Meet Nick L. Torres, Esq.

 

We recently connected with Nick L. Torres, Esq. and have shared our conversation below.

Nick L. , we’re thrilled to have you on our platform and we think there is so much folks can learn from you and your story. Something that matters deeply to us is living a life and leading a career filled with purpose and so let’s start by chatting about how you found your purpose.

My journey to find purpose dates back to my teenage years. When I was 16 years old, I found myself sitting in the back of a police car for traffic violations and in need of a lawyer. I had never been in trouble with the law before and was clueless on my rights. Growing up and being raised in a single mother household of humble means, I could not afford legal representation. Given these circumstances, my mother asked our pastor if he knew any members of the church who would be willing to provide pro bono representation for me in court. Frank volunteered. 

Frank was an attorney from Rome, New York. I still remember the day that Frank walked into the courtroom all those years ago carrying his brief case in his left hand and bible in his right. He had a sophisticated aura about him and a subtle but undeniable confidence. The room respected him, and I wanted that. I wanted to be like Frank and become a meaningful member of society that added value and positively impacted the lives of my neighbors. 

For Frank, it was not about the money—it was about helping those in need by providing his services to them. Frank taught me the importance of providing top tier service to all client regardless of their background. I learned that for me to feel fulfilled, I needed to serve and deliver value to those around me. Thanks to Frank, I found purpose.  

Frank inspired me to pursue a legal career, which brought me to the doorsteps of Emory University School of Law, a top 20 law school at the time. Upon graduating, I longed to go against the grain and dive into entrepreneurship. I believed entrepreneurship would allow me to fulfill my life’s purpose of helping those in need. I also was attracted to the unique challenges entrepreneurship posed. Entrepreneurship, at its core, is a means to achieve self-mastery. To succeed at entrepreneurship requires an unwavering commitment to personal excellence and a devotion to continually improving one’s skillset in a comprehensive fashion. You can have no weaknesses. If you are not good at math, you cannot do your accounting or bookkeeping, and your venture will go bankrupt. If you are not good at public speaking, you cannot inspire a team or become your firm’s visionary. If you are not a fantastic legal practitioner, you cannot solve your client’s problems. If you are not a good salesman, you will have no business. Ultimately, you must be great at everything. 

At Emory University School of Law, while my classmates were polishing their resumes in hopes of getting the opportunity to make others wealthy at the top and devote their personal services in exchange for a consistent biweekly paycheck, I planned to go against conventional wisdom and launch my own firm. When life got in the way, I ended up moving from Atlanta, Georgia to Beijing, China to pursue the love of my life and future wife. I delayed my dreams of launching my own startup venture, and, instead, started submitting resumes to all the major firms in China because I couldn’t fathom starting a family without a stable income. Eventually, I landed a job as an intern at a major domestic law firm in Beijing for three months, where I earned $400 a month in exchange for full-time service of 40 to 50 hours a week. 

Over the years, my desire to cut the umbilical cord connected to my employer grew. However, so did my salary. My pay increased from $400 a month to $3,500, to $12,500, to $28,750 a month. As my salary grew, I hesitated to leave my employer. I found my full time consistent paychecks and the financial security they provided to be addicting. How could I leave all this money on the table? I felt I was selling my soul chasing billable hours, and lost sight of my dream to build an enterprise with a purpose worth devoting my life to. This was my purpose. This was my “ikigai,”—to build something meaningful.   

Even though I was earning a living, I hated giving up my dream in exchange for money. I hated being told what to do. I hated working for senior partners who did not care about the associates and thought they were smarter because they knew one aspect of the law. I hated being suppressed under the traditional hierarchy of a corporate firm, where you have to give up ten years of your life for a mere chance to become an equity partner. I envisioned turning the tables and firing my boss, so I could build a firm that embodied a positive corporate culture and my values.  And that is exactly what I did. 

“Ikagai” is a Japanese concept that combines the terms “iki,” meaning “alive” or “life,” and “gai,” meaning “benefit” or “worth.” When combined, these terms mean that which gives your life worth, meaning, or purpose. My “ikigai,”—my purpose in life—is to perfect my craft as a legal practitioner and provide world-class, value driven legal services to those in need. I want to empower innovators, investors, founders, financers, and visionaries to fulfill their dreams and give back to the community by spurring social change, propelling economic growth, and shaping a better future for all.

My story dating back to 2010 when I left New York to travel and work in Asia, led me to found Torres & Zheng at Law in 2018 and begin scaling the firm in 2023: the law firm built by an entrepreneur for entrepreneurs. We have offices in New York and New Jersey, as well as a limited presence in China because this is the industry and people that I want to serve. This firm embodies the principle of my “ikagai” by empowering our lawyers to do the type of work they love and providing top tier service to our clients.

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?

I am focused on building a platform, a firm, that serves small to medium size businesses to empower their company to grow by solving complex and sophisticated legal issues that arise in their day-to-day business. We believe the clients we serve, entrepreneurs, are the bloodline of our economy. The better our clients perform, the bigger their companies grow, the more society will benefit.

The most exciting part of about my business is that clients rely on our team’s ability to critically think and solve the most pressuring matters in their business, and sometimes, in their life. There is never a dull moment. There is never a task too insignificant. There is never a client’s matter that is not urgent. This is because we believe that the best attorneys treat their client’s matters more important than their own, that is to say, the best attorneys prioritize their client’s matters above all else.

From assisting client’s to acquire shares from another shareholder in the entity, to working 18 months to consummate an initial public offering, to handling a personal dispute with a neighbor, a lawyer’s job is never finished and this is what wakes us up in the morning and gets us excited about what we do.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

The three qualities that were most impactful in my journey are: (1) commitment to self-mastery and self-improvement; (2) high emotional intelligence (“EQ”) and communication skills; and (3) a love for reading.

For a commitment to self-mastery, I believe it is important to have productive habits and hobbies. Instead of watching Netflix after work, get in the habit of listening to audiobooks; instead of playing video games, get in the habit of learning a second language. Generally, what separates me from my competition is that I believe I am more committed to my personal development than they are. In a capitalist economy, competition is everything. Be better. Every day.

For developing a high EQ, you need to constantly put yourself in social environments, even if you are uncomfortable initially. For me, learning a second and third language has helped me improve my ability to generate conversation with anybody from anywhere, regardless of whether we have anything in common. I have a unique ability to talk to somebody for 20 minutes and make it seem like we have known each other for years. I read books on social communications to better communicate effectively, but I also had a very active childhood where I grew up with many friends. So my ability has been sharpened by my environment. Whatever the situation is for you, you should be aware that this is an important skill to continue to develop. Do not leave it to develop naturally. Everything can be improved.

For reading, I personally attribute the majority of my success to my passion for reading and learning. I read and study books that I carefully select. People argue that they prefer to read on their phone or listen to podcasts, but I believe that you cannot compare a book to a podcast. It is like comparing a sculpture to a selfie. Read books.

One of our goals is to help like-minded folks with similar goals connect and so before we go we want to ask if you are looking to partner or collab with others – and if so, what would make the ideal collaborator or partner?

We are generally looking for small to medium size businesses that are generating enough revenue and growing to the point where they need a legal department. If you are too early in your venture, it may be difficult to hire an attorney unless you have investors. However, if you are scaling or have investors, our firm presents various value add options for companies with flat fee packages. We were founded with the goal of disrupting the traditional law firm business model that has been outdated for decades.

Besides clients, we are always looking to develop mutually beneficial strategic partnerships with commercial real estate agents and other players serving the restaurant and hospitality industry, including service providers working with Chinese franchises operating in the United States.

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