An Ounce of Prevention is Worth a Pound of Cure

We often meet new business owners who say, with a sigh of relief and a superstitious knock on wood, “we’ve never needed a lawyer.” That’s because most people think lawyers are only helpful in an emergency.

Many lawyers make a lot of money from clients who hire them in panic mode – when they’re being sued, getting divorced, filing for bankruptcy, being audited, accused of a crime, or otherwise are in some sort of crisis. When clients are in crisis, they’ll do almost anything to get out of it and that includes paying out the nose for a solution. This approach is like performing open heart surgery in the back of an ambulance rushing to the hospital.

We take a different approach. We’d rather not see you in the emergency room. Instead, we want to be your personal trainers, coaching you on nutrition and how to keep yourself (your business) healthy. If you’re in business, it’s almost inevitable that you’ll one day run into a crisis situation, but with the proper preventive medicine, you can better weather the storm. To quote a judge friend, “if you want us at the crash, invite us to the takeoff.”

How would you, as a client, make the best of our approach? Consider us your outside counsel, your Jiminy Cricket, your Tom Hagan, your consigliere (watch “The Godfather”). Loop us in on major decisions and get our input before signing anything. Call us with questions, share with us whatever keeps you up at night. Often business owners will avoid calling their lawyer with a question for fear of getting the $300 “small talk” bill. Here again, our approach is different. We don’t nickel and dime our clients on phone calls or e-mails – we’d much rather you ask for guidance first instead of “winging it.” Often we can provide quick guidance on an issue, to spare you having to pay a lot more to unravel a bad decision.

If your business needs a checkup, give us a call at (702) 485-1200.