Ohio Practical Business Law : Columbus Ohio Business Lawyer & Attorney : Teri Rasmussen : Plunkett Cooney Law Firm : Commercial Law, Creditors, Business Formation : Columbus, Central Ohio

Some prospective clients arrive at my office secure in the knowledge that "justice" is on their side and whoever is on the other side has wronged them mightily and ought to have to pay dearly for it.  And since God, Truth, and the American Way are on their side, it ought to be pretty easy and quick to get to that result!  WRONG! 

Adrianos Facchetti of the California Defamation Law Blog recently had a great post about why "Can I file a lawsuit?" is the WRONG question for any client to ask.  His insightful post points out that anyone can pretty much sue anyone at anytime so YES, you CAN file a lawsuit.  The real question is SHOULD you file a lawsuit.

Among other points Adrianos makes, together with my commentary:

• Is your claim really as strong as you think?  Sometimes a claim looks strong on the surface, especially to nonlawyers, but becomes more shaky as time goes on.  Just because someone did something "wrong" to you in your opinion DOES NOT necessarily mean you have a legal claim and remedy.  Remember, no one ever promised you that life is or ever would be fair.  

• Is the target of your lawsuit likely to sue you back?  This is one question almost no prospective client ever really thinks about.  If you decide to sue someone or some company, it is entirely possible, and in some cases extremely likely, that they will file a Counterclaim asserting a related claim back against you.  Once that happens, you are in it for the long haul.  And, while none of us want to think about this outcome, your opponent could wind up winning his claim against you while you go home empty-handed.

• If you win, will you actually get enough to make it worth your while (or the while of any attorney)?  First, just because you win and have a judgment does not necessarily mean that the defendant is going to write you a check for all or any portion of the amount of the judgment - you may have to chase down assets which might be both long and expensive.  Even if that's not an obstacle, is the amount you are likely to COLLECT going to be more than the legal fees it takes to get there?  And if it's not are you really going to be O.K. with that? - see the next point.  Remember, except for big tort cases, many lawyers are reluctant or unwilling to take a case on a contingent fee.  Breach of contract cases, for instance, will almost always only be handled on an hourly fee basis.

• Is this one of those "principle" cases and if it is, have you really thought about it objectively?  Whether they say so ot not, lawyers generally really hate these cases.  Why?  Well generally because cases that start out this way rarely end well.  Many clients start out insisting that "it's the principle of the matter" or that the defendant shouldn't be "allowed to get away with that".  As time goes on (and remember, most cases are definitely going to take more than a year to resolve and often much longer) and legal fees mount, most clients stop caring so passionately about the matter or become unwilling to believe they could possibly lose (and why is this taking so long anyway?).  Either way, it's often perceived as my fault as the lawyer.  Now if it really is a "principal" case and will stay that way, then GREAT!  I once had a client who specifically told me that he would rather pay me than the guy on the other side... and that WAS fine with me.  

• Do you have the emotional make-up to deal with an obnoxious attorney on the other side who will have a chance to question you ingreat detail about your claim?  You will almost certainly have to have your deposition taken where the other side's lawyer gets to ask you lots of questions, some of which you might rather not have to go into.

• Are you willing to spend a considerable amount of time working with your attorney to prepare the case?  And this one is really important.  Did I mention that no matter how RIGHT you are, it will take quite a long while to work things through the legal system?  In most cases, your attorney will need you to explain the facts to him or her and answer probing questions.  Often you will be asked to retrieve certain information or documents that may not be the easiest thing to lay your hands on, but may be considered crucial to your case by your lawyer.   

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Well, I'm finally back!!  And proud to announce the opening of my own shop - Rasmussen Law Office.  (I know lots of people say "Offices", but that seems stupid to me when really there's just the one office of me, myself and I.)  My new office is located in Dublin, Ohio, a northwestern suburb of Columbus, and is very close to where I worked when I previously practiced law in Dublin..  Good place for a business lawyer, I think.  So it feels very comfortable.  My new address is:

5956 Wilcox Place, Ste B, Dublin, Ohio 43016

tgr@rasmuslaw.com

I will continue to offer pragmatic legal counsel and advice to owner operated companies and their principals regarding issues arising in the course of their business, including

• Business Formation
• Agreements/Disputes among owners
• Contracts
• Leases of equipment or business premises
• Acquisition/sale of business 

In addition, I will represent banks and other creditors in negotiating, structuring and collecting commercial loans and leases.  

So a new chapter begins...

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Mostly because I feel like it and this is MY blog, today's post has nothing more than a selection of links to stuff I found today (after working hours, of course) that sorta cheered me up and which I thought might amuse others as well.  

Lately I've been a bit grumpy and a tad more depressed than usual, perhaps in part due to my capitulation to the realization that we really are entering the long Winter months I despise so much.  And work has recently been both busier/wearing and less intrinsically fascinating  - a decidedly bad combination - so it's time for some attitude adjustment.  Come along for the ride!

• Washtenaw Jail Diary (Ann Arbor Chronicle) - what is it about being in jail which really brings out the brilliant writer in those who have such a gift?  This is an ongoing installment series about a Twitter feed of recollections by an individual jailed in the Wastenaw County Jail in Ann Arbor, MI that began in April 2009.  Well written.  And if you're feeling down. this will certainly make you feel infinitely better about your particular situation or circumstances while still bringing a smile to your face.   Hat tip to Above the Law
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• A Real-Life Big Brother Poster (Business Pundit) - as in George Orwell's 1984, not the CBS TV reality Series - supposedly appearing outside a London Tube station.  I just thought this was interesting.
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• New language for those Mutual Releases exchanged in settlements so clients will be protected if interplanetary travel ever takes off commercially   -  Read about it at Legal Blog Watch's Contracts:  Throughout the Universe, From the Beginning of Time post or in the original WSJ post "Lawyerese Goes Galactic as Contracts try to Master the Universe"  leave it to lawyers to add yet another phrase to several others that already cover whatever's remotely likely to happen.  Still I like seeing that creativity is still out there among the lawyer class and i suppose folks also laughed about reserving rights beyond the shores of Europe at one time.
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• Nagging by one's spouse bad enough to want to go back to jail or get a divorce?  Apparently in some cases, YES,according to this story in The Times On-Line (that's the London U.K. one)  

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In honor of April Fool's Day, I am introducing a new monthly feature I'm calling the "Silly Side of Law".  Look for it on the first day of each month. 

Especially with all the doom and gloom swirling around us these days, I figure it can't hurt any of us to take a little time to find and enjoy the lighter side of this thing we call Law.  Sometimes crazy things happen in the law, sometimes the folks embroiled in a legal dispute do crazy things, and sometimes  the lawyers themselves are good for a few laughs.

• From a fellow University of Michigan alumnus David Mills (click here for the background story) comes Courtoons, which I found LOL HILARIOUS.  Every business day (M-F), David puts up a new law-related cartoon. 

• From the Wall Street Journal Law Blog comes this story about the process of suing God which asks the question: Does an All-Knowing God Need Notice of a Lawsuit?

• For those of you who missed it last Fall, here is the Hurricane Ike apology letter from Jeff Murphey to Dale Markland regarding cancellation of depositions.  And in the interests of fairness,  Mr. Markland's viewpoint about it all.

• Sometimes a Judge just has to call it the way it  is - you're just not making any sense! 

• From Legal Blog Watch comes the Weirdest Legal Cases of 2008

That's it for this time.

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No one at my law firm, nor any of my attorney friends, really "gets" yet why I do this blog, or as some in the legal biz like to refer to  it -- in an effort to differentiate us from those who reveal the most intimate details of their personal life in the most scandalous way possible -- "blawg".  They understand that I like to write, but in the end, what does my blog/blawg have to do with actually getting clients?  And why else would you spend the time doing it anyway? 

I've had this blog/blawg up since mid October of last year, although according to my "hits", basically nobody much noticed at all until sometime in November.  So I think in all fairness I can claim that I've only been doing this for about three or four months.  However, I now regularly have almost twice as many hits (daily, weekly, or monthly) than my law firm's website and generally come up far higher on subject matter Google searches.  If all goes well, I hope to get to 10,000 total hits by my birthday in late May.  But again, what does that have to do with anything?  And especially why does this matter to clients?

I began this blog/blawg with the idea that all of us are depending more and more on the internet and the web to get more and more essential information about pretty much anything affecting our personal and professional lives.  I noticed that I was resorting to the internet more and more frequently to find forms and other resources to help me answer questions posed by clients -- and perhaps equally, if not more, importantly, I was finding useful information and referrals at an exponentially expanding rate.  And I reasoned that, if I was finding the web an increasingly more beneficial and genuinely downright useful (not to mention exceedingly cost effective) resource, the people and companies I hoped to attract as clients must be doing the same thing. 

From there, it was an easy decision to find a way to be where these prospective clients are.  Serving those prospective clients by actually providing some useful information about legal issues thay might be facing is both fun and rewarding for me.  In addition, in doing the blog/blawg over the last few months, I have become even more convinced that blogging/blawging has made me a far better and more useful lawyer to my current and prospective clients.  Here's why:  

1.     Knowledge Entreprenuer.  I find time to actually go research those extra questions of clients to which I don't quite know the answer.  Why?  Now I think in broader terms about what I want to know and can offer to prospective clients.  What better source of inspiration for blog/blawg posts could there possibly be?  

 

Case in point - clients frequently ask my advice regarding what legal entity they should have for their business.  I have general factors they should consider, but when it comes to the effect of self-employment tax, I have usually been content to refer clients to their CPA.  Recently, I decided that this seemed like a terrific topic for my blog/blawg so I went to a seminar, read up on it, made a few phone calls to some subject matter experts I could access, and finally got it figured out so I could write a respectable post (forthcoming) for the blog/blawg -- and provide pragmatic advice to my clients. 

 

Who paid for that?  Well, it was me and, indirectly, my law firm because I spent the time to learn this, but didn't bill any client for that time.  Who benefits?  Every client I have from now on that wants to know all the factors worth considering in making this decision. 

 

And this I think is one of the greatest benefits of hiring a blogging/blawging lawyer.  We're naturally curious and love to learn new stuff -- how better to satisfy this than by actually exploring the questions that clients seem to ask most often!  The blogging/blawgging attorney is just going to know MORE about more issues because they have a concrete personal stake and commitment beyond the needs of any particular client to find stuff out.  And if I already know something, you the client won't have to pay me to go find out.

2.     Communication 101.  You'll have a fairly good idea whether you're going to understand a word I say or write and actually be able to use any of the expensive advice you pay me to give you.  Let's face it - in most cases, it doesn't much matter if I'm a brillant legal genius if you can't make any sense out of what I'm telling you or comprehend how to implement the counsel and advice you're paying me to provide.  If you are able to "connect" with what I write in my blog/blawg, then at least you know you'll get something of value when I communicate with you in writing, and hopefully face to face as well.

3.     Authenticity and "Real Voice".  One of the really "neat"/"cool" (OK, I've been around a while and don't really know the current "hip"/"in" phrase) things about blogs/blawgs is that the authors get to show at least a little personality.  Some of us are a little better at this than others (law is a rather conservative field) and I think I'm still finding my "authentic" voice, but blogs/blawgs are conducive to a level of informality.  So, when you read my blog/blawg,  you as client get at bit of a "sneak preview" of what I'm really like.  And if, as is likely, you're going to be spending some time with me once you ask me to represent you, that's got to be useful info.  BTW, I hope to be more irreverent in my blog/blawg in the future - it's a process.

4.    Quality and Competence.  There is at least some ability to actually assess the quality and competence of your would-be lawyer to be.  Those of us who blog/blawg are "out there".  You can take what we've written and ask your favorite friend attorney (who you don't want to hire because you don't want to mix personal and business or for some other reason), CPA, financial advisor, etc., what they think -- or even research us on the web by seeing what other folks have to say about the same topic, or even about we've said about particular subjects.  I've heard, and I suppose it's true (and I know it is with me and doctors), that clients generally can never really evaluate whether their lawyer actually knows anything so they try to decide that based on other factors.  Well now they can.  And I would suggest that those of us willing to chance that scrutiny ought to be high on the list of any client. 

5.     Commitment to "the Law" Made Practical.  Most of us would rather deal with someone who isn't just "in it for the money".  We all believe that someone who ultimately cares about the product or service being provided "just because" it's what they enjoy doing will offer superior service.  Well, no one cares more about "the law" "in the real world" than lawyers/attorneys who blog/blawg.  Who else would bother?  We really are the folks who became lawyers because we were philosophically attracted to the questions law poses and tries to address every day.  However, unlike our brethren and sistern who became law school professors, at the same time we desperately yearned to be always "relevant".  

 

Now, most of us have come to terms with the fact that our everyday existence and value to anyone has nothing much to do with the fundamental questions that attracted us to the profession in the first place.  But we actually still do think about those questions from time to time and blogging/blawging may be a way for us to focus on those questions in a way that will ultimately benefit society at large, as well as clients in particular instances.  Blogging/blawging is fundamentally more practical and pragmatic than traditional legal scholarship in the form of footnoted articles in law reviews and journals.  Yet I think it has a place that will become more obvious over time to both those in academia and to the clients who only want to know what they should do today.            

So there you have it.   The blog/blawg IS fun for me to do, hopefully offers something of value to others, and makes me a better and more effective lawyer.  What other reason would anyone need to do something?  And why would you the client want to have anyone else looking after your important questions and concerns?

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Teri Rasmussen has helped guide clients in making legally informed business decisions for more than twenty years.  Her pragmatic strategic thinking has enabled her to provide strong practical counsel and advice to businesses and their owners facing a variety of challenges and legal concerns. 

As an attorney with more than twenty-five years, Teri focuses her practice on business, corporate, commercial, and real estate law.    She concentrates her own practice on matters such as creditors' rights, business insolvency and bankruptcy, workouts and turnarounds, loan structuring, negotiation, and documentation, and commercial litigation.  She also assists clients with business acquisitions, mergers, and sales; business formation; debt and equity financing; contract review and negotiation; relations among business owners; real estate purchase and leasing; and other general business, commercial, corporate and real estate law issues.

To learn more about what Teri can do for clients in these areas, visit this summary of Practice Areas, or read About This Blog and My Approach to Lawyering.  You might also be interested in reading her post on this blog about Why Every Client Should Want an Attorney Who Blawgs.

Teri received her J.D. legal degree cum laude from the University of Michigan Law School where she was a member of the University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform Editorial Board, as well as serving as a research assistant to Prof. James J. White, a well recognized authority on the Uniform Commercial Code.  She is admitted to practice before the courts of all Ohio state and federal courts (including bankruptcy court), as well as before the United States Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals. 

Throughout her career, Teri has been actively engaged in the leadership of numerous professional and business organizations.  She is a Past Chair of the Columbus Bar Association Financial Institutions Committee and of the Ohio State Bar Association Banking, Commercial, and Bankruptcy Law Committee.  Currently Teri has been appointed to the membership of the Ohio State Bar Association Legal Ethics and Professional Conduct Committee.  She was also a cofounder of Women for Economic and Leadership Development (WELD) and served on its Board of Directors for many years.

Teri has also made strong contributions through her involvement in various other civic and community organizations.  She is an alumna of Leadership Columbus’s FOCUS Columbus program and of Leadership Dublin.  In addition, Teri is a Past President of the Columbus Chapter of Executive Women’s Golf Association and served on the Board of Governors for Leatherlips Yacht Club for several years.  She has also served on the Board of Directors for CATCO (aka Contemporary American Theatre Company) while it transitioned to Equity status and for the Central Ohio Chapter of the American Leukemia Society.

 To learn more about Teri, visit her bio on the website of Rasmussen Law Office or

Rasmussen Law Office offers representation to businesses, professionals, and individuals in many areas of law, including

• business, corporate,and commercial matters
• creditors' rights
• real estate
• general civil and appellate litigation

The Rasmussen Law Office serves business, professional, and individual clients in Central Ohio - including Bexley, Clintonville, Dublin, Gahanna, German Village, Grandview, Grove City, Hilliard, New Albany, Powell, Upper Arlington, Victorian Village, Westerville, and Worthington -, as well as throughout the Stats of Ohio.

This blog is not intended as legal advice as every situation differs and you should consult an attorney about your particular legal concern. This blog (as well as any comments to posts on this blog) is not an offer to represent you nor is it intended to form an attorney-client relationship.

• There are a few things I can do as a flat fee.  These would include one person LLC or corporation, simple promissory note and mortgage/security interest, and certain other basic services.

• Generally, I bill for my time  (and that, together with my experience and expertise gained over 25-plus years of legal prectice, is what I am ultimately offering to you for purchase) on an hourly basis.  I do it this way because (1) usually there are way too many variables for me to be able to give you a firm quote; (2) I don't get any more hours in the day than anyone else and once I've given those to one client, i can't give it to anyone else; and (3) that's the way it's mostly done in the law biz, and on this one, I suppose I've chosen not to rock the boat. 
  • My hourly rate varies depending on the complexity of what you are asking me to do.  It can range from $200 to $350 per hour.  You should probably plan on a rate of at least around $250 in most cases.  
  • I usually require payment of an initial retainer with new clients.  This varies from case to case and depends on the nature and complexity of what you are asking me to do.
  • In most cases, I DO NOT do the "first meeting" for free.  What I will do is meet with you for however long we need to take (within reason and generally assuming we're talking 1-1 1/2 hours, max 2 hours) for a set flat fee, usually $250, payable when we meet.  If you just "want to get acquainted" or size me up to decide if you want me to be your lawyer, ask me to lunch.  I have to eat anyway and I always like to meet new people.  Or catxh me at any of a number of networking events I attend. 

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