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Thoughts About Law and Business

My father was a lawyer who started a business in the year I was born. Although he was fully a businessman and ran the business for thirty years, he never completely left law behind. He used the tools of legal analysis and inquiry in his business life, but also conducted many a moot court on family trips riding in the car.

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I grew up with the twin vines of law and business and learned in a very basic way to understand that the two vines are closely entangled and entwined; one vine needs to interact and support the other for a business to be successful. Jurisprudence is a fascinating field of study, but alone it has no value in carrying on business relations. It needs the corresponding piece of business practicality to give it a this-world, down-to-earth effect.

Business is the art of looking for opportunities and evaluating risks inherent in turning those opportunities into realities. Law provides an enforceable system to try to reduce many uncertainties while the businessperson puts that art into practice. Legal structure and business practicality must work together successfully to bring entrepreneurial plans and creative ideas into being.

My ideas about these two entangled and entwined vines were clarified and reinforced through my experiences in government service, in business and then back into law, described below.

Client Testimonial

It’s vital to our company that we have solid contracts and licensing agreements with our end-users and partners. Larry Eisner has unique and specific knowledge about the software contract process, and has the experience we need to construct contracts that protect our interests, both domestically and internationally. Larry also acts as our business development consultant, watching out for the essentials when, for example, developing an OEM contract and protecting our intellectual property rights. Larry gives excellent value for the money—his business acumen, technical orientation, and reliability make him a valuable part-time resource for AppSense.

Richard Morrison, Former President & COO, AppSense