The Firm has built its core practice around the representation of first-time and serial entrepreneurs in a variety of incarnations – the entrepreneur who self-funds, the entrepreneur who grows a business by securing angel or venture financing and the multi-generational family-run business where entrepreneurship is in the owner’s family’s DNA. One of the ways the Firm sets itself apart from other law firms is by implementing a practical approach to legal challenges for its entrepreneurial clients. The Firm has been able to consistently do this by drawing on the personal entrepreneurial experience of Emily Campbell, the Firm’s Managing Member.
Emily Campbell’s personal entrepreneurial experience continues to develop. Most recently, Ms. Campbell is getting into the very hot New York City food scene with the planned launch in early 2017 of a grab ‘n go café and market called Brooklyn Chow. Brooklyn Chow is locating its first location in the up-and-coming Hipster+Caribbean section of Crown Heights in trend-setting Brooklyn. Ms. Campbell has been involved in everything from lease negotiation to build-out, from logo design to uniform design, from market item selection to menu creation, from employment decisions to operations. This type of experience in what is designed to be a scalable business takes Ms. Campbell’s personal entrepreneurial experience well-beyond real estate development, theater production and on-line business development. It also takes her far beyond what growing this Firm, a professional service business, and servicing its clients, could ever do in terms of exposure to risk analysis and implementation challenges – many of which can be mitigated by careful planning from a legal point-of-view. This new experience gives Ms. Campbell insights into what it takes to grow a hybrid product-service business from the ground up and will be invaluable in her work with clients – whether they are running products or service businesses.
When asked how she manages to handle a full-time law practice and other business interests, Ms. Campbell maintains that it is important that she have other business interests because she can appreciate business risks and help clients manage them by having to make tough decisions in her own businesses. “My personal entrepreneurial experience has always been a value-added proposition for my clients. My latest entrepreneurial experience gives me even more tools for my tool-chest. For example, when we’re negotiating a lease for a client, based on this new experience, I am even more cognizant of what would trigger the option – or more importantly what would make the option to extend not exercisable – having gone through a painstaking negotiation for Brooklyn Chow’s lease,” Ms. Campbell shared. “Moreover, when I counsel clients on trademarks, and they come out of the gate wanting to brand everything, I can have them focus in ways that may not occur to some trademark practitioners who themselves are not invested in building a brand. In other words, my personal experience forms a framework in which I empower clients to make informed choices. I get to live by our Firm’s mantra – that is, ‘Empowering Clients Through The Practice Of Law.’”
One of the other reasons Ms. Campbell continues to be involved in businesses besides her law practice is the impact that she can have in the community and beyond. “I believe it is important to give-back. Launching Brooklyn Chow will give me more of a systematic ability to give something back to charities dealing with poverty and hunger – systemic problems that are really important to me to work toward eliminating. ” Ms. Campbell shared that Brooklyn Chow will be making an initial commitment to Hunger Free America . “There are many wonderful charities out there, but Hunger Free America is our out-of-the-gate choice because of the great work that the charity does. Its slogan is ‘Ending Hunger Lifts Us All’. And I believe that.”