Many filing services are available to file UCC-1’s. Many attorneys have a general understanding of the UCC as they remember it from their law school years and studying for the bar exam (many parts of which have been dramatically altered and revised in recent years). Many corporate attorneys regularly file UCC’s on behalf of their clients. Still, they have little understanding beyond an elementary knowledge of the subject and who are not aware of the intricacies and detailed procedural requirements.
We had many clients come to this firm after the fact after they had either filed UCC’s on their own or with the help of a filing service or who had engaged legal counsel who they thought knew what they were doing. Unfortunately, only to discover when the consignee filed bankruptcy that their filing was not submitted correctly and as a result they thought they were secured creditors. In reality, however, they remained unsecured creditors and lost all of their inventory in the bankruptcy.
The financial exposure that companies in the jewelry and diamond Industry undertake is staggering to anybody who is not familiar with the trade. It is not uncommon to have millions of dollars on consignment with a single customer. Indeed, given today’s business and financial climate, there Is no excuse for not taking all possible precautions necessary to protect one’s consignment inventory.
One can no longer rely on the goodwill and relationship one has with the buyers or owners of customers, no matter how financially sound they may seem to be. One requires the expertise of a trained and experienced attorney who has spent decades advising clients in the jewelry trade, especially concerning the UCC and the changes wrought by Revised Article 9.
Most lawyers are trained to carefully read every line of the laws and study the legal decisions – We read between the lines. Creativity is what distinguishes good lawyers from the mediocre ones. The lawyers who can solve problems in the most creative ways are the ones clients value.
Our philosophy is simple. We have decided to focus on a select core industry whose practice and procedures we are intimately familiar with and knowledgeable about and concentrate on particular practice areas rather than endeavoring to be All things to all clients. Our focus has been on serving the jewelry and diamond industry.
Over time, our client roster has come to include a broad and impressive array of international entrepreneurial corporate and individual clients, including some of the largest diamond site holders and jewelry manufacturers in the world. With our expertise in this industry, we provide greater value because of the depth of our industry knowledge. This depth of knowledge and experience helps us provide our clients creative, cost-effective, result-oriented representation resulting in aggressive, focused problem-solving. By concentrating in a particular industry and field, we can offer a genuinely innovative solution that aligns with both clients’ short and long-term business objectives, providing practical and innovative legal solutions that help our clients succeed.