Many of you already know me and have asked me upon each
meeting when I would return to Grundy County.
For those of you who do not, I hope that this post will serve as an
introduction. For any of you, I believe
that this post will give you a clear picture of The Law Office of Russell S.Mainord and its goals for providing legal representation.
I have been a resident of Grundy County for the majority of
my life. Most of you know my family and
many of us interacted at the ball field as that was a major part of my growing
up years. What time that I have spent
away from Grundy County has always been balanced with my roots remaining here
and a desire to eventually return and become active in county events once
again. My post-high school education has
led me down many roads. I completed my
bachelor’s degree at The University of the South (Sewanee), working with the
football program while there. I could
say much more about my time there, but let it suffice to say that the education
I received and the friendships I developed are things that I am grateful for to
this day. My work with the football
program while at Sewanee is what led to the opportunity to intern with the
Tennessee Titans and to receive a master’s degree while working with the
football program at The University of South Carolina. In the midst of these events was also the
ability to work as a coach and umpire with the baseball program here in the
county, work at the state parks, and work with the Grundy County Herald. Following a year as a teacher at the high
school, I decided to pursue my desire to have a career in the legal field and
attended the Cecil C. Humphrey’s School of Law in Memphis, Tennessee.
There is much to be said about the quality of education that
I received while in law school. While
there, I had the privilege to study under the guidance of professors who are
recognized experts in their field. These
professors did not make life easy on their students, but succeeded in their
goals to mold capable attorneys regardless of the jurisdiction in which these
students eventually became licensed. As
an American Bar Association accredited school, all graduates are eligible to
apply for admission to practice throughout the United States. Perhaps, though, the most significant event
from law school was not the education that I received, but the opportunity to
meet my wife, who went on to complete a legal degree as well. During her time as a student at the law
school, I worked with an immigration defense law firm in Memphis, Tennessee,
gaining much experience in the process.
Following her graduation and the birth of our oldest daughter, we moved
back to Grundy County when the firm opened an office in Chattanooga,
Tennessee. That practice merged with an
attorney from the Chattanooga area, allowing me to develop my skills further as
the merger resulted in the firm taking business and criminal cases as well as
immigration.
After five years as an attorney, I have made the daring leap
to open my own law practice. I have
dubbed my new venture The Law Office of Russell S. Mainord, not very original I
know, but it is as unique as I am. My office is to be a general practice law firm
that will service all people regardless of race, color, creed, ethnic origin,
or socio-economic class. Our founding
principles are simple: “Do unto others as you would have them do onto you.”
When considering the concept of opening my own firm, I thought
of the things about the legal profession that made me dislike my chosen career
and decided that as an owner of a firm I could take steps to manage my practice
in a way that overcame those issues as much as possible and that I could feel was
fulfilling my purpose on this earth.
Primarily, I have found that legal services are not
affordable for the working class and attorneys are so focused on money that
they forget their clients and even do more damage to their clients through
their practices and rates that they charge.
Prospective clients have told me that they felt as if they were
forgotten about once they had paid their money to previous attorneys. In large part, it is these practices that
have made attorneys the butt of many jokes and destroyed the image of attorneys. At one point in time, the image that came to
mind when people thought of attorneys was that which was cemented by the likes
of Atticus Finch played by Gregory Peck from the 1962 on screen rendition of To
Kill A Mocking Bird, the 1960 Harper Lee novel, but that often is no longer
the case.
Through my research and exploration, I have determined that
an attorney can be more like the Atticus Finch’s instead of the modern day
money grabbing liars that the profession has become known as. In fact, most attorneys are more like Atticus
Finch than they perhaps realize, yet they do not desire to live to those
standards. Through my law practice, I
hope to return to that olden year version of legal counsel that is the trusted
and revered person that people will go to with their legal problems without
fear of having to go deeply in debt to have zealous and competent
representation that truly has their best interest at heart.
My parents instilled two principles in me that shall form
the foundation of my law office: (1) “Your
customers are working class people just like you are;” and (2) “Leave nothing
behind you but your good name and good work.”
I have examined a number of factors and discussed legal representation
with a number of people that I would consider to be potential clients. These individuals have come from all walks of
life both culturally and socio-economically.
From these examinations and discussions, I have gathered a great deal
of information that has helped me to shape my law firm from pricing structure
to how we handle cases.
Armed with the information that I have gathered I have found
the foundation to build my firm. The
framework of my firm shall be based upon keeping overhead low, allowing me to
keep costs low for my clients. In our
office you will not find expensive furniture, artwork, or lavish
amenities. Technologically, we have
maintained a low cost footprint. What
you will find is furniture and technology that are designed to do their exact
needs without being extravagant and artwork created by my wife through her
photography business, Dottie Mainord Photography. This allows us to keep prices at a very low
level. Additionally, we are building a
firm that considers each client to be a family member.
I have personally seen people pay an attorney for a
consultation or legal representation only to be blindsided that they were not
able to receive the results that they sought.
This, in and of itself is not surprising, but when the person tells me
that they were not prepared for the possibility of the outcome, I am shocked
and appalled. To that end, we shall not
charge consultation fees and will give honest assessments of a potential case
and the potential outcomes. It is our
desire that at the end of the day, our clients will come away feeling that we
have handled their case with the highest level of honesty, integrity, and care
regardless of the outcome. We cannot
guarantee that each case will reach the desired outcome for our clients, but
what we can guarantee is that our clients will be fully advised of all
possibilities and our efforts to reach a desired outcome on their behalf and
that we will make every effort to be zealous advocates on our clients’ behalf.
For these next few weeks, our office will be primarily open
by appointment only as I complete my time at the firm with whom I have been an
attorney. If you have a legal need,
please go on and contact us to schedule an appointment. Even when we are not in the office, we will
often have call-forwarding set up, voicemail (which will be checked regularly
and phone calls returned), and email. I look forward to beginning full-time hours
in a few weeks and to being available to serve your legal needs.
