Independence

Who the firm acts for

The firm acts only for the client named in a signed engagement letter. For an operator that engages it, the firm is the operator’s firm of record: it signs the operator’s initial opinion and gives the operator’s ongoing opinion-related advice.

Who the firm does not act for

Apparently Law PLLC does not act for a payment processor, bank or card network on any matter that concerns an operator it represents or has signed an opinion for. That includes monitoring, escalated review and change-in-law work about that operator. A processor that wants the opinion checked uses its own counsel, Apparently AI’s software, or another firm. The firm checks for conflicts before it accepts any engagement, and declines when the answer is unclear.

Payment processors

For an operator whose firm of record is another firm, and where it has no conflict, the firm may act for a payment processor, bank or card network as a secondary-review firm, under its own engagement letter with that processor.

A processor that wants an opinion checked can also use its own counsel, software such as Apparently AI’s, or another firm. The firm takes no part in a processor’s own check.

The terms of such an engagement, including its fee, are in that engagement’s own letter with the processor.

How the firm checks

Before it accepts an engagement, and before it accepts a processor’s, the firm checks the matter against the operators it represents or has signed an opinion for. When the answer is unclear, it declines.

Whoever pays the firm does not direct its judgment, and no fee depends on the outcome of a matter or on what an opinion concludes.

Before you engage

No attorney–client relationship exists until the firm has checked for conflicts and you and the firm have signed an engagement letter. Until then, please do not send confidential information, and treat everything on this site as general information, not legal advice.

The letter says what the firm will do, what it will not do, what it will cost and on what basis, and what the firm may share with whom. Anything the firm shares with a third party, a payment processor for example, is shared only as you agree. You are welcome to talk to a lawyer who is not connected to the firm or to Apparently AI before you sign.

What the firm does not promise

A legal opinion is a lawyer’s reasoned view on the facts stated in it. It is not a guarantee that a regulator, a court or a processor will agree, and the firm makes no promise about any outcome. No fee depends on the outcome of a matter or on what an opinion concludes.

Nothing on this site says that a product, structure or state position is legal or has been approved by a regulator.

The firm and Apparently AI

Apparently AI is an agentic coding editor for gaming and prediction-market startups, made by a separate company under common ownership with the firm.

What that means, and what it does not, is on its own page.