Law attorney opens one-person firm

Harper offers flexible hours, prowess

Julie Harper wasn't expecting to work full days before her shingle even went up.

However, since opening her new business law firm June 1, located at 324 S. Ash St., Suite Four , she has been working from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. every day, with only one day off.

"I actually had somebody walk into my office the very first day, which surprised me," she said. "With my boxes and my folding table, I didn't have any furniture yet, nothing."

Harper said she has about a dozen paying clients, and laughed that she has several more family members who are getting legal advice as well.

Harper explained that business law encompasses business planning, business formation by trace of entity and any issue pertaining to business.

"I've been teaching out at (Big Bend Community College) on and off for about 10 years in business law class, consistently for about the last four years and decided to come back and do law full time," she said.

Previously, Harper had practiced with Lukins and Annis in town. In fact, she has a long history with the area, having attended high school, leaving only to get her degrees at Washington State University and at Gonzaga University, returning to Moses Lake in 1993.

She also worked at the Spokane County prosecutor's office for three years while attending law school.

She said that she wanted to go into law when she started college. When her grandfather offered to pay for it, that clinched the deal.

She said the challenge is what drew her to law.

"How many times are you told, 'You're not paid to think, you're paid to do whatever your job is?'" she said. "So I went to a job where they do pay me to think."

At the moment, Harper is the only person working in her office.

"There's times when I'd like to fire my secretary because she's not very good," she said with a smile. "I was spoiled being in a big firm before and you had two and a half to three secretaries, you didn't have to do any of that kind of stuff. I have a much greater appreciation for my secretaries."

Harper said that there are plans to expand eventually. She doesn't want to expand into all areas of law, as she just wants to do estate planning, asset protection and the like. But she said there was a chance she could add someone who specializes in tax issues and someone who specializes in real estate issues.

But the job gives her more flexibility, which is Harper's need, what with her family at home. In addition, it's easier for her clients to track her down.

"It's a personal service type of business, and if you're not available, it's not worth it," she said. "I've already had people come in here and say, 'I'm firing my Seattle attorney because I can't ever even get him on the phone, and I'm tired of it.'"

Harper said that she especially thought that there was a need for another business lawyer in the area after teaching at BBCC. She noted that a number of the community college students were older people going into business.

"There was a huge need for it; they had so many questions and it tended to be the same questions over and over," Harper said. "There didn't seem to be anybody particularly specializing in that area or at least addressing those needs."

Harper said she wants to help people with all aspects of starting a business — planning which form to do, going about finding financing, general tax information, advertising, establishing domains, Web sites and the many other considerations that go into business planning.

She also wants to act as a meditator, which she said is relatively new to the area.

"It's basically, I act as a facilitator, not as a judge, and basically facilitate a solution between the parties," she explained. "I don't tell them what their solution is going to be; I just kind of help them decide what it's to be. It helps because it's a lot more private than a public trial, and anything said during a mediation is confidential, and can't be used in a trial. So it offers a lot of alternatives that aren't available during court."

All in all, it seems like Harper is right where she wants to be.

"I'm having a blast," she said. "Once you get over the 'scared to death, I'm opening my own office' thing, it's great."