I'm Legal, So to Speak

Twenty-one years ago today I unlocked the door of a single room on the 21st floor of the Rand Building and began the (ad)venture that has become Mura & Storm, PLLC.  With an inventory of 20 environmental coverage files and an SBA loan from HSBC collaterized by my already first- and second-mortgaged duplex in Amherst, New York, I hung out my shingle, having overnight announced to as much of the insurance world as I then had fax numbers for that the Law Office of Roy A. Mura was open for and accepting new business.  I was almost eight years an admitted lawyer at that point, confident only in two things:  (1) my family's support; and (2) the insurance coverage craft I had practiced since completing my two-year appointment as a confidential law assistant to the Appellate Division, Fourth Department, in Rochester in 1988.  I was very fortunate to have worked under and with some of the very best insurance coverage lawyers in Buffalo.

Thankfully, the dance that had brung me to that point continued, and those 20 files grew to over 6,000 to date, sustaining the many lawyers, paralegals and support staff individuals who called and continue to call the Law Office of Roy A. Mura, and then Mura & Storm their place of work.  In spite of its comparatively lower hourly billing rates, I chose the insurance coverage and defense shingle because I have always loved insurance coverage work.  That I became an insurance coverage lawyer isn't surprising, I suppose, having grown up reading William Safire's "On Language" column in the New York Times every Sunday.  Being a linguaphile and grammarian have long suited me.

So to the past and present clients and supporters of the (ad)venture originally known as the Law Office of Roy A. Mura, I say thank you.  We truly and deeply appreciate that you have enabled us to reach the law firm legal drinking age.  Cheers.  And another round, please.