Small-town service with big-world perspective

  • By Mark Weaver
  • March 4, 2010
  • 634
                        
Like old-fashioned, small-town lawyers, the partners in the law firm of Miller Mast & Mason seem more concerned about their clients’ businesses than their own. But like a sophisticated urban firm, Max Miller, Grant Mason and their associates have their eyes on the national scene, in politics, business, real estate, social trends, and anything else they see affecting their clients. “What people like about coming here is that we’re down to earth and we just explain things to them,” Miller said. “Sometimes I think we’re an interpreter between the government and people. When the government puts out laws and regulations that are not crystal clear or intuitive, people need somebody to interpret that, to tell them, ‘what does that mean to me, what do I do differently?’” Theirs is a full service firm, according to Miller, who specializes in business and real estate law. His partner, Grant Mason, focuses on civil and criminal litigation. Associate Kristy Bowling specializes in probate and estate law, and associate Christina Smith also handles litigation. With the firm since 1981, Miller has gained a perspective that only experience can bring. He expressed concern with what he sees as a regulatory environment, and the negative effect it has on their clients’ businesses and personal lives. “I think there’s more and more acceptance that the only way to solve a problem is with government control, and that’s not true,” Miller said. “Your community, churches, nonprofit organizations, there are lots of ways to solve problems. There are fewer people asking the question, is this a proper function for government, or should this be left to people in their individual lives?” Mason added, “It’s partly from the mindset that has developed over the past couple of years that the government is in charge of everything; that regulating anything that people do is fair game for the government, and forgetting that there are in fact constitutional limitations on that.” At Miller Mast & Mason, they see their clients as more independent; families and business people who don’t look to the courts for solutions. The partners have seen the turmoil and expense people go through in litigation, and it’s definitely not their first choice. Mason said, “We don’t encourage people to jump into litigation. If there’s another way to resolve a problem, we’ll push that. But if litigation is the way to go, we’re more than willing and prepared to go forward with that.” Miller sees needed legislation being delayed while attention is focused on health care reform. “One of the things we’re looking for this year is for Congress to take some kind of action on the estate tax. The estate tax expired at the end of last year, and no one expected that Congress would let that happen,” Miller said. That leaves many of their clients unable to proceed with estate planning because of the uncertain tax situation. The partners see their business remaining steady in part because of the community’s stability. They expect to see economic recovery through 2010 and 2011, with the real estate market rebounding as investors take advantage of low interest rates. The partners expect continued growth, both for the community and the firm. “We enjoy serving this community and our clients. We plan to be here for a long time,” said Miller.


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