INTERVIEW ON THE PRICE OF BUSINESS SHOW, MEDIA PARTNER OF THIS SITE.
Recently Kevin Price, Host of the nationally syndicated Price of Business Show, interviewed Daniel A. Cotter, Attorney, and Counselor.
The Daniel Cotter Commentaries
Welcome to “Your Attorney as a Trusted Advisor with Daniel Cotter.” I’m Daniel Cotter, Attorney and Counselor at Howard & Howard Attorneys, PLLC. For more information, please visit howardandhoward.com.
Welcome to March. The month of madness, beware the Ides of March, spring ahead. And in recent times, the month that reminds us to be the champion, in the big game, surviving the competition tournament, we have to perform and have our house in order, a team that is solid from top to bottom.
Recent troubles in the banking arena, with Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank both failing, is a good indication of the need for a team full of experts in your industry. According to a New York Post article on the Silicon Valley Bank failure:
“The group’s lack of banking expertise is likely to be a focus for investigators. Just one current member has had a career at the top of the investment banking world.”
In another recent development, Credit Suisse, which had been resisting the SEC’s efforts to have the bank restate some information in its filings and admit it had internal control weaknesses, filed its financials and admitted to same.
For every business, you have to have not just the starting team, but a bench and folks that can provide the support to help you win in the competitive landscape. One the great things about this time of year is seeing teams ranked as underdogs rising to the occasion, with the game plan executed and each member of the team, including the coaches, managers, and tenth man, gelling together. Business is the same.
The team that you want to have on your board, in your c-suites, in your advisor team, are ones that are all ready to rise to the challenge of the competition tournament, like the sixty-eight teams that are contending for the championship in the NCAA during March, with hopes of being on the road visiting Houston in first days of April.
When I teach accounting for lawyers, I always begin with a case from the Savings and Loan crisis. The Judge, a former SEC executive, tried to understand what had happened.
Judge Stanley Sporkin, US District Judge, Lincoln Sav. & Loan Ass’n v. Wall, 743 F. Supp. 901, 919-920 (D.D.C. 1990), wrote:
“There are other unanswered questions presented by this case. Keating testified that he was so bent on doing the “right thing” that he surrounded himself with literally scores of accountants and lawyers to make sure all the transactions were legal. The questions that must be asked are: Where were these professionals, a number of whom are now asserting their rights under the Fifth Amendment, when these clearly improper transactions were being consummated?
“Why didn’t any of them speak up or disassociate themselves from the transactions?
“Where also were the outside accountants and attorneys when these transactions were effectuated?
“What is difficult to understand is that with all the professional talent involved (both accounting and legal), why at least one professional would not have blown the whistle to stop the overreaching that took place in this case.”
The team including the trusted legal advisor needs to be able to help the business team win and do so without fouling out of the game.
This is “Your Attorney as a Trusted Advisor with Daniel Cotter.” I am Daniel Cotter, Attorney and Counselor at Howard & Howard Attorneys, PLLC, and your trusted advisor. Please visit howardandhoward.com for more information.
As a lawyer who started out of college as an accountant, and passed the CPA exam, Daniel Cotter tries to use that knowledge and business acumen to truly partner with his legal clients. He also spent more than 16 years of his 27 years as a lawyer in house. Clients want to have pragmatic, digestible, understandable information and advice, and someone who acts as a partner and trusted advisor.
He graduated with honors in accounting from Monmouth College and a law degree with honors from the John Marshall Law School.
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