Name: Sarah J. Jacobs
Hometown: Randolph
Kid: Jordan, 10
Business: Jacobs Berger, LLC
Location: 16 Washington St. #201, Morristown
New Jersey Family: Tell me about your business and what makes it unique?
Sarah J. Jacobs: Divorce is difficult enough. Your attorneys shouldn’t make it worse. At Jacobs Berger, we help take you from distressed to de-stressed both during the divorce process, and after. Going through a divorce or family law matter can be overwhelming and while we can’t wave a magic wand and eliminate all of your worries, we can and do control aspects of the process to allow our clients to focus on what really matters. We know life brings a ton of competing priorities (family, career, community, friends), and divorce just adds to the mix. Our practical, goal-oriented advice is designed to weigh options and plan for long-term sustainable success.
NJF: When did you launch the business, and what was your biggest inspiration to launch it?
SJ: I opened the first version of my law practice in July 2010; Jacobs Berger, LLC was officially born on September 1, 2015. We are very excited to be celebrating our five year anniversary in a few months, and it’s hard for me to believe I have been a law firm owner for ten! I was inspired to open my own firm so that I could “wear the white hat” and service clients who needed practical advice in a solution-driven environment. We laugh about it now, but my partner, Jamie Berger and I first in court, on opposing sides of an ongoing divorce matter. We instantly had a mutual respect for the way the other handled the clients, the facts and worked productively to resolve the case in the best way for the family. Once we started talking about starting our own firm, there was no turning back. I couldn’t ask for a better partner.
NJF: How have you pivoted your business to adapt to this stressful and uncertain time?
SJ: Long before anyone had even heard of COVID-19, Jacobs Berger was set up to work remotely when circumstances called for it. Not only is it practical in the age of technology, but because almost all of us are working moms, we need the flexibility and the ability to work on the go, from wherever, so that our business keeps serving all of the clients we’ve pledged to help. That requires overcoming speed bumps in our workday. Curve balls like children home sick from school. Children home for snow days. Children home for holidays that No. One. Else. Gets. Off. However, we’ve really seen increased opportunities to encourage clients to settle their matters in creative ways, utilizing alternative dispute resolution through Zoom, like breakout rooms, etc.
NJF: If possible, how are you and your business giving back through this period?
SJ: We are all about family and helping families and keeping people connected to what matters. So, when Homeless Solutions needed several Amazon Fire Tablets for their families to ensure that children could be connected with their schools and parents with their jobs, we course pitched in and sent what they needed. Additionally, we donated phone chargers and phone cords to Morristown Memorial Hospital so that patients quarantined could keep connected with their families and staff members working long days and nights can connect with their loved ones as well!
NJF: What will be the first thing you do as a business when this is behind us?
SJ: I think the very first thing we will do is have firm lunch! Culture is very important to JB, because we want to enjoy the place that we work. While we have been having lots of firm Zoom parties, there’s nothing like sharing a good meal (especially with an office full of foodies!) I personally will be having Tito’s Burritos for lunch; it’s my go-to feel good meal!
NJF: What’s the best piece of business advice you’ve ever gotten that you want to share with others?
SJ: The best business advice that I received is that connection is key. Families, of any kind, are connected. Find creative, solution-oriented ways to keep those connections at the forefront of everyone’s minds, when the day-to-day takes over, to bring it back to that simple motto. It’s why we at Jacobs Berger try every day to de-stress the divorce process. Finding ways to give time back to busy parents and to keep the process as streamlined as possible so that they can enjoy what matters most is what we do.