CEO Spotlight - Omar Habbas - video Dailymotion

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Get an inside look at the Bay Area's business leaders on CEO Spotlight, hosted by KCBS Business Reporter Jason Brooks.

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00:00Thanks for listening to the CEO Spotlight. I'm Jason Brooks. My guest today is Omar Havis,

00:09someone that you may be familiar with, whether hearing his voice on the radio or seeing his face

00:13on billboards. Omar Havis has been with Havis Law, the founder of Havis Law. I'm going to start that

00:19over. Sorry about that. I kind of screwed that up. Thanks for listening to the CEO Spotlight.

00:24I'm Jason Brooks. My guest is someone that you may be familiar with, whether hearing his voice

00:28on the radio or seeing his face on a billboard. Omar Havis, founder of Havis Law with multiple

00:35offices in Northern California. Omar, thanks for joining us here today. Thank you for having me.

00:40It's a pleasure to be here. Let's go back to the beginning a bit. Sure. What inspired you to get

00:45into law? Well, that's a very good question, but one that's pretty simple to answer. You know,

00:53I come from a background with a father that immigrated here and joined the United States

01:02Air Force, was in the Korean War, but never finished high school. Neither he or my mother

01:10finished high school, but I'll tell you something, they could run 10 circles around me in terms of

01:16street smarts, common sense, and so on. And one of the things they taught us was about working hard.

01:24You know, so we really grew up with a very strong worth ethic, and also being very community

01:30oriented, and giving back, doing things for others, helping others, and so on and so forth.

01:35And my father's dream was always to have lawyers in the family. He wanted us to have a much better

01:42life than he did, and he wanted us to have a great education. And from the time I was very young,

01:48he talked about medicine or the law. And then it's really history from there.

01:54There's my brother, older brother, I'm the youngest in the family, is a lawyer, and I'm a lawyer.

02:00So essentially, it was in terms of giving, really the law was a place where, you know, and it's just

02:10so vast. And I always had an interest in personal injury, because that's real stuff, right?

02:19That's where somebody, due to someone else's negligence, is harmed physically, emotionally,

02:24financially. And really, what better way is there than to have this intimate personal connection,

02:32one-on-one, to help clients that really needed someone to be in their corner? I was always

02:38fascinated by that. Sorry to interrupt. Was there a particular case in personal injury early on that

02:44said to you that, yeah, this is the right choice for me? Yeah. Well, I started out, and when I went

02:49to, I went to Santa Clara University Law School. And during that time, I clerked for a two-person

02:56firm, and they handled personal injury cases, and some business cases, and so on and so forth.

03:04And I recall that there was a lady that came in to the office. She was on crutches,

03:10and this was from an automobile accident that occurred, and it was just major crush damage to

03:17her vehicle. She sustained a fractured femur, and she underwent ORIF, open reduction internal

03:24fixation surgery. And she also, when she came into the office, had two young children with her.

03:31And she was in dire stress. She couldn't sleep. She couldn't function. She had trouble caring for

03:39her children. Her life was just, you know, in shambles. And I just remember, you know, I was

03:45able to sit down in the conference room at that meeting and just listen to her story, and it was

03:51extremely touching for me. And that was very impactful. You founded Habas Law in 1988. That

03:57wasn't that long after you graduated from law school. What inspired you to do that,

04:03and what were the challenges in starting your own law firm?

04:06Well, listen, you know, it was great to get experience when I was in law school,

04:12the practical experience, and I did that for two years. And, you know, and my father having small

04:17businesses and my having to work, the family members, the children in those businesses,

04:22I wanted to have my own law firm. And I knew I would have my own law firm. And, you know, what

04:29better, you know, than to start out, take those risks, put in the time, effort, work from early

04:36morning to late nights. I was married in 1988 as well. And, you know, I had a lot of incentive to

04:42succeed. But it was really the drive of working for myself, growing an organization, employing

04:50others, working as a team. And, you know, that's just history from there.

04:55You've got several offices in Northern California. Did you

04:58ever anticipate that Habas Law would get as big as it is now?

05:04Well, you know, it was always in the back of my mind. It was always there that we were going to

05:10grow. How? Precisely, I did not know. But just as when I was in college, I knew I was going to go

05:16to law school. When I was in law school, I knew that I would have my own law firm. And just as I

05:21knew I would have my own law firm, I knew that I would have multiple offices one day. So it's

05:25really a foregone conclusion. And, you know, and once that's instilled in your mind, you know,

05:33life takes you there. And that's precisely what happened. So I knew I would have multiple

05:39offices, just didn't quite know how I would do that, especially in my first few years of practice

05:44law. Is that something that you plan to further develop and expand even beyond the current

05:50footprint here in Northern California? I believe so. We are looking at Arizona, we're looking at

05:56Nevada. Makes sense for us. At one point back in 2004, I had a partnership in Nevada.

06:07I wasn't licensed there, but they allow what they call multi-jurisdictional law firms. So you could,

06:13if you're a lawyer, own a law firm, have a joint venture with a licensed attorney in Nevada.

06:18And I had partner for seven years. And this partner retired young. And I decided to just

06:24at that time focus on our California offices. But it's always remained in my mind. And now that my

06:33son is with me as well, and I have a youngest son, one more year of law school to go. We've

06:40been discussing opening up in Las Vegas, Nevada, and then maybe out towards Scottsdale and Phoenix,

06:45Arizona as well. Family, obviously a driving force in your career. How important is it having

06:52your son Tariq in the law firm and possibly get another son joining pretty soon? Let me tell you,

06:57I mean, it's a blessing. You talk about a proud father. He knew he wanted to follow in my footsteps

07:05at a very young age. He always said, I want to be a lawyer just like you, Dad. And he would come

07:09into the firm and he'd sit by my desk and he would, you know, be there for client meetings

07:18and just absorb and take it all in. I can't tell you how overjoyed I am. And let me tell you

07:23something. My son is a lot brighter than I am. So he's going to take this firm to a whole new level.

07:31And I'm extremely, I'm a very proud father. And how important is that for a law firm to

07:36have a succession plan like that in place? I think it's extremely important. You know,

07:41back in the old days, when an attorney retired, especially if they were a small firm

07:47or a one man or woman operation, they would just close the office and that was it. They retired.

07:55With us, it's extremely important because this law firm now goes on for another generation and

08:00maybe another generation after that. We're here to stay and, you know, stay as part of

08:07this community and to grow and to give back. And the succession is, I think it's becoming

08:16more commonplace now. But it's important to have that piece of the puzzle together

08:23in order to ensure the future success and growth of the law firm.

08:27Habbas Law has been around for 36 years. What are...

08:3138 years.

08:3238 years. Thank you for correcting me.

08:34Well, that I practice law, but you're, but technically you're correct.

08:36It's, it's a long time. Let's put it that way.

08:38A long time.

08:40What are the challenges you're facing now compared to, that may be different compared to

08:4537, 38 years ago?

08:47I think the challenges now are primarily outside competition. So you've got, on many fronts,

08:55you have a lot of Southern California law firms coming in, motivated to grab as many

09:01clients as they possibly can, expand their market, marketing. And I think the pandemic

09:08drove a lot of that because things shifted into Zoom meetings, docusigns, and so on and so forth.

09:15So now attorneys are having Zoom meetings. You know, in the old days, that's unheard of. You

09:20sat in a conference room or in your office and interviewed a client in a client consultation.

09:24But now these meetings are taking place and then the legal documents are being signed and

09:29executed through a docusign. So that is something that we've seen a change in, as well as law firms

09:37coming from back East. New York, for example, the bigger law firms, and trying to find a footprint

09:44here with massive advertising.

09:48Is that difficult to protect your own turf like that against these outside firms?

09:51Initially, you think it's going to be very difficult, right? But then you start really

09:56thinking logically, and what you find out is absolutely the opposite. It hasn't been difficult.

10:02It's driven us. It's driven us to succeed. It's driven us to sit down and formulate new ideas

10:10and marketing plans and strategies of how do you compete with these people? Well, I don't really

10:16look at it as a competition. We compete with ourselves. And we have to, you know, everything

10:20has to evolve and you have to adapt into the time. That's made us stronger. It's made us really

10:27focus on the community and what we can do to give back to the community. So right now, a lot of our

10:32marketing and business strategy isn't just a matter of putting ads on TV or having billboards or

10:39radio ads, but it's also becoming more involved with community events. And that's become a big

10:47part of our strategy. I mean, you can call it a business strategy, but at the same time, it's

10:51extremely fulfilling on a personal level. So... You've also received a lot of plaudits as a

10:58lawyer, being noticed as a super attorney, the top 5% of attorneys in Northern California,

11:06also other prestigious rewards and awards as an attorney. What does that tell you about your

11:14law firm and how it's recognized by the local industry leaders as well as your peers in law?

11:21Yeah. Well, that tells me that we've made a dent and it tells me that we've been effective and it

11:25tells me that we're being recognized for the good work that we're doing on behalf of clients. It's a

11:31tremendous honor to receive those accolades and awards. You know, it's what everybody wants in

11:38business, right? And you can say all you want about yourself. And I guess a lot of people are used to

11:45lawyers patting themselves on the back. But when others say it and other business leaders and other

11:51important organizations, it's the ultimate compliment. Omar, you've had a long career. You've

11:57got many years ahead practicing law with Havis Law. Is there something in particular that you'd

12:03like to be remembered for once your career has reached a conclusion? Yes. Definitely. What I want

12:11to be remembered for is that you weren't that typical stereotyped lawyer, especially in the

12:18personal injury arena. I want to be remembered and the firm will hopefully continue to be

12:25labeled as such as, you know, a firm that really had displayed ultimate class in terms of an

12:32advertising, that they were genuine. And when they said, you can trust us, you can trust them.

12:38I want to be remembered for a law firm that not only, you know, represented people in important

12:45cases, catastrophic injuries and others, but a law firm that also gave back to the community.

12:51I want to be remembered for what we do that affects people's lives on a daily basis. And

12:56that's really where a lot of our focus has been for years and years. And that's just continuing

13:02to grow. Omar, thank you for joining us today. It's been a pleasure. Well, the pleasure is all

13:07mine. And Jason, thank you for having me. We've been joined by Omar Havis, founder of Havis Law.

13:13Thanks for listening. I'm Jason Brooks.

13:21you

CEO Spotlight - Omar Habbas

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