David Pfalzgraf Jr. and Jamie Batt sit down with Patrick Connelly from Buffalo Law Journal and discuss proactive corporate client partnerships.
When a company is profitable and employees and customers are happy, life is good and legal needs seem nonexistent.
At his family business Franco’s Pizza, attorney Anthony Kroese finds himself telling his father, uncle and cousins over and over that’s not the case.
“You still need to think down the line because who knows what the next step is,” said Kroese, associate at Goldberg Segalla.
“That’s true still for businesses that have been around for generations. What are the next steps? Everything is good today but what’s it going to be (like) five years from now?”
Clients experiencing business as usual are among the favorite clients of David Pfalzgraf Jr., founding partner and managing partner of Rupp Baase Pfalzgraf Cunningham LLC.
“You know a relationship is a strong one with a client or a colleague when they come to you to get your proactive advice on what they should be thinking about as a business owner,” he said. “Those are occasions when I think I’m needed most.”
He and Jamie Batt, a partner at the firm, often meet with clients in times of plenty.
“(We) will meet with clients when there is no pressing legal need to give them advice on what they should be thinking about on the horizon,” he said.
“That could be business-succession planning. It could be changes in some laws like the recent sexual harassment law changes that went into effect, making sure that they’re out ahead of that, making sure that they continue to surround themselves with other advisers like bankers and insurance agents and accountants who are best in class. They must be sure that their business practices are always being evaluated and are best practice in all respects.”
Batt agreed.
“We have clients, too, who will come to us with an idea of something they want to do in the future,” she said. “It’s fun to talk about because they want our opinion on how to structure it or how we would give them advice and just things to think about regarding whatever ventures they are thinking of doing.”
Read More about proactive client partnerships.