Entrepreneurs and Attorneys – An Interview With Patrick Asplin, Esq.

“My daddy is a movie actor, and sometimes he plays the good guy, and sometimes he plays the lawyer.”
–Malcolm Ford, son of Harrison Ford

In one of my roles in the Army, I had the opportunity to interact a lot with attorneys. I was responsible for the interactions between the military deployed to Bosnia and the civilian agencies and the United Nations, and I worked with the attorneys to ensure that everything I proposed was legal. When we were working out in the base gym, the attorneys played Jedi mind tricks on me.

“You want to be a lawyer…” (hand wave)

“Law is fun!” (hand website wave)

So, when I ended my tour of Bosnia, I submitted my paperwork to get out of the Army. I was going to be a lawyer!

Fast forward a couple of years later, and I’d just finished my summer internship after my first year of law school at the University of Virginia. I realized that the JAG guys had played Jedi mind tricks on me, and I wasn’t cut out to be a lawyer. Rather than continuing to throw good money after bad, I transferred to the business school.

Still, I had taken 1L contracts with Professor Henderson. I knew the important aspects of the law! So, when I started up my company a couple of years later with my two co-founders, I was the contracts person. In fact, I was the everything legal person.

A few years later, when we started having inquiries about selling the company, I and the corporate checkbook realized the error of my ways. Fortunately, we engaged a rock star real lawyer to get everything straightened out for us and to represent us in buyout discussions, and all ended well.

Today, I bring you an interview with that lawyer, Patrick Asplin of the Lenhart Pettit law firm in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Here are some of the highlights of our interview:

1:43 – The four situations when you should use an attorney
6:21 – What would I do if I didn’t set up properly in the first place?
8:35 – Why can’t I just use Google to find contracts?
12:25 – How can I protect the intellectual property of my great idea?
25:10 – How do I pick what corporate form to use when I start up?
30:23 – What do I need to watch out for if I look for crowdfunding?
32:15 – What are some other mistakes that entrepreneurs make when it comes to attorneys?

Patrick also throws in a great piece of information about your privacy policy, but you’ll have to watch the entire video to get that tidbit!

Without further ado, the interview is below!

Entrepreneurs and Attorneys: An Interview With Patrick Asplin

What did you think of the interview? Let me know in the comments below!

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John Davis

John Davis is a nationally recognized expert on credit reporting, credit scoring, and identity theft. He has written four books about his expertise in the field and has been featured extensively in numerous media outlets such as The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, CNN, CBS News, CNBC, Fox Business, and many more. With over 20 years of experience helping consumers understand their credit and identity protection rights, John is passionate about empowering people to take control of their finances. He works with financial institutions to develop consumer-friendly policies that promote financial literacy and responsible borrowing habits.