With the COVID-19 pandemic, we woke up one morning and found ourselves in a new world, subject to a new set of rules that instantly shifted our individual and collective priorities. And nowhere is this more evident than in the legal industry, where practitioners are grappling with the decreasing utility of the very models that have governed the provision of professional services for decades.
Institutional response to change is slow under the best of circumstances, but it can be glacial in the legal industry. Yet, in these increasingly uncertain times, there is no time to wait for the legal industry to play catch-up. Businesses need specialized legal services, and they need those services delivered in the most efficient manner possible. And it is becoming painfully clear that over-sized law firms are distracted by metrics that, at best, are at odds with the increasingly focused needs of their clients.
After nearly 60 combined years in BigLaw, nobody better understands how out-dated priorities place unnecessary strain on the attorney-client relationship. And with the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic still unfolding, companies are questioning the extent to which they can afford to continue shouldering the burden of BigLaw’s excesses.
We believe that the time is right for the legal industry to begin extracting the exemplary legal services of BigLaw from its anachronistic confines and, in this way, return the sanctity of the attorney-client relationship to the center of the practice of law. We have launched Beeman & Muchmore, LLP to do exactly that.
Between the two of us, we have a combined total of nearly 60 years of litigation and trial experience with nearly 35 of those years as partners at BigLaw firms. Over the decades, our matters have ranged from purely transactional and counseling to fierce bet-the-company litigation. We have been fortunate to represent clients from all walks of business and life, from nascent startups to Fortune 100 companies, from aspiring artists to internationally renowned rock stars, from brick-and-mortar manufacturing enterprises to the most sophisticated technology companies in the world.
To every client relationship, we bring an unwavering commitment and energy to creatively solving the problem at hand. While we take pride in the professional accolades we have garnered over the years, our greatest satisfaction comes from the relationships we have forged with our clients. Notwithstanding BigLaw’s mantra of bigger is better, the practice of law remains a profession built on the intimate relationship between a lawyer and client. We take that relationship seriously and have no objective other than protecting your interests while solving your problems.
In the new world, businesses not only increasingly need attorneys with a tailored skillset, they need access to that skill set in the most efficient way possible. In response to this demand, Beeman & Muchmore takes advantage of the digital advancements that have allowed for the democratization of all service-oriented work. Though the resulting “gig economy” is not without its critics, it is time for the legal industry to find ways to pass these efficiencies on to their clients.
We built Beeman & Muchmore to be free from a dedicated brick-and-mortar office and the other encumbrances of old world law firms. After working together for a decade, our team is comfortable partnering remotely and taking advantage of flexible office spaces and other individualized vendor services as necessary. In this manner, our clients are paying only for our counseling—not subsidizing the exorbitant commercial real estate market or the outdated inefficiencies of BigLaw.
Born and raised in Ohio, and a graduate of Northwestern University School of Law, Art has been practicing law for nearly 40 years.
Hailing from Oklahoma, Joel graduated from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law, and has been practicing law for 20 years.
The following is a sample of the representative matters we have handled over the years: