Firm Story

I started various businesses from a young age. A business was my way of making ideas come to life and connect with different people.

This entrepreneurial experience eventually led me to study at Fordham School of Law in New York, because I had become interested in learning about how societies and individual lives are shaped by laws.

Even though working in a law firm was easier than managing a business day and night, I could never feel fulfilled getting paid for the hours I spent in front of computer. I never felt like my work made a difference in people’s lives. I knew I wanted to be out in the world, bringing values directly to people through my personal efforts.

It was the belief that every individual is creating a history through his or her journey which motivated me to become an estate planning and asset protection attorney. I have often seen that people weren’t being served by their lawyers in the way that I thought they should be. I created my law firm because I wanted to do something different from the outdated, traditional way I have been taught.

Here is what we do differently at Jiah Kim & Associates.

We prefer working on a flat fee basis with our clients

We’ll always try to offer a specific fee in advance of our work together, so you’ll never have any surprises about what something will cost you. We know that you’ll need to continue communicating with us during your lifetime about changes to your plan, as well as changes to your life and assets. We will communicate with you regularly about changes in the law. In fact, you can expect to hear from us often in our email newsletter.

We do not leave the ownership of your assets to chance

We work with you to ensure your assets are properly titled in the name of the trust, and we take responsibility to supervise the funding. We work through an established process to ensure that your existing assets remain titled correctly, and newly acquired assets are titled properly. With client assistance, we utilize a sophisticated software program that allows us to fund your living trust, track the funding process to completion, and verify to you that it is done.

We value ongoing maintenance and education to our clients

Since everything constantly changes, you cannot expect a plan to accomplish what it was intended to accomplish if it is never updated. The costs of failing to update are typically far greater than the costs of keeping plans current.  

It’s not the documents that are really the focus of our relationship. They’re the byproduct of the relationship. The focus of the relationship is helping you to make the best legal decisions for your family both now and throughout your future, and then having that peace of mind of knowing that someone is here for your family when something happens.

Because I’m a business owner too, I am able to bring the knowing and awareness that the work we do here isn’t really about you. It’s about your family, your team, and your clients. You are here to make things the best they can be for yourself and the people you love the most.

Every client I work with is a hero of a unique story. I help my clients to carry over their life values successfully to future generations by setting specific guidelines on how money is invested, children are cared for, and philosophies are preserved.

My goal is to make sure those guidelines work well throughout their lifetime by maintaining a long-term relationship. I do that by making it easy for my clients to communicate with me without charging an hourly fee, and put my whole team in place to support my clients.

Jiah Kim, Esq. 

Education

Hampshire College – B.A. in Philosophy : 2004

Fordham University School of Law – J.D. : 2010

Admissions

New York State: 2011

New Jersey State: 2010

Memberships

American Bar Association

New York State Bar Association

STEP (Society of Trust and Estate Professionals)

IAPP (International Association of Privacy Professionals)

NAELA (National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys)

Languages

Korean (native), Japanese (professional), Spanish (conversational), Mandarin Chinese (conversational)