That memory made a lasting impression on Eisen, who today frequently sees clients in the evenings and has built his accounting, tax and law practice to
offer the personal touches he observed while growing up.Eisen was trained as an accountant and worked for nine and a half years with the Internal Revenue Service in their field audit division, reviewing personal
and corporate tax returns. He spent the last three years at the IRS in the international division, examining the records of Fortune 100 companies. But he found that he missed the client contact that he had when he
was a field officer with the IRS.
A "hunger for knowledge" contributed to his decision to attend law school at nights. He also recalled his father telling him that possessing multiple licenses
instead of higher degrees was more valuable in the marketplace.
"The marketplace is set up for sole proprietors," he recalled his father telling him.
He graduated from Pace Law School's night program, where
he met his wife Linda Sampson. Soon after graduation, Eisen opened his practice for accounting and tax preparation, in addition to the general practice of law consisting of uncontested divorce, bankruptcy real
estate, and the problems facing small business in the local area.
He said the secret to his practice, which employs six full time people, involves recognizing that a majority of people who live in Peekskill and
Cortlandt work elsewhere.
"When I started offering evening appointments, it was warmly received," said Eisen.
His business was located in the lower level of his home on Lafayette Avenue and it wasn't
unusual for Eisen to spend a few nights a week, after his children had gone to bed, catching up on work in the office.
"When we started this business at home, it was a cottage industry: No one had
their offices in their homes," he said. "Now, it's much more common."
Soon the business was outgrowing the home on Lafayette Avenue. "As my kids got older, the business was invading their
privacy And I found myself working too many nights. It wouldn't be unusual for me to pull an all nighter two or three times a week during tax season," he said.
In September of 1996, Eisen moved his practice
to a large professional office suite located on the corner of Crompond Road and Crestview Avenue in Cortlandt Manor. He purchased the building and renovated it to include four conference rooms, two
private offices and a bull pen where he and his staff sit.
Eisen, during his career as a IRS Agent had visited many offices, and utilized his experience to incorporate positive features of other professional
offices into his business's new home.
"Since we all work on files as a group, I like to have clean, clear communication with my staff," he said about exchanging information back and forth with the five
people who work in the same room with him.
He credits the success of his business to the fact that he is "transaction based," and doesn't bill his clients on an hourly rate.
"Clients can call me
as their accountant and get an answer from an attorney," said Eisen. He knows that people who come to see him to have their taxes done are frequently going to need an attorney and that referral is where he'll
get his business.
He has seen his business mushroom from a small practice to one that now handles personal injury, incorporations, wills and estate planning along with accounting, tax issues and real estate
closings for residential and commercial properties.
"I can hear my father saying,"one license isn't enough"."
