Episode Transcript
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Final thoughts to the audience (00:00):
focus on your
desires.
See what motivates you.
See what passion is instilled in you.
Use that to imagine the outcome, and if youkeep doing that daily and affirming that
imagined outcome can come true, it will.
Welcome to Inspired Choice Today.
I'm your host, Caroline Biesalski, here tobring you authentic stories, surprising
(00:24):
lessons, and powerful takeaways to fuel yourjourney in business and life.
In each episode, I'll take you from oneinspiring guest to the next, blending their
experiences with my expertise to uncoverpractical strategies you can use right away.
Whether you're starting out or stepping up,stay tuned for insights and actionable tips
(00:47):
that make a difference, and stick around untilthe end for a special freebie just for our
listeners.
Hello, and welcome into the Inspired Choicepodcast community.
This is your new episode.
My name is Caroline, and my today's guest isRoss Pitcoff, and I'm so happy that he said yes
to our interview.
(01:08):
How are you doing today?
I'm doing very well.
Thank you, and it's very nice to be here.
Oh, thank you so much for your patience againbecause we had technical difficulties.
And today is the new format, so I won'tintroduce you because I will do this in another
episode.
Okay.
(01:29):
Question to you is, what inspired you tospecialize in business litigation and
alternative dispute resolution, and how do youapproach simplifying complex legal issues for
your clients?
Well, that's a great question.
I think that as I went to law school, I had avery keen interest in justice.
(01:51):
I never liked people being taken advantage of,and I was always very attracted to the founding
era and the Constitution in the United Stateswhen people stood up for wrongdoings that they
believed were harming them in their interests.
As I went through law school, I began to obtainan interest in the world of corporations and in
business law, and I saw that small businessesespecially go through a lot, certainly during
(02:16):
down periods, and I'm a product of the 2008crash.
That's right when I came out of law school.
So you had many business owners that werestruggling or even had to completely go out of
business.
But for those that knew what their rights wereand for those that were aware of potential
government programs that could help them, therewas an avenue towards being able to be
productive again and get back on their feet.
(02:38):
So I think that the combination of wanting toassist people, seeking justice and also working
with business owners has always sort of had anunderlying passion.
It's been a passion for me.
My father too was an entrepreneur, and I thinkthat encouraged me to seek a similar path.
As for deconstructing complexities andrendering them simple, I'm not sure that I know
(03:02):
how that happened, but I can tell you that ithappened relatively early on.
I can recall, during my first job, working at areal estate firm, there was a very difficult
client, and one of the partners was unable tobe in the office that day.
They asked me to sit with him and work throughhis issues concerning a mortgage and a
refinance.
And the other attorneys were very concernedbecause he said you're putting a 25-year-old
(03:25):
kid in the room with this, you know, senior.
He was an executive at a company.
But I was able to walk through the issues, andI just took it was like a funnel to me.
There's all this stuff and all this noise andall these words, but, really, it's you know,
just as I ask others to speak to me as if I'm10, what I was able to do is take complexities
and then reiterate them or regurgitate them outin a way that had simplicity, and you speak to
(03:49):
somebody else as if you're talking to a studentin a way that's very accessible.
Wow.
What a great answer.
Thank you so much.
And this reminded me a little bit of NapoleonHill and his keen sense of justice as a part of
his, I think, positive mental attitude.
There are 30 steps or so.
I'm sure you are familiar with his work.
(04:11):
I think he studied law as well.
There are laws of success.
Yes.
I believe he studied.
I believe that is correct, and, of course, hestudied so many of these successful individuals
often in business in the United States.
I'm a very big fan of his.
Wow.
Okay.
My next question to you is, Ross, yourleadership, Pitcoff Law Group has achieved
(04:34):
remarkable growth.
What key strategies helped your firm become oneof the fastest growing law firms in the
country?
Well, I would say and that's another greatquestion.
A mentor of mine has said that the line betweensuccess and failure is very thin, and what's
important is to always focus and fixateyourself on an end goal.
(04:58):
And by doing that, you take and look at thenuances and concerns of daily life, and you're
able to push them to the side.
So I think always ensuring that goals arewritten down, whether they're annual goals,
quarterly goals, monthly goals, or even weeklygoals, by having a focal point that allows you
to get through the difficulties of the daybecause you know that there's an end goal that
(05:18):
you're seeking to achieve and that's in sight.
So I would say that coupled with and that's noteasy, by the way, because you deal with
resistance, you deal with fear, you deal withconcerns and doubt.
But if you get rid of that and you get rid ofthe fear and you get rid of the doubts, that
allows you to stay focused on the end goal,which ultimately will triumph if your vision
and your passion and desire is truly strongenough.
(05:42):
That combined with an ability to lead peoplejust as we discussed simplifying things with
clients, it becomes even more important to doit with your own staff.
So as we were building a team, and we've beenbuilding a team, and, you know, essentially,
we've grown by about, you know, I couldn't evensay over 1,000% in the last three years, but
(06:02):
we've done it because we've been able tocommunicate openly with our staff, and our
staff feels comfortable communicating openlywith us.
So it's very important.
Yes.
It is.
So clarity gives us power, and you talkedearlier about the funnel, the analogy with the
funnel or the noises coming in, and theopposite would be to focus.
(06:22):
And you talked about focusing on a certaingoal.
I'm I don't like.
I can add something to that I don't like quite.
Because when you say you focus on the goal,it's away from you.
So we focus from the goal, and it is likereverse engineering what are the steps you did
or you do today to get to this goal.
(06:45):
Right?
Yes.
That very much makes sense.
Correct.
Yes.
I love it.
And may I ask you about your goals andintentions, and what is one of your next
projects?
Sure.
Well, we have a lot of goals and a lot ofprojects that are forthcoming.
I think one of the bigger projects that we havecoming up is we visualized as a law firm to be
(07:09):
able to see everything right in front of us.
So from an internal perspective, we are lookingto finalize our policies and procedures, so
that all job descriptions are written.
All KPIs are very clear.
The staff is highly alert and informed aboutwhat they are.
And then we have this ideal universal dashboardwhere everything just can be seen by everybody.
(07:32):
So that's an internal goal.
I think in terms of our firm itself, we arelooking to serve and represent more and more
business owners, generally, who are in the high7 to low 8 figures in revenues who are having
disputes.
We recently added an international attorneybecause we have experience with international
arbitrations and cross-border transactions, andwe're really looking to branch out more in that
(07:56):
direction.
So we're very excited about 2025 and what'scoming up ahead.
I love that.
So if I have a question, then with the companyor business or B2B, let's say, then I can
address it to you?
Yes.
Absolutely.
And we really try and think of ourselves as afamily-first business law firm.
(08:18):
So the equivalent I can make is a lot ofbusiness is done through the big law firms, the
international firms and large firms.
We certainly are a boutique, but we like tolook at ourselves as a firm that can handle
complex work.
And at the same time, just like you have afamily law firm where you need a trust, you
need a will, something needs to be planned forthe estate, they're your go-to firm.
(08:39):
We're seeking to be that for business owners.
And in many ways, we are right now that formany.
Wow.
That means, like, protecting the legacy?
We certainly do.
Yes.
We seek to protect the legacies of thecompanies we represent in many ways and protect
their interests along the way so that thelegacy can exist.
(08:59):
Okay.
That sounds like a plan.
Thank you so much.
Of course, I have another question for you.
Let's see.
General counsel for business owners, whatcommon pitfalls do you see in contracts and
entity structuring, and how do you help yourclients avoid them?
Well, I think the first step is a lot ofcompany owners will come to us and they talk
(09:23):
about transactions they've been involved with,and we come to learn that there simply isn't a
contract.
So having an agreement put in place is alwaysthe first and foremost number one item that we
recommend.
We especially see this internally with smallbusinesses that are within their first three or
four years even.
They may be doing, you know, in the sevenfigures in revenue, they don't have an
(09:43):
operating agreement for their LLC.
They're not structured.
What we see generally on a larger scale isissues related to timing, so timing for
performance, and it's not clearly delineated inthe contract.
Oftentimes, there are issues withconfidentiality and trade secrets, whether
that's in an employer-employee relationship ora company that's providing information to a
(10:04):
third party, they fail to have adequateprotections in place.
And then when there is something done that'snegative to the business, they don't really
have the same level of relief that theyotherwise would have.
We recently dealt with, it was a litigationthat we were involved in where the client came
to us and their customer list had been taken bya third-party vendor that was providing
(10:27):
services.
Now, ultimately, we were able to resolve theirclaims.
You can still seek an injunction.
You can still stop them because this isproblematic to begin with.
However, if they had in their contract, as anexample, a liquidated damages clause that said
that each client that they attempt to utilizefor their benefit, every time that happens,
there's going to be a $15,000 penalty.
(10:49):
Well, that might have given additionalincentive for the bad faith actor to think
twice before they acted in the first place.
And then if you have multiple iterations ofthis breach, you can run into court.
And not only can you get an injunction, but youcan say, Your Honor, we're entitled to damages
contractually, and this is what the amount addsup to.
So things like that are just examples.
I think it's preemptive in nature, ensuringthat your agreements cover a lot of the
(11:12):
prospective bad things that can happen.
And also being mindful just through a practicalsense, timing, the efforts, what the roles and
responsibilities are of the parties involved inan agreement, making sure that that's properly
written so you don't have confusion down theline where both parties aren't really on the
same page.
I see what you mean.
So I was involved in a...
(11:32):
I had a contract, and it's that I am not...
how's the word?
So I have to wait one year after I can...
I can use the clients, so to say, or I canapproach the clients.
Sounds like a
Something like that.
It was in German, so I don't know the wordhere.
(11:55):
But yes.
So I know what you mean.
And we have this famous example just recentlyabout TikTok, right, that Apple had to pay
$5,000 per user, I think, if they maintain theapp.
I know it's something else, but it has to dowith business as well.
Yes.
And we're seeing with all the social channelsin particular, there's a lot of
(12:18):
business-oriented issues.
There's a lot of constitutional issues, FirstAmendment issues.
I think the whole ban for TikTok has beenfascinating.
Of course, now the users are celebratingbecause they have access again, but we'll see.
We'll see what happens in the next 90 days orso.
Yes.
Very exciting as well.
And, of course, I have another question.
(12:40):
It can be my last one.
I'm not sure.
You've become a trusted speaker on commercialbusiness practices.
What's one piece of advice you wish everybusiness owner would follow to minimize legal
risk?
That's a great question.
I would say to always paper and document whatyou're doing.
That means that you're taking, we call itmetadata, but you're notating things that are
(13:04):
taking place.
If there are any potential issues coming up,document it.
Put it into a Word document.
Save it.
There's metadata associated with it that willshow the time when you actually typed out and
saved the document.
Sending emails internally, even if it's toyourself, just to track what's taking place is
very important.
And finally, of course, something I alluded toearlier would be to make sure you have
(13:26):
agreements and contracts in place foreverything that potentially requires one.
If you're wondering whether or not you needone, it probably means you do.
That's a great answer.
Thank you so much.
I heard this before about sending myself anemail.
I don't remember what it was about, but it wasvery clever.
(13:47):
And to document.
Yes.
Yes.
Very important.
Thank you so much for our interview.
I think I would ask you about your coaches andmentors.
That's my last question.
Do you have coaches for yourself, and who wasthe best coach you ever had?
Coaches and mentors.
(14:08):
Yes.
I have many coaches and mentors.
I think there's a phrase, that one seeks tostand upon the shoulders of giants, and,
ultimately, that's what we do as businessowners and as motivated people, to misdirect
and not learn from others is, I think, a verysilly way of proceeding, and, unfortunately,
(14:28):
many people do that.
So I can recount, you know, numerous writersand mentors both alive and both who I never
met, but through their readings, I was able toglean much, including people like Tony Robbins,
of course, very famous.
David Neagle is a mentor that I ascribe to nowand listen to daily.
I have a mentor in Ajhonn Robbins.
(14:49):
So there's many that I listen to and look to tolearn from them and to learn not only what they
did correctly, but really to learn from theirmistakes.
And I was guided once and encouraged once toalways say, you don't ask somebody who's ahead
of you, tell me what you did.
You ask them, tell me what you did wrong.
So that's where the real value comes into play.
(15:10):
Tell me what you did wrong so that I can learnfrom your mistakes or failures as well?
I would ask how do you think.
Correct.
So in other words, right.
The goal is to see what pitfalls somebody elsehad so that you can hopefully avoid that, learn
the lesson before even going through it, avoidit, and then push further ahead in a quicker
(15:34):
amount of time.
Yes.
Absolutely.
A mentor saves you time.
I totally agree, and I said this would be mylast question, but I have one last question
about where can we find you when people want toreach out to you after listening to this
episode.
Sure.
Of course.
So our website is, Pitcofflawgroup.com.
(15:58):
We have offices on Park Avenue in New YorkCity.
We also have appointment-only offices in BocaRaton, Florida, and in Jersey City, New Jersey.
So we're very accessible.
You can give us a call.
You can send us an email.
We're always here to help.
Wow.
That's great.
So when I come back to New York City or NewJersey, I can visit you because, you know, I'm
(16:19):
traveling the world through podcast first, andthen then I come to, to meet?
That's so exciting.
Yeah.
We would love to meet you.
Thank you so much.
And now it's time for your final thoughts tothe audience, please.
Final thoughts to the audience.
(16:40):
Focus on your desires.
See what motivates you.
See what passion is instilled in you.
Use that to imagine the outcome.
And if you keep doing that daily and affirmingthat imagined outcome can come true, it will.
Just stick to it.
Well received.
Thank you so much.
Thank you very much.
(17:01):
And see Thank you for having me.
Thank you, and see you in the next episode of
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