General Resources

We want all of our clients to have peace of mind. Whether you are a business owner handling your business or you are a bankruptcy client going through a rough time, we want you to have peace knowing that you: a) have a plan; b) we are a team; c) we will adjust as things change; and d) we will treat you and your business as a whole. We do not expect our clients to know the right questions to ask and we will tell you when we see something that needs to be considered. We will take a holistic look at you and your business to make sure that all of the moving parts work together to achieve your goal. There are many decisions that need to be made in business as well as in dealing with personal finances. We give you information, so you have power to make educated decisions and the peace of mind knowing that we have your back.

There are tons of attorneys out there. First, do your research and be sure you find an attorney that is qualified to represent you in the area you need. Ask your friends if they have worked with someone they liked. Check reviews and websites to see what people are saying. Second, and I think more importantly, find an attorney that you like and that treats you with respect. Unfortunately, I hear too many stories about some (definitely not all) of my colleagues that are not flattering. You should not work with someone who you do not like or who makes you feel bad. Sometimes, as attorneys, we have no choice but to give bad news. That is not what I am talking about. Make sure that you have an attorney that treats you with respect and dignity even when giving you bad news. As I said, there are a bunch of attorneys to choose from so shop around and find the attorney that is right for you. Sometimes that is me and sometimes it is not and that is completely fine. Work with someone who is the right attorney for you. P.S. The same thing goes when choosing an accountant or any other professional.

During the pandemic, we learned that we could cut our overhead drastically while still communicating with our clients. It also cut down on inefficiency when people failed to show up for appointments even though they confirmed a day before. In addition, this protects your health and ours in case someone is inadvertently carrying a bug and does not know it. We are able to keep our overhead low by remaining virtual when means we do not need to pass those costs on to you. We are happy to meet with you by Zoom or by phone (your choice). If you really need an in person appointment, we may not be the right firm for you.

I do not provide free consultations as I sell my time and I need to pay my mortgage too. Also, I want to work with people who are serious about working with me. I have found that when I gave free consultations, people felt free to waste my time and were not serious about dealing with their issues. I expect to pay other professionals for their time as well.

We try to charge a flat fee when we can. Certain types of matters we handle routinely, and we know the amount of time they take so we can give you a set price. In some circumstances, there are projects that cannot be done on a flat fee, and we will charge those on an hourly basis. I am not a fan of hourly billing as it provides no certainty. I had to hire an attorney hourly and I felt like I was writing a blank check. If we need to handle a project on an hourly basis, I will give you a range of what I think it will cost and I will update you monthly on the fees. We do require a deposit for hourly matters, and we bill from that. In all business matters, attorney fees are tax deductible as professional expenses. Be sure to give your tax preparer any of our invoices (including for your initial consultation) so that you are able to deduct these expenses.

You pay me for my experience. I also have your back. A third-party filing company will file what you tell them to. They will not help you decide what is best for you and your business. If you choose wrong, you may or may not know it until too late. Third-party filing companies are nothing more that document preparers and filers. You may as well do it yourself as you are not getting legal advise from an attorney specific to your situation and concerns. Also, if you direct a third party filing company to file something that is not right for you or if you file a document incorrectly or something goes wrong you have no one to look to for compensation. I have malpractice insurance in the unlikely event that it is needed. It costs a lot more to fix a problem than it does to do it correctly in the first place.

Unless we have scheduled a time for a call, I will not just pick up when you call. It is a waste of your time and mine. I have many cases, and many are similar, so I need to look at your specific file when I am speaking with you. If I pick up the phone any time it rings, I will be distracted from what I am doing, and I also will not be prepared to thoroughly answer your question because I have not looked at your file. It is best to email me your question and set a time for a call. This way, I know what we will be discussing, and I will review your file so that I am prepared to answer any questions you might have. This way we can have a productive conversation. In addition, we will not play phone tag. You will know when I am calling and do not have to worry about when you will get a call back. Invariably, if we did not schedule times for calls, I would call you when you were not available and you would do the same. This is more efficient for both of us. An additional bonus of using email is that if your question is easy, we may be able to answer it more quickly by email. If not, we will have a scheduled time to discuss.

We are happy to accommodate our clients when we can. However, we use email extensively and a lot of our work is online. We may not be the right firm for you if you absolutely do not want to use email as a means to communicate (and schedule appointments). If you struggle with technology (so do I), we are happy to help.

We recommend using an email address that comes from a secure platform. We maintain strict security protocols to keep the information we send to you secure, but if you do not, your personal information may be vulnerable depending on the email service you use. I am a huge fan of Proton Mail which is a free encrypted email service. You can check it out at https://proton.me/mail. I am sure there are others with similar services as well. If you get a special email address for use when you are dealing with legal issues, please be sure to check it regularly.

You are welcome to use whatever email address you would like to communicate with us so long as you understand what that means. We will use the email address you tell us to use. However, keep in mind that your work email may be monitored by your employer. I am not saying that they are monitoring you and I understand the ease of getting email at work, but keep in mind by law your employer has the right to review your email.

There are many free scanner applications that you can download to your phone. However, be sure that whatever scanner application you use allows you to scan multiple pages into one document. We will not accept your tax returns in 30 separate scan files. Also, if you can download Clio for Clients and it allows you to scan multiple pages from your phone directly to your portal account with us. Once you have scanned the documents you can tap on the scan and rename it to what it is and please, please name your documents for us. That is super helpful.

You may always scan documents to us and email/upload them to our secure portal. We also have a physical drop box and if you need to use it, please let us know. You may also mail documents to: Thompson Law Group, P.O. Box 40850, Tucson, Arizona 85717-0850.

Please send us pdf documents if at all possible. Also, please put the entire document in one scanned file and title it what it is. For example, if you are sending us your most recent mortgage statement, call it, “Date – Mortgage Statement” or the equivalent so that we are able to readily know what is in the file. Photos will work in a pinch, but please send us pdfs whenever possible.