Trading in Boston for the Cape
by Glenn RittJoe Berlandi personifies the changing face of Cape Cod’s population, economy and legal profession.
He is among thousands of professionals migrating full-time to the Cape as baby boomers, far in advance of retirement. He has traded a full-time law practice in Boston for an office in Barnstable Village. He has chosen the Cape’s quality of life over a more lucrative urban career.
At the same time, Berlandi has no intention of slowing down. Instead, he is freeing up the hours of commuting between Boston and the Cape to focus on both his professional and personal life.
“I wanted to do this before it was too late, before the stress took years off my life,” he said. “Now, I can work near where I live. I can come in [to the office] any time I want, even a Sunday morning. But I also have more time to enjoy the Cape.”
Berlandi also is bringing years of Boston experience to the Cape’s legal scene, and in some cases following his own clients here. He and others like him are adding both credentials and competitive fire to the local law profession.
That’s apparent not only in Berlandi’s ability to attract new clients here, but also in the sophisticated approach he took to setting up his new practice.
He rented renovated offices on Main Street, blocks from the county courthouse, and also joined forces with five other professionals – three attorneys, a mortgage broker and Commonwealth Financial Group, to share office space and infrastructure.
While each is independent, they are organized and marketed to complement each other’s specialties. They not only can refer clients to each other, but in many cases, collaborate to serve that client more holistically. The collaboration includes an accounting process to allocate fees earned jointly.
By joining with two long-time local attorneys – John G. Kennan Jr. and Thomas Yonce – Berlandi immediately has the benefit of their networks, while they can leverage his Boston experience and contacts.
Kennan has years of experience practicing in Barnstable and in Sandwich, where he is vice chair of the Sandwich Alliance of Financial and Legal Professionals. He honed his estate law skills working with the late probate Judge John V. Harvey. Kennan is past president of the Sandwich Chamber of Commerce and director of the Nye Foundation.
It’s a ‘bigger is better’ full-service strategy, without any one party having to get too big themselves.
An indicator of larger Cape trends
Listen to Berlandi and you can better understand the many rapid changes occurring across the economic landscape of Cape Cod.
“It’s a whole new dynamic on the Cape, and I am part of it. Demographics are kindling a true entrepreneurial spirit, and it means more and more startup businesses,” he observed. “Baby boomers are asking themselves, ‘Why can’t I transfer my skills from a corporate setting to a more relaxed Cape Cod setting?”’
“That means they are coming here not to retire, but to start their own businesses. It also implies that others are selling those businesses. They need help buying homes. Then they need to know what kind of entity is needed to effectively start out their business. Is it an S corporation, an LLC, a partnership?”
It is that growing recognition that corporate business will come increasingly from personal clients, and vice versa.
Berlandi may be new to Cape Cod, but he comes with 40 years of experience, including many as corporate counsel to two health-care companies.
Through an acquaintance, Berlandi met John Kennan. “We hit it off immediately; our styles and practices meshed,” said Berlandi. In turn, Kennan introduced him to Tim Cooney, the Cape representative for Commonwealth Financial Group, an affiliate of Mass Mutual, and founder of the Sandwich Alliance of Financial and Legal Professionals.
Berlandi specializes in business and corporate law, real estate and zoning. Kennan focuses on estate planning and probate; Yonce on litigation and criminal law. A fourth attorney, Patrick J. Jones from the Boston firm of Cooley Manion Jones LLC, also has established an office with them, focusing on personal injury law.
Not only do these specialties merge frequently, said Berlandi, “many times I will have a business client that needs in-depth analysis of his or her family’s financial plan. That’s when Tim can step in.”
“The three of us decided to create this model to provide professional offices, plus space that can be used by the public, including nonprofit organizations,” said Berlandi.
They also intend to connect the Route 6A corridor between Barnstable Village and Sandwich. Beyond the traditional galleries, Berlandi, Cooney and Kennan agreed, Route 6A is a perfect location for professional services. By marketing the corridor and the alliance, clients can learn they don’t have to go off-Cape for coordinated legal and financial services.
Berlandi notes that the intersection between small business law, estate planning and financial advising will intensify across Cape Cod as more and more businesses are bought and sold – often with baby boomers on both sides of the transaction.
Recently, Berlandi represented the sale of magazines and a Web site by a private publisher to the Cape Cod Chamber of Commerce. He also is representing a new condo project in Craigville, The Residences at Trade Winds.
He and his colleagues are intent on filling a niche between larger firms and sole practitioners.
They hope that by marketing their full-service capabilities, they will attract increasingly sophisticated and demanding clients. At the same time, they want to project the charms and strengths of a traditional Cape Cod practice – and that includes making house calls if necessary, even on weekends and evenings, noted Kennan.
“Many of our clients are small businesses and second-home owners, and that is when they are free to meet,” Berlandi added.
It’s a calculation many businesses beyond law practices are forced to make, given the changing population and economy of the Cape.
Published in Cape Business March/April 2008
Glenn Ritt Glenn Ritt is editor and co-publisher of Cape Business Publishing LLC. He is the former publisher of Cape Cod Community Newspapers and editor of The Bergen Record in New Jersey. 
