We recently met two individuals who personify the 7 Days Theory lifestyle physically and mentality. Choosing to take their dreams and passions and mix the two together, Pankaj Raval and Manoj Shah created The Fashion Law Group out of their passions for creativity, law, and fashion.
This Law Firm was created to serve the fashion industry in a modern way, keeping up with the fast moving pace of the internet, social media, emerging technologies, changing laws, and much more. I sat down with these two in their Los Angeles office to dig in a little deeper for our readers, followers, and friends.
Their journey is still moving forward as we speak. Travel along with us as you take a peak into the “Lives of 7 Days Theory”.
*This interview was conducted so that our readers can better understand how we all can live our lives based on our passions.
7 Days Theory:
How did The Fashion Law Group start?
Manoj:
I always dreamed about being a lawyer since a kid.
Every thing I did was geared towards me being a lawyer. I always knew what I wanted to do. My head was always down moving forward. I did everything that I could to put myself in the position to succeed. I took out the loans, and my parents helped me out quit a bit.
In 2006 I graduated from law school. Right before the market collapsed. I got a job while they literally hugged me during the interview, and pretty much told me that they were going to hire me. I was working my a** off as an intern, meeting people and building real relationships, which helped a lot.
I was at the firm for 4 and half years. It was a litigation firm, helping construction and blue-collar workers. I was doing this for 5 years, working in litigation. I was working quite a bit, 60 to 70 hrs. On the weekends, it was non-stop. In 2010 I was the 6th highest biller in the firm.
While I was working at the firm, a friend and I started a clothing line called “Our”. I wanted to create a line catered to young professionals. I worked on the line for about 1.5 years doing everything: working on fit, design, manufacturing, etc. I learned a lot about the fashion business through this company. My co-workers were very supportive but after a couple of years of running it, I learned that you have to go all the way. Not one foot in and one foot out. If you’re going to go for it, you have to go all of the way.
In August of that year I moved to another Law Firm. While there, I started researching lawyers in the fashion industry. All the apparel lawyers are mostly back east. New York is the fashion Mecca so it makes sense. I looked into going to the Fashion Law institute… It was 80 grand, and I didn’t want to take on more debt. Instead I started reading books about fashion law.
During that time I met Pankaj in 2012. We really agreed on what we are passionate about which is helping creative people run successful businesses. Most creative people don’t want to be there and deal with the legal. We want to help the struggling artist who can do a lot with their skills, but they don’t really know how to monetize what they’re doing and protect what they’re doing. One of our missions is helping people take advantage of their God given gifts.
Pankaj:
I’m excited about working on this company because we built this to help a lot of people. Some of the biggest hurdles we had to overcome as a business and personally have been dealing with uncertainty. Uncertainty is one of the hardest things to deal with as an entrepreneur.
I was practicing for about 3 years before we started the Fashion Law Group. I always wondered could I do this without going the traditional route of going to a huge firm for 5+ years? There was a book I read about starting and building your own law firm. I saw that the path has been done before. I said to myself, it may be harder but it has been done before. I am an extrovert. I like meeting new people and talking to people. I think that has really helped me because if I don’t know something I like to talk to people and learn. Looking at the trials, knowing when things are working and when you need to be patient or if it is the time to pivot. My journey is very similar to Manoj, in the fact that for a long time I knew I wanted to be in law.
7 Days Theory:
How do you deal with the uncertainty of the future when you are an entrepreneur?
Manoj:
This is an ongoing thing, personally and professionally. One of the hardest things I had to overcome was my own self-doubt. “Can I do this?” There are so many law firms that open and then fail. I saw my cousins law firm build and continue their success after 8 years. I also had friends that started law firms. Which helps because I saw them. I know I can do it with their support.
Everyday just getting up and saying, “Alright Bring It On!” We talk to everybody. We are both extroverted people. Grinding, being everywhere we can be to show people that we can help them. That really has been what motivated me. The first people that we helped and getting a thank you note from them and how good that felt. It wasn’t the monetary gain. It felt like I actually accomplished something for someone else.
Just last night we helped a client with a business dispute and all she had to do was sign a paper. She was like
“I am going to tell all of my friends about you. This is great I am so happy that this part of my life is done. You make me so happy Manoj.” At big law firms, there are no thank you’s. You don’t get that type of feeling when you work at bigger law firms. If you’re really in this to help people, the money will come.
7 Days Theory:
How did you break into the fashion industry?
Manoj:
We decided to go to all of the events. I had some friends who were security guards who let me in through the back.
We were in there completely dressed as lawyers, full suited-up. And through some of the relationships that we started building though the fashion community, fast forward 6-7 months, in October of 2012, we were featured sponsors for an LA Fashion Week event. It only took us 8 months to go from the outside to being more on the inside. This is something we are still working on continously. We see it as a start and knowing that it is all adding up by seeing little rewards and good things happening here and there.
7 Days Theory:
In the next 5 years where are you going with the Fashion Law Group? Where do you see yourself growing in the perfect situation? What type of clientele do you see yourself working with?
Manoj:
Pankaj has a fashion and tech field passion. I like handling litigation, contracts. On a macro level, we want to have offices in the major fashion cities. We’ve had people approach us from bigger firms. They like what we are doing, and we are continuing those conversations about how we can best go about growing. We are taking it one day at a time.
Pankaj:
5 years we are possibly looking at joining with another firm. Working with major brands in a great place downtown with 15-20 attorneys working for us, doing some of the business development side of the fashion industry.
The nature of the legal industry is changing. The tech industry is disrupting the legal industry. People who use to be going to smaller law firms for contracts are now going online to places like Legal zoom. The question is how are we going to react to that? The rules online the rules and legalities of what is going on is gray. People are letting intellectual property go online all the time. The fact is information asymmetry is going away. Consumers are knowledgeable on their rights, on contracts. The whole nature of legal services is changing. We are going to be advisors, we are going to be facilitators, and we are going to be networkers. And that is what we have been positioning ourselves as right now.
I talked about being a one-stop shop; we are going to be working in collaboration with CPAs, with business consultants, with a variety of people to launch brands, to increase our total value proposition.
I see us in a modern building maybe in the arts district. We want to cater to a variety of people within the creative industry. Having a work environment that people enjoy coming to work everyday. I want it to be a collaborative place that challenges the traditional model of a law firm. I want it to be a place where the associates and people can grow and develop the skills. So that they feel like they have a say. We would like to one day grow internationally.
7 Days Theory:
You mentioned Law and Meditation. How do you use meditation in your daily, weekly, or monthly routine?
Pankaj:
It grounds you. One of the things it helped me with is getting around the highs and lows, never getting too excited, too sad too angry. It gives you a detachment, like a lot of things that you learn in Buddhism. You have a presence of mind when things are happening that allows you to keep your piece of mind.
You become de-attached to events. Sometimes it’s the ego that makes you feel that things are happening to you. The meditation allows you to de-attach yourself from what is happening. You accept and understand and show compassion towards understand that the events are happening but it is how you perceive it as how you interpret it. This is something that I try to use everyday. It’s not easy.
We are based in a world that is based on instant gratification. I like looking at President Barrack Obama, because people have baited him but his presence, his ability to detach himself from criticisms that allows him to continue to be a great leader.
7 Days Theory:
Tell us why you started the Fashion Law Group?
Manoj:
My passion within the fashion industry lead me to this particular area in Law. I was making money, yet I was unfulfilled with my creative abilities. It was going through that process, and going around hiring the people under work for hire and seeing so many issues that arose while I was pursuing my passion. Even though I was doing it as a side project, it was the happiest times for me. Finding out how to do the things like pattern makers, distributors, etc. It lead me to this area of law because I understood street wear companies’ day-to-day struggles.
I knew I could be rewarded for following my passion. On the day to day I am really happy I am excited to understand these issues for our clients. I understand that it takes time. I like being a part of the creative realm I like helping creative people out. We are business people too so we are able to help out on the business side as well. Pankaj is a far more creative person than myself.
Pankaj:
Direct face to face engagement with creative people. I am an artist in many ways. Seth Godin talks about it we are all artists; we are here to do our art. We are here to encourage that. Here I was with these legal skills that took a lot of time and money to be acquired. I felt that they were not being utilized. For me it was helping creative people, helping them create a lively hood is very important to me.
It was a way to mix my love for law. I have creative ambition. No matter what at the end of the day you are a lawyer. You are there to draft legal agreements. This is closer to what I want to do but. But I still explore my creative side, that’s why I continue to dance and explore music. It’s easy to get lost and lose that mojo that we have when we are growing up that really fulfills us.
7 Days Theory:
You talked about helping young designers. What should these young designers know before they contact you?
Manoj:
A lot of people like being creative. We get a lot of calls from people who don’t know what they are doing. Lawyers are costly. They are expensive. Do your research, so you can understand what it is that you are doing. If you call a lawyer they will quote you. These things take time. Like a t-shirt have you sketches and designs. We take on projects where there is substance to it. You really have to have it planed out. That’s the advice I would give to any creative or entrepreneur. Our goal is to fully support your vision. We can’t help something grow where the thought hasn’t been fully developed yet.
Pankaj:
A lot of people don’t know how attorneys can help. Reach out first. Find out what you don’t know. Figure out what you don’t know and what you need to do. Give us a call a 15-minute phone call can give you a good idea of what they need to do. If you don’t have a good product we will probably know pretty quickly. Do the business done right or you can expect to pay a lot at the end. We can help any businesspersons set themselves up for success.
7 Days Theory:
What are the main things you help people with?
-Enity creation: LLC, C-Corp, Trademark, Employee matters, Independent contractors, agreements, contracts, getting things in writing. Don’t rely on a handshake. Make it official. You will look more official as a business.
7 Days Theory:
Where do you think the fashion industry is going?
Manoj:
I think fashion is a part of everyone’s day to day lives. The ability to start a business is becoming so easy that is a lot more people are going to try to entire into the fashion market. Fashion is never going to die. It will always be there. 4 billion industry in LA 200 Billion worldwide. Because of the Internet you are able to do things at such a low overhead. I support people trying that.
7 Days Theory:
How do you utilize technology for your Law Practice?
Pankaj:
We focus on it a lot. I am very interested in technology and what it can allow you to do with fewer resources. We use a program called Clio. CLIO goclio.com We use them because there are a lot of people in cloud based remote locations and we can utilize it to share information with our clients. You don’t need a huge investment at a brick and mortar location. We try to give our clients the best technology that allows us to share that saving onto our clientele. We protect things through top-notch security. We work a lot though email. The new generation is moving online and utilizing the Internet. The law moves slowly.
One of the biggest issues of fashion and law is that fashion moves so fast that it’s hard for law to keep up with it. That will be for attorneys in the future to think about, is how are we going to keep up with the speed of fashion. It doesn’t benefit attorneys to work fast because of billing by the hour. We try to address that at our law firm. We call it value billing. People want things done quickly. And if we can we want to give them the quickest and best service possibly. It’s a new era in law and business. We consider ourselves innovative lawyers. That’s why working with fashion makes the most sense for us because fashion is all about innovation pushing the bar forward.
Manoj:
If you look at where fashion is moving, people will be walking around in better fitting clothes because of the new technology that is coming. It is a part of the next wave that is coming. We have a lingerie company that is doing bespoke lingerie. Small changes like that will make it more comfortable for people to access. More people are going to be shopping with those tools at their fingertips.
7 Days Theory:
Thanks for such an in depth interview about The Fashion Law Group and how you both got started in the industry. We look forward to watching your success and growth in the future.
Contact Manoj and Pankaj at the Fashion Law Group.
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