Today we’d like to introduce you to Jamila Young and Tanisia Moore.
Moore and Young Legal Solutions was founded in 2017 under the name Moore Legal Solutions by Tanisia Moore as a result of becoming a stay at home mother. Her oldest daughter, Sydney, was born seven weeks early and spent time in the NICU before coming home. She knew in her heart that she couldn’t return to work and made the decision to leave her corporate job to care for her baby girl.
In order to help keep things afloat financially, she began to review and draft contracts – similar to what she did in corporate. Then a light bulb went off and Moore Legal Solutions was born! In 2017, Tanisia and Jamila met in a Groupme chatroom and kicked it off instantly as friends after realizing they both attended the same law school years apart, had mutual friends, could chat about their toddlers and both were creatives. They discussed one day working together but at that time Jamila was still working in a health advocacy role and wanted to continue her 8+ years in that field.
In March of 2018, Jamila’s government contract position ended and while deciding her next steps began to think of how being in a flexible role would benefit her life especially being a single parent and avid road tripper. After a few talks, Jamila came on as Of Counsel and in May of 2018, they began their partnership and coined themselves as the MomsquiHER™ Legal Squad They worked so well together and realized that their dreams had become a reality and changed the name of the firm to reflect the partnership. On January 4, 2019, the second anniversary of the firm, the name changed to Moore and Young Legal Solutions. The partnership has been fruitful and refreshing as the two aim to service clients with exceptional care and give back to their communities.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
What’s a road without a few bumps, holes and tears?! It has been rugged along the way. Tanisia laid the groundwork for the firm a year before Jamila joined and that in itself was hard since it was her first time ever starting a business. While managing the business is her strong point, marketing proved to be Jamila’s and when she joined, the engagement and marketing became constant and more cohesive. It was hard in the beginning trying to make clients and especially family and friends understand that asking for free and discounted services was not the way we operate because we are a small business and need to feed our families too. Nobody walks into big chain stores and negotiates prices, and we really want others to understand and respect the amount of effort and work that goes into being an entrepreneur.
Finding a dynamic in a partnership was a learning curve for us as well since we have similar personalities and we are both have different ideas. For the most part, we agree on how to run our business and marketing. Every now and then, we have varying opinions but we have always respected each other enough to hear both sides and compromise…and then we laugh and move forward.
Being that we are partially a virtual law firm, it was mandatory that we showed our face in the community and on social media platforms to market ourselves and services. We now have our first brick and mortar office and we are blessed that it is in the heart of Birmingham. We are elated to open our Georgia location this year!
Being that we have families, live in different states, have a multitude of responsibilities in our communities and run a law firm, we sometimes feel overwhelmed. For that, we have implemented mental health days to be taken to ensure we are our best selves for our clients and ourselves. The beauty of having a partnership is that we both have each other to rely on when we have emergencies (especially as moms to toddlers), can tell each other when we need to take a moment and to celebrate each other when we are doing amazing!
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Moore and Young Legal Solutions – what should we know?
What do you get when you bring two FAMU Law Rattlers, who are extraordinary family-centered moms, while also focusing on their career goals of getting their clients ready to propel their dreams? You get your MomsquiHER™ Legal Squad! Our firm was founded to serve our clients and their diverse needs efficiently and to ensure the flexibility of being present for our families, especially our children.
We are known for our friendly nature and flexibility to meet our clients needs when putting their ideas into motion, establishing a legacy for their future and ensuring that emotional and complex needs for families and life are serviced. We service clients nationwide in the areas of trademarks, copyrights, business law, and literary law. Currently, we do additional services for clients in the Alabama area in the areas of family law, adoptions, and estate planning and will be expanding these services to Georgia in the latter half of 2019.
We are most proud that we are a minority-owned law firm comprised of two African-American woman in a time where 5% of practicing attorneys are African-American and a little over 1/3 are women. We want to be role models for our children and the next generation. We also pride ourselves in taking time in the summer, spring and winter for breaks to spend much needed time with our families. Jamila had a two-year-old son and Tanisia is married with two children under four so it is imperative that we don’t let work consume us.
We have many aspects that make us different than your everyday law firm starting with we are a partnership but we live over 2 hours apart in different states! It works for us because we can cover more area and we aren’t too far where we can’t meet up if needed. We also cater to the needs of all our clients and can do so during flexible hours and virtually. Not everyone has time during their 9-5 to drive to our office to meet, and some of our clients are in a different time zone and far away. Since we have a partnership, we are able to balance these needs effectively. The virtual aspect of our office really sets us apart because we can work with a client and never actually meet them in person, yet we build a relationship. We also use technology to our advantage to run a paperless firm.
Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
Trust, belief in ourselves and our skills, the hustle mentality and God.
Having a partnership means you have to trust the other person to do what is best for the business and we both know that we can rely on each other to be at the top of our game. We both have strong points in our areas of practice and we work a team to get things done and teach each other new methods when needed. We don’t believe in the crab in a barrel mentality and we uplift each other. The hustle mentality is REAL when you are an entrepreneur because if you don’t promote and believe in yourself, who will?! We like getting out there and networking, doing speaking engagements, volunteering and hosting events. Last but not least, God. We are both Christians and pray at the beginning of each work week together for our clients, firm and each other. Our faith is something that really helps to keep us going when we are tired, having a long or hard day or when we need a boost.
Contact Info:
- Address: 950 22nd Street North, Suite 825
Birmingham, AL 35203 - Phone: 205-537-5542
- Email: info@moorelegalsolutions.com
- Website: www.moorelegalsolutions.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mooreandyounglegalsolutions/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mooreandyounglegalsolutions/
- Other: https://www.linkedin.com/company/moore-legal-solutions/
Image Credit:
Tosha Gaines Photography
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