Loving a Law Firm
There aren’t too many people who will fess up to loving their law firm let alone admitting they’ve worked with it forever. Moons ago, our then CFO put us in touch with a partner in Pittsburgh. Three partners later (due to retirement) we are still using them, and they have been and are amazing. We are a SMB; people think Outsell is bigger than it is. We are small potatoes by the standards of most corporate clients. But K&L Gates has been with us the entire time and helped us with no shortage of questions and issues. Wonderfully. I not only recommend them, but I love them. This law firm is amazing. There I said it.
· M&A (both in the UK as well as in the U.S.) Check
· Employment issues. Check
· Sales tax in various states. Check
· GDPR and CCPA. Check
· Trademarks. Check
· Customer data security and contracts review. Check
· Shareholder management. Check
· Stock option plans. Check
· Technical questions about boards. Check
EoRs vs. PEOs vs. Nexus.
Negotiating a software JV.
Complex employment offers.
Check, Check, and Check.
They are global enough to serve all our needs from a country level perspective. They are broad enough to cover an array of legal topics and issues that are ever varied and inevitable. If I ask them to give me a ballpark on something so I can budget and plan finances for it, I will get the relative size of the ‘ask’ in dollar terms.
I have never had anyone there EVER give the sense they are padding the ask to drive up hours. I never hesitate to pick up the phone to call them because I fear a never-ending quest for billable hours. With many law firms every outreach is a purchase decision and human nature is to avoid most purchases with law firms. You fear you’re going to get in deep, never get out, and then see the terrifying monster-bill at the end of the month. Not with them.
Even when we were once faced with a bogus lawsuit their efforts to help us get out of the mess was clean, swift, practical, and as cost-effective as one could hope for. I cannot say enough great things about this firm. There aren’t too many leaders who can say that about their law firm. I love K&L Gates. I can recommend them unequivocally, use them when I must, and trust them entirely.
So, I’m going out on a limb here because it’s not that often you read awesome things about a service provider. The world needs less griping on Yelp and social media and more kudos to lift more boats. Hug your corporate counsel today whether they are down the hall, working from home, or in your company’s law firm. And if you don’t feel the same -– consider an alternative. Because legal services can be this excellent and this refreshing.