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W I N T E R 2 0 1 4
11
Adding Value
What value does a client get from our use
of sound independent judgment? Plenty!
From a litigation perspective, the deter-
mination of which battles to fight and how
to fight them is critical. Before "starting
the war," we consider the various poten-
tial results of litigation, the probability of
achieving each result, and the benefit to
the client arising out of each. We question
and educate the client, review the docu-
ments and strategize with the client. We
attempt to get shoulder-to-shoulder with
our client and then make a recommenda-
tion. Through this process, we attempt
to get the client to understand their case
from a different perspective and consider
our recommendation. This process is time
consuming and difficult, but in the end
leads to cost savings and a better result.
In fact, many times the client has great
ideas that come about through this pro-
cess, and the client gets a result far better
than they could through litigation ­ or
we are able to discover the weakness in
the opposition's position and efficiently
use that weakness to achieve our clients'
objectives.
From a transactional perspective,
working to evaluate the strategy associat-
ed with "big picture" issues such as the
structure of a transaction or the minutiae
of the "boilerplate" language of a limited
liability company's operating agreement
can mean the difference between getting
a deal done and the death of a company.
All lawyers know how to find the risks
associated with a transaction, but the
better lawyers, the Primerus lawyers, add
value by using their independent judg-
ment to find solutions to the problems as-
sociated with that risk. It's the difference
between robotically filing a document
with the Secretary of State and thinking
through the entire scope of the transac-
tion for the client's overall benefit. It's
the difference between a "deal breaker"
and a "deal maker."
There are as many examples of
the value added by sound independent
judgment as there are clients and
practice areas.
Every Primerus lawyer subscribes
to the Six Pillars of Primerus: Integrity,
Excellent Work Product, Reasonable
Fees, Continuing Education, Civility and
Community Service. We take these pillars
seriously, and they inform our sound
judgment with every client we represent.
We use a process of detached investi-
gation and analysis, coupled with our
experience and common sense to arrive
at the right course of action. This is
sound independent judgment. Through
the use of our sound independent judg-
ment, we add direct value to our client
and our society. The use of sound
independent judgment is not a fungible
commodity in today's legal market ­
it is a rare find.