We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Sul Lee a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Sul, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. I’m sure there have been days where the challenges of being a business owner force you to think about what it would be like to just have a regular job. When’s the last time you felt that way? Did you have any insights from the experience?
Yes, I’m happy on running my firm. I’m happy that I can stand for certain things that I believe in. And I think having a firm is great because what I stand for I can actually make it happen through other people too because, you know, the firm is created and now we have different resource to do different things that as to what we stand for.
I think it’s important for us to do whatever we can to work our best to contribute. If the firm that I work for stands for the same thing that I stand for, I think that would be great. Keep talking about what I stand for, there are some of the things that I believe in. For example, I believe that a business law firm ultimately helps business owners make a good decision – give them a right guidance so business can succeed more, or business can walk away from their problem. My goal here is to make a firm that truly believe in that. Some firm believes in winning for the business owner is more important.
Practical business solution is what I really believe in. I’m glad that my firm does that, and I have employees who believe in the same thing. But if I can find a place that does the same thing in the way that I want to, then I’ll be happy to work for that firm too. I think it’ll be a fun experience to do that.
Sul, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
The services we provide to our clients are basically legal services. I think our mission statement tells what kind of service we really provide. Number one mission statement we have is, we liberate businesses from dispute so they can challenge the world. The other one is we help businesses from getting blindsided by legal issues. The two big things we do are we solve their legal issues and we protect them from potential issues they’re going to have.
How did I get into this industry? I got into this industry because I became a lawyer. I went to law school, although I was studying biochemistry. I was doing research as a biochemist at the time. The majority of my work was just observing the rat behavior and just recording that. I just thought that was the most boring thing I could do to myself. I was thinking, “I already have a biochemistry degree. What am I supposed to do?” And I wanted to make that change and thought law school would give me more opportunities. After I entered law school, because of my science background, I naturally thought, okay, patent was a good thing for me. So, I got my patent bar and did patent prosecution work. But, when I got into litigation and business work, it just sparked something different within me. I thought it was so fun. Everything made a lot more sense to me. I think it’s fascinating how people create a service and a value to other people and start selling them. Let’s say a Baker decided to open a pie store. And then seeing that person change from being a baker to a business owner – all of a sudden, they have to start thinking about marketing, sales, finance – that really fascinated me. I think that continuously fascinates me how to run a business. It really just sparkles something different within me. I got a taste of it, I just never left. I think it’s a lot of fun.
What problem do you solve for your clients? Or what do you think sets you apart from the others? Well, we solve their legal problems mainly. The main problems we solve a lot is number one, partnership. People get into a partnership without much documents or anything, so that’s the first problem. They don’t talk about the plan, which makes people uncomfortable. They don’t want to talk about what will happen if you and the business fails? What will happen if you have to put in money? Are you going to put in the money? These discussions a lot of people are very uncomfortable about, but that’s really the issue we deal with heavily. Okay, the business failed or the business did succeed, but we think differently. What are we going to do about the business? And mainly a lot of business is about money unless it’s a nonprofit business. So, for me, that uncomfortable talk is something that I think attorneys can do very comfortably and then get through it. I think we help clients think objectively about some of the things and also, make them realize what problems they need to solve. A lot of people get into a relationship early on, not knowing what to think about. Our firm has done so many of them that we can give them good advice for the partnership. The other things that we do a lot are intellectual properties. A lot of businesses these days deal with intellectual property, from branding to their photos, to their copyrights, to their products, software, and characters, and we’re happy to help them out with those.
What sets us apart from other, other law firms? I think our firm is really practical. Providing a practical business solution for the client is the most important. Winning is great. I would love to win too, but I think, more importantly, I need to figure out a way where the business can move forward and grow. A lot of businesses are not in the business of winning a lawsuit and then making money. They’re in the business of making a pie. They’re in the business of accounting. So when they focus on their business and make a profit, that’s really the best. I try to focus on that with a lot of my business owners. And that’s I think what really sets me apart from other people. We don’t want to be lawyers that just say legalese and just talk a lot about legal stories. I want them to implement a solution into their business system. And I think that sets us apart.
I think for me, being a business owner has taught me so much. I’m continuously learning. Every day is a learning experience, and it’s been a lot of fun. It helped me grow and my firm has grown together. For me, helping other business owners also get through it by making them think about how to think about their problems, the perspective of it. The most important thing I try to do with my clients is to look at the facts. Let’s not put stories. Let’s get out the emotion, look at the facts, look at the law, what’s the best solution for this? And then make it the best way we can and find the best solution we can for the business is what I’m trying to do.
Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?
Yes, there are several. Books wise I really liked Four Agreements. I talked about it several times. In Four Agreements, they talk about: number one, be impeccable with your words. If you say something, if you do not mean it, don’t say it. The number two rule is do not assume when people communicate with others. A lot of people tell stories in their head. For example, let’s say somebody is late to work and say I’m late. And then as a boss you can automatically say, “Well, this job must not be important to you because you’re late.” That’s not true. That person just said I’m late. You’re assuming that that person is late because they don’t care about the job. Right? But don’t assume anything. Just ask. I thought that was such a simple rule that was good. Number three is don’t take it personally. Don’t take other people’s actions personally. For example, let’s say somebody is late again, and you are taking it personally as in, “That person is late, and they don’t care. They’re not dedicated to this work.” In reality, that person is probably late because they just woke up late. It’s not about you a lot of times. A lot of times it’s really about the other person. They’re just going through their lives too. The last one that the book talks about is do your best every time. When you have something, do your best on it. I think that has helped me a lot on communication wise.
As far as the philosophy that has impacted me the most in management and entrepreneurial thinking is minimalist. Belief in minimalist and simplifying things. There are tons of places, tons of people with great ideas. And you hear from venture capitalists that they don’t look for a B team with an A idea. They look for a B idea with an A team. What that means is a lot of people have great ideas, but they cannot execute. We talk about all these great ideas, but if you cannot execute it, it doesn’t mean anything. And I think in order for execution to happen in management and entrepreneur setting, it has to be a simple thing that people can do and follow. Things that don’t require rocket science or require multiple, multiple, multiple steps to get it done. I think that belief about keeping it as simple, keeping it minimalist, keeping it as easy as possible in a lot of things has influenced me a lot.
What’s been the best source of new clients for you?
Really, referral. Clients bring in clients is I think the best way. As far as the marketing, I think you should try everything. I heard from somewhere that 80% of marketing is not effective, but you don’t know what that 20% is going to be, so might as well try everything. I think the best sources has been so far, referral. I think people still believe another people’s judgment, as to deciding attorneys. So that has been the best sources.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.sulleelaw.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sulleelawfirmpllc/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sulleelawfirmpllc/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/sul-lee-pllc
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/SulLeeLawFirm
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/sul-lee-law-firm-dallas-2
Image Credits
Photo: Thanin photo. Group Photo: Ambient Films