Guiding Principles

Some General Observations

• Although we have many advanced degrees and academic achievements, we consider ourselves lawyers, not scholars. A lawyer applies wisdom and exercises sound judgment for the client’s practical benefit, whereas a scholar merely identifies theoretical problems and concerns. We believe that lawyers should always remain client-focused instead of issue-focused, so they can concentrate on solving problems instead of creating them.
• In commercial transactions, our clients expect us to help them create and build great things. In litigation, they depend on us to help them solve problems. In either event, when the transactions are completed and the problems are resolved, we appreciate the fact that they tend to hang around and maintain long-term personal and professional relationships with us.
• The combination of hard work and strategic thinking can solve almost any problem. Sometimes, however, the best advice we can give our clients is to be patient and avoid over-working or over-thinking a problem. Often, time, money and energy can be saved by productive patience. Enthusiasm is great, but experience trumps enthusiasm. We offer a reasonable balance of both.
• Every process, no matter how long, complicated, repetitive, boring, difficult or seemingly endless it may be, can eventually become a story with a great ending. We try to keep this in mind when we’re in the middle of it, because we know that this will sometimes be hard to recognize until it is over.