Estate Planning
The law firm on wheels
People who need estate planning most are often the least likely to get it done — and this alarming trend spurred three-time graduate Matthew Reinaker, ’02, L’05, and GB’06, to work on changing that statistic.
“I thought that if there are so many people who want this service but aren’t getting it, it wasn’t a failure of clients,” Reinaker said. “It was really the legal system not meeting people where they are and not addressing this need.”
“If there are so many people who want this service but aren’t getting it, it [isn’t] a failure of clients.”
Part of the problem by Reinaker’s estimation was limited ability to access legal offices, prompting him to launch his own law firm — Asurest. Since 2016, Asurest has provided estate planning and probate services to clients from the comfort of their own homes.
“I started a mobile firm with the idea of being able to go to clients to make it more convenient for them and more accessible,” he said.
The mobile model has worked, and Reinaker credits much of his success to his time at UR. He served as a Richmond College senator as an undergraduate and later built practical business skills through the MBA program, noting, “Every facet of my daily professional practice — from complex problem-solving to ethical decision-making — finds its roots in the rigorous preparation I received at the University of Richmond.”
Asurest has served thousands of clients in the last 10 years, but only recently did Reinaker expand his team to include a paralegal and an operations manager. Despite enjoying the autonomy of running his firm as a staff of one, Reinaker understood that he would need to hire great talent in order to support increasing demand.
“The intellectual environment of UR didn’t just teach me how to practice law or manage a business,” Reinaker said. “It taught me how to lead with authority and empathy. I graduated not just as a lawyer, but as a strategic thinker ready to take on the complexities of running a successful firm.”