Legacy Lawyering

For Jan and Jonas Seigel, the toughest part of working together comes after they leave the office.

“We love what we do,” says Jonas, the younger Seigel. “It’s to the point where it drives my mother and wife crazy. They’ll say, ‘Are you talking about work again?’”

Jan agrees: “When we go out socially, we try to not sit next to each other.”

Few partnerships are conflict-free, but Jan and Jonas struggle to name a difference that challenges the father-and-son team at Seigel Law. Values like integrity, humility and community service run through both men at the helm of the Ridgewood plaintiff’s personal injury practice.

Jonas says he strives to deserve the business his father built from the ground up and “handed to me on a silver platter.” Jan is similarly mindful of the legacy passed on to him by his own hardworking father.

Max Seigel immigrated as a child from Austria-Hungary, and left school in the eighth grade to help the family support his seven younger siblings. As an adult, he became a successful real estate broker who could explain contracts better than the lawyers who drew them up.

“But he really valued education because it was the one thing he didn’t have, and he was very aware of it,” Jan says.

Jan became the first in his family to go to college, getting degrees in accounting and law. He set his sights on a three-year master’s program in tax law, but by then he’d also married and needed a day job. So he joined the county prosecutor’s office, where he began trying criminal cases. By the time he finished school, he liked trying cases better than doing tax work.

When he opened his own firm, Jan took whatever cases came in—from divorces to real estate closings—and sometimes clients would bring tomatoes to the house when they couldn’t afford legal fees. Criminal law eventually made up the bulk of his work but, at 47 years old, he suffered a massive heart attack. His wife asked him to avoid the courtroom, and instead he moved into civil law, where cases are often settled out of court. He found satisfaction with personal injury lawsuits.

“Most people who need help are not the bank president, they’re the little guy,” Jan says. “I always saw my father in almost all of my clients.”

Jonas grew up knowing his father helped injured people pay their medical bills and get back to work.

“I knew my dad was doing greatness,” Jonas says. “The light in their eyes didn’t lie. These people were so appreciative.”

The third of four children and the jock in the family, Jonas only knew he wanted a job similarly helping people.

He worked as a coach, taught autistic kids, and considered getting a master’s in special education. When he learned the program took six years, he joked that he could do law school in three. His father didn’t push him, but a family friend told him to go for it.

“My father is my hero and my best friend,” Jonas says. “I knew if I followed in his footsteps, I’d be a success.”

Jonas deferred his last semester of law school to help Habitat for Humanity rebuild New Orleans’s Lower Ninth Ward following Hurricane Katrina.“New Orleans simply needed laborers more than New Jersey needed lawyers,” he says.

Years later, when Jan joined the firm and made his son a 50-50 partner, the elder asked his son what he’d like to do differently.

“I figured he’d come up with some really brainy way of making money,” Jan says. “Instead he said, ‘Let’s start a charity fund.’”

The firm now donates 1% of its profits, in addition to time volunteering. “Going down to Habitat for Humanity or Eva’s [Village] to serve people is a little more difficult, but it’s much more rewarding when you meet the people you’re helping,” Jan says. Other beneficiaries have included Oasis, Emmanuel Cancer Foundation, Boys & Girls Clubs, Wills for Heroes Foundation, YMCA and many others in Bergen County. “If it’s a charity involving kids, we want to be in,” Jan adds, noting Jonas is also a volunteer firefighter.

Jonas describes his father as someone so respected “he could run for public office if he wanted to.” But to Jan, it’s clear his son has stepped out from behind his admittedly large shadow.

“The funny thing is,” he says, “now when I go out, I’m known as Jonas Seigel’s father.” 

Head to Head

When I stared, I wish I knew

Pretrial routine

When I win a case, I