Richard J. Ebbinghouse, Attorney Member Spotlight
Rick Ebbinghouse’s entire life has been devoted to helping people. In his career, he started as a litigation attorney who specialized in civil rights issues and helping low-income people access safe and affordable housing, and now he helps his clients resolve their IRS problems. “When I started out practicing law in 1977, I moved to Selma, Alabama, and helped open up a legal aid office there,” Rick says. “I brought litigation against the United States government to force a portion of the housing at the closed Craig Air Force Base to be for low-income people. As a result, 225 units of housing were created in a county where 52% of the housing was substandard.” Rick then moved to Tuscaloosa, Alabama, where he served as the senior staff attorney supervising attorneys and paralegals. Over the years, Rick opened his own practice and also worked for other firms throughout Alabama. In 2011, he moved back to Indianapolis in his native Indiana so that he could be closer to his aging parents. He joined his brother Tom in their law firm, Ebbinghouse Law Group. Rick has been using his extensive litigation experience to help his clients negotiate successful tax resolutions with the IRS since 2013. When Michael launched the Tax Resolution System and Toolkit in 2014, Rick purchased it and joined the Roz Strategies membership. “My personal interest professionally has always been how to use the law to try and help people have better lives,” Rick says. “I know a certain amount of tax law, but my background was not focused on tax.” Even though Rick is an attorney helping people with tax problems, for this lawyer, you can’t take housing out of the equation. He says, “In some tax resolution cases, sometimes you’re trying to help somebody save their house, too.” He shares one story, “My client owed many years of unpaid taxes, and the United States had filed a motion in district court to have his house sold. The client suffered from depression, and additionally, he had a daughter who had schizophrenia. He had been completely overwhelmed and hadn’t dealt with his taxes for a number of years. So, we had to get returns filed and a number of different things. But the upshot of it all was that they still are in their house.” When asked for a particularly beneficial strategy he’s learned from Michael, Rick is quick to say it’s to persevere. “Keep working and working and trying to find a way to solve the problem,” he says. “Michael is extremely tenacious, clearly
as a marketer, and you need that on the business side of your practice. But also, it’s clear that Michael was a tenacious advocate on behalf of his clients.” Rick adds that one benefit of the membership he likes, in particular, is the monthly Q&A calls where people can call in and ask Michael questions about how to deal with certain things. “It’s helpful to be able to bounce things off of people and get feedback.” When it comes to marketing to get new clients, Rick says that referral marketing has worked best for him. “My practice is not geared to be a high-volume practice where I’m going to run a large inventory of cases. I’ve partnered with CPAs and worked with them and their clients.” When asked about life outside the office, Rick says that years ago he became active in the Alpha course, which consists of people coming together to explore their questions about faith. Rick shares what drew him in: “One of the things that I liked about the Alpha course was that there was no question that was too challenging or off-limits.” He adds, “So, the great thing about it is that people have an opportunity to come in and explore their faith. In my own case, I had lost my wife to breast cancer a number of years ago, and so one of the things you are faced with is why am I still here? What am I supposed to be doing?” Rick found purpose in leading an Alpha course group in Birmingham for several years until he moved back to Indiana. Rick also enjoys spending time with his two pit bull rescues, Atlas and Rachel, and laughingly says, “I’m only working to support my dogs.”
4 • www.rozstrategies.com
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