Setting the Table – Launching Distilled

My website blog is titled “Distilled.”

Settling on a law firm name was easy enough. Clark Smith Legal P.C. It writes itself. We found an available URL that’s easy enough to spell and ended in .com. We launched with a ready-to-go email account that didn’t scream “Gmail Attorney!” Also, I like my name. Clark Smith Legal P.C. is an easy call.

Settling on a law firm tagline wasn’t as easy. My background doesn’t fit neatly into traditional lanes of legal representation. I started my firm to help clients with their unique needs for legal representation at Texas state agencies. My clients need representation that extends beyond legal advocacy at these agencies. They need to influence those regulators on the key policy issues that affect them directly – through administrative rulemaking, policy determinations, or legislative changes.Their needs fall within the venn diagram of law and policy. So “Texas Law + Policy Counsel” fits as a firm tagline.

The tagline ignores my clients in the alcoholic beverage industry, which of course is the major focus of my practice. I served five years as general counsel to the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission. My elevator pitch is “About a dozen attorneys know Texas alcohol law as well as I do. Half of them work at TABC.” Sure, it’s kitschy. But it stresses my best in class status for representing clients in the alcoholic beverage industry. 

I added a coda to the firm’s tagline – Distilled. The word is a play on itself. To “distill” is to extract alcohol by heating natural grains like corn or wheat into a vapor that is eventually reduced to liquid form. The word is an action that is an essential function of businesses in the alcoholic beverage industry. The word “distilled” also describes a communication that breaks down the essential elements of an action or topic in aid of strategic goals. 

So “Distilled” is this blog’s name. A major focus of the blog is the alcohol industry – legal developments, policy considerations, and guidance for businesses trying to work through alcohol regulations. But I’m writing for a wider audience interested in understanding state regulation. Let’s boil the common elements into manageable pours.

I plan to cover certain topics:

  • Cannabis regulation – a topic that is extremely personal.
  • How venture capital shapes the a/b industry.
  • Owning a solo practice law firm.
  • Unpacking my experience at the Texas Lottery Commission.
  • State court evolution on administrative law.
  • Tiki cocktails. Food. 

Thanks for reading this post. I will have a “subscribe here” portal at some point. For now, keep an eye out for my blog on social media.