Lawyer opens local firm

SANDUSKY— After a morning of working with clients, attorney Adrienne Hines opens up her phone to make social media content. In addition to being a bankruptcy lawyer, she's also an influencer. Hines posts educational videos about bankruptcy to her more than 100,000 social media followers. Recently, Hines took the jump to move her brand from the internet to a physical office in Sandusky, 502 W. Washington St. (U.S. 6), across the street from the BP gas station. The firm, known as The Lady Like Lawyer, sits adjacent to Wisehart and Wright Trial Lawyers where Hines relinquished her partnership role on June 30. "This is something that I had been wanting to do since I realized how popular my social media accounts were getting," Hines said. "I would've never done it without the validation from social media telling me that this is something that is needed and necessary." Her history Hines graduated from Ohio University in 1993 with a dual bachelor's degree in sociology and psychology and a minor in philosophy. After attending the University of Toledo Law School in 1996, she joined her stepfather's, Victor Kademenos, worker's compensation practice. Hines became a specialist in worker's compensation law in 2009. On the side, Hines was working with bankruptcy claims. "Bankruptcy work is really what made me happy," Hines said. "It's truly an area where I find I get a lot of joy mostly because I usually have a solution for somebody in about 30 minutes or less." Her social media start At the height of the pandemic, Hines began using the social media app TikTok at the suggestion of her twin teenagers. She was posting videos about cooking and running when she offhandedly mentioned that she was a bankruptcy lawyer. "I got a lot of people who stopped and said 'Wait, what?'" Hines said. "I began to really see that while I'd been a bankruptcy lawyer for all these years, I had not truly understood some of the myths, the emotions, that people have to push through in order to fix their finances and talk to a bankruptcy lawyer." After more than four years, Hines has accumulated more than 100,000 followers as "theladylikelawyer" on TikTok, Facebook and Instagram. Hines uses her platform to combat the shame surrounding filing for bankruptcy. "People treat debt as if accumulating it is a moral choice, and I come to the table understanding that debt is morally neutral in America," Hines said. "We don't have access to free or reduced quality health care for everybody, and we allow credit card companies and consumer lenders to completely take advantage of people in their times of need." Hines recognizes that most of her audience is outside of northern Ohio, but her social media account isn't about gaining clientele. "I want somebody who wants to file for bankruptcy to talk to a lawyer and already have a general understanding about bankruptcy," she said. Hines won the best bankruptcy advice award at the 2023 FinTok awards hosted by Debt.com. "I want people to be as educated as humanly possible about their finances so they can ask the right questions," she said. Visit theladylikelawyer.com and ohattorneys.com for more information. What's in a name? Hines attributes her social media handle and the firm name to the song "Lady Like" by Ingrid Andress. "Controversial, so outspoken, I've been told I'm not ladylike," Andress wrote. "But I'm a lady, like whoa." "I identified with it," Hines said.