Masterful Business Lawa & Market Solutions
Our Story
We are Torres & Zheng at Law, LLC
Our Story
Our story of inception initially began in the halls of Emory University School of Law, where our founder, Nick L. Torres, Esq., studied law. Graduating in 2017, Nick longed to go against the grain and dive into entrepreneurship immediately after graduating with his Juris Doctorate. While his classmates were polishing resumes in hopes of getting the opportunity to make others wealthy and devote their personal services in exchange for a W-2 paycheck at Big Law, Nick planned to go against conventional wisdom and launch his own venture immediately after graduating.
When life got in the way, Nick ended up moving from Atlanta, Georgia to Beijing, China to pursue the love of his life and he ended up delaying his dreams of launching his own startup venture to submitting resumes to all the major firms in China. Eventually, Nick landed an opportunity to intern for three months, where he earned $400 a month in exchange for full-time service at a major domestic law firm in Beijing. Nick’s resentment along with his desire to cut his umbilical cord connected to his employer grew. But so did his salary. As his salary grew in size, Nick hesitated to fire his employer. W-2 paychecks are addicting. Over the years, his pay increased from $400 a month to $3,500, to $12,500, to even $28,750. Paycheck after paycheck, Nick’s resentment continued to build as he continually chased billable hour goals year after year.
Even though he was earning a living, Nick resented giving up his dream in exchange for money; being told what to do and when to do it; and working for senior partners who did not care about their associates and thought they were smarter than him because they know one aspect of the law better than he did; being suppressed under the traditional hierarchy of a corporate firm; where you exchange ten years of your life for a chance to become an equity partner in the firm. Nick envisioned firing his boss and building a firm embedded with his corporate culture and values in life. His dream was to build an enterprise with a purpose worth devoting his life to.
Today, our story and journey of Torres & Zheng at Law, LLC , we have offices in New York, New Jersey, and Atlanta. The team also has a limited presence in Beijing and Shanghai. And so it is. Our Story dating back to 2017 in New York City and Atlanta, after traveling to over 20 countries, six of which he spent in China, Nick has leveraged a world of experience with high-class training and an unparalleled dedication to service and founded Torres & Zheng at Law: The law firm built by an entrepreneur for entrepreneurs.
We Have Offices In These Locations
Our Purpose
At this firm, we believe in disrupting the traditional law firm business model that has been outdated for decades. The traditional business model is riddled with challenges for lawyers that have not changed for decades. The following challenges have resulted in law firms providing their own clients with an inferior client-centered experience because present-day law firms’ business models are focused on the billable hour as opposed to incentivizing and rewarding the production and delivery of time- and cost-efficient legal services that deliver value to clients:
- The entrepreneurial lawyer goes unrewarded for years. Profits are most often shared among the law firm’s partners. Only after a decade or more of service can an associate who has the ability to bring in business receive equity.
- Profit-sharing models do not prioritize the client. Profit sharing prioritizes getting clients over providing a client-centered experience.
- Billable hour mandates equate to voluntary servitude. The billable hour mandates reward quantity over quality and rewards the willingness of associates to bury themselves in work, and sacrifice their freedom of time and even health in exchange for money.
- The 10-Year promise: Time and skill are not always parallel paths. When promoting lawyers to partners, traditional law firm partnership structures tend to prioritize attorneys’ years of experience over skill levels. However, time and skill levels do not always correspond with each other.
- Traditional law firm partnership structures leave non-lawyer staff out of the equation. If a firm’s partnership and profit-sharing model focuses on rewarding lawyers who bring in the most work, non-attorney staff and non-partners may feel undervalued. If non-lawyer staff feel undervalued, the firm will likely experience high turnover and low morale. Non-lawyer staff will also likely feel disincentivized to push to meet firm goals.
- Lawyers can become overly focused on competition. When the partnership is linked directly to hours and experience, lawyers can get bogged down with issues like office politics and burnout from billing quotas.
- The partnership buy-in keeps you broke. Lawyers reading this must have thought they would have made it to the end of the rat race at this point. Guess again. Even after a decade has passed and an associate makes an equity partner, the associates owe the firm a check to buy into the partnership, which could be over $1,000,000. If they cannot pay at that time, they can work even longer to pay it off. Congratulations.
- The entrepreneurial lawyer goes unrewarded for years. Profits are most often shared among the law firm’s partners. Only after a decade or more of service can an associate who has the ability to bring in business receive equity.
- Profit-sharing models do not prioritize the client. Profit sharing prioritizes getting clients over providing a client-centered experience.
- Billable hour mandates equate to voluntary servitude. The billable hour mandates reward quantity over quality and rewards the willingness of associates to bury themselves in work, and sacrifice their freedom of time and even health in exchange for money.
- The 10-Year promise: Time and skill are not always parallel paths. When promoting lawyers to partners, traditional law firm partnership structures tend to prioritize attorneys’ years of experience over skill levels. However, time and skill levels do not always correspond with each other.
- Traditional law firm partnership structures leave non-lawyer staff out of the equation. If a firm’s partnership and profit-sharing model focuses on rewarding lawyers who bring in the most work, non-attorney staff and non-partners may feel undervalued. If non-lawyer staff feel undervalued, the firm will likely experience high turnover and low morale. Non-lawyer staff will also likely feel disincentivized to push to meet firm goals.
- Lawyers can become overly focused on competition. When the partnership is linked directly to hours and experience, lawyers can get bogged down with issues like office politics and burnout from billing quotas.
- The partnership buy-in keeps you broke. Lawyers reading this must have thought they would have made it to the end of the rat race at this point. Guess again. Even after a decade has passed and an associate makes an equity partner, the associates owe the firm a check to buy into the partnership, which could be over $1,000,000. If they cannot pay at that time, they can work even longer to pay it off. Congratulations.
Meet Nick L. Torres, Esq.
Message from Our Founder
“Before founding Torres & Associates, I was an associate at several major law firms in China and the United States. Based on that experience, my goal became creating something completely new for the industry, a law firm that would reimagine the lawyering experience. With this aspiration in mind, Torres & Associates was founded. Our entrepreneur-centric model was designed to give everyone an equal opportunity for growth. And that is what makes us unique. This is what it means to be an entrepreneur.
“My dream to become an attorney started back when I was a teenager and I found myself in need of an attorney. When I was 16 years old, I found myself in the back of a police car for traffic infractions. Growing up and being raised by a family of humble means, I could not afford legal fees for legal representation. At this time, my mother did the only thing she could do: she asked our pastor whether he knew any members of the church who would be willing to provide pro bono legal fees to represent me in court. Frank volunteered.
“Frank was an attorney from Rome, New York. I still remember the day that Frank walked into the court all those years ago. He had an aura about him. He walked into the court room full of confidence. He was sophisticated. He was professional. He carried his briefcase in his left hand and his Bible in his right hand. The room respected him. I wanted that.
“Frank served me in my time of need. Through this experience, I realized the value of delivering premium professional services in all scenarios to serve our clients. It is not about the money—it is about delivering value to our neighbors, our community, and our world. Only by delivering value, can we ultimately get what we want in life. In other words, I believe that the more value that I deliver to my clients, the more value that I will ultimately gain from the world. It is simply an undeniable natural law in life. This is my purpose. Therefore, the Firm was founded with the purpose of thriving to provide world-class value-added legal services to empower innovators and investors, founders, financers, and visionaries to fulfill their visions and improve the lives of all of humanity by spurring social change, propelling economic growth, and shaping a better future for us all.”
Meet Nick L. Torres, Esq.
Message from Our Founder
“Before founding Torres & Zheng, I was an associate at several major law firms in China and the United States. Based on that experience, my goal became creating something completely new for the industry, a law firm that would reimagine the lawyering experience. With this aspiration in mind, Torres & Zheng was founded. Our entrepreneur-centric model was designed to give everyone an equal opportunity for growth. And that is what makes us unique. This is what it means to be an entrepreneur.
“My dream to become an attorney started back when I was a teenager and I found myself in need of an attorney. When I was 16 years old, I found myself in the back of a police car for traffic infractions. Growing up and being raised by a family of humble means, I could not afford legal fees for legal representation. At this time, my mother did the only thing she could do: she asked our pastor whether he knew any members of the church who would be willing to provide pro bono legal fees to represent me in court. Frank volunteered.
“Frank was an attorney from Rome, New York. I still remember the day that Frank walked into the court all those years ago. He had an aura about him. He walked into the court room full of confidence. He was sophisticated. He was professional. He carried his briefcase in his left hand and his Bible in his right hand. The room respected him. I wanted that.
“Frank served me in my time of need. Through this experience, I realized the value of delivering premium professional services in all scenarios to serve our clients. It is not about the money—it is about delivering value to our neighbors, our community, and our world. Only by delivering value, can we ultimately get what we want in life. In other words, I believe that the more value that I deliver to my clients, the more value that I will ultimately gain from the world. It is simply an undeniable natural law in life. This is my purpose. Therefore, the Firm was founded with the purpose of thriving to provide world-class value-added legal services to empower innovators and investors, founders, financers, and visionaries to fulfill their visions and improve the lives of all of humanity by spurring social change, propelling economic growth, and shaping a better future for us all.”
Be Part of Our Story!
We are looking for people who believe in these values to help us live them every day as we continue to reimagine the way the world moves for the better. Torres & Zheng is always looking for qualified candidates to add to our growing team. Attorneys, administrative, and Internship positions are available. If you are interested in working with a growing law firm, please contact us