It was not initially his goal to become an attorney, and even later open up his own practice, but Green Bay native Evan Lin is happy to find a way to serve the community where he grew up.
Lin Law, 1928 Riverside Dr. in Green Bay, has been around for a bit over 10 years, but Lin himself has been a practicing attorney for 25. His firm is focused on business and estate planning — inspired by his background as a certified public accountant (CPA) — but his focus has always been on building relationships.
After spending time at Loyola University studying accounting, he intended to just work in accounting as a CPA. He went on to take the CPA exam, but a professor put the idea of law school in his ear. He returned to Wisconsin to attend law school.
“What drew me to law school was, as a part of my accounting major, you take tax law classes, and I really enjoyed those classes. It was actually my professor at Loyola Chicago who said ‘have you ever considered law school,’” Lin said. “Up until that time the thought never crossed my mind and that’s what planted the seed.”
The professor at Loyola had also taken the CPA to attorney route. The jump from CPA to attorney is not that uncommon, but Lin had only originally set out to just be a tax accountant with his goal to work at a firm like Deloitte.
Lin later went on to work at Deloitte in Milwaukee as a tax associate, but along the journey he met his future wife. The two were both from Green Bay and thought it would make sense to move back and pursue their careers there. Lin went on to work as an attorney for two different law firms in Green Bay for over 13 years until he decided it was time to start his own firm in 2013.
“I really liked my partners at the other law firm that I was with, I was there 13 years… but when you’re in a firm that size, there’s all these different practice areas. You have nine different partners, nine different business owners basically, I just became a little bit frustrated trying to get things done, so I thought it would be best if I did my own thing,” Lin said. “I’m really glad I did it. I probably should’ve done it earlier, but I haven’t looked back since.”
Lin was happy where he was at the previous firm but thought a change would be best for him. The toils of having to navigate a large firm, and Lin’s desire to be more people orientated, pushed him to make the jump to start his own firm.
Lin Law is extremely client focused and all about relationships. Working in primarily business and estate planning, trust and relationships come hand-in-hand.
Estate planning was the groundwork for when Lin started his law firm representing family, friends and mutual acquaintances as he built up his business led to word of mouth being spread.
With over 25 years practicing law, with 10 years running his own firm, Lin’s dedication to clients and relationship building is starting to pay off. Lin is now starting to see multigenerational clients.
“It’s all about relationships — especially in Green Bay. It’s a relatively small community, especially the business community, and your reputation is basically your business card,” Lin said. “Every client I have is based on trust and relationships. We know the families.”
