Mom.  Wife.  Business Owner.  Local Shopper.

Hi, I'm Heather, your friendly neighborhood business lawyer.    If you're looking for my pedigree, it's way at the bottom of this page.   But I'm more interested in the human stuff.  If you are too, keep reading.  

I can't say I'm an "expert" at law, because there are rules against that (that's why it's called a "practice").  If there's one thing I'm an expert at, it's starting up and starting over, which is what most of my clients are doing as well.   It doesn't have to be a smooth road to be a good ride. 

It's not an accident that I work almost exclusively with "mom & pop" business owners and entrepreneurs -- these are the people who have a passion for something, who are willing to put in the work to get what they want, and who appreciate the importance of protecting what they're building from the ground up.  It's not an accident because these are the people whose stories and lives really "get to" me -- as a consumer, I choose small, locally-owned companies for myself and my family, as a business owner, I'm in the same boat as my clients, and as an attorney, I never really understood the practice of getting on board only after a lawsuit against my clients had been filed. 

My path was anything but traditional.  Being a lawyer isn't in my family.  It wasn't a childhood goal.   I bounced through 6 majors in college -- yes, SIX.  Worried that I just wasn't fitting anywhere (or graduating on time), I settled on Business Administration.  Why?  Because it was literally the only available major that I could finish in 4 years, and it was pretty damn broad for career options.  But I loved it.  Like, really, loved it.  My Legal Environment of Business professor encouraged me to check out law schools, and I'm forever grateful.  That's probably the only "traditional" thing about my path here -- I went straight to law school from college.  It was in Des Moines, Iowa during 3 cold, unusually snowy winters.  A group of friends and I were casually complaining to our Torts professor who suggested that we move to Las Vegas after graduation.  At first, I took it as a joke, but he was serious.  We drove from Iowa to Las Vegas for Spring Break of our 3L year to meet a few alumni he had suggested.  Four of us actually decided to do it, and the day after graduation, I drove my packed-to-the-brim Jetta across the country and moved into an apartment I had never seen, in a town I'd only visited once, secured for me and a friend by a real estate agent I had never met. 

I took the Nevada Bar Exam in 2008, and began the 3-month waiting process to see if I had passed (translation:  I studied for 2 months, then waited another 3 months to see if I would even be employable here, or move back home).  Fortunately, it worked out, and from 2008 - 2010 I worked for a firm as a construction litigator (a "litigator" handles lawsuits that have already been filed in court, and I don't do that anymore).  In 2010, a friend and I decided on a whim to open our own firm.  We practiced criminal defense and family law -- I lasted 3 months, then quit.  They say if you don't know what you want to do, at least find out what you don't want to do.  I don't want to do criminal or family law, and walked away from that experience with a crazy amount of respect for attorneys that can.   Silver lining.

During the next 6 years, I became really damn good at starting new.  I trained for and was appointed as a foreclosure mediator for the Nevada Supreme Court.  I moved to Germany, where I worked as a tour guide teaching Americans how to navigate the German and European train systems and showing them around big & small European cities.  Best job ever.   I volunteered with the Ramstein Officers Spouses Club at Ramstein Air Force Base, and served on the board that organized the largest military bazaar in the world -- a weekend of international vendors, shopping, and appreciation of culture.   That's how I got interested in pursuing events and hospitality as part of my legal career.

Then, I got divorced.  I moved back home to Illinois for a few weeks.  I considered moving to the beach.  I soon moved back to Las Vegas with 2 suitcases and a car borrowed from my parents because all of my stuff was still in Germany getting loaded onto a boat.   I started a new job with a great firm.  I met someone new.  Months later, I moved to Pittsburgh and got re-married.   I studied for and took the Pennsylvania bar exam, then played the waiting game again to see if I'd be able to work here.   We had a baby boy.  We moved to Beaver County and I opened my firm in Ambridge -- in a place where I knew nobody and had no connections going in.  And I'm happy to report I wouldn't change a thing.   

I got really, ridiculously, good at starting up and starting over.  I have zero regrets.  And now, I get to help people who are doing their own version of starting up and starting over, and I couldn't be happier with it.