AMANDA BUTLER SCHLEY, ESQ.

Founding Partner, Business Law Group

TOP-RANKED BUSINESS LAWYER AMANDA BUTLER SCHLEY INSPIRES, SUPPORTS AND ENCOURAGES HER ENTREPRENEUR CLIENTS TO MAKE FEARLESS CHOICES—KNOWING THAT GREAT (BUT, EDUCATED) RISKS BRING GREAT REWARDS.

When business owner clients face an unavoidable legal problem like a huge tax assessment or a dispute with a partner, Amanda resolves the legal crisis… and then helps them position their companies for future success by taking a proactive legal approach.

Ranked as a Top Rated Business and Commercial Attorney, Amanda has more than a decade of experience representing boutique hotels, restaurateurs, family-owned businesses, breweries, artists, CEOs and entrepreneurs. In her almost 15 years of practice, she has become skilled at spotting legal issues and pitfalls at each stage of the business life cycle, from inception to rapid growth to successful exit. She nurtures and mentors her clients to succeed beyond their wildest dreams, resolving hundreds of complex legal issues along the way. 

Amanda has learned that when entrepreneurs take a proactive legal approach to their businesses, that's the “secret sauce to success” because they give their business legal leverage. When you regularly consult with a good business lawyer, you're armed with the knowledge you need to avoid disastrous consequences. Instead of spending thousands of dollars to fix a crisis as it's happening, you can avert the disaster with a small investment in legal advice on the front end. 

“A solid legal foundation makes your business impervious to outside forces looking to capitalize on your success,” Amanda says. “This principle is what I call legal leverage, and it's the secret that banks and large companies use to their advantage everyday.”

But legal leverage doesn't require spending a fortune on legal fees—it simply requires consistency. Meeting with your attorney monthly for as little as an hour is an invaluable tool for gaining legal leverage which is built over time, not overnight. Business Law Group's mission is to provide high quality, creative legal solutions for Louisiana's entrepreneurs. The team serves as a primary resource and partner in all aspects of their clients' business development from start up through the growth phase and beyond.

Early in her career as an attorney, Amanda worked for large, blue-chip law firms where she observed a strong disconnect between the attorneys and their business clients. These “traditional” firms gave costly business advice, but most, if not all, of the attorneys lacked any real entrepreneurial experience of their own. This lack of authenticity just didn't feel right to Amanda. A low-key thought started buzzing in her brain. “Just how do you inspire clients to take educated risks as an entrepreneur, if you've never taken an educated risk as an entrepreneur?”

The decision to start her own firm came after Amanda and her now-husband, Rob Schley, decided to do something “crazy”: They sold their respective homes in New Orleans, and bought and moved onto a 42-foot sailboat, which they named “Stay Foolish,” after the famous Steve Jobs quote: “Stay foolish, stay hungry.”

Amanda and Rob set sail and documented their whole incredible adventure aboard the Stay Foolish on their social media accounts. Since then, Amanda's leap of faith in her own life has helped her clients take educated risks and gain legal leverage: the key to long term success and happiness in their businesses.

In 2016 Amanda founded New Orleans-based Business Law Group, a boutique business services law firm in New Orleans, Louisiana. With a focus on representing restaurateurs, CEOs, entrepreneurs, artists and other creatives, Amanda's passion is helping her clients succeed and live their big dreams.

Now, after learning the business cycle and lessons through her own experience as a business owner and serial entrepreneur, Amanda offers invaluable and authentic insight to her clients. For Amanda, authenticity counts, and she wanted to be the kind of lawyer who has “been there and done that.”

Dubbed “The Entrepreneur's Lawyer,” Amanda's here for the scrappy new entrepreneurs and the veterans who want to move-and-shake things up once again.

Business Law Group proudly represents Louisiana entrepreneurs. Amanda and her team intimately understand their business clients because they're entrepreneurs themselves—bonded together by the common experience of building and designing the business and life of their dreams for themselves and their families. 

“Business Law Group dreams big and our legacy is to help others do the same,” Amanda says. “Together with our clients, Business Law Group is part of something bigger—we bring vitality and hope to Louisiana.”  

PROVIDING HIGH-QUALITY, CREATIVE LEGAL SOLUTIONS FOR LOUISIANA'S SPIRITED ENTREPRENEURS, BUSINESS LAW GROUP HELPS YOU DO THE THINGS WILDLY SUCCESSFUL COMPANIES DO RIGHT.

Amanda recently detailed how she came to the practice law and her thoughts on managing a law firm on the Love Thy Lawyer Podcast with Louis Goodman.