Are you looking for a better law firm banking experience? At Cogent, our experienced bankers understand the unique financial needs of attorneys and law firms of all sizes. To understand what this looks like in practice, we talked to Tara C. Early, a partner in Gasdick Stanton Early, about how Cogent supports law firms with professional services and individual attorneys with private banking.

Tell us about your firm and what it specializes in. 

We’re a smaller, boutique firm, but have been around for almost 40 years since 1987. I’ve been here since college and became a partner in 2001. Currently, there are three partners, one of whom is counsel, semi-retired. Our firm practices all-purpose business and real estate law, including residential and commercial. We also specialize in timeshares: escrow work, deed recovery, and foreclosure. 

How long have you worked with Cogent Bank? 

We’ve known Traci Smith, SVP, Director of Treasury Sales and Strategic Partnerships] for years and have worked with her at Cogent since its inception. Law firms that do real estate work tend to have a lot of banking relationships because you give your deposit business to the banks that give you business in return. This has been true for us in the past, but recently we moved nearly every bank account we have to Cogent. After years of following leads but having a subpar banking experience, Cogent is now our go-to. 

What are the benefits of banking with Cogent?

We appreciate being able to do so much without going in person. For example, we don’t have time to go to the bank in person to initiate a wire transfer. They also have the security features that are so critical to us. I am a stickler about security and authentication, so I appreciate that Cogent is so careful about that kind of stuff. Overall, Cogent is convenient, secure, and the people are amazing. 

What banking services do attorneys and law firms need? 

When you’re doing residential and commercial real estate, you need to have a separate escrow (IOTA) account to hold funds for closing. So, we have a real estate trust account with Cogent. Closing proceeds go in there and then we distribute them out. We also have a Money Market account for savings with Cogent, as well as an operating account with them. Every law firm has to have an operating and escrow account. Sometimes our clients need us to be a third-party holder of money while they’re waiting to close a deal. We keep our real estate accounts separate from our general trust.

Cogent has also helped with fraud after we had an incident in which someone wrote a fraudulent check from our account for $600. Cogent recommended Positive Pay and it’s been one of the best things we’ve ever done. I think every law firm should have Positive Pay on every escrow account they have. I’m grateful to Cogent for getting us onboard, making the process easy, and keeping us onboard with Positive Pay.

How has Cogent Bank assisted with your personal financial needs during the course of your relationship?

It’s great to be able to have that relationship for personal banking needs as well. For example, my daughter’s in college and coming home for a summer job. I can email my rep at Cogent to open a savings account for her and the paperwork is there next day. Everything’s done online, everything’s safe and secure. They take the hassle out of banking.

Contrast that to my experience with being on the board and handling banking for a local soccer nonprofit. Every time we want to do anything the entire board has to go to the bank in person and sit in the office for four hours. If you call, you’re on hold for four hours.

Cogent is a people bank, offering personalized service in this world of automation but still very convenient. There used to be a time when your kid goes off to college and they’d have to open a new account where they are. But my daughter can utilize Cogent as a full-service bank from five hours away in Georgia. It’s the best of both worlds.

Learn more about Attorney and Law Firm Banking!

At Cogent, our legal clients work directly with an experienced relationship manager who reviews your needs and develops financing solutions tailored to you, your firm, and your clients. If you’re looking for banking services for your law firm, you can depend on our expertise and personalized service. Contact us today to learn more about Attorney and Law Firm Banking at Cogent and how we can help you move forward!