Laura Jan Upchurch

Laura represented myself and my wife as the plaintiffs throughout a difficult family business dispute. Her knowledge of law is unparalleled and her ability to think two steps ahead of the other side is uncanny; to a point that you will begin to think she is playing the game with the other guy's pla...ybook in her hand. I cannot count the times, during advisement periods, that Laura would be discussing strategy and tell us, "If we do (this), they will do (that)"...sometimes discussing reactions from the other side that were to happen in hours or sometimes weeks from that moment and "sure enough", she was right. There may come a time in your case where you actually feel sorry for the person you are having your dispute with; you almost feel as if they are unfairly matched. That feeling is shortlived. With that being said, Laura was adamant, considering our family involvement, that we always play "clean and fair" and "wear the white hat" throughout our entire dispute. This was not a suggestion from her to us, but, instead, was a declaration of her morals and ethics. I think she gets more satisfaction out of knowing that she played by the rules and still beat the other side. That leads me to say this... Not only is Laura Upchurch great at what she does, she seems to love what she does. She takes great pride in her work. For a more complete review, I wish I could give insight into how she handled herself in the face of losing, but quite frankly, we never really had that experience. Any set-back we may have experienced throughout our ordeal was always planned for and a reaction was already in the works before that negative result was even realized. One of the best testimonials I can think of giving Laura stems from a situation that arose with a second business partner out of 3 partners involved in our business decided to join in on the lawsuit. Concerned that there may be a conflict of interest in using the same attorney as myself and my wife, the second partner chose to hire another attorney. When that second partner informed their attorney of who was representing our interests, the partner's attorney replied "...you better be glad they're on your side." Laura is a petite lady, but I can assure you she carries a big stick and she most definitely knows how to use it when necessary. Throughout the course of our dispute, the defendants were represented by different lawyers. Those lawyers, as well as the defendant, were all males and not small in stature and although I personally witnessed numerous events where one or all attempted to "buck out their chests" and intimidate her, within seconds, either with her words or her posture, she had them all staring at their shoestrings. This lady is a force to be reckoned with. We live almost an hour away from Laura's office, but whether it be by phone, email or lunch meetings, Laura kept us up-to-speed on every aspect of our case, from start to finish. She makes you feel as if your case is the only one she is handling, even though she is juggling numerous clients throughout the day; she is an artist is that respect. In fact, my wife and I were amazed to find out her caseload toward the middle of our ordeal, considering her responsiveness to our questions and concerns seemed to be immediate. We had been told stories, even by other attorney's, to beware any attorney we hire and make sure they were fair and accurate on their billing. My wife handles our bills, mostly (Laura is laughing if she is reading this), and I was shocked when we went to a mediation and my wife quoted what our attorney's fees were (much lower than I thought), so that they could be calculated into our settlement. Probably the most fair billing in the industry and worth 100 times the fee! We have since adopted Laura as our legal adviser for all current and future business ventures. She is excellent with reviewing and drafting contracts quickly.