We couldn’t be anymore happy with the results at this point.  In a little less than a year, we’ve opened our law office, added two fantastic commercial litigators, substantially grown revenue, grown our client base 4 fold, and established a summer associate program.  Our next step is to start looking for a corporate/securities and intellectual property lawyer.  Standby, this is just the beginning.

J. Cole Dowsley, Jr. has joined the firm as a partner and will lead the firm’s business litigation practice. Cole’s proven background in business and commercial litigation will expand Thompson Burton’s ability to serve its clients.

Cole advises business clients on a broad range of issues, including complex commercial litigation, contract disputes, employment matters, professional liability, entertainment litigation, and several other areas. Cole most recently was a partner at the Nashville law firm of Cornelius & Collins, LLP.  “We’re very pleased to have Cole on our team,” said Kevin Thompson, partner and co-founder of Thompson Burton. “Having been a partner with a well respected litigation firm, Cole will add significant value to our clients across numerous industries.”

Cole has successfully represented businesses and individuals in a variety of industries throughout the state of Tennessee. His practice includes handling trials and appeals in state and federal court, in addition to alternative dispute resolution forums, such as mediation and arbitration. He also regularly works with clients to identify and manage risks and develop strategies to avoid lawsuits.

Cole received his J.D. from the University of Tennessee College of Law, where he served on the Editorial Board of the Tennessee Law Review. He obtained his B.S. (Business Administration – Accounting) from the University of Tennessee, graduating magna cum laude.

He lives in Franklin, Tennessee with his wife, Nicole Dowsley.

Melissa Martin Burton has joined the firm as of-counsel and will work in the firm’s financial services and general commercial litigation practice.

Melissa has litigated a variety of actions in state and federal courts and in mediation and arbitration, including FINRA arbitration. She has represented clients with respect to a wide array of state, federal, and common law claims, including UCC issues, tort claims, breach of fiduciary duty, breach of contract, consumer protection issues, products liability, premises liability, sexual harassment, Title VII, RICO, ERISA, TILA, RESPA, and other lending-related issues. Melissa has represented clients in many jurisdictions, including California, Georgia, Tennessee, and South Carolina.

Melissa most recently was an Associate at Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP in Nashville.  Melissa received her J.D. from the University of Tennessee College of Law, where she graduated magna cum laude and was appointed to the Order of the Coif.

Melissa lives in Nashville, Tennessee with her husband, Walt Burton, and three year old son, Liam.

For more information, please contact Thompson Burton, PLLC at 615-465-6000, or visit the Thompson Burton website at www.thompsonburton.com. Thompson Burton, PLLC is located at Seven Corporate Centre, 840 Crescent Centre Drive, Suite 140, Franklin, Tennessee 37067.

After the presentation, Thompson Burton PLLC partner and co-founder, Kevin Thompson, one of the top direct sales and MLM lawyers in the country, published his initial thoughts regarding Ackman’s short position and Herbalife’s decision to engage law firm Boes Schiller as its legal counsel.  Kevin’s post was widely circulated on Wall Street, resulting in numerous investment managers contacting Kevin to discuss his opinion regarding Ackman and Herbalife.  One of those discussions resulted in Robert Chapman of Los Angeles based Chapman Capital LLC authoring a guest post at thompsonburton.com entitled “Herbalife: Why I made it a 35% Position After the Bill Ackman Bear Raid”.

Chapman’s guest post went “viral” and resulted in many business news outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, Barron’s,

Direct Selling News, CNBC and Forbes linking to and/or discussing the article’s content.

The next chapter in this story will likely unfold after Herbalife formally responds to Ackman at its own investor event currently scheduled for January 10, 2013.

Thompson Burton will no doubt continue to lead the discussion on this important conversation regarding the direct sales industry.

I had the great pleasure of interviewing serial entrepreneur, John Pisciotta. John Pisciotta is a good friend and an incredible leader in the Nashville tech community. John is the co-founder of multiple companies, most recently being the concert streaming service “MultiplyLive” and sync rights platform, MusicSynk.

John certainly stands out in the world of entrepreneurship. While it certainly takes a Herculean effort to get ONE company successfully off the ground, John has managed to do it on multiple occasions. In the interview, John gives us insights into his work ethic and leadership philosophy. At the end of the day, it takes more than a big idea to create a big company. It takes strong leadership and team building skills. John is a student of the sport, reading upwards of 4 books per month ranging in topic from marketing, leadership development and business management. John also has the benefit of a very supportive and encouraging wife. John’s wife, Robin, emanates with enthusiasm for the companies. She has served as John’s translator for me when the subtleties of the businesses are hard to understand.

It’s important to note that during the interview, John never speaks about his personal talents. Instead, he constantly highlights the strengths of his team. This is one of the many reasons why he’s been able to attract the right people to breath life into his ambitious ideas. If you’re looking to create a legacy and build a large company, this video is a great place to start.

In this episode of Creative Competitors, we talk about signing our lease at Corporate Centre in the Cool Springs area south of Nashville, Tennessee.  We discuss some of the difficulties of getting the office up and running, including purchasing office furniture, equipment, and our gratitude to our top notch interior decorator, Kelly Spalding, for her assistance.  We hope to start hiring administrative support and new lawyers once the space is ready in a few weeks. To that end, we’ve gotten somewhat of a head start on the hiring process. We recently offered the #1 law student in his class in Michigan to assist Kevin with his practice.  Our offer is pending, so we’re anxious to hear a response. We think we can compete with any law firm, big or small, to land high quality talent.

We also discuss our recent involvement in the Zeek Rewards Ponzi Scheme case. With estimates of more than Two Million victims, the Zeek case may be one of the biggest ponzi schemes (in terms of the sheer volume of victims) in history. Because of Kevin’s extensive knowledge and visible presence in the direct sales industry, countless victims have contacted us to represent them during the claims process. To that end, we’ve established a website to assist victims with news updates and resources regarding the case.  To date, more than 20,000 victims have signed up to receive our newsletter on the subject.

Last, we discuss Kevin’s recent appearance on CNBC, where he was interviewed by top CNBC correspondent, Herb Greenberg, regarding the laws and regulations in the network marketing industry. We’re looking forward to CNBC airing the interview later this month.

Kevin Thompson and Walt Burton recently traveled to New Orleans to visit Super Bowl champion and all-around stellar athlete and man, Jabari Greer.  Kevin and Jabari first met as teammates on the University of Tennessee football team in 2000.  This relationship continued on the track team, where Kevin was a decathlete and Jabari was a sprinter and hurdler.

During our visit with Jabari for this episode of Creative Competitors, we explore many of the character traits that have contributed to Jabari’s success on and off the field.

Jabari is most well known for his stellar NFL career, but he also had a phenomenal collegiate career.  Below is just a snapshot:

• Played in 51 games at UT (school record)
• Member of the 2003 Track and Field Indoor Championship team
• NCAA champion in the indoor 60 M hurdles, 7.55 (school record)
• 2010 Super Bowl Champion
• 2003 SEC Champion, 110 M hurdles
• 2003 SEC Champion, 4×100 relay
• Four time track and field all-American

As you can see, success follows Jabari Greer. Whether he’s winning national championships as a hurdler for Tennessee or winning the Super Bowl with the Saints, the man knows how to win.

It’s easy for someone to point to an athlete like Jabari and say, “He’s just talented.”   Talent is certainly a part of the equation, but there’s a lot more to extraordinarily successful people than just talent.  It takes positive habits, mental fortitude, and determination to take natural God given talent and achieve excellence.

During this episode of Creative Competitors, we dive a little deeper with Jabari to reveal some of his insights about motivation, work ethic and the legacy he wants to leave.

While Jabari is a stellar athlete, there’s more to the man than just football.  Several years ago, Jabari founded the Greer Campaign, a non-profit organization aimed at empowering men to become better husbands and fathers.  Jabari considers this his long term mission, helping inspire men to become better men.  Jabari also regularly contributes to a column titled “Out of Bounds” published in the New Orleans Times-Picayune.

In this interview, Kevin Thompson interviews Dave Delaney, a digital marketing, business networking and social media strategist. Dave co-founded PodCamp and BarCamp in Nashville, two “un-conferences,” which focus on technology, networking and building a community where people can connect and engage on all things technology related.  Dave was recently named as one of the top 40 leaders in technology in the Nashville community.  
Dave shares valuable insights to assist businesses with building their brand online, specifically highlighting the tools and metrics that businesses should track while managing their web presence.

We covered the following topics with Dave:

• Analytic tools
• Recommendations for blogs to follow
• The wisdom in paying for improved organic search rankings
• Facebook vs. Google+
• Search vs. Social
• The value for professionals to focus on social
• WordPress plugins to help with SEO
• Factors that drew Dave to technology at an early age.

We hope you enjoy!  If you love the interview, hit the +1 or the Like button.  And if you want to continue following Dave, check out the links below:

Twitter: @davedelaney

Fan Page: https://www.facebook.com/davemadethat

Google+: https://plus.google.com/113028930940007165058/about

Blog: New Networking

ps, We apologize for the lighting in the video.  The background light from the sun overpowered our light kit.  We’ll learn from it.  

In this episode, Walt Burton interviews Chris Duncan, co-owner of Superior Custom Homes and Remodeling, at his corporate headquarters.  Superior’s primary focus and core competency is building custom homes from $400,000 up to $2 million in the Middle Tennessee market.

Despite significant headwind from the national economy and homebuilding industry in general during the Great Recession, Superior has weathered the downturn and thrived by intently focusing on and responding to the needs and demands of its customers.

During the video, we discuss how the same core principles and relentless focus on results that Superior demonstrated during the downturn also resulted in Chris achieving near legendary status while running track at the University of Florida.  Chris is the quintessential competitor, excelling at an elite level in the Steeplechase and indoor mile.  Chris was a 6 time All-American and still holds multiple school records at UF.  Chris has even run a sub-4 minute mile, breaking what some have referred to in the past as the “4 minute barrier”.

In this episode, I interview Frode Jorgenson, founder of Bidify.  Bidify is a penny auction site, similar to QuiBids, with the exception of a compensation formula that rewards Affiliates for referring other customers to the platform.  Despite being in its early stages, the company is growing at a rapid clip.

In May of 2012, the company hosted an achievers trip in Phuket, Thailand for its top 10 sales people over the last quarter.  They were gracious enough to invite me so as to meet in person and better understand each other.  I spent the week in Thailand getting to know the founders and meeting with Bidify’s top leaders.  And yes, I managed to have a lot of fun along the way.  The weather was perfect and the itinerary was fantastic.  See below for a few of the pictures we took.

One of the founders, Frode, is Norwegian and a serial entrepreneur.  Before building internet companies, he was a World Champion and Nordic Champion chef at the age of 21.  After hitting the top at the cooking scene, he switched gears and invested his energies into technology.  Throughout his history as an entrepreneur, Frode has experienced great success and great failure.  His story is relatable for anyone with an audacious plan.  Laser focus yield results, though marred by failure on the journey.  It’s just reality.  Enjoy the video.