We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Robert Reder a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Robert, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?
The idea of opening a small law firm is not unique, or particularly creative. So I decided to exhibit creativity and uniqueness where I could. In Arizona, unlike many other U.S. states, lawyers can practice under a trade name instead of the lawyer’s own name. For example a “John Smith” might open a law firm called “John Smith & Associates” or “The Law Office of John Smith.” Because that is common practice, I thought something different would help us stand out and pay tribute to what is truly important. I named my law firm “Blythe Grace” because those are my sisters’ middle names combined. There is nothing more important than family. Ultimately, my choice was less marketing and more emotional – I do not see my sisters often, but I wanted a permanent message to them of how important they are. When I choose the name Blythe Grace, several senior Arizona attorneys and marketing “experts” told me the name was a mistake, would confuse clients, and I would have to change it eventually. One well known Arizona attorney said he did not understand it, and I would probably get in trouble with the State Bar. It turned out that was completely incorrect, and many of the clients who hired us mentioned the firm name as something that caught their eye and endeared them to the firm. Of course, our practice internally and externally was and is not perfect. But we do make an extreme effort to treat our clients like family consistent with the name.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I was raised in New York City before becoming a permanent resident of Phoenix in 2005. After completing my juris doctorate at Suffolk University Law School in Boston, Massachusetts and Master of Laws at University College London in London, England, I practiced law for 10 years in Arizona with two of the largest law firms in the country before forming Blythe Grace.​For over 17 years, 7 of which at Blythe Grace, I have represented individuals, small businesses, and large companies in Arizona and nationwide. With respect to my litigation and dispute resolution practices, I have represented clients in cases ranging from small breach of contract actions to complex commercial disputes. I frequently appears in all of Arizona’s courts and regularly conducts arbitrations, mediations, and administrative hearings.​In addition to my litigation practice I also assists businesses with a variety of employment matters related to human resource management, creating and implementing policies, prevention and defense of discrimination and ADA lawsuits, EEOC charges, and investigations by the Arizona Attorney General’s Office and the U.S. Department of Labor. My legal practice also includes corporate formation and transactions, business advisory work, real estate, and cannabis law.​As an outgrowth of my cannabis law practice, I also own and operate several companies in that space: Grace Health Initiative (underserved community investment); Purple Apothecary (social equity dispensary); RefinedLABS (product testing), and Purple Risk (cannabis insurance products). Its a very interesting industry in rapid growth mode facing a host of legal and business challenges. Outside of work I am involved in numerous community activities including serving as a board member and trustee of the Girl Scouts Arizona-Cactus Pine and Desert Botanical Gardens. I try living an active lifestyle, regularly hiking, cycling, weight training, swimming, biking, snowboarding, and traveling. While at home I can be found playing with my sons, gardening, or both. Despite the Arizona climate, we are growing mangoes, papayas, bananas, cherries, peaches, all types of citrus and other stone fruits. I have two sons – Caden and Logan. I am also on the autism spectrum, like my eldest son.​

Have you ever had to pivot?
At the start of the pandemic, more accurately months before, I realized that Blythe Grace was not functioning in a way that served either myself as an attorney and business owner, or our clients. The firm had grown too fast, and I lost control of the legal work being performed by other attorneys at firm, and work quality certainly suffered. On a personal level, I was not being appropriately compensated for my work despite owning 100% of the firm. But the breaking point was office toxicity. Now that toxicity flowed both ways and everyone had to account – I was no longer happy with the people I worked with, and vice versa. It was time to make drastic changes. I don’t do things half way, or in shades of grey. So I dismantled the firm from stem to stern – keeping only the name, and the firm’s vendors, IT systems, and clients. I was fortunate that over 90% of the clients at Blythe Grace were my relationships, so I had the support and financial ability to completely restructure while running the firm. While the process was disruptive, stressful, and damaging in unforeseen ways, 2 years later and the firm is exactly where I want it to be, I am happy, and we are doing the best work we have since the firm opened.

Can you open up about how you funded your business?
I started Blythe Grace with 2 clients, 1 employee (other than myself), and no capital. These clients and employee were very supportive, and without that support we would not have made it without a loan or other funding. I worked out of a friend’s office (also a client) to save money. We cut every operational corner we could without sacrificing the quality of our legal work. By 2019, at the end of our fifth year, the firm had 8 employees and several contractors working with us and other firms. The firm had exceeded all revenue goals and had hundreds of happy, loyal clients. Even if I had taken out a small loan, I would have been able to pay it off by the third or fourth year of operations. Don’t hesitate to obtain capital if you need it, but always watch interest rates and have debt payoff as part of your business plan.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.blythegrace.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/blythegrace/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/blythegracepllc/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/blythe-grace-pllc
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/blythegracepllc
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/blythe-grace-pllc-phoenix
• Other: https://www.gracehealthinitiative.com/ https://www.refinedlabs.io/ https://purplerisk.com/