff found the strength to stay sober and embark on a path toward healing and renewal. His commitment to supporting others is a testament to his transformation, making this episode a compelling resource for anyone seeking camaraderie during difficult times.
Converting Trials to Triumphs
Jeff's arresting story of moving forward after being disbarred, becoming an ordained minister, and engaging in prison and white-collar support ministries captivates the listener, showing that it's possible to convert trials into triumphs. His meticulous approach to maintaining financial integrity and ethical conduct demonstrates his dedication to operating a law firm that clients can trust.
Embracing Technology and the Future
With a careful pivot towards embracing technology, Jeff's reestablished law practice and ministry support group have seen impressive growth, largely attributed to search engine visibility. His plans to integrate AI and launch live chat features forecast an innovative approach to legal counsel and assistance. Listeners are encouraged to visit grantlaw.com and prisonist.org to connect with Jeff's platforms directly.
A Purpose-Driven Law Practice
The episode shines a spotlight on the thriving law firm Jeff has built, which focuses on serving those facing white-collar prosecutions. Through his own experiences, Jeff understands the value of not just high-quality legal services but also the importance of emotional and community support for his clients. His business model pivots on these premises, differentiating his firm in a profoundly personal way.
Conclusion
Jeff Grant's journey is a powerful reminder that purpose and profit can coexist in the legal profession. His story underscores the resilient spirit necessary for personal and professional growth — a theme that Darren Wurz keenly emphasizes throughout this gripping episode of The Lawyer Millionaire Podcast. For those eager to hear more stories of resilience and success, or for law firm owners looking to gain control over their personal finances and achieve wealth, tuning in to subsequent episodes and subscribing is highly recommended.
Resources:
Connect with Darren Wurz:
Connect with Jeff Grant:
Linkedin: Jeff Grant
Website: Progressive Prison Ministries
About our guest:
Jeff Grant is on a mission. After a hiatus from practicing law, Jeff has founded the law firm of GrantLaw, PLLC, is once again in private practice in New York City and is committed to using his legal expertise and life experience to benefit others.
GrantLaw, PLLC, is a new type of law firm providing private general counsel services to clients facing, who have previously faced, or who could possibly be facing white collar prosecutions and/or regulatory proceedings, and their companies and families. In this role, Jeff and his team assist clients in making critical and timely business and family decisions, and in executing on them, so that they have the best chance to come out the other side with lives of purpose, meaning and success.
He also provides a broad range of legal services, all in a highly attentive, personalized manner. These include private general counsel, white collar crisis management, strategy and team building, services to family-owned and closely-held businesses, and support to special situation and pro bono clients. He practices in New York and on authorized Federal matters, and works with local co-counsel and criminal defense counsel to represent clients throughout country.
For more than 20 years, Jeff served as managing attorney of a 20+ employee law firm headquartered in New York City and then Westchester County, New York. The firm’s practice areas included representing family-owned and closely-held businesses and their owners, business and real estate transactions, trusts and estates, and litigation. Jeff also served as outside general counsel to large family-owned real estate equities and management and brokerage organizations.
Jeff is admitted to practice law in the State of New York, and in the Federal District Courts for the Southern District of New York and the Eastern District of New York. He is a member of the American Bar Association, the New York State Bar Association, the New York City Bar Association, the Federal Bar Association and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.
Guiding people forward in their lives
After an addiction to prescription opioids and serving almost 14 months in Federal prison (2006 – 07) for a white collar crime he committed in 2001, Jeff started his own reentry. He earned a Master of Divinity from Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York, majoring in Social Ethics. After graduating, Jeff was called to serve at an inner city church in Bridgeport, CT as Associate Minister and Director of Prison Ministries. He then co-founded Progressive Prison Ministries, Inc. (Greenwich, CT), the world’s first ministry devoted to serving the white collar justice community. On August 10, 2023, Jeff celebrated 21 years of sobriety.
An ordained minister, Jeff has more than three decades of experience in crisis management, business, law, reentry, recovery (clean & sober 20+ years), plus executive and religious leadership. He works frequently with people prosecuted for white collar crimes (and their families) who want to emerge from isolation and join a supportive community. In this role he helps them navigate their journey through the criminal justice system to new, ethical, productive, joyful lives on the other side of their issues.
Sometimes referred to in the press as “The Minister to Hedge Funders,” Jeff regularly uses his experience and background to guide people forward in their lives, relationships, careers, and business opportunities – and help them avoid making the kinds of decisions that resulted in loss, suffering, and shame.
Service and more service
A verified Psychology Today professional, he also serves on the ministry team at St. Joseph Mission Church (Cliffside Park, NJ) and as Chaplain to the Woodbury Fire Department (Woodbury, CT).
From 2016 – 2019, Jeff served as Executive Director of Family ReEntry, Inc. (Bridgeport, CT), a 100+ person criminal justice organization with offices and programs in eight Connecticut cities. Jeff is the first person in the United States formerly incarcerated for a white collar crime to be appointed Executive Director of a major criminal justice nonprofit.
Jeff has served on numerous criminal justice-related Boards. They include the Legal Action Center (New York, NY), Co-Chair, American Bar Association Criminal Justice Section Reentry & Collateral Consequences Committee, (Washington, DC), American Bar Association Lawyers Assistance Programs Advisory Commission (Chicago, IL) , Co-Chair, Mayor’s Advisory Council on Reentry Affairs (Bridgeport, CT), Family ReEntry (Bridgeport, CT), Community Partners in Action (formerly the Connecticut Prison Association, Hartford, CT), and Healing Communities Network (New York, NY). He has also served on the Advisory Boards of Creative Projects Group (Los Angeles, CA) and Reentry Survivors (Bridgeport, CT).
Recognition and more recognition
Jeff was twice selected a Nantucket Project Scholar (2012, 2014) and was recognized by JustLeadershipUSA as one of 15 Inaugural National Leaders in Criminal Justice (2015). He was selected a Keepers of the Commons Fellow (2017) and a Keepers of the Commons Senior Fellow (2018). Jeff has been the recipient of the Elizabeth Bush Award for Volunteerism (2011), received the Bridgeport Reentry Collaborative Advocate of the Year Award (2013, 2014, 2015), and was selected the Bridgeport Reentry Collaborative Professional of the Year (2016, 2017, 2018, 2019). He has also been recognized by the Connecticut Coalition Against Domestic Violence (2017) and by the Connecticut NAACP (2017), and was selected a 2019 Collegeville Institute Writing Fellow.
A Professional Member of the National Speakers Association, Jeff is an in-demand keynote speaker, panelist, moderator, and guest preacher. Speaking venues include Main Stage Presenter at The Nantucket Project (Nantucket, MA), American Bar Association Criminal Justice Conference (Washington, DC), Association of Certified Fraud Examiners Webinar (December 2022), the Greenwich Leadership Forum (Greenwich, CT), the Corrections Ministries and Chaplains Association (CMCA) Correctional Ministry Summit (Wheaton College, IL and Philadelphia, PA), Delaware Trust Conference (Wilmington, DE), Salons at Stowe – Harriet Beecher Stowe Center (Hartford, CT), Community Health Network of Connecticut Social Determinants of Health Summit (Wallingford, CT), The Neighborhood Project (Greenwich, CT), U.S. Small Business Administration Conference (Fairfield, CT), Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York (NY, NY), Yale Divinity School (New Haven, CT).
Jeff has also spoken at many universities, colleges, and religious institutions across the country. For information or to book Jeff to speak, guest preach, or for a panel or other presentation, please see his e-speakers profile here.
Magazines, radio, television, podcasts, books
Jeff has authored, been the subject of, or been prominently mentioned in many national and regional publications. They include The New Yorker (Aug. 2021), Entrepreneur (Sept. 2021 & Apr. 2020), Bloomberg Law (Oct. 2021), Wells Street with CNBC’s Jane Wells (Oct. 2021), Reuters (May 2021), American Bar Association Criminal Justice Magazine (Spring 2021), Business Insider (July 2021), Forbes (July 2020), Philadelphia Inquirer (Oct. 2020), Vanity Fair (Aug. 2019), Greenwich Magazine (Mar. 2018), Law360, Inc., Medium, The Huffington Post, Absolute Return/HedgeFund Intelligence, Institutional Investor, CFO Dive, New York Magazine, Real Men Real Faith Magazine (cover story), Fairfield County Business Journal, Nonprofit Quarterly, Reentry Central, The Vision (the newspaper of the United Methodist Church NY Conference), Weston Magazine Group, Weston Forum, Hartford Courant, New Haven Register, New Haven Independent, Inner City News, Connecticut Post, Greenwich Sentinel, Greenwich Time, Greenwich Free Press, The Hour and others. Jeff authored a chapter in the book, Suicide and Its Impact on the Criminal Justice System (2021), served on the Editorial Board of the book The Justice Imperative: How Hyper-Incarceration has Hijacked the American Dream (2014), and was prominently mentioned/quoted in the books Wildland: The Making of America’s Fury (2021), Trusted White Collar Offenders: Global Case Studies of Crime Convenience (2021) and the Teal Book of Wisdom (2022).
He has been featured or interviewed on many radio shows, televisions segments and podcasts. They include the Rich Roll Podcast (# 644 November 2021, #440 May 2019), The Confessional with Nadia Bolz-Weber (May 2021), The Sydcast (October 2021), Newsy (October 2021), Business Talk with Jim Campbell (June 2021), Tha Yard Hangout (June 2021), the Colin McEnroe Show on WNPR (October 2019), The Same 24 Hours podcast with Meredith Atwood (March 2020), the Fraud Stories podcast (September 2020), the Taxgirl Podcast (July 2020), Landmark Recovery Radio (November 2020), Clara CFO podcast with Hanna Smolinski (January 2021), and Founders Focus podcast with Scott Case (April 2021), among others.
Jeff is also editor of the important, widely-read website and blog prisonist.org, for which he authors, edits, and curates content around national and international criminal justice advocacy/ministry issues. He also co-hosts the Criminal Justice Insider podcast, hosts the White Collar Week podcast, and leads a weekly online confidential White Collar Support Group (the first in the country). The group, which has had more than 650 participants, held its 350th weekly online meeting in March 2023.
