"I retained Lance Davidson as my attorney to represent me in lease negotiations to rent offices for my 34-person architectural firm... Lance kept down legal fees to my great satisfaction. But in one interesting twist, Lance was able to tweak the contract with what at first appeared to be a minor word replacement, but which later had significant costs savings to my firm of upwards of $27,000. For a single word!" - R. D., architect
"After some pointed questions to elucidate the nature of the transaction, the character of the other party and deal points, Lance drafted a seemingly innocuous agreement that was promptly signed. Apparently, that was Lance's intent. Some six months later, however, that agreement came back to haunt the other party, who realized he'd been tied up in knots as a result of his trying to circumvent me and the agreement. But Lance had anticipated this; not only did he prevent the deceit, but he inserted a provision in the agreement that would have caused the other party to owe me nearly half a million dollars. As a consequence, the other party has turned from a lion into a pussycat, and I'm a much wealthier man." - V. D., mortgage broker
"My company had performed contracting work at two properties, the owner hadn't paid me, and I wanted to protect my rights. When Lance ordered title documents showing the liens against the properties, it showed me in fourth position behind [prior lienholders]. Even Lance thought the situation was virtually hopeless and thought it required a miracle. Nonetheless, he began the journey to get me title to both properties. I have now a judgment against one, and Lance is just waiting for the judgment on the other property. I am in first position on both, having wiped out three prior liens on each property, and the ownership interests in both properties, which involved federal bankruptcy proceedings." - S. S., general contractor
"My office spent approximately a year in fruitless efforts to get a lien removed from my office property. Both the title company and lienholder dragged their heels and we were going nowhere fast. I retained Lance so that I could refinance my office property before a rapidly approaching deadline. Lance reviewed the file, asked some questions, and then drafted a forceful one-page letter to the lienholder. Poof. The lienholder's attorney responded, the lien was removed, and I timely refinanced my property. I spent about a year at no cost trying to get a lien removed--without success. Yet within a few weeks at a comparably nominal fee, Lance was able to get the lien removed-successfully." - R. J., financial planner
"Our property was weeks away from foreclosure and, in order to preserve our credit rating and work with-rather than against-our lender, we proceeded with a short sale. We had obtained a legal opinion that the lender could not pursue us for the deficiency, or the difference between the loan balance and the sales proceeds received by the bank. Soon thereafter, however, we were sued by the lender for the deficiency and we retained Lance Davidson to defend us. Mr. Davidson explained that neither the statutory language nor the most pertinent case protected us--the statute expressly bars deficiencies only after a trustee sale, not a short sale, and the case precedent, unlike ours, did not involve our consent to the bank informing us of the deficiency and its right to recover it. After all, if we had no liability, why would the bank sue us for the deficiency? Our other attorney apparently had only read the 'Cliff Notes' version of the statute and case law. Mr. Davidson filed a Motion to Dismiss and in oral arguments against the bank's counsel persuaded the judge that the intent of the case and the statute barred the deficiency lawsuit. The judge also agreed that the bank's warning did not give sufficient notice. We have learned that a bankruptcy-collections attorney who lectures on anti-deficiency laws and practices for creditors and debtors throughout Arizona was 'amazed' at your success. And significantly, your success permitted us to recover all of our attorney's fees so we had a free defense! But, most significantly, since the judge's ruling effectively eliminates the debt as recourse, there is no debt forgiveness so we owe no 6-figure tax liability! You saved us many, many times what would have been your legal fee in debt liability and tax liability. Thank you, thank you." - J. S., retired
"There are times when a lawyer's keen eye is worth many, many times his fee. I told Lance Davidson to his face that he is a fantastic lawyer, and now I'm telling you. As a result of Lance's review of a contract-and his review directly contradicted my California attorney's earlier review of the same contract-I was able to get four times more on the return on my investment. Years earlier, I had entered into a partnership agreement to acquire valuable land, and my partner had written in terms into our contract that were very favorable to himself. I made changes to the contract, and overlooked the fact that my partner had not agreed to all my changes. My California attorney reviewed the contract and told me I had surrendered my rights. Ugh. Lance, not only licensed in Arizona but also California, however, arrived at the opposite conclusion. So I hired Lance to represent me. He sent two letters, one to my business partner and the other to the escrow company involved in the transaction in which my partner was scheduled to take the lion's share of the sale proceeds. Within a few months, as a direct result of Lance's insight and execution, I received in cash four times what I had thought I was entitled to, based on the earlier legal opinion from my former attorney. And Lance's fee for good advice was far cheaper-less than one-third-than the fee I paid my former attorney for bad advice, and was dwarfed by my proceeds from the deal." -B.R., architect
"I owned an income property with three co-investors and when we sold it, we went to a title company to arrange our sale. We agreed to take back a significant portion of the purchase price as seller financing in the form of a promissory note secured by a deed of trust from the buyer. Unknown to us, the buyer arranged to simultaneously sell the property to another buyer, while taking back a significant portion of the purchase price as seller financing in the form of a promissory note secured by a deed of trust. We were receiving no income on the note, the property was declining in value due to waste, and the deed of trust was appearing to become worthless. Lance Davidson was highly recommended as a real estate attorney, so we retained him. We were urged by others to file a lawsuit immediately to get the attention and scare the title company. Lance demurred. Our case was complicated by the impending foreclosure action by another lienholder on the property which, although it should have been junior to ours, would wipe out our entire interest in the property. Lance instead negotiated with the title company, the title insurer and the lienholder, pitting them against each other. Remarkably, instead of waiting years for the note to come due on a property losing value, we obtained all of our money back immediately. We obtained via settlement virtually everything we were due--roughly 97%--including the note principal and interest and most of our legal fees. And, considering that settlement, by definition, involves giving up something in return, we eliminated for a pittance what could have been years of stress, huge legal fees and costs, time burdens of trying a case, etc. In fact, upon hiring Lance, I expressed my hope to get a certain amount, of course not really expecting it; Lance instead obtained for us almost 30% over what I had hoped for-an amount far more than what I expected! We are grateful to Lance and his firm, and recommend him highly." - N. P., real estate investor
"I have been blessed with owning a quickly growing business, and a significant aspect of my business is my use of and reliance on Lance Davidson as my legal advisor. For example, when my company retained a marketing firm, Lance drafted a Marketing Agreement that has saved me money and stress. And when I needed to expand the business with a colleague, Lance specially drafted a lucrative License Agreement to avoid franchising pitfalls. He doesn't say what I cannot do; Lance finds a way to achieve what his lawyer colleagues would often characterize as unachievable. Finding a business attorney who is both creative and familiar with business issues both conceptually and practically is not as easy as one would think. I would highly recommend Lance Davidson and his firm unhesitatingly to anyone seeking top-shelf, useful, cost-saving and even profitable legal advice for their business." - M.S., business owner
"One of the most important lessons I have learned in the last 20+ years of being in business is that good legal advice is priceless. Further, that pro-active ( whenever possible ) is always better than re-active. I have had the opportunity to use Lance Davidson in both occasions, and in both he performed beyond my expectations. In one instance alone Lance saved our firm 30k by changing one word in a document we were previously prepared to sign as is. I have always found Lance to be responsive, accommodating ,and forward thinking rather than reactionary, and would obviously recommend him highly. Please feel free to contact me directly if you have questions or if I can be of assistance." - JD, architectural firm
