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March 2015 Newsletter Addendum: How I Practice Law

I've created a monthly newsletter each month since last September - they are archived on the sidebar to the right of this page. I hope that you find the topics relevant to your business. But it has dawned on me that the newsletters don't touch on a subject that you may find interesting: how I practice law. So, let's remedy that:

  • Unlike many lawyers, I write - and revise - contracts in plain language (or "plain English," which is the same concept - just a bit more ethnocentric). The arguments for drafting contracts are stated in the articles that I wrote for the January and February, 2015 issues of the Michigan Bar Journal. (The links to these articles are also on the sidebar.) There is no good excuse for legal jargon. 
  • I try to be responsive to my clients. If a client calls or emails me and if I'm not immediately available, I try to answer within 24 hours with a substantive response (rather than simply, "I received your email and will look into it"). 
  • I'm not a law firm. A Michigan-based client hires me alone. I don't have an office to receive clients. I don't have any staff. (But I will gladly visit your office if here in west Michigan, and I never charge for my travel time.) I prefer electronic communications, not paper. I'm blessed to have a nice and quiet home work space, equipped with two printers, two scanners, a webcam for Skype, a recent-vintage desktop computer that is backed-up to an encrypted cloud, and Microsoft Office 365, which I heartily recommend. I also have several essential legal references, including many contract "forms" that I developed (with the help of colleagues) during my 34 years as in-house counsel for a major west Michigan-based retailer. Of course, contract forms mean little without the expertise to use them wisely and revise them as necessary!   
  • My hourly and fixed fee rates reflect my modest overhead. They also reflect the fact that I'm not a full-service or general practice attorney. And I don't represent individual clients, only Michigan businesses.
  • I enjoy drafting and negotiating information technology contracts, but I have other significant commercial expertise. As an in-house lawyer, I practiced in many commercial areas, including logistics, marketing, distribution, finance, eCommerce, cyber risk, intellectual property, corporate policy preparation, purchase orders, and acknowledgements for the sale of goods. If you contact me about a matter that is outside my expertise, I will promptly tell you so you can make other arrangements.  
  • My negotiating technique is "win-win." My success as an in-house lawyer was the result of close collaboration with my business clients and fair dealing with the other side. This made it easier to timely negotiate a mutually-beneficial contract. The same is true for my law practice now. 
So, that's how I practice law after my in-house legal career. As always, questions or comments are welcome. 
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