Nicholas Lipresti, corporate and business transactional attorney with Lipresti Law

0:00 The topics and opinions expressed in the following show are solely those of the hosts and their guests, and not those of W FOURCY Radio. It's employees are affiliates. We make no recommendations or endorsements for radio show programs, services, or products mentioned on air or on our web. No liability explicitor implies shall be extended to W four cy Radio or it's employees are affiliates. Any questions or comments should be directed to those show hosts. Thank you for choosing W FOURCY Radio. Churchill said, those who fail to learn from history are condemned to repeat it. Kevin helen n believes that certainly applies to business. Welcome to Winning Business Radio here at W four CY Radio. That's W four cy dot com and now your host, Kevin Helena.

0:52 Thank you everybody for joining in today. I'm Kevin Hallanan and welcome back to Winning Business TV and Radio on W four cy dot com. We're streaming live on talkforretv dot com, and of course we're streaming live on Facebook and that's at Winning Business Radio. And we're available in podcast form after the live show on just about whatever platform you use to find your podcast content. That's YouTube, iHeartRadio, Spotify, Apple again, wherever you listen. The mission of Winning Business radio and TV, as regular viewers and listeners know, is to offer insights and advice to help people avoid the mistakes of others, to learn best practices, the how tos, the what toos, the what not tos, to be challenged and hopefully to be inspired by the successes of others.

1:37 Who are those others. They're consultants, coaches, advisors, authors, founders, owners, entrepreneurs, people with expertise. Today's an attorney. But you know, virtually every successful person I've ever had a chance to talk to has said some form of failure in their lives and careers. So every week I say, we all have to get our knee skinned once in a while. I'm driven to keep those scrapes from needing major surgery. To learn from history so we don't repeat it. I've spent the better part of my career equipping businesses to grow from solopreneurs to small and medium sized businesses all the way up to the Fortune fifty, and I've seen a lot of those companies win, and to varying degrees. I've seen some fail, and I've had the opportunity to rub elbows with some of the highest performing people around and with some who probably should have found other professions. In my own businesses, I've had lots of success, but some failures too, So I like to think I've learned a lot from those experiences. So you're going to hear from me my opinions and insights. But anyone who knows me will tell you that I have a hard time staying quiet.

2:36 So more importantly than me, you're going to hear from experts, those consultants, coaches, advisors, authors, founders, owners, entrepreneurs, attorneys. Today, my guest is attorney Nick Lapresty, corporate and business transactional lawyer with Nepresty Law Lapresty Law. Here's his bio. Nicholas Depresti is a transactional attorney based near Boston, concentrating his practice in corporate business, commercial lending, and finance law. His practice focuses on structuring, negotiating, and closing joint ventures as well as mergers and acquisitions, and that's both buyers and sellers. Nick is also known for his expertise in asset dispositions, securities, issuances, and other capital raises. Recapitalizations, restructurings, buyouts and takeouts, as well as various forms of business and real estate financing ranging from venture and private capity capital excuse me, I said that wrong? From venture and private equity to asset and property backed bank financings. He sought after for his expertise and negotiating term sheets, letters of intent, purchase, asset and equity agreements, profit sharing plans, operating agreements, buyer seller agreements, shareholder agreements, employment agreements, as well as confidentially in non disclosure agreements for business. Nick has significant experience preparing private placement memorana and other offering documents for equity issuances and syndications, as well as compliance with federal and state blue law excuse me, blue sky securities laws getting ahead of myself there.

4:05 He also represents many commercial lenders and borrowers in connection with commercial estate financings, asset based financings and lines of credit, project financings, tax credit financing supportinate and knows the lob we're going to get to this subordinated and senior debt transactions, convertible preferred equity, structured finance, and loan assumptions. Nick regularly counsels financial institutions and borrowers, and the drafting and negotiation of loan documentation including loan agreements, notes, mortgages and deeds, security pledges, guarantees, and subordination agreements. Providing outside general counsel, he works with closely held businesses from startups to establish companies, as well as nonprofits and entities and workout situations. Nick supports clients with organizational and equity planning, strategic advice, resolution of conflicts among owners, executive employment matters, and ongoing corporate counseling.

4:54 Nick earned his BA in Political Science and government with a minor and classical civilizations from William and Mary, his jd. Or Law degree from the Columbia Columbus School of Law at the Catholic University of America, and his Master's of Laws and Taxation from the Georgetown University Law Center. He and his wife Kristin live in Upton, Mass with their daughter Lily who's ten, their son James who's eight. There are two rescued dogs, Cody and Beast, and their three axe lotels. Nick. Welcome to Winning Business Radio. Thank you, thank you for having me, and I've just heard a lot about myself and that. Do I do all that well? I appreciate the time. I know you're busy, and I appreciate you carving out about an hour here. Let's start with family. Tell us a little bit about Kristin.

5:37 Kristin, she's my wife and the reason i'm up here in New England now. Met her in college and actually summer abroad in Sicily. So oh wow, go cool back many years at this point. And Lily and James. Yep, there's are the ones that keep me young and or feeling old dependent on the day. Yeah, they're They're. My two and the reason I do everything and family time is great and also the reason we're New England to raise them as my wife always wanted to come home for that. That's awesome. Uh So I'm a dog guy, so but don't don't let me offend anybody. I want to hear more about the Axle Lottels three action Lottles. Tell us what that is, what they are.

6:24 I did get. Very driven, so I did not know about them before the kids. There must be in a TV. Show or a cartoon or something, because I wasn't aware of them. But they exist. They're real. It's like a salamander with a tadpole tail is the best I can describe me, and it's they're like fish, but you can't put them with fish because fish will actually bully them. And they don't like the light, so they kind of like to be in the dark. They're interesting animals, but the kids love them. They look like cartoon characters. And. They they that my wife does not like that we have to keep outside and and they're they're family pets.

7:09 That's awesome, and h I happened to look them up because I was curious. They're used in research because they can regenerate uh, tales, ears, whatever, limbs. Right, yeah, there again the salimenter tail we have. We haven't thankfully suffered any of that at our house, but they and they're crazy little things. They got neck. Beards, which I just find are hilarious because they move and they moved in the water. That's awesome. All right. So you grew up in the DC Virgin area, right, yep? The man man of kind of the East Coast. My parents are New Yorkers that went down to d C. And that's where I was born and raised in Fairfax County. Cool. What was it like to grow up there. Uh interesting, I thought, again, as we all did. We thought it was normal growing up because it was just the way. But now looking back on it.

7:53 But even though you weren't a Mandalorian. Not a not a Mandalorian, and I walked in. Little little reference, this is the way, anyway, go ahead, And. But looking back on it is different. It's different from New England and it was rolling suburbia. I mean again, my parents are New Yorkers, went down to d C for work, ended up settling in the suburbs, which was again at that time being completely redeveloped into suburbs. And it just has continued since then and even after I left. And it's different because there's no there's no central town feel. Again, it's rolling suburbia. And I, to be honest, I like it up here.

8:36 So did you bring your sports allegiances with you? Where do those? They? I have? And the Commanders are making it easier this year again, And I'm old enough that I remember ninety two when when the Redskins now Commanders were good and then it was a brutal winner of about thirty so years. Still follow the the Nationals. We'll see wizards. I still can't love that name. And I don't know where they're going, but we got the commanders and we'll see. So my wife and I were doing the MLB Ballpark tour. I mean, I've talked about that at one point or another, but we saw the Nationals two years ago.

9:20 Beautiful park. Beautiful is it really is? Yeah? What made you decide to attend? William and Mary into major in polyscien government? And then I'm curious about classical civilizations too. I think it's pretty cool. I'm not you know, some people laugh at minors. Yeah, whatever, but I'm curious about that as well. So William and Mary again growing up in northern Virginia and blessed with a great in school or in state school system. So again I love my parents. They are very clear you can go anywhere you want in the country, but if you're going to pay over state tuition, so that that heavily impacted. And so I looked at the the general all three again, I don't even know how college admissions work. I applied to University of Virginia, I got waitlisted.

10:07 I got applied to Virginia Tech, which I got in. My older sister went there, and I was a big fan of the football program at the time, and when to William and Mary, it probably goes into political sites and the rest of the conversation. It was it was the area in the history. It's just a lovely area. It was. It wasn't too small, wasn't too big. It was one of the older schools in the nation, right. Yeah, I mean it's right there. I think they said seven presidents studied there. Got funny back in the day, no one had really graduated. You just went to college, learned until you thought you were done, and then you were good and you left different these days, but yeah, great area. Liked it there, and being from DC and then the courses with government that that kind of just led to. I didn't know what I wanted to do when I grew up, but thought I was going to go into government work on Capitol Hill when I was a kid, again just being a political nerd.

11:10 Well, you had some cool internships and I want to get to those in a little bit, but you did have some of that experience that's which is cool. Yeah, So I had some experience, and unfortunately it was enough to realize that it wasn't for me. So again, I love the opportunities. I got there, but it Capitol Hill, and this was again twenty years ago. It was starting to change from what historically had been. And again you'd think kind of collegial environment. Again, you work on what you can together, respectful disagreements, and I guess the average politician, you would say, on both sides, was more of a flag bearrier bear excuse me for his or her cause.

11:52 It started to shift to more kind of a celebrity culture where people cared more about who was coming to see what they gone on. And again this is twenty years ago, so not a comment on anything regular, but it was enough to say I'll go somewhere else, and law school was the next option. So yeah, that was my next question. When did you know you wanted to be an attorney? When I graduated law school, it was pretty clear because when I went into law school, or at least planned to go into law school taking the LSATZ the entrics exam, was still government was on my mind, and a lot of people on Capitol Hill went to law school, so it was kind of just a logical step. And then I realized in law school that I didn't want to go into the government or Capitol Hill, and then I had to figure out in law school what type of lawyer I wanted to be, and that was part of the journey.

12:51 And was Catholic University of America a choice because you got in or did you apply there specifically you wanted to go there? What was that about? Got in and was looking to stay in the DC area and my whole career would be down there. Foolish me? So yeah, got in and. When went straight from undergrad to law school, which actually I don't recommend really for anyone out there. Not that if any kids are listening to this. Is take a gap year, go go be a paralegal somewhere before you decide to commit to the school, and then probably at least the next decade of your life to pay off the debts associated with it.

13:39 Is that your biggest motivator for that advice? Or was it the grueling nature? It was? It was the grueling nature. And it's one of those things almost I say med school, but again I didn't have that where it's once you step on the train, it's hard to get off. It's three years, it's very intense, and again, you there's only so many options and the market's tough, So it's not I guess it's you can't just kind of be a babe in the woods anymore and it'll work out it And it's the industry itself is tough, so it always get some experience and see if you like it or you decide to. To DIA to do it. Last question before the first break. You also got your Masters of Taxation. What was behind I'm saying that correct Masters of Law Laws focusing on LM. Is that we said, and what was the motivation for that? What was that plan?

14:36 A part of that again was my career has been what's been planned and then what actually happened. So when I went to law school, decided not to go it wasn't going to go in Capitol Hill politics, and not that I was ever going to run for office or anything, but just over there, I said, all. Right, I'm going to go to law school. And then not blaming my dad, but kind of his insight was working for the government is some of the and he did it when he was younger is some of the best training he ever got. So the idea was go work in the Chiefs General's Council office. Again, you're in DC, so is there and yet training. Unfortunately, I came out of law school in one of the recessions, including legal market recession.

15:21 So it was very tight at that time. But that was the plan, and so l excuse me, and tax was going to be kind of a culmination of tax analysis as well as business. Thank you all right, we're going to be back in just a minute. Everybody will be back with Nick Lepresty in about sixty seconds. You're listening to Winning Business Radio with Kevin Helena on W four CY Radio. That's W four cy dot com. Don't go away. More helpful information is coming right up right here on Winning Business Radio.

16:02 Have you ever dreamt of being on the radio, Well, now it's your chance be a radio show guest on the number one ranked internet radio station and promote you and your business for free. Yes you heard it, Free business advertising right here on W four cy dot com. Call five six to one five zero six four zero three to one now to get booked on one of our shows. That's five six one five zero six four zero three to one. Geg. You're free advertising now. And now back to Winning Business Radio with Kevin Helene presenting exciting topics and expert guests with one goal in mind to help you succeed in business. Here once again is Kevin Helene.

16:54 We are back with nick La Presty, partner of Lapresty Law. All Right, I want to take you through Samavia. I won't go through every early position, but you had some cool internships and I want to ask kind of what you learned. What were your key takeaways. You interned for Senator John Warner national on the National Security Team. Talk about that briefly and what did you take away from that experience? That was a great experience. Again he by the way, quick interruption for the audience. Internship ships are brief. Yes, it was for the summer and again the late Senator Warner, and he was an elder statesman by the time, the senior senator, and it was a great experience because he was he was very respected. So in terms of again you're you're such a peon of an intern at that but getting to kind of be close to what's going on and seeing the people that he interacted with was again for political nerd was really cool and I mean especially at that time, it was an interesting environment. Again, he in the same building, remember from the Senator Ted Kennedy again another yeah, beast, but it was when.

18:05 He was another elder statesman. Legend, a legend, and and what I always. Remember about him was in the Russell Building there were long. Hallways because then the offices would be off the halls, and he was he'd been around enough that he had his two dogs, so he would walk and whenever you saw him, he'd have the dogs and a staffer two and he'd have that that. Again older gate. But and so again it was a great experience and you you'd like to think again that how things worked in terms of the government and the country and and being there and especially at interesting times again national security team. There again a flare up in Israel, a war during that time, so there was political pressure.

18:50 Like five years post nine to eleven, so everything was pretty raw still. Yeah, and so it was it was a great time to be there and learn and again get experience. I mean, life's about the journey and getting experiences, and that was a great one. Again realizing that it wasn't going to be a call in, but at least getting getting. To have that and move on. And then the first of your two judicial internships, first with Superior Court of District of the DC Court, Honorable Len Leibovitz talk about that experience. So that was great. The I'm not a big fan of classroom learning, just again, that's not how I learned the best, not that it's that, it's just we all learn different ways. So I learned better on the job the experience. So in law school and with Judge Leberwitz at the time, I don't even know if I was getting credit, but it was going in and helping answer a couple of emails, being an assistant to the law clerk, but it was getting some experience on what the law is. First year of law school is a very brutal process. It's kind of it breaks you down, and so kind of getting out that it's more than just a classroom was important to me.

20:00 And DC the big courthouse not too far away, and she was on the civil docket at the time, which to me was humorous because she I believe she's still on the bench. Great lady. She career criminal attorney. I think she was a prosecutor, so that was where she liked to be. And when I worked or assisted, she was on the civil docket, which again is not it's not criminal, it's lawsuits among parties, not the state. So it's just I don't want to say it just didn't interest her as much. It wasn't her passion. So it was funny. I remember at the time one of the court cases it was between two owners or to an owner and a former owner of a Georgetown townhouse and down in DC, very nice area of the city. I think probably eight figures or sover price tag. The two parties were arguing over or some drapes and a chandelier about whether it was fixed years or not. And again everyone can do it, but I want to say the value might have been twenty five thousand dollars they're fighting over, I think. And again it was going on for a while so that by the time I even came in, I think each side had probably spent over a quarter million dollars in legal fees in process. And it was it was frustrating for the judge to see that because again washe not a waste of time?

21:31 But again that's where emotion got the better of those two parties, right, yes, and so. But again it was it was learning how things work in the dock and as civil so if you had an issue, if you needed to get paid suit how that worked, and again it was another experience where I took from that that I didn't want to be a litigator, and not that there's anything wrong, but it was. It was an experience and I appreciate it and just realized it wasn't for me. So again it was a great I got to where I am in law school, didn't know where I was going to be doing this. It was kind of things started to fall away and the best way to kind.

22:12 Of that's a good experience to know what you don't want to do as much as you find out what you do. And so I spent the first two years probably of law school, started to jettison whole practice areas that again nothing wrong with yes, not for me. Let's see, I want to go to Actually, you had a summer internship, another internship. I'll skip those if you don't mind. Listen, there's something specific you want to share mcandalish and Lillard and McGuire woods. But I want to get to the other judicial internship, Superior Court of DC. The Honorable John Bailey Junior. Yeah, So that was again back in DC Superior Court, and this time it was on the criminal docket. So a completely different experience because in the criminal docket, the plaintiff is O is the government, and the defendant is always an individual that's been charged with the crime.

23:05 So and this is it was DZ but it was state level not federal. Yes, its DC so local not yeah, well it is. You talking, but yes, it was. It was local but criminal. So again you're looking at at situations, uh, violence, drug related and it again appreciation of it and again where how how society works? And because when you when you're looking at a criminal docket like that, a lot of it there's not murder. And then and again the big crimes, it's it's a lot of again just processing crimes again, a lot of drug related and it I mean, it's it's sad to see.

23:55 How Yeah, you see people at their worst in those situations. They're worse. And then some people, even young people that you almost say never had a chance. So it again it was it was. It was a poignant moment, uh, in my career of learning. And and there's the good thing is at that level there is a lot of assistance of people that in organizations that that try to help where they can, especially when state federal governments kind of falls short, but it's it again. It gives you an appreciation and that that life is a little different than we'll. Say Law and Order. It's a great TV show, but doesn't exactly show how how true it is.

24:36 What the it's not all settled in an hour, not less. Lesson is easy and everything, but there's ups and downs and and it's hard and again even you've got to prove it and and sometimes again it's one of those things. You know it, but to prove it is a different story. And again if you can't prove it, there's there's serious ratifications. And then law clerk Jackson and Campbell again short term, because that was still you were still in school at that point. Yep. That was still kind of like the other legal internships, getting out there and just getting more experience and finding each one. Again mcainleish Lillard, we don't have spent much time on it, but that was my first summer associate, and I spent against civil litigation, working with lawsuits and then also doing family law. Realized very quickly again family law was not not for me. Again another important part of then there's lawyers that do it. But at the time I was reading and notating impact statements by ten twelve year olds about their parents' divorce. And again you need to do it. Yeah, unfortunately it has to be done.

25:46 But I knew it would shoot me up in a year. Maybe it was not going to be my career. So again, the people that do that are necessary and have that makeup, but I knew I didn't. So it was again kind of the jettisoning of areas and and then working in McGuire woods doing some some tax work. So again it was kind of sticking your toe in different ponds and seeing where you're going to go. Because even as an attorney, there's a lot of different types of attorneys and and your your career, your lifestyle can be very different depending what you end up at. Well, it's like if you don't uh play the right music for your unborn child, it determines the future, the right or wrong internship can not just kidding, this is important, just as important. All right, Then you were an associate for this guy, Peter la Presty. I'm guessing there's a connection there, and that was a four year that was that was a that was a professional legal position.

26:44 Yep, that was just associate and that was again learn learning how to how to be an attorney, and coming out of law school in a recession, the legal market was was pretty tough, and so I was thankful for that and to have a job, and again to appreciate that. And again that's a lesson in itself, coming out. Of a school uncle or oh no, work with my dad, Oh that was your done? Oh yes, that was my dad. And so being able to again never really designed to be fathering son job. And again they were firm and it was only for a time, but again at that point having a job and being able to maintain and then as the market opened up, even being able to apply from having a job was much different than applying from not having a job. So again that's true, it seems almost like a lifetime ago, but it was again as professional, a different time and kind of scary when again you want to work. You know you can do the job, but sometimes your options are limited by what's out there.

27:49 What was the practice area or areas. Working. I've always done corporate work, working with business as business owners. Again, started to do some tax work as I had my LLM. I realized a couple of years in that I'd be one heck of a tax issue spotter. But I was going to focus on corporate tax. It's something, it's consuming, there's a lot of changes. You need to stay current. You can't dabble in it. And I knew that I was going to not be fully there. So I still, like I said, I'm a great issue spotter, but now I focus in in corporate business world, which is really helping business owners businesses again meet their goals, make money and stay out of trouble and losing money.

28:36 All right, which is a good segue. We'll take our second commercial break, we'll come back and we'll dig into the current work you're doing now. We'll be back in one minute with Nikola Presty. You're listening to Winning Business Radio with Kevin Helene on W four CY Radio. That's W four C Why dot Com Don't go away, more helpful information and is coming right up right here on Winning Business Radio. The yp dot com website is your local search engine. If you're looking for a good restaurant, it can help you find the right one nearby with ratings and reviews. Or if your car breaks down, you can use the YP app to find the closest repair shop, or maybe you're just looking for something to do on a Friday night.

29:21 While it has great local coupons for all sorts of things in your area no matter what, when or where. If you're looking for something, YP Local Search can help you find it. So go to yp dot com or download the app to search local, find local, and save local. And now back to Winning Business Radio with Kevin Helene, presenting exciting topics and expert guests with one goal in mind to help you succeed in business. Here once again is Kevin Helena. We're back with Nick Lapresty, partner at Lapresty Law. So you make your way from Virginia back to Worcester. Fletcher Tilton spent about a year there. Tell us a little bit about that and your key takeaway.

30:14 Funny. So my key takeaway that I came up that was a contract job and as you said, out in Worcester, and that was my realizing that New England is not home moment. And again, great people there, great firm, but it was kind of it was the moment and the big takeaway or the light going off was that I'm I'm an entrepreneurial attorney in regards to again, I'm an attorney, but going out making business, growing that book. Yeah, attorneys or business people, they better be right. We're service providers. We have to be. And that that experience and that model was was not entrepreneurial. It was just, I don't want to say, an old boys and girls network, but it was. It was very insular and established. So Okiel, Yes, And so I knew that that structure and then probably that that community was not really the best for me, because I would I'd fail left and right in terms of it was clear, especially in the professional service provider world of attorneys, accountants, insurance, that there were generations at play of locals, and that to kind of break into that as an outsider would be difficult and probably not the best use of time.

31:35 But that was your ability to get back, as you said, family reasons, not back for your wife to get back. No, that's how we got back again. We got back, and that was the lesson in which I took from after that with my next job. And part of the reason I was there, Everett and was at that firm is very entrepreneurial. So that's when you and I met, when you were at Darrel Everett. Yeah, yes, yeah, yeah, years a lifetime ago, and again looking there, even as an associate attorney, where generally you're not looked at to get business or co out in business, they actually had a weekly requirement to go out in the community. And again the expectations were pretty low, but you have to learn and you had to start somewhere.

32:20 And that was exactly what I was looking for because when I came up north, and again especially after the Fletcher Tilton experience, I realized not being in New Englander, there's nothing wrong with it, but being from somewhere, whether it's a college, a town, that you could tap into that community for contacts, and that's how we start to build a network and then from there you built a book of business out of that network. And that was what was important for me, was I had to build a network because I had nothing, and so being the entrepreneurial lane was very helpful and that's what I started at that time, and again being an attorney and working on that and developing my practice there, but also understanding about networking, building a network and realizing that to be successful, especially as an attorney and as a service provider, at a certain amount of time or a certain place in your career. It's just not enough to be proficient at the work that's being put in front of you. You have to also bring in work for yourself and potentially others, if you're looking to continue to climb the career, or if you're looking to put yourself in a position. As they said, the the golden rule is gold and if you can bring in a lot of money, you'll be able to dictate your terms.

33:43 So then you made your way to this is interesting, the Presty law. But Greater Boston. Is that an office of the DC firm or is that a new firm? So it is an office of the firm. And this now goes back to COVID. And in end of twenty or end of nineteen twenty nineteen, I knew that my time at Dara Everett was coming to an end, solely for the fact that the man behind the firm, Zach Darrow I want to say twenty seventeen, had moved to Florida and was spending more time out of the Miami practice. So fast forward a couple of years. The Miami office had grown a lot, as he had been down there, a lot, which makes sense. There was also a New York Office of Providence, Rhode Island, which was kind of the headquarters, and then mass mass was not really kind of mission critical. So while again knock on Wood I was doing well, I was growing, it was clear I was growing, and it had a point where the firm wasn't going to be interested at so looked around. Actually, in January of twenty twenty, started a partnership with a couple of former colleagues, which crashed and burned extremely quickly.

34:58 So now go end of March, we're now COVID. Before we're all lockdown. Yeah, yeah, but no one's working at that point. So it was really the question of do I start my own firm at that moment, or do I open up a satellite office of an existing firm, which is what I did, because in terms of starting a business again professional licensure as an attorney, it was it would have been a lot more hurdles, especially at a time when people weren't answering the phone. It was again not until maybe June or so of twenty twenty when people realized we're gonna have to work through COVID. Yeah, it was only gonna be two weeks, yeah, no. Two two weeks maybe a little bit more than the world.

35:38 Of reset, and that's not what happened. So yeah, So Lepressey Law is again founded in two thousand and three, and again it's my dad's firm. It was never meant to be a father and son and it's not now. If anything, it's viewed as a kind of think of it as an expense sharing relationship and so on in twenty twenty and then ended up taking over operations in twenty twenty two and now still working with my dad, which is great. He's in what he calls his glide path. He's on his way to retirement at his own pace. But it sounds like you guys have a working relationship, unlike I've seen in a lot of other quote family businesses where all due respect, dad sticks around too long.

36:29 Yes, no, And the dynamic is different because it's an expense sharing situation. Again. He has his world, his clients. I have mine. So it's not again you think of traditional family business where it's the kind of the turning over the keys of whether again it's a physical building or again kind of all the clients that were one generation are now coming years and again there will be some clients and there are some clients that shared, but generally he's got his stuff and I've got mine, which from a pressure and intensity purpose, is kind of great because it isn't it's it's very low pressure. It gives him, it sounds to me like it gives him all kinds of freedom to chart his path whenever he wants to step away. It's not going to negatively impact you, exactly. And he's in control of that. You're in control of that.

37:19 So he's it's and so it's fun and and so the only troubled times are when there's technology upgrades and uh, and then that that hits him, and then there's usually a couple of emails a zoomed to figure something out. But other than that, he's usually pretty happy about the arrangement. But the expletives don't make the filter though, right, No, no, And. Again we have a consultant for our outsourced I T which again so poor for them, is then usually the tip of the spear. All right, So let's dig into the work that you do. It's all business focused. You're working with your clients that probably range in size and industry. Give us sort of a probably not fair to say, thumbnil give us a description of the types of clients that you work with.

38:08 We were with a variety and again from small to someone setting up their own company and I need some basic guidance that again could probably maybe pay a vendor online to do it, but in terms of learning and bet and process, that's not the best. Yeah, ce Corpes Corp LLC. Right, right, what's the right choice for that entity partner exactly? And we'll pervent some basic documents right now, there's there's it's easy access to a lot of information, which in itself becomes a problem because there's there's right information, there's wrong information, there's over information. And so again we say nothing's too small, and then we work all the way again through operations, ongoing matters with owners, transactions up to medium large companies which again have hundreds of employees. Again top line revenue you can go into tens or hundreds of millions. But at the end of the day, the common threat is in terms of ownership, there is a defined ownership group and we're not near anything towards public or that that is a different end of the ecosystem.

39:18 So we work with yet little too again Main Street Boston or anywhere downtown that again appreciates what we do here, which is working with businesses, business owners, and that's what we focus on, but without what we say is the downtown fee. Again, our goals to kind of slip it and provide the value. Since this is what we do, We've done it our whole careers. And while we don't have the bench and some would say the name recognition of some of those larger firms, again, we're there when you don't want to pay fifteen hundred dollars and we're happy to help you out at a reasonable rate. But sometimes you do that those firms and those matters, and and again we'll be honest that that's not us, but.

40:04 You have a deep referral network to know those guys. Yes, if it ever gets that big, if you've got a company that hits the rocket and you need to do an I p O, it's never going to be me, but I'll get you to someone that that's going to be more than happy to help you. And and again they're they're probably going to be about fifteen hundred dollars an hour, but that's like, that's that's what it is. If that's what the matter requires, right, And so it's really anything law related in there's a lot of law baked into business purchasing a piece of real estate, selling a person piece of real estate, partnerships. Most paperwork. Again I joke, I'm a paperwork nerd in terms of the company. If you're signing something there there's a reason.

40:47 And again you're you're either looking to make money, you're looking to access something. Again, with a commercial lease, you can access brick and mortar space. A lot of companies, some of these are my clients, when they do a deal with their client, there's paper. They call it paper, right, is it the prospects paper or is it the seller's paper? And there's you know that documents, those documents. This is for the audience sake. I know you know this. I'm trying to draw this out. Is uh you know which is better? Depends on the side you're on and how should how is it written? It depends on the side you're on, right, And who's going to review it? Well, it better be reviewed before anybody signs it. Absolutely, And I know that's self interested because I'm one of those people, but that's really we and again, businesses and business owners that know what they're doing understand that it's best to bring in a professional, and it could they figure it out themselves probably, but again it's it's usually what gets you is now what's in front of you, it's what you.

41:47 Didn't see coming. And without being a professional on that line, it just pay the professional, get it done, and then go to your highest revenue earning activities. If you're in sales, have a go sell more. If you're manufacturing, go make more stuff. And that's where we kind of come in to assist in making money. Another big thing is protecting liability, to make sure people don't take money away, and that's where we come in. And a lot of it is documenting and making sure that when parties understand I'm bringing this in, you're bringing that, we're building this together, you're putting money in.

42:27 Now I'm doing here. This is how it comes out, this is what happens if something goes wrong, it's really again documenting the process and making the parties understand how things work. And again, God forgiven, if anything bad happens, then you kind of have the initial playbook of how to unwind, uncouple, and try to figure out a dispute. Yeah, I mean, I'm sure you've heard way more than me. But I've heard a few more stories of partnerships that are dissolving. And it's like a divorce. It's a business divorce, it is, and there's as much emotions as in it's a relationship. Again, it's it's a professional relationship, not a personal relationship.

43:07 But still there. We have our egos, we've been slighted or perceived slides, and everyone will say it's the principle, and yet it can get brutal. And the worst times is when there's nothing there because if there's a disagreement, again, no one's happy. But if there's a process there, you just start going through the steps. You do this, I do that, we figure out the value here. No one's really happy, but you're moving forward and again getting to a place where you're there getting rid of the assets or one's taking them from the other and the others getting compensation. But you're moving past the pain point, and that's the goal.

43:49 When you don't have paperwork, there's no process, you're you're stuck in the mud of really what the two parties want to do. And so the old, the old adage of never get into business with your friend isn't really true. It's don't do it without documenting things. It's don't do it without agreements upfront. And you set a key phrase. I think, how'd you say it about? You know, you implied when things go bad, and they often do. When things are going well, no one looks at the paperwork, right, they know how processes are going and people are going out to lunch, smiles, phone calls of you're doing great. It's when oh, we're not making enough money as we thought we would, or things are moving slower. That's when you start looking at the paperwork to say, okay, well what are my options here? And it's not the best place to be, but unfortunately it happens, and it happens with some regular regularity. In business, not everything is a success.

44:47 There's failures, and then again there's a whole gray area of might be failure, might be success, somewhere in the middle, and again completely self interested. But having a process in place is smart planning, and it again you don't need to pay a ton for it, and against it can be replicated. I call it institutional knowledge. The longer you work with a professional that the easier it is for he or you. Assist and that's really where we come in again. So talk about business. So sorry, talk about the term outside general counsel for those that don't know what that means. So in outside general counsel, it's really a term for businesses that have legal.

45:28 Needs but aren't going ongoing ongoing legal. Needs, but aren't going to have an attorney on staff. It doesn't make sense from a need, from a price point to have an attorney inside the business. So what you look for is again an attorney outside the business that again can provide that council with as much regularity as needed. So again it's not that every Monday there's a call or a meeting. Again, there can be if the client needs it. Is that probably the best use of the time. No, unless there's a weekly impression. But it's working. I call it the boomerang effect to an extent, is that you have the relationship and when something comes up, that's the boomerang coming.

46:11 In and hey, this is a matter. It could be something our commercial landlord sent us some paperwork to get looked at, or you've just had an employee quit and sent this over. It can be anything, but that's that's the come in and then we usually will address it. If I can do it in house. Great. If again, let's say it's an employment situation, I do I call employment light. But if again an employee files a lawsuit, we're not helping. So again we'll get them to the right professional that will assist in that moment. And then again once the matter is resolved, or maybe it's a contract situation, but it's done. Again, that's the boomerang boomerang zooming out and maybe they come back a week, a month, six months, but it's really as an as needed relationship. But again, you have what I call institutional knowledge, which is okay, this is why things are done, or.

47:03 Is you're not starting all over again understanding the wise. Yeah, this is why we handle it this way. But this is why we're not handling it that way. It's it's that ability, which again brings i'd say a lot of value. The longer it goes on, wall costs get cut down. So it's all those events that take place, it's all those transactions that might seem minor. Lease right, seems minor, but it's a lot of pages. A lot of pages. And again, if you've got a personal guarantee and you're the owner. I mean that means you're you're responsible for it just as much. Again, the lease work we do is also with companies where there's what we call buildouts. So it could be a medical practice, could be retailed, but again that that's basically a construction agreement inside a lease. And again you want to make sure it's going along the same time. And then also with that, who's paying What is the lord paying fully for the build out? Are you paying twenty percent, they're paying eighty percent? If so, are you doing it at the same time or as you're the first twenty and they're the last eighty.

48:09 Things like that matter, and again PaperWorks nerves. But that's what. We look at and that's what we do because there's reasons for it, and it's always kind of the bodyguard of protecting the business and the business owner. That again there's a cost of doing business and putting yourself out there, but making sure that you're aware of your risks and you're not taking more risks than you should. All right, believe it or not, we only have time for a couple of more questions. First, what do you is kind of a big one, but what are you most proud of in your career thus far. Thus far, I'd say the entrepreneurial aspect and realizing and again I'm nothing special, but again it's we're professional service provider.

48:51 We have to the floor is providing good quality service. Beyond that, it's it's the business aspect of it. It is sales, marketing growth and that's been something in my career and I'm focusing on now again of how to build a business in addition to being an attorney, and this business is a law firm and that especially the last years, the last couple of years has been a great experience, a frustrating experience at times, but I feel like where I'm at now in being able to build something and again more than just a book of business, but something that again there's others that are working here at along for the ride.

49:36 Is That's what I'm proud of. It. Again, we're nothing yet, but we're we're hopefully going to build something in a little bit of our own model and see how it works. Well. We're hearing good things. We are out of time. He's Nick Lapresty and Lapresty at Laprestylaw dot com or six one seven three five one four seven five four. Reach out to him if you are a bit business in need of legal assistance, whether it's specific or ongoing. Nick, thank you very much. Thanks Kevin, You're quite welcome, and thanks everybody for listening and watching. This is the show about business and business challenges. If you've got concerns about the sales effectiveness of your company, whether your sales team is you or small or large, feel free to reach out to me on Facebook or LinkedIn at Winning Business Radio.

50:22 You can drop me a note. That's Kevinatwinning Business Radio dot com. We are Winning Incorporated, part of Sandler Training. We say we develop sales teams into high achievers and sales leaders into true coaches and mentors. We're not right for everybody, but hey, maybe we should have a conversation. That's up to you. Thanks as always to producer and engineer Jan Thank you one for another job well done. Please be sure to join us next week Monday, January thirteenth, My guest is going to be Katie Dustin, president of JED Insurance and Financial Services. Until then, this is Kevin Halliian. You've been listening to Winning Business Radio with your host Kevin Helen. If you missed any part of this episode.

51:02 The podcast is available on Talk for Podcasting and iHeartRadio. For more information and questions, go to Winning Business Radio dot com or check us out on social media. Tune in again next week and every Monday at four pm Eastern Time to listen live to Winning Business Radio on W four CY Radio w four cy dot com. Until then, let's succeed where others have failed and win in business with Kevin Halenan and Winning Business Radio