1. How do you define your legal practice and typical clients?
My practice generally involves anything you can do with a piece of dirt, which includes forming entities for acquisition, capital raises, contracts, due diligence, entitlements, subdivision, construction, and sales, as well as litigation at any stage of that process. I have represented developers, contractors, lenders, real estate brokerages, property managers, and purchasers. In addition, I regularly appear before professional licensing boards on behalf of and against licensed professionals.
2. Tell us about your legal career journey. What made you become a lawyer and how did you land at Practus?
I became interested in becoming a lawyer while a member of my high school debate team. I was the Illinois state champion in debate my senior year of high school and went to college on a speech and debate scholarship. I was required to take four years of elective competitive debate to maintain that scholarship. Becoming a lawyer was a natural culmination of my education and experience.
So does your wife ever win an argument?
In over 15 years together, my wife has never once lost an argument.
3. OK, (kudos to your wife) back to the question – how’d you land at Practus?
I came to Practus because it embodies my idea of a law firm, which is a client-focused and business-minded enterprise. I grew up in an entrepreneurial family. Upon entering law, I was surprised by how few law firms focused on minimizing overhead and maximizing quality output. After seven years as an associate, I left to start my own boutique firm with an eye toward leveraging technology. Five years in, I was approached by an early adopter of the distributed law firm model that had improved and expanded what I was already doing.
Practus has taken those early distributed models and further refined them by employing state-of-the-art systems to attract talented and similar business-minded individuals. I appreciate the way Practus uses technology to create cost-effect and efficient legal solutions for clients. It also allows me to focus on practicing law rather than on administrative tasks, without the added costs of the traditional firm model. By allowing me to practice anywhere and on my schedule, Practus affords me the ability to balance my personal and work life.
4. What is your definition of professional success?
Professional success is the ability to gain the trust of my clients to provide timely legal services, while being able to provide for and spend time with my family.
5. What is the one thing you wish people about to hire a lawyer with your expertise knew?
People come to lawyers with a problem to solve – whether that is a legal dispute, or the need for a corporate framework, a transactional need, etc. The lawyer’s goal should always be to solve that problem effectively and never to exacerbate it. Media has conditioned clients to seek out “bulldog” attorneys. Certainly, there is a time and place for aggressiveness in the court room or the board room, but only if it is in service of a solution to the client’s problem.
6. Sometimes our best quality is also the one that get us in tough situations. Tell us about your best quality and how it has mostly worked for you, except that one time …
I have a soft spot for underdogs and can’t stand a bully. I will occasionally take those cases pro bono, but they can become the adage of “no good deed goes unpunished.”
Bonus Question: When you’re not working at Practus, what’s keeping you busy? Any cool hobbies or hidden talents we don’t know about?
I have played bass and guitar in bands for over thirty years. In fact, I once played bass in a band that was in a short-lived development deal with David Bowie’s producer, Toni Visconti. Also, my wife and I are avid escape room enthusiasts. We play a few rooms on nearly every trip we go on.
Now we have to know – what’s your go-to jam song?
Usually “Karma Police” by Radiohead
