The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers.

-Wm. Shakespeare; Henry IV, Part II, 4.2

The Bard thought it appropriate to write that about lawyers… in the 1590s. Fast-forward almost half of a millennium, and the sentiment hasn’t changed much. Lawyer jokes are as abundant as the number of lawyers people wish were in the bottom of the ocean (see what I did there?) — if you have the chance to be my client, let’s hope you won’t think of me as that kind of lawyer.

Jessica Kelly here, founder of Brick City Law.   I started my firm in Sanford, North Carolina, a city often cited as the “Brick Capital” for its leading role in providing bricks across the nation, and I wanted my firm name to convey both the historical connection to our area and the strong legal foundations I offer to clients.

A bit about the road that paved the way to Brick City Law: I began my legal career expecting to spend the next 60 years at 100 hours per week working in complex business litigation, yelling Latin phrases at opposing counsel across negotiation tables and courtrooms. I quickly learned that, while I was certainly good at it, I didn’t feel good about it. I knew that not a single client of ours woke up saying, “Wow, it’s such a beautiful morning. I’m so excited that I get to talk to my lawyer today!” Quite the opposite, just given the nature of the practice. Deep down, I knew I needed something different.

And the road took a different turn. Expressway version: I took time away from practicing to be a better wife to my amazing husband Zeke, a U.S. Army paratrooper who was deep in the cycle of deploy-redeploy-train-deploy; we welcomed our son into the world; we got stationed courtesy of the Army in Germany (2011-13) and Italy (2013-14); we welcomed our daughter into the world; the Army returned us to the USA by way of Missouri; and Zeke seized an opportunity to return to Ft. Bragg and bring us right back to the home we had left in Sanford years before. I exercised my innate nerdiness by writing and playing music, developing and running Bible studies, establishing our homeschool and its curriculum, and pastoring at a local church.

When my husband medically had to end an illustrious 17-year career with the Army, it was time for me to get back into the game. This time, I did something different. While I have litigation experience and know how to successfully execute an entertaining fight, I have chosen a different purpose for Brick City Law. Now I get to focus my practice on helping my clients fortify their personal and professional lives — ideally preventing my clients from dealing with expensive courtroom battles that make everyone agree with Shakespeare’s sentiment.

I genuinely enjoy my practice. I firmly believe in the why that motivates what I do. And I think there is a pretty good chance that my clients wake up and say, “It’s a beautiful day — I get to talk to my lawyer.”