Finding a Passion For Justice

Richard founded his firm, Initiating Protection, because he saw a need in his community and felt compelled to fill it.  Richard began his legal career as a Trademark Lawyer at large law firms that primarily represented large companies.  Part of his job was to protect the rights of these high dollar clients, and he frequently challenged smaller companies that were using confusingly similar names as his clients.  Most of these small businesses responded, “but I didn’t know.”  Richard enjoyed his work and appreciated the clients he served over the majority of his career at big firms, however, something was missing.  This is how Richard discovered his passion for justice.

Richard heard those words countless times.  “But I didn’t know”.  It stuck with him.  He came to realize that while larger companies were well represented by trademark lawyers, smaller companies were woefully underrepresented.  He saw that many of the disputes he managed weren’t caused by the small businesses trying to take advantage of another, but rather, the owners were mostly unaware.  They were stumbling around in the dark.  The misconceptions surrounding trademark law saw the demise of small businesses.  Richard felt a bond with the owners of these small businesses as these people were the very lifeblood of his own community.

Discovering a Solution

Richard started trying to solve the problem from his large firm.  This solution was unworkable as smaller companies could not afford large firm rates and large firms are conditioned to serve their higher paying clients.  Richard realized that the best solution was to start a firm geared toward serving smaller companies.  On June 14, 2021 Richard started Initiating Protection.  His mission is to serve small businesses in a way that is comfortable and welcoming to them.  In order to represent himself in this way to his clients, he wanted to do some rebranding himself.  That day, he dropped the title of “Trademark Lawyer” and began referring to himself as “Brand Legal Counsel”.  The reason being small business owners may not be familiar with exactly what a trademark is or what it can do for their business, but they know they have a brand to uphold.  

Connecting With Small Business Owners

The next step for Richard was to find a way to educate his clients; to help them “turn on the lights.” This gave rise to the Brand Health Check, a $275 solution to bring clarity to an area of law that may be foreign to most small business owners.  This crucial step provides insight to a small business owner’s brand and what risks they may be facing.  Since then, Initiating Protection has served hundreds of small businesses.  With each client, the primary goal is to treat them with respect and bring value to them by helping them mitigate risk and enhance their rights in their brands.  We look forward to adding your business to this list.