News & Articles

By Zach Fox

Launching a new product or service in a slowing economy takes either great confidence or reckless abandon.

Whatever their motivation, the Del Mar law firm Luce Forward is launching a new service aimed toward action sports companies, such as skateboarding, surfing and snowboarding companies.

The new group, composed of 15 lawyers, launched this week. We spoke with co-founders of the new group, Jason Femrite and Cordon Baesel about the service.

What led to the creation of this group?

Cordon Baesel: We thought it was a good way to formally put our resources together, and North County is a place where a lot of these businesses are headquartered, so we thought it would be an effective way of letting people know we have this service.

Jason Femrite: We wanted to focus on industries that we were passionate about. ... It seemed like and underserved space, and we already focus on San Diego, Orange County and Los Angeles, and we thought it was a need that we could provide a service for.

How will this service differ from the other work Luce Forward does?

CB: The issues that these businesses face are common, but they are also becoming complex. You might not have the patent issues that you would have in the biotech industry, but there are capital issues and mergers that need these services. ... And we can certainly understand their business needs because we're also consumers. I know what it's like to buy a snowboard and deal with the warranty issues and the liability issues.

It seems somewhat risky to expand as the county enters a recession. Why did you decide to launch this service now?

JF: This is a long-term play for us. We're interested and motivate in this part of the industy. We're not concerned with the recession at this point and we want to develop these relationships. ... And a recession might be the time when you need the best advice. When people are busy, they might let more things fall to the wayside.

I used the word expand. Is this new service an expansion?

JF: It's more of a restructuring. It's bringing together these services we already offer into one unit.

Is there an advertising campaign that will accompany the launch of this service?

CB: There's a very important trade show ---- at least in the surfing and skateboard industry ---- that takes place in San Diego called Action Sports Retailer. It's in early September this year and we are cosponsoring a forum associated with raising capital and expanding your business in the action sports industry.

Copyright © 2008 by the North County Times. All Rights Reserved. Reposted on Transworld Business on August 25, 2008.