Futhey cuts own path with solo law practice

Law Talk profile for The Memphis Daily News

Sept. 26, 2013

Malcolm Futhey III recently made a leap of faith by opening his own practice, the Futhey Law Firm PLC, in Midtown.

He said the idea of working for himself was something he always had in the back of his mind.

“Over the last couple of years, there’s something that comes over you to try to build something of your own, just have your own business,” he said. “And I think, with that, I just decided to try to cut my own path and try to make something.”

To prepare for the solo venture, Futhey researched and picked the brain of a large and varied group of people around town, a list of mentors he said is “too long to name.”

A decade of experience helped him prepare for the moment, pulling most recently from his work with Farris Bobango Branan PLC, where he focused on business litigation since 2009.

It’s an area of law he’ll continue in his own practice, while allowing that he’ll need to diversify and broaden his area by also focusing on personal injury, class action and entertainment law.

Getting his hands into a little bit of everything is something he enjoyed during his time as a clerk just out of law school for U.S. District Court Judge David R. Herndon in East St. Louis, Ill.

“I had to touch everything,” Futhey said. “It gave me a really broad practice and killed the monotony.”

Part of that diversification includes entertainment law, which he became interested in through his own experiences while growing up, as a guitar teacher and in helping friends who are still working as artists.

“I’ve represented some different rappers around town and I have a lot of friends who are making movies, so I help them out with their licensing and stuff,” Futhey said.

A musician himself as a teenager, Futhey never enjoyed getting up in front of audiences. Not so with court, however, as his business litigation practice has put him in front of many juries . . . (read more)