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Small Firms: Don’t Use Your Smallness as an Excuse

October 6, 2018 By Andrew Abramowitz Leave a Comment

Small Firms: Don't Use Your Smallness as an ExcuseCarolyn Elefant, writing in Above the Law, takes to task those solo lawyers who, to use her phrase, “play the solo card” by using their firm’s smallness as an excuse for sub-standard service. I don’t know enough to weigh in on the specific case that triggered her piece, a solo attorney who tried to excuse a late filing by citing Microsoft Word technical issues. There certainly have been large firms that have tried to make excuses as a result of their network crashing or the like. However, I completely agree with Elefant’s overarching point that small firms should not assume that their clients and others will accept second-class service just because of the size of the firm.

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Related posts:

  1. Optimal Law Firm Size
  2. Big vs. Small Law Firms
  3. Non-Attorney Ownership of Law Firms

Filed Under: General/Miscellaneous, Legal Practice Advice

Why I Need to Rely on Legal Specialists

July 26, 2018 By Andrew Abramowitz Leave a Comment

Corporate Transactional Law Practice | Andrew Abramowitz, PLLCWhen I am assisting a client on a matter, and the help of a legal specialist is needed (tax, above all else, but many other areas as well), the client will often be reluctant to loop in the other attorneys and will urge me to handle it. While I’d like to think that this is a reflection of the client’s respect for my abilities, I’m sure it’s in part based on a fear that bringing on another attorney will drive up legal costs. I don’t think this is necessarily the case, and in any event, scrimping on getting the right advice can create substantive issues that cost far more in the long run.

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Related posts:

  1. What to Expect When You Ask Your Lawyer about a Different Legal Specialty
  2. Seeking Tax Legal Advice
  3. Why Do Corporate Lawyers Want to Move to the Business Side?

Filed Under: General/Miscellaneous, Legal Practice Advice

Charging Fees for Initial Legal Consultations

May 25, 2018 By Andrew Abramowitz Leave a Comment

Start Up Valuations | Andrew Abramowitz, PLLCWhen I start a new client relationship, the referral source introduces me to the potential client, usually by email, and then I have an initial call or meeting with the potential client. I don’t require that a fee be paid before I agree to proceed with this background consultation. It’s only after the meeting where we make engagement arrangements if there is a need to do so. Many attorneys, however, feel strongly that this is a bad policy and insist that even the initial meeting is on the clock. Of course, attorneys can feel free to set whatever ground rules they want, as long as they’re properly communicated in advance. There may be practice areas where immediate charging makes sense, but for what I do, I think this sort of policy reveals a mindset about the attorney that I try to avoid.

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Related posts:

  1. Equity for Legal Fees
  2. How Attempts to Save on Legal Fees Can Backfire
  3. Why I Need to Rely on Legal Specialists

Filed Under: General/Miscellaneous, Legal Practice Advice

The Presumed Sophistication of Accredited Investors

May 10, 2018 By Andrew Abramowitz Leave a Comment

The Presumed Sophistication of Accredited InvestorsA recent Wall Street Journal article highlighted how sketchy brokers have been marketing problematic private placements to accredited investors. While the article focused on the brokers, I was struck by the identity of one of the investor victims noted in the article as having lost a lot of money: George Stephanopoulos, the ABC News anchor and former Clinton Administration official. I don’t mean to cause Mr. Stephanopoulos any further embarrassment by highlighting this here (though I’m guessing that the readership of my blog is far less than that of the Journal), but the fact that he was scammed is a useful illustration of the misguidedness of the accredited investor definition and associated rules.

The current definition of “accredited investor” under SEC rules essentially uses wealth as a proxy for sophistication, as an individual can qualify by either having an annual income of $200,000 or a net worth of $1 million not including the value of one’s primary residence. An offering made to all accredited investors does not have an information requirement, meaning the investors do not need to be provided with a similar level of disclosure that would be associated with a registered public offering.

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Related posts:

  1. Links to Some of My Greatest Hits
  2. The Latest on Possible Tweaks to the Accredited Investor Definition
  3. SEC Advisory Committee Report on Accredited Investor Definition

Filed Under: Crowdfunding, Financing Transactions/Securities Offerings, General/Miscellaneous, SEC Disclosure Matters

Share Buybacks as a Political Issue

March 2, 2018 By Andrew Abramowitz Leave a Comment

A year or two ago, the phrase “share buybacks” was a phrase only known to those in and around the world of corporate finance. It refers to a company’s use of available cash to purchase its own shares in the open market. The effect of this is to reduce the total number of shares outstanding, which makes the remaining shares more valuable. Recently, however, share buybacks have become enmeshed in political debates as shorthand for actions taken by corporate America and encouraged by Wall Street that are not in the best interest of workers and society generally. For example, The New York Times recently reported on how cash freed up by the recent tax cuts are being spent on share buybacks, as opposed to more worthy uses such as hiring new employees.

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Related posts:

  1. Whether to Pay Profits out to Shareholders
  2. Does My Company Need to Issue Stock Certificates?
  3. Income Share Agreements

Filed Under: General Corporate/M&A Matters, General/Miscellaneous

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Press Coverage

"Andrew Abramowitz, a lawyer in Manhattan who has worked with both buyers and sellers of private placements, said every investor should approach a private placement skeptically." -- Paul Sullivan (New York Times)

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"If the goal [...] is to protect people from losing all of their money in an illiquid investment, the current standard fails on that count, too. Andrew Abramowitz, a lawyer in Manhattan who has worked with both buyers and sellers of private placements, said a better standard might be to limit how much of their net worth people can invest." -- Paul Sullivan (New York Times)

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