Why I trust Donald “Donnie” Flaig and Flaig Law Firm

I have known Donald “Donnie” Flaig since he was in ninth grade. I was in eleventh grade, and one day Donnie, our friend Don Kick, and I decided to go surfing.

Don is now the founder of MinistryGear.com and Squatchy.com, but back then we were just three kids heading to the ocean.

Donnie hadn't surfed, so I had the boards and everything we needed. We got out into the water and started surfing.

Then I saw a fin.

I immediately started yelling.

“Guys, paddle in!”

I was paddling toward shore as fast as I could, looking back and yelling at Donnie and Don to get out of the water.

They didn't move.

They were laughing at me.

I kept yelling.

They kept laughing.

Eventually I figured out why. It wasn't a shark. It was a pod of dolphins.

They have made fun of me about it ever since.

At the time, I was trying to protect Donnie. More than three decades later, the roles have reversed.

Now Donnie protects me

Donnie is my attorney. Flaig Law Firm prepared my living trust and helped me with the planning designed to protect my family. When I started Digilu, Donnie handled the incorporation of the company and helped protect the business I was building.

Then I went through a difficult business situation.

I was too close to it. I did not fully understand what was happening, what people were doing, or how I needed to respond.

Donnie did.

That is where I saw a different side of him as an attorney. He understood the legal problem, but he also understood the people involved. He was shrewd. He figured out what was actually happening, developed a solution, explained clearly what I needed to do, and then represented me through it.

I needed that, because I was not looking at the situation objectively. He was.

The proceeding itself was almost anticlimactic. After everything leading up to it, my recollection is that the actual decision took only a few minutes. For me, the result could not have been better.

That does not mean every legal matter works that way. It means that in one of the most difficult business situations I have experienced, I knew exactly who I wanted beside me.

My history with the Flaig family

My relationship with Donnie is also part of a much longer relationship with the Flaig family.

I worked alongside his brother Dave Flaig while serving as an executive pastor. Dave later passed away from COVID, and his loss is still part of the history I share with this family. I also spent four years working with Donnie's oldest brother, Doug Flaig.

So when I say I have known Donnie for a long time, I do not mean that we met at a networking event five years ago. Our story goes back to high school. It goes back to surfboards, dolphins, brothers, careers, loss, businesses and families.

But that history is not why I recommend Flaig Law Firm. My experience as his client is.

Three areas, one thing in common

Donnie has now helped me in three areas that carry real consequences.

He helped protect my family through my living trust and estate planning. He helped protect Digilu through its incorporation and business formation. And when I was dealing with a difficult business matter that I could not navigate well on my own, he protected me there too.

Those are very different legal needs. What connected them was trust.

At Digilu, our belief is Trust Wins. I spend a lot of time thinking about what makes someone trust a company, a professional or a brand. It is rarely a slogan.

It is what happens when things become difficult. It is knowing that when you cannot see the situation clearly yourself, the person advising you can.

That is what Donnie has been for me.

From a fin in the water to something more important

There is something funny about looking back at that day surfing. A seventeen-year-old Mike saw a fin and decided he needed to save everybody. Donnie and Kick were apparently less concerned.

They were right. I was protecting them from dolphins.

Today, some of the things worth protecting are more important. My family. My estate. My company. My future.

And when I needed someone to help protect those things, I called Donnie.

I have known Donald Flaig for most of my life. Today I also know him as my attorney. That is why I am comfortable recommending Donald “Donnie” Flaig and Flaig Law Firm.

And if we ever go surfing again, I will probably let him decide whether the fin is dangerous.

This article reflects my personal experience with Donald Flaig and Flaig Law Firm. Every legal matter is different, and nothing here should be interpreted as a guarantee of a particular legal outcome or as legal advice. Disclosure: Flaig Law Firm is also a Digilu client. I was his client first, and for many years before that his friend.