Business owners often treat legal work like a fire alarm: wait until something starts burning, then call for help. Adam Marshall, Managing Member at Lorium Law, joins Leaders & Legacies to explain why that approach costs more, creates more stress, and leaves owners with fewer options when the moment matters most.
Adam shares the story behind leaving Big Law and building a firm around teamwork, client service, and practical counsel instead of ego and marble-lobby economics. For him, legacy is not about getting your name on a building. It is about building a team that lasts, serving clients in a way that earns trust over years, and helping owners understand why they are building what they are building in the first place.
Craig and Adam also dig into exit readiness, due diligence, and the quiet legal messes that can reduce value when a buyer appears. Adam makes the case that every document, agreement, employee arrangement, and customer contract should fit the owner’s bigger strategy before private equity or another buyer starts looking for reasons to trade down the price.
At the center of the conversation is a simple reframing: good legal work is client service and risk management. The law may be the tool, but the real value is helping leaders see risks clearly, make informed decisions, protect what they have built, and create a business that can stand up when opportunity arrives.
Want to learn more about Adam Marshall's work? Check out his website at https://loriumlaw.com/adam-marshall/.
Connect with Adam Marshall on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/adammarshall99/.
Think you'd be a great guest on the show? Apply at https://podcast.allies4me.com/podcast-guest/.
Want to learn more about Craig Andrews' work at allies4me? Check out his website at https://allies4me.com/.
You can also reach Adam directly at amarshall@loriumlaw.com.
Key Points with Timestamps
- [00:51] Craig introduces Adam Marshall and frames Lorium PLLC as a boutique, business-focused firm bringing Big Law experience to Main Street America.
- [01:55] Adam explains why the firm removed partner names from the brand and chose a name built around client service instead of ego.
- [05:03] Adam tells the I-95 palm-tree story and how Big Law pressure forced him to rethink what practicing law could look like.
- [11:47] Craig and Adam discuss why there are better ways to build a legacy than getting your name on a building.
- [16:58] Adam explains why owners should start legal cleanup well before a buyer or private equity group appears.
- [19:04] Adam describes how weak agreements, expired customer contracts, and employee issues give buyers reasons to trade down price or walk away.
- [23:21] Adam states that a lawyer’s real job is client service and risk management, with the law serving as the tool.
- [25:02] Adam outlines Lorium’s two core client groups: middle-market operating companies and experienced founders building intelligent startups.
- [30:56] Adam compares selling a business to selling a house: owners need due diligence, market context, and a clear answer for what they want out of the deal.
Transcript
[00:00] Craig Andrews: I was in a coma for six weeks while the doctors told my wife I was going to die. When I woke up, she told me the most fantastic story. My team kept running the business without me. Freelancers reached out to my team and said we will do whatever it takes as long as Craig's in the hospital. I consider that the greatest accomplishment in my career.
[00:30] Craig Andrews: My name is Craig Andrews and this is the Leaders & Legacies podcast where we talk to leaders creating an impact beyond themselves. At the end of today's interview, I'll tell you how you can be the next leader featured on this show.
[00:51] Craig Andrews: Today, I want to welcome Adam Marshall. He is the managing member at Lorium PLLC.
[00:57] Craig Andrews: Adam advises businesses and executives focused on complex corporate matters.
[01:04] Craig Andrews: He also has experience with restructuring, bankruptcy, distressed M&A, financing, and liquidity strategies. But Adam brings big law experience from big firms to Main Street America. And now, at Lorium, they are a boutique.
[01:21] Craig Andrews: Practical, business-focused, firm.
[01:25] Craig Andrews: Adam, welcome.
[01:28] Adam Marshall: Greg, thank you. It's a pleasure to be here.
[01:31] Craig Andrews: Yeah, I,
[01:33] Craig Andrews: Yeah, we've chatted before, of course, and, just thoroughly enjoyed the, the conversation, and
[01:41] Craig Andrews: What a treat to have you here on Layers and Legacies. I gotta ask, I'm gonna start here, Lorium. Lorium PLLC, that's an interesting name. Can you… what's…
[01:52] Craig Andrews: What's the story behind the name?
[01:54] Adam Marshall: Yeah, so the, the quick version is that, that…
[01:58] Adam Marshall: after I left Big Law, a partner of mine and I started a firm with the traditional last names, Marshall Grant, and as we grew and evolved, we merged with a Fort Lauderdale firm that had 4 names on the letterhead, and…
[02:14] Adam Marshall: We all sat down, and I was insistent, like, guys, our names are horrible, they don't match. You know, ego gets involved as to whose name is first, whose name is last, what metric are you using? So, what we decided was, since we're gonna put our money where our mouth was and build a culture
[02:33] Adam Marshall: you know, that emphasizes teamwork, collaboration, client service, we were gonna remove egos and take our names off, so we made up a word.
[02:44] Craig Andrews: Huh?
[02:45] Adam Marshall: Yeah, Lorium basically means a lot of artistic license here, but took two Latin words that roughly mean client and service and jammed them together.
[02:55] Craig Andrews: Well, that's awesome. I bet the domain was available.
[02:59] Adam Marshall: And that was the other reason we did it. We're always at the top of everything in Google without paying a penny, because there are only 3 things that come up when you Google Orium. A little teeny tiny village in Italy, that fake typewriter text that you print out when you get a new printer, and us.
[03:17] Craig Andrews: That's pretty cool.
[03:19] Craig Andrews: That's pretty cool.
[03:22] Craig Andrews: You were, now, you're in… you're in Atlanta now, right?
[03:26] Adam Marshall: Yeah, just had our fourth anniversary here in Atlanta, my family and I. Before that, we were in South Florida for 21 years.
[03:35] Craig Andrews: Wow.
[03:36] Craig Andrews: What, just out of curiosity, why the move to Atlanta?
[03:39] Adam Marshall: I mean, the most genuine answer, without
[03:44] Adam Marshall: putting all sorts of business spin on it was, we felt like it. You know, we knew our boys were going to colleges outside of the state of Florida. We wanted to be closer to them. We were looking at what it would be like to be empty nesters. Atlanta always intrigued us. We always had a great time here. It's an amazing business market.
[04:04] Adam Marshall: And then…
[04:05] Adam Marshall: You know, layering on the business considerations on top of the personal, which is what drove the move. What a great market to… to open a door. A lot of our clients looked north when they were growing, not to Latin America, like a lot of Florida firms.
[04:20] Adam Marshall: So… It was very easy for us to make the decision to come here.
[04:26] Craig Andrews: Wow. Yeah, that's cool. Well, it's… my only issue is the traffic. I drove through there twice here recently, and it's,
[04:35] Adam Marshall: I laugh at the traffic. If you've ever been on 95, driving between Fort Lauderdale and Miami.
[04:42] Adam Marshall: Atlanta's a breeze.
[04:44] Craig Andrews: Oh, okay.
[04:47] Craig Andrews: Well, you were telling me a story about when you were on I-95.
[04:51] Craig Andrews: That made me think of, what was that movie? Castaway with, Tom Hanks.
[04:59] Adam Marshall: Yeah, my Wilson.
[05:01] Craig Andrews: Yeah.
[05:03] Adam Marshall: Yeah, so… so… For a little build-up to it.
[05:08] Adam Marshall: I was a super traditional…
[05:12] Adam Marshall: candidate out of law school. I thought the only way that I was gonna make a living was by going to big law, and learning, and working those hours, and I suppose there's a little bit of be careful what you wish for. Now, I worked with brilliant people, I learned a ton. However.
[05:33] Adam Marshall: working 16 to 20 hour days, 6 days a week. This was before Blackberries and remote servers and, you know, the definition of work was that you're… are you at your desk?
[05:43] Adam Marshall: For me, being a family guy, being a charitable guy, I didn't have time for anything.
[05:50] Adam Marshall: You know, we had our first son, I never saw him. So what ended up happening was, on the drive from Boca Raton all the way to my office in Miami.
[06:00] Adam Marshall: Out of the highway, the side of the highway, was a little palm tree that started growing out of the highway.
[06:06] Adam Marshall: And I spent so much time on that road.
[06:09] Adam Marshall: more time with that tree than I did with my own, you know, newborn son, that I started talking to it.
[06:16] Adam Marshall: And I knew I was going through a blue period here. And… and finally.
[06:22] Adam Marshall: as that tree grew, the Florida Department of Transportation, rightly.
[06:26] Adam Marshall: cut it down. It was starting… they were worried that it was going to impede traffic, or fall, or hurt somebody, but I… I visibly and audibly wept when I drove by and saw the stump. Like, my friend had been…
[06:39] Adam Marshall: murdered and taken away from me, and that's when I had to do a step back of self-realization and say, wait a minute, although I'm learning from brilliant people, and I'm doing really good work.
[06:49] Adam Marshall: And I'm figuring out my craft.
[06:52] Adam Marshall: is this the only way to practice law? There's gotta be some… if I'm crying that a tree was cut down on the side of the road.
[06:59] Adam Marshall: there's some bigger issue here, and that sort of opened my eyes to, wait a minute, practicing law isn't one narrow definition, there…
[07:08] Adam Marshall: Hundreds, if not thousands, of iterations.
[07:12] Craig Andrews: Yeah.
[07:14] Craig Andrews: So, how long did it take from that until you left that firm?
[07:19] Adam Marshall: So, I left that firm a couple of months later.
[07:23] Adam Marshall: Went to another big law firm, but…
[07:26] Adam Marshall: that was more humane, and I thought.
[07:29] Adam Marshall: wow, I'm learning more, I can sort of carve my own way. And that was a much better experience, and I was closer to home, so I cut the commute in half, and I got my first BlackBerry. They were just invented. So all of a sudden, now, I can be responsive to clients and
[07:46] Adam Marshall: partners in the firm, wherever I was, and my life just changed. But it was that moment with the tree at the first firm that kind of got me thinking about, well, wait a minute, if I build the foundation, and I learn, and I make great contacts, and I build a reputation, and I do things ethically and correctly.
[08:06] Adam Marshall: you know, what's for me at the other end of the tunnel here? And that's what really started that inner dialogue about what do I want to be when I grow up.
[08:16] Craig Andrews: Yeah.
[08:18] Craig Andrews: Yeah, and it's… it's… It's interesting, you know, a couple observations about that field.
[08:26] Craig Andrews: one, you know, when I think about, you know, the big firms, I've dealt with some of the big firms here in Austin.
[08:32] Craig Andrews: They're nice, but, you know, there's,
[08:37] Craig Andrews: You know, I always, you know, you go up to the 22nd floor of one of the firms I've used for my business, and they have a two-story lobby on the 22nd floor, and it's just gorgeous. It's a work of art.
[08:51] Craig Andrews: And you think about all the money that has to flow through that building to finance that lobby.
[08:57] Adam Marshall: 100%.
[08:59] Adam Marshall: Well, that's one concern, and here's the thing.
[09:02] Adam Marshall: The beautiful thing about my situation is that I have nothing but gratitude for those big firms. They taught me a lot about myself, they taught me a lot about the law, they gave me market and street credibility because of the deals I was working on and the people I was working with.
[09:18] Adam Marshall: But what I realized was, I wasn't the right fit for Big Law. Big Law didn't fail me.
[09:23] Adam Marshall: I just wasn't the right fit. I wanted to be a more diverse person and lawyer.
[09:30] Adam Marshall: I wanted to actually know that what I was doing was helping clients, and not just an ancillary issue, or doing something to cover, you know, cover someone's rear end, or, God forbid, to just drum up billable hours. So for me.
[09:48] Adam Marshall: you know, yeah, when we started to grow the firm that we currently have and build a business, that's when I started to look at the things that you rightly point out and say, well, what do we want to be? Like, do we want to pass that
[10:03] Adam Marshall: savings down to our families, to our employees, to our clients, you know, yeah, and the short answer is, yeah, no. There's certain things that you always need as a law firm, certain niceties, certain resources that do cost money and do involve time and resource.
[10:22] Adam Marshall: But I always view it through the lens of what benefit does it give our clients and our staff?
[10:29] Adam Marshall: If it makes our staff's lives easier, then they don't have to work as hard to get the same results, so they can have a family life, so they don't burn out, so we're not constantly hiring new people to replace people that are… that are just flat-out tired. And for clients, it can be…
[10:48] Adam Marshall: you know, We don't need to charge.
[10:51] Adam Marshall: $1,200 an hour. We can charge alternative fees or flat fees, and be more humane, because We're still profitable.
[11:02] Adam Marshall: So, we're a for-profit business, we can feed our families, we can put our kids through college, but we're not doing it in a way that puts our financial and pecuniary interests adverse to the clients.
[11:15] Craig Andrews: Yeah.
[11:15] Adam Marshall: And sometimes the glitz and glam and putting your name on a building can take that to an extreme.
[11:22] Craig Andrews: Yeah.
[11:23] Craig Andrews: Yeah.
[11:24] Craig Andrews: Yeah, and I… I mean, there's… there's a building I drove… used to drive by in Austin, and I remember thinking.
[11:31] Craig Andrews: Being enticed by one day my name being on that building, or my business's name, and…
[11:39] Craig Andrews: Then I realized…
[11:41] Craig Andrews: there's a high price to that. There's a high cost to having your name on the building, and… Yeah.
[11:48] Adam Marshall: And in my humble opinion, there are better ways to build a legacy. You know, having your name on a building is one example of building a legacy. You know, you've arrived, you can pay the rent, you can pay the building the naming rights, you know, it's a… it's an…
[12:03] Adam Marshall: indicator of some sort of financial success, potentially. But I think there are better ways to build a legacy. I think there are better ways to… to show the community and the world and the people you care about that
[12:17] Adam Marshall: we've arrived.
[12:18] Adam Marshall: That, to me, was not something that was gonna move the needle.
[12:22] Craig Andrews: What are some of those ways?
[12:25] Adam Marshall: Well, one… you know, keeping people.
[12:31] Adam Marshall: you know, you work… you come to work all day. I used to joke with my family that I see my coworkers and colleagues more than I see you during the day. Well, in order to do that, selfishly, you want it to be somewhat enjoyable. You don't want it to be…
[12:47] Adam Marshall: rigid and task mastery and… and have people afraid of you. You want to be able to open the door and be able to talk through client issues, or talk about who's gonna win March Madness, or, you know, organically have water cooler chit-chat that sometimes helps clients, and other times just helps
[13:06] Adam Marshall: you, or the person you're talking to. That's a great way to build a legacy, is to build a team that's forever, and that…
[13:14] Adam Marshall: doesn't go anywhere. You know, to have clients that stay with you for periods of years or decades, and aren't transactional
[13:23] Adam Marshall: pieces.
[13:25] Adam Marshall: You know, we're not McDonald's. I don't want clients to come to us and say, hey, can you do this agreement and this agreement, and then we'll never see you again? I'd rather know how it fits into their plan, their context.
[13:36] Adam Marshall: know why they're doing it. Are you doing it because you care about your family? Because you care about charity? Because you want to leave a legacy to your employees, to your kids, to your grandkids? The context always matters, and that, to me, helping other people build their legacy, helps us build our legacy, and it becomes a…
[13:53] Adam Marshall: A chicken and an egg vicious cycle.
[13:56] Adam Marshall: Like, whose legacy are we building? Well, we can build everybody's at the same time.
[14:01] Adam Marshall: That, to me, is more important than some of those outward indices of success.
[14:06] Craig Andrews: Yeah.
[14:08] Craig Andrews: Yeah, and I mean, for me and my own journey.
[14:12] Craig Andrews: you know, waking up from my coma and finding out what people had done when they thought I was a dead man.
[14:19] Craig Andrews: that…
[14:21] Craig Andrews: I think I've given up on the name… my name on the building before that, but after that, that's never been a thought, you know?
[14:29] Adam Marshall: I mean, in a much more serious way, that was your tree. That was your Wilson, like…
[14:34] Adam Marshall: it helps you crystallize your views, I mean…
[14:39] Adam Marshall: Look, I think everybody should self-reflect, I think everybody should worry about their well-being and mental health, and…
[14:46] Adam Marshall: have that translate into how you want to run your business. What… what…
[14:51] Adam Marshall: what you want people to say about you when you're not in the room. That, to me, is a legacy.
[14:56] Craig Andrews: Yeah.
[14:57] Craig Andrews: Yeah.
[14:59] Craig Andrews: You know, one of the things that…
[15:03] Craig Andrews: that, that… I mean, that firm with the two-story lobby, they served me well. Ironically, the way I found them as a law firm was I'd met the attorney originally across the street when he was deposing me, in another expensive…
[15:18] Craig Andrews: And and they prevailed in the lawsuit, so I figured, well, he must be pretty good at what he does, so I went and talked to him, but he was a… he was a litigator.
[15:27] Craig Andrews: And he kind of became my, my quarterback in the firm. I'd say… I'd call him, like, hey, Rick, I need this. He's like, oh, you need to talk to so-and-so.
[15:38] Craig Andrews: And one time I asked him, I said, Rick, you guys have been wonderful to me. I'm, you know, I'm just a small fry. I'm not gonna be one of your, you know, multi-million dollar clients.
[15:49] Craig Andrews: How do I keep prices down?
[15:53] Craig Andrews: And I was impressed. He actually coached me on how to keep rates down to get my needs met while keeping, you know, the rates down. It was really helpful.
[16:04] Craig Andrews: How would you coach business owners to do what they need to do without spending too much?
[16:12] Adam Marshall: Yeah, so… That's a great question, and one that we answer candidly every day.
[16:19] Adam Marshall: there's a lot that goes into it. One is, I tell clients all the time, Emergencies, crises…
[16:29] Adam Marshall: Waiting till the last minute, you know, so…
[16:33] Adam Marshall: Shorter runways always lead to higher costs, more stress.
[16:39] Adam Marshall: and less desirable results. You have fewer arrows in your quiver. You have less time to perfect a strategy. So, for us.
[16:49] Adam Marshall: It's always telling clients, look, it's in your financial best interest and ours to plan.
[16:57] Adam Marshall: Think about what you're gonna need. Think about your growth. Don't wait until the day before something needs to be done. You're hiring that
[17:07] Adam Marshall: go-to C-suite executive for the first time, don't come to us 24 hours before you have to give him the offer and the documentation. Something's gonna be missed.
[17:19] Adam Marshall: There's gonna be a problem. You know, if I have to keep someone away from their families or their personal lives for 24 hours so that they can get it done, that comes at a price.
[17:31] Adam Marshall: So being measured, being strategic, thinking through issues, listening to the advice of people that know more than you in whatever field. Listen to your accountant when it comes to financial matters. Listen to your CFO. Listen to your lawyer. We've done this before for other people.
[17:50] Adam Marshall: That helps not only contain costs, but more importantly to me, get you to where you're going in your big picture. It fits into the story, it fits into the strategy, it fits into the exit, and one of the things
[18:05] Adam Marshall: To put the period on the end of the sentences.
[18:09] Adam Marshall: I tell clients all the time, every business that's successful at some point sells.
[18:14] Adam Marshall: whether it's to employees, or to family members, or to a third party, you're gonna have some event where you divest yourself of the business to someone else. What I tell clients is every document
[18:27] Adam Marshall: Legal document, no matter how insignificant you think it is, is gonna go in your data room.
[18:33] Adam Marshall: Isn't it just a better feeling for you, the business owner, to know that when that day finally comes, and private equity makes you an offer, and they send us the due diligence list, and with one button.
[18:48] Adam Marshall: We populate the data room? Wow. That's powerful.
[18:53] Craig Andrews: You know.
[18:54] Adam Marshall: One.
[18:55] Adam Marshall: You can give them the confidence that you've run things the right way, that you've got your legal foundation built, but the other is psychological.
[19:03] Adam Marshall: We all know the game when buyers are trying to buy businesses. They give you that eye-popping number in the first line of the letter of intent, and then are all the conditions and all the things that they're gonna trade you down on. But psychologically.
[19:19] Adam Marshall: You prove to them that you've done things the right way, and you care about your business, and you've built the foundation out of brick and mortar and not cardboard.
[19:29] Adam Marshall: Psychologically, they're gonna be more enticed
[19:33] Adam Marshall: to… to close. More excited about paying the price that they agreed on, rather than trading you down for risk and problems because you didn't do things the right way. Because your employees aren't under appropriate.
[19:47] Adam Marshall: Employment agreements, because your customer agreements have all expired, or don't comport with today's standards.
[19:56] Adam Marshall: Those are all things that force buyers to either trade you down or walk away from the deal.
[20:01] Craig Andrews: Yeah.
[20:02] Adam Marshall: So why give them that reason? Why give them that excuse? And more importantly, why take that away from your legacy as the business owner?
[20:10] Adam Marshall: You want to leave money to your grandkids? You want to pay for your grandkids' college, you want to donate to charities, build a gym at your synagogue or church, you know.
[20:21] Adam Marshall: Don't pay them.
[20:22] Adam Marshall: Don't take the money off the table because you were dumb.
[20:26] Adam Marshall: Do it the right way.
[20:28] Adam Marshall: So, costs and results matter to me.
[20:34] Craig Andrews: I mean, it reminds me of, years ago when I was in the semiconductor business, we were launching a new product, and my company had built the reputation of sampling parts before they were ready, and our customers would call them up, say, hey, we saw something, have you seen it? We're like, we'll get back to you.
[20:52] Craig Andrews: And the way we had to overcome it, I was launching a new product.
[20:56] Craig Andrews: And we measured everything, and we put it on CD, and when we went out to sample it, this is back in the days when laptops had DVD drives.
[21:07] Craig Andrews: We went out on the road to sample it to customers, you know, here's your sample, and they're like, well, hey, did you measure this? And I said, we did, the data's on the CD, let me show you where to find it. And then they'd say, well, what about this? I said, we did, it's on the CD, here's where you find it. They would always ask 3 questions.
[21:24] Craig Andrews: Customer after customer after customer, they'd ask 3 questions. And there's a part of me that wondered if they ever even looked at any data beyond that, because their real question was.
[21:34] Craig Andrews: Did you do your work?
[21:37] Adam Marshall: Yep.
[21:38] Adam Marshall: And by the way, when you can answer all of those questions, or the answer to your question is it's all here in one place.
[21:46] Adam Marshall: That gives them the confidence that you know what you're doing, it gives them the confidence that they're spending their money the right way. You know, cost
[21:55] Adam Marshall: It's more of a value proposition than a number.
[21:59] Craig Andrews: Right?
[22:00] Adam Marshall: You know, if a client needs something and feels that that something was delivered appropriately.
[22:08] Adam Marshall: The number becomes less important.
[22:11] Craig Andrews: Right.
[22:11] Adam Marshall: Right? So you just proved, hey, by using us, you're gonna get this data, we're gonna have stress-tested it.
[22:20] Adam Marshall: we thought it through. We've done the hard… we've done the heavy lift for you.
[22:25] Adam Marshall: Well, parting with their hard-earned money to pay you for your services or products then becomes an easy decision. And, oh, by the way, more importantly, when they're…
[22:36] Adam Marshall: at their gym, or at their country club, or out to dinner with friends, and they say, hey, if you have a need, Craig and his team, wow, they presented this DVD, they had all the answers there, use them. Now, all of a sudden, doing a good job becomes a business development tool.
[22:55] Craig Andrews: Yeah.
[22:55] Adam Marshall: It helps you grow your business!
[22:57] Craig Andrews: Yeah.
[22:58] Craig Andrews: Well, and it's… oh, go ahead.
[23:00] Adam Marshall: I like… I was just gonna say, I like win-win-win. I like when clients win, when we can pay our employees, and when we build a reputation and a cadre of happy followers. Everybody wins in that scenario.
[23:17] Craig Andrews: Well, and what I was doing for them was I was helping them manage their risk. And so what made me think of what you were talking about.
[23:24] Craig Andrews: Due diligence is all about risk. It's all about managing risk.
[23:29] Craig Andrews: In the morning.
[23:30] Adam Marshall: We just summarized my career. Most people don't think of lawyers. We are… we… our job…
[23:36] Adam Marshall: is client service and risk management. That's it.
[23:41] Adam Marshall: The law, the words, are our widget. The paper is our widget.
[23:47] Adam Marshall: But at the end of the day, client service, listening to, understanding, processing, advising, client service.
[23:58] Adam Marshall: And then the other piece?
[24:00] Adam Marshall: is risk management. Hey, client, we don't make business decisions for you, but if you don't include this provision in a contract, hey, here's my colleague who's a litigator who's gonna tell you all the things that can happen. If the client chooses not to include that provision.
[24:16] Adam Marshall: Because they think that they can get more business and mitigate that risk, or self-insure for that risk, that's not our call. Our call is to educate them and tell them about the risks and rewards, and let them make an informed decision.
[24:30] Adam Marshall: But that's all we do, so you summed it up perfectly. Risk management.
[24:35] Adam Marshall: That's what a lawyer does.
[24:38] Craig Andrews: Hmm.
[24:40] Craig Andrews: So, what… what type of firm, or what type of companies do you guys generally work with?
[24:49] Adam Marshall: Yeah, so we have… I'm oversimplifying by a little bit, but we have two baskets of clients that we really love to work with, and that I think relate really well to us and enjoy the experience with us. The first basket are clients that, candidly, most law firms want.
[25:06] Adam Marshall: Middle market operating companies that have
[25:09] Adam Marshall: daily or strategic legal needs. It could be as simple as, hey, we're bringing in an investor, or we're starting a, you know, we're starting a new product line, and we need to make sure our terms and conditions cover things. Things that… that…
[25:25] Adam Marshall: You know, the legal and operational slash financial sort of interweave
[25:31] Adam Marshall: In the daily business of a company, okay?
[25:34] Adam Marshall: And always with an eye on that sort of liquidity event, that M&A deal, that taking the chips off the table. That always helps the founders in C-suite understand the context for why you do it the right way, you know?
[25:48] Adam Marshall: So that's one basket, and everybody wants those. Those are middle market, you know, anywhere from $500 to $100 million in revenue.
[25:58] Adam Marshall: companies. The second basket is equally exciting for us, and that is when we… when we started this firm, and we now control both sides of the balance sheet.
[26:10] Adam Marshall: Okay, we know what our costs are, we know what we need to make to keep the lights on, keep our people happy,
[26:18] Adam Marshall: The other basket are what I call our intelligent startup clients. So, these are folks that maybe had a liquidity event.
[26:27] Adam Marshall: played golf for a year, and are now bored and want to put the band back together again. But at that point, to go to Big Law.
[26:35] Adam Marshall: You know, they're not at a public company anymore, they're not at some behemoth where big law makes a ton of sense and fits really well. But they want someone who can think through strategically, understands the playbook, knows where they've been and where they want to go.
[26:52] Adam Marshall: oh, we're a great fit for that with our big law experience, but now our humane cost structure. So we can come in and offer a flat fee for the foundational documents, and oh, by the way, that's a very intimate process.
[27:06] Adam Marshall: You know, we get to know them. Why are you doing this? Are you doing this to make a lot of money? Are you doing this to provide for family? Are you doing this because you care about animals or the environment? Well, that context gets very personal, and it allows us to build a relationship
[27:24] Adam Marshall: With our clients, and again, not…
[27:27] Adam Marshall: transactional, you know, here's an operating agreement for $5,000, $10,000, $20,000. No, no, no, no, no. It's about getting to know them, understanding the point of the document, understanding the purpose of the business, of the strategy, of the…
[27:42] Adam Marshall: possible exits, that's the other basket of clients. And the beauty of those is.
[27:48] Adam Marshall: A lot of our competitors don't want to deal with those folks yet. A lot of them are pre-revenue. They may be funding it out of their own funds, so they want to keep costs very low and contained.
[28:00] Adam Marshall: We can play ball with them, and make sure that they have enough skin in the game, that they value our time, and understand the…
[28:09] Adam Marshall: The path we're helping them you know.
[28:13] Adam Marshall: set forth their journey on, you know, the right way, the right path, to build the foundation, but we can do it in a way where it's like, hey.
[28:21] Adam Marshall: we're not… we're not putting our name on a building by doing these simple agreements. We're gonna put our name on a building by helping you grow to be a 50, 7,500 million company, and help you do the M&A deal, and wow, then everybody's happy at the closing table.
[28:39] Adam Marshall: And you're happy, you're thrilled to pay us at that point, because we've been on the journey with you from the start.
[28:47] Craig Andrews: Yeah.
[28:48] Adam Marshall: So those are the two… those are the two, sort of, baskets of clients. Now, the other thing that's really neat for me and for us is…
[28:56] Adam Marshall: again, we make the decisions. You know, we own the firm, so…
[29:01] Adam Marshall: We're happy to make exceptions to any rule. You know, if we have a good person and they want to start a non-for-profit, I have the ability to say to my team and my partners, you know what, we're going to do this pro bono.
[29:14] Adam Marshall: It's just a great cause. Let's just lean into it, and help them get it done, and help them comply with the Internal Revenue Code, and make sure they're doing it the right way, so that all the money gets to the cause that they want to get to. We have the ability to do that.
[29:32] Craig Andrews: That's awesome. That's really cool.
[29:35] Craig Andrews: You know, before we wrap up, there's been something rattling around my head for a few minutes, and it was based on something you were saying earlier about risk.
[29:46] Craig Andrews: And years ago, I woke up one Saturday morning, and I walk around the corner, and there's a snake in my house.
[29:53] Craig Andrews: And I realized I don't have a problem with snakes.
[29:56] Craig Andrews: I have a problem.
[29:58] Craig Andrews: With snake food in my house.
[30:02] Craig Andrews: And I realized, okay, I need to get rid of the snake food, and then the snakes will go somewhere else.
[30:09] Craig Andrews: And,
[30:11] Craig Andrews: And something you told me, you said, don't treat your business worse than you treat your own home.
[30:16] Craig Andrews: You know, that morning, I discovered
[30:19] Craig Andrews: I had an issue in my house. It wasn't the issue that was apparent, it was a deeper issue that I needed to deal with, and when I dealt with that, it would fix my snake problem.
[30:31] Adam Marshall: I love that.
[30:32] Craig Andrews: It seems like that's some of what you do for folks.
[30:35] Adam Marshall: It is, and look, you know, I could take, you could take, anybody in this day and age can go on the internet and learn about
[30:44] Adam Marshall: mergers and acquisitions, can learn about the law, can learn about anything. We can learn anything. I can learn about what you do by Googling, okay?
[30:52] Adam Marshall: But here's… here's where the rubber hits the road, okay? There's no substitute for experience in explaining things. When I'm sitting down with a client, I don't sit down and use all the big words. Well, what's your debt-to-service ratio, and…
[31:10] Adam Marshall: clients zone out, okay? I like to make things relatable, and in part, so that clients think through in a rational way what they're doing. M&A sounds very official. I always use this analogy with folks, to your point. I always say to them, if someone knocked on your door.
[31:28] Adam Marshall: And handed you a check, and said, move out, I'm buying your house right now, are you gonna accept that offer? The answer is, of course not.
[31:36] Adam Marshall: You're gonna look at comps, you're gonna look at what your neighbors are selling at, you're gonna look at what you can replace it with. You know, maybe that number was good
[31:45] Adam Marshall: 10 years ago, but now you're gonna spend 3 times that to buy something smaller because of inflation. You know, you're gonna do due diligence, you're gonna do market research, you're gonna figure out what lifestyle you want. My advice to clients is that's how you need to think about selling your business.
[32:02] Adam Marshall: What do you want out of it?
[32:04] Adam Marshall: you know, I can sell my business tomorrow and get no cash and just get a promissory note. Well, but that doesn't…
[32:11] Adam Marshall: put food on the table, or pay the mortgage, or, you know, pay for vacations, or things for my kids. So, what good would that transaction do me?
[32:21] Adam Marshall: Right? I have to do diligence. What am I gonna get out of it? What's my family gonna get out of it? What are my employees gonna get out of it for all the hard work that they put in to help us get to the point where we are? So, that sort of…
[32:33] Adam Marshall: folksy analogy really helps people realize, oh my goodness, like, I wouldn't do that with my
[32:41] Adam Marshall: $500,000, million dollar house, why would I do that with my 30, 40, 50 million dollar business?
[32:49] Adam Marshall: And it sort of jars them into, okay, we're listening, like, what do we need to do to do this the right way, procedurally and legally?
[32:57] Craig Andrews: Yeah.
[32:58] Craig Andrews: That's so awesome.
[33:01] Craig Andrews: Well, Adam, we, we could go on for a while, but we need to wrap.
[33:05] Craig Andrews: How can folks reach you?
[33:08] Adam Marshall: Yeah, I'm easy. They can reach me by email.
[33:12] Adam Marshall: They can reach me by cell phone, or text. I'm very open and communicative, and again, part of our value proposition is you want to talk to us, or you can't sleep at night.
[33:26] Adam Marshall: shoot us a message. So yeah, either of those, methodologies work for me.
[33:32] Craig Andrews: And it's Lorium Law, you know, so if they Google Lorium, you're not the town in Italy, you're the law firm.
[33:39] Adam Marshall: We're Loriam Law, you know, our domain, you know, our website is lauriumwaw.com, my email is amarshall at lauriumwaw.com.
[33:49] Adam Marshall: Very easy to… very easy to get in touch, and we'll answer.
[33:53] Craig Andrews: Well, thanks for coming on, Leaders and Legacies.
[33:56] Adam Marshall: And I greatly appreciate it, thank you, it was fun.
[34:06] Craig Andrews: This is Craig Andrews. I want to thank you for listening to the Leaders & Legacies podcast. We're looking for leaders to share how they're making impact beyond themselves. If that's you, please go to allies4me.com/guest and sign up there.
[34:24] Craig Andrews: If you got something out of this interview, we would love you to share this episode on social media. Just do a quick screenshot with your phone and text it to a friend or post it on the socials.
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[35:03] Craig Andrews: If you want to know more, please go to allies4me.com or follow me on LinkedIn. Thanks for listening. We will see you next time.
