An interview with Louis Ciavarra of Bowditch & Dewey
Increasingly, clients are looking to law firms as business advisors who can assist them in complying with a barrage of regulations, says Louis Ciavarra, recently named managing partner of Bowditch & Dewey, the largest law practice based in Central Mass.
WBJ: What are the most pressing legal issues facing small businesses?Ciavarra: Legal issues vary depending on the type of business, but an overriding challenge for all small companies is staying proactive in their operations. For example, most businesses need to give more thought to protecting their assets, which may require preparing a contract, applying for a patent or trademark, or even filing a lawsuit. But often, business owners are so focused on day-to-day operations that they don’t devote the time or resources to this important need. Protecting your assets also includes your people, which entails ensuring that you have the right employment policies and benefits packages in place. Every year, there will be certain hot legal issues, brought on by new laws or regulations, but the need to operate your business in this proactive way remains constant.
WBJ: How about the area of succession planning?
Ciavarra: It’s an area of major concern. Every business needs to prepare an exit strategy, and that can take several forms. You may want to prepare your company to go public. You may wish to grow the company and sell it to another firm at a substantial return. Or you may want to pass the company on to family members or even to your employees. But here, too, most business owners are so busy with daily operations that they do not give enough thought to exit strategies, which is really another term for succession planning.
WBJ: What are some of the fastest growing segments of your firm’s practice?
Ciavarra: We are very active in many areas, such as litigation, real estate, and higher education. But regardless of the field, I see a growing tendency of clients to use our lawyers as business advisors. We work with many small and medium-sized business to ensure that they comply with all manner of regulations, whether that be Sarbanes-Oxley rules, employment law and so on. If we do our jobs right as business advisors, we won’t get to the point where we need to be taking depositions and trying cases. Our firm is large enough to have specialists who understand these compliance issues and how they fit within the business landscape of the varied clients we represent. Clients today want fast answers to questions, and we’re able to fill that need.
WBJ: What factors prompted Bowditch & Dewey to establish a new Privacy Group?
Ciavarra: We’re responding to the concerns raised from all the new privacy laws. Businesses need help sorting out the level of detail that they are permitted to provide on their workers, such as employment history, medical conditions and compensation. And the penalties for not complying with these regulations have become a lot more severe.
WBJ: As an intellectual property lawyer, how do you assess the level of innovation in Massachusetts?
Ciavarra: It’s active, vibrant and exciting. We certainly don’t operate in the least expensive marketplace. To be competitive, we have to do things faster and better. My oldest son, who enters Holy Cross College in the Fall, asked me if this state is still a good place to make a career, and my answer is that it is an excellent place because of this climate of innovation. However, the big challenge for firms in our region is how to turn the great new ideas generated here into successful business models and marketable products and services. And that’s what gets us up in the morning.
WBJ: Speaking of young people, what do you look for in your new associates?
Ciavarra: First and foremost, a commitment to excellence. At the end of the day, it all boils down to the quality of the work that you do for your clients. We also look for people who will work well with our team and have the potential to be the next generation of partners. Finally, we want people who are committed to something beyond maximizing their business as lawyers. It is important that our new associates respect this firm’s long tradition of leadership in the community and have the attitude of giving something back.
This interview was conducted and edited for length by WBJ Chief Editor Larry Maloney
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