That’s the question we got the most.
Last week, our firm hit Austin, Texas to exhibit at the SXSW Interactive Trade Show. We prepared for months, and had a booth that replicated a real law office, stocked with fun giveaways, the most popular (honestly one of the most popular at the entire show) being our handcuff key rings. Lawyers giving away handcuffs? “Hahaha, that’s brilliant!” most people would say. In which we would reply with, “it’s a metaphor for a contract!”
It was tons of fun to be in the atmosphere of creativity, invention, and possibility; there was an energy present at the show that was palpable. It was here, only a few years back, where big names like Twitter and FourSquare launched. This was startup central: a hub for innovators to break out and make their presence known.
And so, when we got that question over and over again, “what’s a Law Firm doing at SXSW?” we were happy to reply, but even happier with the response that followed.
Quite simply, people need us. More specifically, startups need us. Entity formation, contract preparation, trademark registration, patent applications, first litigation: these are the real life necessities and possibilities new companies face, and often in the very, very early stages of their company’s birth. Once we explained that (albeit briefly, but efficiently) to inquirers, the response was always the same: looks of skepticism were instantly replaced with wide eyes and understanding. “Oh, wow… that’s awesome. There should be more of you guys here.”
That made us happy. Because it’s the truth, isn’t it?
At our booth, we had framed pictures hanging on our “wall” between cheesy lawyerly columns and on a backdrop of the Bill of Rights. These included the Winklevoss twins, Deadmau5, and the Twitter logo, to name a few. We used these references as exemplary talking points (people like visuals, and the general attention span there, we learned, was 60 seconds, tops; imagine an episode of Shark Tank) in order to drive our point home. Had the Winklevii had Mark Zuckerberg sign an NDA, the story of Facebook would have been a lot different. Internationally famed DJ Deadmau5 is going up against Disney in a lawsuit over the entertainer’s famed mouse-head that he wears during shows. Needless to say, Mickey Mouse lawyered up. Twitter founders didn’t register the word tweet in time, and ended up having to buy a previously registered trademark Let Your Ad Meet Tweets from a seemingly nobody, a man with an ad agency who trademarked and patent-protected everything early on.
Timelines on big name successes (i.e. Apple, Google, Disney, Facebook) consistently show the same trend: involving legal in the early stages of planning is what keeps your company safe.
We had a blast. We have a fun team, and we learned a lot. We were thrilled at the positive reception of our exhibit, and hope we left people with our gist: smart innovators lawyer up.
See you next year!