Chicago Business Lawyer Blog

Beware anyone who seems to always or instantly have the answers at hand when it comes to your corporate, contract, litigation or other commercial law questions. Because any executive or responsible business law attorney should know that the first response usually should be: "It depends." Because there are so many variables, and every client has different objectives and needs, each project or situation really demands a certain amount of custom tailoring.

Now, that's not meant to be an excuse either for taking forever to make a decision or sky high legal bills. (In fact, my early years focused on regulatory matters convinced me that it is counterproductive to spend too much time or money on legal issues, in part, because everyone loses focus and gets confused by complexity.) The point is that for a prudent balance of quality, risk management, speed, effort and expense when it comes to legal management, there are some basic default principles to always consider - purposefully but quickly.

1. Follow the 80-20 Rule (unless this case is the exception). This is so important there are countless other short-hand expressions for this concept: keep it simple stupid; don't let the tail wag the dog; the point of diminishing returns; and don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good. In essence, usually focus only on the most important, common and fundamental points.
2. Plain is Beautiful. Clear, simple English is much to be preferred to archaic or dense legalese. Much, if not most, of what business lawyers do involves words and communicating meaning. So, more can be less if it makes everyone work harder.
3. Start Near the Finish. Lawyers often are involved in adversarial and sometimes hostile situations - negotiating an M&A or licensing deal, defending a governmental investigation or prosecuting a complaint. But, that doesn't mean you have to be afraid of working with the other. Rather than adopting a scorched earth policy and beginning with a totally one-sided draft, it usually is faster, better and cheaper to open with something closer to a fair or "market" version. Of course, you can keep the key business points favorable to you at the outset. But, by It sends a message that you are about effectiveness.
4. Size Does Not Always Matter. We often consciously or not scale our efforts according to the size of a transaction or claim. However, there are times when the complexity or risks bear no relationship to the amounts involved. For example, a small real estate purchase has the potential for environmental liabilities well in excess of the price.

Unless there's a good reason not to, this is how we try do it at my Chicago and suburban business law firm, whether it is a start-up, deal or lawsuit at stake. We try to concentrate our and your resources where it really counts, by quickly and carefully customizing our efforts to the circumstances.

Hello. I am Jeremy A. Gibson and the principal blogger for this blog. I am excited to start this blog because it presents a great chance to blend several of my greatest interests: journalism, business and law.

Some time ago, I set off to Indiana University thinking I would one day own an eclectic radio station with the motto: "WJAG...Playing the Music I want to Hear." Then, somehow I got involved deeply as a reporter and editorial writer in the campus newspaper, the Indiana Daily Student, and found myself a dedicated journalism major. I ended up spending time at the Washington D.C. bureau of Scripps Howard Newspapers, the Cincinnati Enquirer and the Bloomington Herald-Times.

While working as a reporter, I found myself drawn to doing business, financial and economic stories. Though I enjoyed the journalism experience immensely, I started to realize I was more interested in doing what my subjects were doing and less interested in just writing about it. In short, I wanted to get out of the press box and get down to the field of play.

To do that in a fashion, I attended the University of Michigan Law School and after graduation moved to Chicago. Since then I have practiced business law, developing broad and deep expertise, first with several world-class organizations and then through my own Chicago business law firm, Jeremy A. Gibson & Associates, P.C.

I have a general corporate and commercial practice, with significant transactional, intellectual property, technology, regulatory and risk management concentrations. I have worked on negotiating complex deals with large international corporations, starting small businesses and everything in between. For example, I routinely help clients with their key challenges, such as mergers & acquisitions, financings, licensing, leasing, employee issues and disputes.

I started at Chapman and Cutler, where I co-founded a practice group focused on the development and financing of alternative energy projects, after several years of securities, finance, commercial, employment and environmental litigation. Then, at Masuda Funai, the leading law firm for U.S. ventures and subsidiaries of major Japanese companies, I continued a business law practice and helped organize the intellectual property & technology practice group. Most recently, I was a senior attorney at BearingPoint, Inc., the $3.5 billion global technology and consulting spinoff of KPMG, until helping complete the sale of its businesses. There I oversaw a variety of corporate, intellectual property, software, contracting, outsourcing and other matters.

Now, I look forward to bringing together the sensibilities of an experienced journalist and business lawyer in this blog.

Welcome to the inaugural post of this Chicago Business Lawyer Blog. I am your principal blogger, Jeremy A. Gibson, an experienced business attorney. I have practiced throughout my career in Chicago and the surrounding suburbs. This first post is to provide an idea of what posts are to come. (See my next post or my firm website for more about me.)

The world is awash in media and data. In fact, if you're like me, you may feel like you are drowning it. Between the Internet, cable, cell phones, smartphones, iPods and the like, it is hard not to feel overwhelmed by bytes and bits. However, all those factoids do not necessarily equate to knowledge or value. Especially, if you are busy with business.

That's where this blog - and editing and writing - come in. My goal is to provide you more with less. As an experienced Chicago business lawyer and journalist (see that next post), I will try to select from the flood of information only the most essential business law issues that companies, managers, and entrepreneurs should keep in mind. In other words, this blog will try to keep a sense of perspective and not pretend that every potential legal concern or development really is important.

This means that we'll keep an eye out on core, recurring and practical business law topics, such as startups, finances, trademarks, contracts, buying and selling businesses, employees, distribution and sales, risk management, regulatory compliance and commercial litigation. (Be sure to contact me, if you have a question or suggested subject.)

In addition, we'll respect your time. Blog entries will be kept succinct and to the point. We will deliver key points for you to determine if you need to take further action or find out more. We won't go on and on.

That's enough for starters.