Inspiring Conversations with Amber Saunders of The Saunders Firm

Today we’d like to introduce you to Amber Saunders.

Hi Amber, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I’ve always wanted to be an attorney and eventually start my firm, so without a doubt, I’m living my dream. The things we say as children can be glimpses into who we are or who we will grow to be. I’m told that I started talking about being a lawyer in kindergarten. I feel like it had to be meant to be because I don’t recall knowing or meeting any attorneys until I was a bit older. Either way, every decision I made was in preparation for becoming a lawyer, from joining the debate team to internships to books I read. I mean, everything, everything was about becoming a lawyer. Then I passed the bar, and I had no idea what I was going to focus on. The job market wasn’t the best when I passed, so out of sheer necessity, I started my firm and started figuring things out as I went. After that, there was no looking back. I can’t imagine doing anything else.

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle-free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
Hell no. I had no idea what to practice. I remember at one point I started trying to practice criminal law without fully taking into account the level of a softy I am. One client ended up being sentenced to a substantially reduced amount of time in prison, but prison nonetheless. I remember sitting at the bench with him when the Judge sentenced him and hearing his child cry behind me. I started crying. I held in the ugly cry until I got out of the courthouse, but I was a mess. I stopped taking criminal cases after that.

Another big issue attorneys who practice on their own have to deal with is that you learn the law in law school, but learning to be a lawyer and how to run a business are entirely different things. For a long time, I had no idea how to run a law practice. I’ve taken every class, joined every program, and invested in every opportunity I could at this point to learn how to operate and grow a law firm. I’m incredibly proud of the work I’ve put in and the progress I’ve made. I’ve learned some hard-fought lessons along the way.

We’ve been impressed with The Saunders Firm, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
The Saunders Firm is a law practice specializing in providing a new approach to business planning that incorporates tax, succession, business, estate, and intellectual property planning into every aspect of the work done for clients. Creating wealth is a hurdle many people never cross. Once a person can jump over the hurdle of wealth creation, they are left with the second hurdle: keeping and passing on the wealth they do have. Finally, when a person figures out that they must prepare for the transferring of wealth, they are stuck with finding who should do the job.

This firm exists to help ensure that every child is a trust fund baby. Why a trust fund baby? Because, to be cliché, children are the future. To ensure a brighter future for us all, we have to make sure that the next generation is in a better position than we were. We believe the best way to do that is by assisting entrepreneurs with protecting their financial and familial legacies through proper business development and estate planning. We help entrepreneurs build and scale their businesses put together business, asset protection, and estate planning structures to ensure that nothing they’ve earned through their countless hours of work slips between the cracks.

We’re always looking for the lessons that can be learned in any situation, including tragic ones like the Covid-19 crisis. Are there any lessons you’ve learned that you can share?
I learned how unprepared people are for tough times and how far humans are willing to go to avoid discussing or preparing for them. I’m not talking doomsday prep. I’m talking about general conversations around what happens if I get sick. So many people jump on a Zoom call, and when I ask them a simple question like this, they say they have never even thought about it. But then, if I don’t get them to talk through it with me right then and there, it could be a month or so before I can get them to follow up to nail down a plan. Then, they get busy or need to think about it more. It makes me wish that people became more comfortable with the uncomfortable. How much more would we truly live life if we understood that it isn’t promised. Memento Mori.

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