I recently had the opportunity to review a commercial lease. The client sent it to me on a Thursday with no date certain for the signing. On the following Sunday, Easter Sunday morning, the client text messaged me that the signing is the following day.
One day earlier, a lawyer blog was circulating around the various listservs and ezines, written by an experienced lawyer on his way into retirement. It was advice to new lawyers. The first piece of advice was to bill for everything, initial consultations included. The second piece of advice was to set boundaries with clients, to not make yourself too available. As I read it, I thought to myself, ‘I’m doing things different in my office. Does it matter?’
I thought about the blog and the advice as I set to work on the commercial lease. I changed some of my Easter plans, not all of them. By Sunday evening the client had a memorandum discussing the lease clauses to negotiate and citations to relevant case law and statutes to support the negotiation. There was no payment agreement in place. We worked that out afterwards. I produced for the client a cogent solution on a holiday in under 8 hours.
I am doing things differently from my office in Goose Hollow. And it does matter. It matters to me. You work too hard on your business to not have a lawyer that is available and responsive. A lot of precious ink is spent on discussing the merits of work life balance. I have my own sense of that concept. And I think about that lawyer’s blog and the advice therein. I’m sure many attorneys follow that advice. If you’re looking for something different then we should talk. I’m not a bankruptcy attorney. It does me no good if your business fails. I want to come to your retirement party. I want to perform the buy/sell agreements for your inventory. I want to do the wealth transaction that passes your business to your kids. I’m in it with you for the duration.
Your partner in business solutions,
David James Robinson
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