Editorial
Front Page - Friday, March 12, 2010
Lawyer finds unique niche in Chattanooga legal market
David Laprad
Chattanooga attorney Scott Maucere is a sole practitioner with three focal points: business and corporate law, international law and complex litigation. He can be found online at www.maucerelawgroup.com.
- David Laprad
Each year, legions of new attorneys hit the job market, having graduated from law school and passed the bar. As they look for employment, many of them face the proverbial concrete jungle, a modern grid work of tall buildings packed with businesses, government agencies and nonprofits, each one filling a role that makes the city tick, each one packed with offices, cubicles and work stations.
It would be understandable, then, for a yet-to-be-employed lawyer to behold all of that complexity and wonder, “Where do I fit in?”
Scott Maucere figured that out before he ever moved to Chattanooga.
About a year and a half ago, Maucere and his wife were living in Atlanta, where he was practicing with a small international boutique, but they wanted to return to the Chattanooga area, where they’d grown up. “It was our only shot at getting back before kids and a mortgage locked us down,” Maucere says, laughing.
Before packing, however, Maucere researched the Chattanooga legal market and discovered what he believed was a need for a firm devoted to the legal needs of small- to medium-sized businesses. “There are two kinds of law firms in Chatta-nooga: general practitioners and large practices,” he says. “The general practitioners can form an LLC for you, but they’re also busy doing divorce work instead of learning about the latest developments in the LLC statutes. At the other end of the spectrum, the large firms do great work, but if you’re a small business, you won’t be able to afford $350 an hour for a team of associates.
“There’s a real niche here related to the small businessman who needs quality, sophisticated legal work, but doesn’t have a lot of money to spend,” Maucere says. “So my idea was to create a business devoted to the needs of small businesses. I have rates they can afford and I’m constantly thinking about the latest developments in business law.”
Maucere says he also indentified a non-existent international legal market during his research of Chattanooga. The large firms have the capability to do any kind of legal work, but he says he’s the only lawyer in the Chattanooga area doing a significant amount of international business work.
“The international side of my business is growing quickly,” he says. “There wasn’t much of that here a year and a half ago, but as certain large international corporations move to town, they bring on their coattails a lot of suppliers from overseas. That’s the market I’m targeting – not the big guys, who have their own lawyers, but the small guys that need to form contracts with VW but are from Germany and don’t know how to establish themselves legally in Tennessee.”
Maucere also works with overseas companies that need local counsel.
While Maucere appears to have found his place in the jungle, he had no interest in business and international law when he first decided to become a lawyer. In fact, he didn’t even know those areas of practice existed. “I became interested in the law when I did mock trial in high school,” he says. “But I didn’t know much about it other than what it was like to be in a court room.”
After studying political science and English at Lee College, Maucere attended Vanderbilt University Law School, where he fell in love with business and international law. “I saw this whole new world made up of things I hadn’t even considered as being possible avenues of pursuit for a lawyer. That changed my direction.”
In addition to business and international law, Maucere also does complex litigation, preferably in his areas of expertise. “I’m not a general practitioner,” Maucere says. “I don’t do
criminal law, divorce or personal injury. Just business matters and the issues surrounding them. If someone sues you, I can defend your lawsuit.”
While Maucere has pictured himself doing business and international law since attending Vanderbilt, he’s not always seen himself working alone. However, just like he slipped comfortably into the niche in which he’s working, being on his own has turned out to be a perfect fit.
“I originally thought I’d work for a large firm in a big city, but I quickly decided I didn’t want to become a slave to someone else,” he says. “In Atlanta, I was working 80 hours a week for a small firm, and it was a drag. I was always wondering when I’d be able to go home and have dinner with my wife.
“That taught me I’m the kind of person who needs to work for himself. I can’t take being tied down to someone else. I still work a lot of hours, but it’s somehow easier to do. When a business is yours, you eat what you kill.”
Despite being busy, Maucere makes time for his wife, with whom he enjoys hiking, playing tennis and watching movies. The two of them are also active members at Bayside Baptist in Harrison, Tenn. In addition, Maucere coaches three mock trial teams, which consumes a lot of time. “Last year, I spent about 400 hours doing mock trial. It’s a real passion of mine,” he says.
Maucere has even found a way to combine business with pleasure by doing work for a client who’s making an independent film. While he can’t talk about the movie or reveal who’s making it, his work on the project involves tasks as diverse as financing, obtaining permission to use brand name products and striking distribution deals. “It’s one of those jobs where I get a hundred different kinds of legal questions thrown at me at once,” he says. “But I work through them. It’s a fun job.”
It’s also another unique niche for a man who appears
to have a knack for finding them.
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