For CPAs
You keep the client.
Most of the legal questions your clients have reach you first — in a meeting about something else, from someone who trusts you, expecting an answer today. This page is about what to do with those.
The part worth saying first
I do not want your seat.
Every accountant has referred a client to a lawyer and watched the lawyer become the primary advisor. It is the reason most of these relationships never start, and it is rarely said out loud.
So: I do not do tax, I do not do bookkeeping, and I do not do audit. When the legal piece is finished the client goes back to you — and they will know you were the one who spotted it.
No referral fees, in either direction. Not offered, not accepted. You have your own independence rules to think about, and this keeps both of us clear of them.
What to send over
The questions that are usually mine.
Not the tax consequence — that is your work. The moment the question becomes whether a client can do something, or what a document actually means, it has crossed into my side.
Send it over
- Choosing or changing an entity — the choice and the documents, not the tax analysis
- Buy-sell agreements: whether one exists, what triggers it, how it is funded
- Any transfer of ownership — to family, to management, to a buyer
- Equity grants, vesting schedules, or a client approaching an 83(b) deadline
- A client who mentions that other people want to invest
- 1031 exchanges — before the sale closes, while structure is still possible
- A lease, contract, or licence the client is about to sign
- Anything where the client asks whether they can do something, rather than what it costs
Not me — and I will say so quickly
- Tax opinions, controversy work, and audit representation
- Litigation of any kind
- Contested zoning hearings and land use appeals
- Family law, criminal defense, personal injury, immigration, bankruptcy
- Matters outside Florida requiring local counsel elsewhere
A referral that goes nowhere costs you more than it costs me — it is your relationship with the client that absorbs it. So a no comes as fast as a yes.
The sentence worth listening for
“Some friends want to invest.”
Of everything a client says in a meeting with their accountant, that one carries the most risk and gets the least attention. It describes a securities offering — and by the time it is said out loud, it is frequently already under way.
Some of the conditions that make a private offering work are lost by things done before anyone thinks to ask a lawyer, including talking about the raise publicly. It is a solvable problem at the start and a considerably harder one once money has moved.
Sessions
I will come and present — to your staff, or to your clients.
No obligation, no product, no pitch at the end. You host and invite whoever you think would benefit; I bring the material and pay nothing toward the event, which keeps it clean for both of us.
On continuing education: I am not a registered CPE sponsor, so I will not tell you a session carries credit. If credit matters, your firm or FICPA would need to sponsor it — and I am glad to work within whatever that requires.
Topics
- Where the line is between tax advice and legal advice — and how to stay on your side of it
- Getting a business ready to sell, and finding the buyer
- Raising money to buy or build, without breaking securities law
- What the Live Local Act changes for property owners
Or tell me what your clients keep asking that you cannot answer, and I will build the session around that.
Ask me something.
You do not need to route a client to me to have a conversation. If a question came up this week and you are not sure whose it is, that is exactly the kind of call worth making.
Have a client question in front of you?
Send it over. If it is mine, I will tell you what I think in language you can repeat to your client. If it is not mine, I will tell you that too, and point you toward someone the matter suits.