Your Lawyer Should Already Be in the Kitchen
The Thomas Crown Affair, 1999
My phone buzzed. “Do you have five minutes?”
A client was texting me. I could sense all the stress in her short sentence.
I immediately picked up the phone and dialed her mobile number. “I always have time for you. How can I help?”
I could have told you exactly what she needed before she said a word. We’re mid-negotiation with a powerful counterparty, and it was about time for the other side to apply some pressure. After all these years, I know the patterns.
It doesn’t matter what the counterparty wanted (and that’s too private to share). Also, she didn’t really have a legal question. She had a question about the relationship. She had a question about our strategy. She needed reassurance.
Answering legal questions is part of my job. Creating savvy strategies is another aspect of my work. But this kind of conversation is my true vocation.
Have you seen The Thomas Crown Affair? When it came out, friends and family thought I’d see myself in Catherine Banning, the slick, sexy insurance investigator who falls in love with billionaire art collector Thomas Crown. I share Catherine’s passion for refined neutrals and oversized aviators, but the similarities end there.
I never wanted to be Catherine.
I’ve always wanted to be Wallace.
Who is Wallace? You probably don't remember him. When the police arrive to search Crown's home for a stolen painting, they are promptly refused by Crown's lawyer, Wallace, who was presumably preparing a casual lunch with his client in the kitchen.
I love everything about this one-minute scene. Are lawyer and client so close that they make BLTs regularly? Did Crown know the police were coming? Did Wallace know? As the police chief's car peels out with a noisy squeal, Catherine's half-smile tells us this was not an accident or luck.
Of course Crown's lawyer was there. Of course the police weren't allowed to search his home.
The Thomas Crown Affair, 1999
Here's what makes Wallace extraordinary: he's always three moves ahead, but you'd never know it. Wallace isn't scrambling to answer an emergency call. He's already there—not because there's a crisis, but because he understands his client well enough to anticipate what's coming.
This is what separates Wallace from a regular lawyer. Most attorneys are transactional. You call them when you need something, they do the work, send a bill, and disappear until the next crisis. Every engagement starts from zero: you have to explain your business again, remind them of the key players, and update them on what's changed since you last spoke. It's exhausting, and it means you're always in a reactive mode.
Wallace knows the patterns. He knows that when you're mid-negotiation with a powerful counterparty, pressure is coming. He knows that certain collaborators will create problems at predictable moments. He knows which of your deals are about to close and which ones might unravel. He's not psychic—he's simply paying attention all the time, not just when the meter is running.
Wallace is a secret weapon because he makes the impossible look effortless. The police show up to search the home of a suspected art thief, and Wallace calmly refuses them entry—no drama, no heroics, just unshakeable calm. To an outsider, it looks like luck or coincidence. But Catherine knows better. That half-smile says: Of course his lawyer is here. Of course he's prepared. Of course Crown is protected.
You don't need to be a billionaire to afford a Wallace. With Continuous Counsel™, you get your own attorney hidden in the kitchen—someone who already knows your business, anticipates the pressure points, and is just a text away when you need reassurance, strategy, or a second set of eyes. Schedule a Loops & Leaps™ consultation and let's talk about what having your own Wallace could mean for your business.
