Mission & Philosophy

Our mission is to bring peace of mind to individuals and families by helping define and achieve goals,  by providing state-of-the-art education, counseling and documentation . . . and by doing so with empathy, compassion and humor.Here is what we believe our clients need to achieve peace of mind:
* A clear understanding of personal, family, medical and financial circumstances (family and financial “x-ray”)
* A clear understanding of hopes, fears, dreams, aspirations, values and pecadillos (we are fallible humans, after all)
* A clear definition of goals (“If you don’t know where you’re going, any old road will get you there.”)
* A capable team (much of your planning is for a time when you won’t be able to think clearly or act effectively, so help will be needed)
* A desire to do this work properly (there are no shortcuts to excellence … the standard we strive to meet)
* A dedication to helping when bad things happen (no surprise here … people and families are flawed)

Listening to Our Clients

Most of our clients are thoughtful, insightful, disciplined, creative, funny, smart … or at least some of those things. The Frog Butler in our waiting room holds The Little Book of Great Wisdom, a 30 year collection of wise sayings, observations, stories and lessons from our clients, from whom we continue to learn every day.

Our work is very serious, but we also believe that if we laugh while we are young, the wrinkles will be in all the right places when we are old.  Even in the face of critical health, financial concerns or the challenges of aging, humor helps elevate our spirits and eases the burden of combating all the obstacles life throws at us.

Our founder C L Huddleston is 73.  He has buried his parents, watched a grandmother live to 103 and a great-grandmother to 99, a great aunt to 108, survived two teenage daughters, both daughters’ marriages, the birth of grandsons, all while managing to convince his wife of 46 years to continue putting up with him.  That is a great deal of experience, but not as much as the more than 2,000 client families we have served in 30 years.

Attorney Bryan Johnson is 65 and also married to the wife of his youth, with a son and a daughter.  Bryan brings hard-won perspectives from his time as a Probate Court Magistrate and a law firm principal in charge of its litigation department.

Each individual client and client family benefits from what we have learned cumulatively from all the clients we have served and the amazing range of things we have seen in a combined 90 years as lawyers.