Ethos Business Law

A recent article in the American Bar Association Journal highlights a trend in business legal services:  The Outside General Counsel.  This “trend” is nothing new to Ethos Business Law — it is the basis of our business model — our “Ethos!”  Outside general counsel services, or fractionalized general counsel, are growing in popularity as business owners realize the value they can leverage from proactive, business-focused attorneys that have in-house experience, business education and law firm training.  But how do these services work and why are they better? (more…)

I recently saw this article in Larry Bodine’s blog.  It is a great discussion on how attorneys can be more client-centric and service-oriented by adopting a different business model. It has long been my philosophy that attorneys must constantly redefine ways to create and add value to their clients.  There are certainly better ways of measuring value than the number of hours spent on tasks.

I find one of the best way for a client to leverage value from its corporate counsel is through regular, proactive interaction.  Simply spending time discussing a client’s business and future goals can prove quite productive.  I often work as outside general counsel for clients on a retainer basis — not by hourly fees.  This encourages clients to spend time working with their attorney on proactive strategies and removes the “time” concern.  Moreover, this fosters a better relationship between the parties and allows the attorney to have a better institutional knowledge of the client.  If you are still paying for every minute of your corporate attorney’s time, consider implementing a different business model.

As the end of the year fast approaches, our thoughts turn to holiday cheer and family fun!  However, it is also important to think about a few simple pieces of annual corporate maintenance to protect you and your company.  Two important and often overlooked items include filing the annual registration for your company and holding your annual meetings. (more…)

In a recent article from Law.com, an industry observer stated “[a]lternative fee arrangements are like teenage sex. There’s a lot more people talking about it than doing it—and those that are doing it don’t really know what they’re doing. . . .”  While yes, that is a juicy, headline-attracting quote, I tend to agree with it wholeheartedly.

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Ethos Business Law was founded on the vision that there is a different and better way to provide legal services.  A way that is more in line with clients’ needs and a way that is more efficient and effective.  One piece of that vision is the flat fee.

Recently, there have been various articles on this topic (see here and here for a couple examples).  In fact, one of these articles goes so far as to say “[t]he conventional ideas for changing the way law firms do business are . . .  insipid and inadequate.” (more…)