Top Lawyers: Derek A Colvin Of Waldrop & Colvin On The 5 Things You Need To Become A Top Lawyer In Your Specific Field of Law

An Interview with Eric L. Pines

You need to maintain an attention to detail to properly prepare franchise disclosure documents and expedite state registrations. These documents are essential to enable franchisors to offer and sell franchises. An attention to detail helps avoid unnecessary delays and helps clients mitigate risk.

The legal field is known to be extremely competitive. Lawyers are often smart, ambitious, and highly educated. That being said, what does it take to stand out and become a “Top Lawyer” in your specific field of law? In this interview series called “5 Things You Need To Become A Top Lawyer In Your Specific Field of Law”, we are talking to top lawyers who share what it takes to excel and stand out in your industry.

As a part of this interview series, I had the pleasure of interviewing Derek Colvin.

Derek is a franchise law attorney with Waldrop & Colvin. He has extensive experience in the complex area of franchise law and is passionate about providing business and legal solutions to franchisors and prospective franchise buyers. Derek is recognized as a top lawyer in franchising because he creates simplicity out of complexity and delivers results for his clients.

Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series. Before we dig in, our readers would love to get to know you a bit more. What is the “backstory” that brought you to this particular career path in Law? Did you want to be an attorney “when you grew up”?

Thanks for allowing me to contribute. It is an honor to be interviewed for this series. Honestly, I can’t remember a time when I wanted to be anything other than an attorney. I was a bit talkative and argumentative as a kid — attributes my family and teachers attributed with attorneys. Everyone always told me I was going to be an attorney when I grew up. At some point it became a self-fulfilling prophecy. I interned with a law firm while I was in high school and I went to college planning to attend law school.

Can you tell us a bit about the nature of your practice and what you focus on?

Our firm was founded to serve as “the law department for your business.” Our goal at Waldrop & Colvin is to cater to business clients who don’t need a full-time in-house counsel and don’t want to deal with unpredictable legal fees. Most of our clients engage our firm on a flat rate or a fixed monthly subscription rate, so they can call, text, email, or add projects without the typical friction of billable hours. My partner and I have diverse practice backgrounds, which enables us to provide complete legal solutions for our clients.

Our model pairs well with franchising and many of our clients are franchisors and franchisees. Franchise law is a particularly niche and complex area of the law where I focus and excel. For franchisors, I work closely with business leads to develop the legal document sets and meet the day-to-day demands of franchising. For franchisees, I help them evaluate franchise opportunities through legal due diligence and I assist them in contract negotiations.

You are a successful attorney. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? What unique qualities do you have that others may not? Can you please share a story or example for each?

I am dependable. I pride myself on being an efficient and dependable resource for my clients. My clients have my email address and cell phone. They know they can call, text, or email and often get a response within minutes. I excel at focusing and completing tasks and this allows me to be a dependable source for on-demand legal support. My dependable nature allows me to provide excellent tangible customer service that my clients appreciate.

I am effective. I worked in sales through college, and I have a lot of litigation experience in the courtroom. Being right isn’t always enough. Attorneys must be effective at communicating to judges, jurors, and clients. I have always maintained a reputation for being well prepared and effective at delivering arguments and this has served me well as I have developed professionally. The attention to detail and focus on being effective has helped me focus on the details in franchise law. I stand out as being effective in a fast-paced environment where I provide efficient results without sacrificing quality. My effectiveness translates to quicker deals for my clients.

I am honest. In the legal profession there is nothing more important than honesty and integrity. I’ve always believed in doing the right thing, being honest, and not crossing the line. Giving frank and honest advice helps my clients evaluate risk and make good decisions. I advise my clients based on what they need to know, not what they want to hear.

Do you think you have had luck in your success? Can you explain what you mean?

Success is built on opportunity. It takes hard work to convert opportunity into success, but I believe there is an element of luck in every opportunity. I am lucky to be born in the United States. I am lucky to have been blessed with great family and health. I am lucky to have been born with the capacity to comprehend complex issues and communicate effectively. And I am lucky that others have trusted me with opportunities. So, for me, I’d credit my success to luck coupled with perseverance and drive.

Do you think where you went to school has any bearing on your success? How important is it for a lawyer to go to a top-tier school?

I graduated from Penn State Law. I loved my time in University Park, Pennsylvania, and my educational and social experience served as the building blocks for my success. I have found that a great school can be one indicator of success, but it is no guarantee, and it is certainly not the only indicator of success. I certainly agree that going to a top-tier school increases opportunity — but it does not define an attorney’s path.

Based on the lessons you have learned from your experience, if you could go back in time and speak to your twenty-year-old self, what would you say? Would you do anything differently?

Aside from giving myself a few dozen stock tips, I would assure myself that things are going to work out. Great family, great life, great job — what more could you ask for? I’d be reluctant to make any changes that may alter my path.

This is not easy work. What is your primary motivation and drive behind the work that you do?

Family. I am dedicated to my clients, but I always maintain a work-life balance. I want to be successful in my career so that I can provide more opportunity for my family. Success would mean little to me without my family.

What are some of the most interesting or exciting projects you are working on now?

I enjoy helping people grow their business. The opportunity excites me. Franchising is great because it offers opportunity to so many different types of people. Franchisors benefit from their ideas, systems, and processes by selling franchises and collecting royalties. Franchisees benefit from the “business in a box” concept and support provided by the franchisor. Each needs the other to succeed.

Where do you go from here? Where do you aim to be in the next chapter of your career?

Constantly moving forward. We pride ourselves on delivering premier law talent with a boutique law experience. I want to continue to expand and offer legal services to more clients. I want to mentor other attorneys to provide the same level of legal support.

Without sharing anything confidential, can you please share your most successful “war story”? Can you share the funniest?

From my perspective, real success as a franchise attorney comes from advising clients on evaluating and managing risk to avoid the war-stories. I’ve been a litigator for many years, but I often tell my clients the best advice I can give is to avoid litigation. Typically, neither side truly wins when a dispute is resolved through contested litigation.

If forced to pick as a litigator, my greatest successes came from my time as a prosecutor where I obtained many favorable jury verdicts that held murders, gang members, and other violent criminals accountable.

In terms of funniest, an attorney once made a discovery request for the content and nature of all witness statements that were recreated under hypnosis. I enjoyed sharing the discovery request with my colleagues and I’m still not sure what caused the attorney to request these items.

Ok, fantastic. Let’s now shift to discussing some advice for aspiring lawyers. Do you work remotely? Onsite? Or Hybrid? What do you think will be the future of how law offices operate? What do you prefer? Can you please explain what you mean?

One of the perks of working in a niche area of the law is flexibility. We maintain an office and occasionally meet with clients on their site; however, I primarily work remotely. The flexibility allows me to keep my costs down and be more accessible. In business, time is important — this translates to cheaper and quicker solutions for my clients without sacrificing my own standard of living. My clients reach me on my cell phone by text or voice or they send me an email, and they get a prompt response. My clients and I both prefer this flexibility and personability. Many areas of the legal profession will transition to this approach. It is more efficient and effective for everyone. Without question I prefer to work remotely. It essentially adds time back to my day.

How has the legal world changed since COVID? How do you think it might change in the near future? Can you explain what you mean?

Despite the negative effects of COVID, it led to changes that have increased quality of life and ease of doing business. The formality of an office visit is no longer standard operating procedure. Office visits require the attorney and client to build time around the appointment for planning, travel, waiting, etc. That is eliminated with video conferencing or a phone call. There is no longer a stigma attached to working from home. I think these effects are here to stay.

Based on your experience, how can attorneys effectively leverage social media to build their practice?

Social media can be difficult. Using social media often just feels forced or uncomfortable, but it is a necessary part of building any business. The easiest way to take advantage of social media is to leverage your network and create high-quality content. This requires patience and hard work, just like any other part of your practice. Organic growth comes with time and it feels great any time you land a client based off your own marketing efforts.

Excellent. Here is the main question of our interview. What are your “5 Things You Need To Become A Top Lawyer In Your Specific Field of Law?” Please share a story or an example for each.

1. You need to understand business and have a firm grasp on franchising. Franchising can lead to exponential growth with proper vision and execution; however, there are many franchisors that fail to grow to a level of sustainability. To properly advise clients and help get them towards the path to success, you need to understand best practices in business generally and franchising specifically. Knowledge can empower clients to make informed decisions as they form, grow, and maintain the franchise business. I recommend starting with a book by Mark Seibert, Franchise Your Business. This book provides an excellent overview of franchising. Finding a great mentor is also a good way to accelerate your understanding. I was fortunate and was able to begin my journey in franchising by working with a leader in franchising who allowed me to absorb knowledge from his network of resources.
2. You need to master franchise law. Franchise law is complex and there are many nuances on the federal and state level. You can start by developing a thorough comprehension of federal and state regulations through the text of the rules themselves and through compliance guides. You should also get a copy of the Franchise Disclosure Handbook from NASAA.
3. You need to maintain an attention to detail to properly prepare franchise disclosure documents and expedite state registrations. These documents are essential to enable franchisors to offer and sell franchises. An attention to detail helps avoid unnecessary delays and helps clients mitigate risk.
4. You need to have excellent communication skills and you need to understand that communication is a weak point for many people and businesses. As the attorney, it is your job to find a way to communicate to each client and obtain the information you need to complete each task. You need to understand each clients communication style and to ensure you are communicating in an efficient and effective manner.
5. You need to maintain excellent time management skills. Business leaders expect prompt attention to their legal needs. In franchising, documents need to be updated promptly on an annual and periodic basis. You need to plan and allow sufficient time to communicate with business leads and complete each project. Delays can cause a systemwide blackout where the franchisor is prohibited from offering or selling any franchises. You don’t want that to occur because of something you control.

We are very blessed that some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch, and why? He or she might see this. :-)

Gary Vaynechuk. In a world full of negativity, Gary Vee flips the script. He is forward thinking and his outlook on business and life is inspiring.

This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for the time you spent with this. We wish you continued success and good health!

About the Interviewer: Eric L. Pines is a nationally recognized federal employment lawyer, mediator, and attorney business coach. He represents federal employees and acts as in-house counsel for over fifty thousand federal employees through his work as a federal employee labor union representative. A formal federal employee himself, Mr. Pines began his federal employment law career as in-house counsel for AFGE Local 1923 which is in Social Security Administration’s headquarters and is the largest federal union local in the world. He presently serves as AFGE 1923’s Chief Counsel as well as in-house counsel for all FEMA bargaining unit employees and numerous Department of Defense and Veteran Affairs unions.

While he and his firm specialize in representing federal employees from all federal agencies and in reference to virtually all federal employee matters, his firm has placed special attention on representing Veteran Affairs doctors and nurses hired under the authority of Title. He and his firm have a particular passion in representing disabled federal employees with their requests for medical and religious reasonable accommodations when those accommodations are warranted under the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (ADA). He also represents them with their requests for Federal Employee Disability Retirement (OPM) when an accommodation would not be possible.

Mr. Pines has also served as a mediator for numerous federal agencies including serving a year as the Library of Congress’ in-house EEO Mediator. He has also served as an expert witness in federal court for federal employee matters. He has also worked as an EEO technical writer drafting hundreds of Final Agency Decisions for the federal sector.

Mr. Pines’ firm is headquartered in Houston, Texas and has offices in Baltimore, Maryland and Atlanta, Georgia. His first passion is his wife and five children. He plays classical and rock guitar and enjoys playing ice hockey, running, and biking. Please visit his websites at www.pinesfederal.com and www.toughinjurylawyers.com. He can also be reached at eric@pinesfederal.com.