Solved !: How a Business Lawyer Solves Clients' Problems Strategically -- With Creativity and Imagination

Law School Teaches Lawyers the WHAT.SOLVED! Shows Readers the HOW.This book of 40 Tales (illustrated by the best business-law cartoons) covers 60 years of a business lawyer solving his clients’ real and most vexing problems. The Tales are written in plain English – easy, conversational and entertaining – you don’t have to be a lawyer to enjoy them. The general reader will see how this lawyer’s mind worked when faced with these problems – some seemingly insoluble. (Using his brand of “strategy” – explained in the book – the author solved one problem 10 years before it happened!) And based on the comments of the lawyers on the cover (a US Senator; Federal Judge; law school professor and Dean; big-firm corporate lawyer and others) law students and new lawyers can also benefit from SOLVED!Clients’ problems came from over 25 industries and covered more than 30 legal specialties. (And a few Tales remind us that sometimes The Law is not the solution. In one situation, the author had to look elsewhere, namely Public Relations!) Some Tales deal with advocacy – how to argue a case before a judge and win. One Tale shows when you have an obligation to negotiate – not necessarily to reach any agreement, but a legal obligation to “talk.” Other Tales tell you when to talk and when, during a negotiation, it’s best to say nothing and just listen.Seeing how problems are solved provides lessons in prevention – how you keep problems from happening in the first place. How do you prevent problems from arising? First, know exactly what the client intends and expects; and Second, use clear and precise language in the contract to express those intentions and expectations. Nine Tales illustrate how “Incentives and Risk-Shifting” can ensure your getting paid – in full and on time (and avoid having to bring a lawsuit and settle for less than you’re owed). And readers will see how the author in one situation, a losing case, switched legal theories to turn that loser into a winner. In two Tales one of the parties tries to shift its legal responsibilities onto the other party – one succeeds and another fails.A crucial aspect of good lawyering is to know the client's business – every factual aspect of that business. (Obviously a lawyer must also be familiar with all aspects of pertinent laws and regulations that affect the client's area of business.) But as many of the Tales demonstrate, nothing can replace what you learn from a visit to the factory, plant, office, warehouse – whatever it takes – asking questions and getting answers. For example, observing how a piece of machinery works and getting answers to the lawyer’s questions turned a losing situation into a winner for one client. And asking what seemed to be a simple layperson's question about the design of a screw head in a medical device saved some surgical patients from injury and the client manufacturer from becoming a defendant in a product-liability lawsuit. Many Tales demonstrate how decisive getting all the facts can be. Business lawyers should look, observe and ask questions; and clients should insist on educating their lawyer about their business.Legal ethics, always a major concern of the author, came up during the writing and editing of SOLVED! A few of Bordwin's readers criticized him, claiming that some of his solutions went too far; they were “outside the box” or “too close to the edge.” The author addresses them head-on in the Prologue. He cites the positive responses he got from the nation’s leading experts in legal ethics. And sometimes, the lawyer must disregard his own inclinations and focus entirely on the clients' needs, but always staying within the rules of the profession. At the end of the day, the lawyers’ role is governed by The Canons of Legal Ethics, which require zealously representing the clients’ interests. SOLVED! leaves it to the reader to judge whether these solutions to business-clients’ problems went too far – YOU be the judge!

Milton Bordwin, a practicing lawyer for nearly sixty years, received his BBA (cum laude) from Baruch College of Business and the JD and LLM degrees from Harvard Law School (where he served a short stint on the Law School Faculty). A member of the Massachusetts, New York and US Supreme Court bars, he successfully argued and won a unanimous US Supreme Court decision in the landmark case, Foman v. Davis (1962), cited every day since shortly after the decision -- in over 24,000 cases at last count in mid-2017. He is the founder of The Bordwin Letter (Preventive Law for Business) and served as its editor from 1992 to 1998. This publication was the premier source for preventive-law information with subscribers in thirty-five states and four foreign countries. He also served for seven years as Legal Editor for Management Review , the monthly from American Management Association International. He is the author of numerous business-law articles (some used in teaching materials at leading business schools, e.g. Harvard Business School and Brandeis International Business School), all written in plain-English style. Bordwin's work has been noted in many business magazines and in The Wall Street Journal both on the op-ed and editorial pages.

Bordwin is of counsel at Rubin and Rubman in Boston, where he practices in real estate and in corporate, business, and tax law. He also specializes in the high-tech and retail industries, where his work has included negotiating store leases and serving as general counsel to chain retailers and other businesses and start-ups. For more information, see Milton Bordwin's entry at his law firm's website, www.rubinrudman.com or link directly to http: //www.rubinrudman.com/team-item/milton-bordwin/. .