What Does It Mean When an MLM Attorney Is Retained?

Hi everyone. Kevin Thompson here, MLM attorney and managing partner at Thompson Burton. And here I am at the office and I hope you guys are having a wonderful day. And I want to answer the question that some of you might have as far as what it means when our firm is retained and whether you can view that as an endorsement of the program. The short answer is no, you should not. I wish I can say that every client that I talk to has a wonderful pay plan, has a great product, has great leadership team that knows what it's doing. But that's not always the case. Sometimes, you know, like a doctor, I see patients that are sick and they need help. And so the first thing that we do with clients is we give them a detailed legal review. We look at their pay plan, their products, we look at how they enroll people, we. We look at every sort of bonus. I have seen every conceivable kind of math model in this space, and I've gotten pretty good at understanding how these plans translate into behavior in the field. So anyway, we process all this information, we give them a legal review. If there's a problem, we tell clients how to fix it. And usually clients, not every model is perfect. So there's always opportunity for ways for them to mitigate their risk and make improvements. The reason why I'm doing this video is lately I've received some private messages from people where they say, hey, look, this company is saying that you're their lawyer, therefore they're 100% clean. And that's not always the case. So two things. Number one, when we're retained by a client, it doesn't mean that we endorse them. Number two, when people ask us or ask me for my thoughts on a client, whether I think the client is good or bad, I don't talk about them for good reason. And so for those of you that send me messages about various clients of mine, that's why I'm not able to say anything. I thought, you know what, I've fielded this question a lot of times. I need to put it out there and educate people as far as what my limitations are when I talk about a client's company. And that goes with the attorney client privilege. So first thing, what does it mean when we're retained? What it means is the client is getting fantastic information, up to date information, and they understand all the legal boundaries with respect to operating their program in the network marketing space. We explain all the risks, we lay it all out there. So rest assured, when you see my name as being retained by a Particular company know that they're getting good information. But just because I'm retained, It doesn't mean the client is listening. It has happened, as you can imagine, where we give clients some pretty hard advice. Sometimes there's no opportunity for these companies to operate legitimately on the right side of the law. And I tell them as much. I've had some success with people folding the doors, and it's the right thing to do. And then I get the angry messages from field leaders about how I ruined the party. Some occasions, the client's able to make some changes and proceed with their business. It might not be as attractive as it used to be before it got to me, but they're able to make some changes, Improve its positioning, and go forward. And then sometimes the client, they disregard the advice and look, it's america, It's a free country. They make their decisions, and off they go. Our engagement is, in most cases, limited to a two or three month period. Sometimes clients want to have an ongoing relationship, and that's a separate deal. But usually it's limited. They come at me, we do the reviews, we take care of some contracts for them, and off they go. So when you see my name associated with a particular company out there, I always tell clients, I make it clear they're not allowed to use my name in any sort of promotional fashion. Number one, it looks horrible. Mainly from a marketing standpoint, It's a bad idea, in my opinion, to. To lead with lawyers, right? You don't see the big companies out there like amway and herbalife, saying, look, we're a clean company because our lawyer says we're clean. When you do that, you're all but implying your program has some significant problems. The focus shouldn't be on whether the plan is legal or cutting edge, or you shouldn't have to try to quell those suspicions. The focus of your program should be on the value of the product. You should be pushing the product and the service. If your plan is in the gray, then you've got some other issues to deal with. But leading with lawyers, from a marketing perspective, in my opinion, I think it increases suspicion. It doesn't decrease suspicion. I also want to teach you guys about the scope of the attorney client privilege. Those of you, you watch tv, you have an idea of what the attorney client privilege is. I want to tell you precisely what it is. It's the relationship between the attorney and the client. Just like with a pastor and somebody in the congregation, Or a psychiatrist and a patient, doctor, patient, These relationships are sacred, and they're sacred because the law, these professions, we want people to freely give us information comfortably knowing that what they share with us is not going to be disclosed in any setting. So in the legal setting, I want clients to give me the good, the bad and the ugly. And that puts me in a good position to give them advice. If I were to ever break that privilege, if I were to ever break any client's confidence, it would jeopardize my ability to provide for my family. Number one, I've got three little kids. Luke is six, Sienna is four, Samantha is two. That's not going to happen. Number two, it would be a tremendous disservice to the client, and it's never going to happen. Even if I can talk about client matters, for example, if news breaks or things are publicly available in that case, there's no privilege in those kinds of scenarios. There's no confidentiality issues. I'm not going to do it. Just to err in the abundance of caution. So when people say, well, what do you think about this program that you're representing? I don't say anything. Even if it's a fantastic program, I don't say anything because I don't want it to get back to the company or go to the field. Kevin Thompson says this. Kevin Thompson says that I don't want my name being used in conjunction with anything happening in the field. My job is to provide advice to the corporate executives, and that's where I like to limit my role. So for those of you that contact me and you ask me various opinions, that's why I'm not able to have any sort of discussion with you now. Sometimes I'll see a client out there and they say, kevin's our lawyer. And you know what? It's a great client. They got great leadership, they've got a great product, they've got really good, demonstrable retail sales happening that I'm aware of. I'm comfortable in that scenario. I don't. That's okay. I'm honored to be included in that discussion. And in some context, when I see a client out there saying, hey, look, we're legal and Kevin's our lawyer and the client is not so good, my hands are completely tied with what I can say. I'm not able to really say, well, look, folks, eight out of ten elements in their program are problematic. And I told the client that I'm just not able to do it. So I want you guys to understand that when you see my name, or as a matter of fact, if you see the names of my competitors being used. I'm pretty sure they don't like their names being used either, in a promotional sense, such as Kevin Grimes and Spencer Reese, Jeffrey Babner and Neera and those folks. I think we're all on the same page on this. And it's not appropriate for lawyers to be used as credibility builders for companies. I get. I understand why clients want to do it. It's a very competitive space. So these guys are all trying to one up each other with respect to their pay plans. And the more trust they can build up in their program, the more activity there is. One way to build up trust is to say, look, hey, look, we got a respected lawyer and he says we're cleaning stamp of approval. Rock and roll. I see why clients want to do it, but when they do, it's not with authority. At least not for me. So I want you to understand that also the scope of the attorney client privilege and why I'm not able to say anything and why I will never say anything about a client's company. It means too much to me and hope you guys are doing well. I hope this makes sense and you guys take care.