COMMUNICATION WITH US
Thanks again for your assignment! We really look forward to making your dream come true. Before we go into details, let us say something to enable an effective and smooth processing. Since I’m Christian, I would like to use an orientation from my religion. Please work along these commandments:
How to Communicate with us via Email
Be patient when sending an Email
Send scanned multipage documents (PDF)
Be Dependable
Our work is heavily dependent on your support! Depending on the assignment, you will typically have received a checklist to work off. This list is not optional! These documents are all required. If you have an issue providing such documents, or do not understand what we are referring to, please ask.
Read before you Call
My professional law requires that I put our correspondence in writing instead of phone calls. I also admit to being an email junkie. Wanting to provide you with the best and quickest approach, we went out of our way and wrote you a letter with instructions / hints. Please read them! If after reading, you still have questions, address them, and we will gladly answer them. If you need us to orally repeat the contents of a letter / email, then please assign us on a time-fee agreement!
Would you use a Stamp?
Coming back to "Read before you Call": Would you really waste a stamp for that call – if you were to write a letter instead? Therefore before writing us an email, please consider whether you would
- handwrite a letter,
- place this letter in an envelope,
- affix the postage,
and - bring it by foot to one of the few still existing mailboxes about a half hour away?
If not, then please refrain from emailing. Take a break and finish your thoughts before sending!
How to Communicate with us via Email
Please consider that we have to deal with over one hundred eMails per day, and we are really interested in giving your eMail the correct, quick and full attention! WE NEED YOUR HELP WITH THIS! We browse through all incoming eMails upon the start of the working day and sort them by their reference line for the need of urgency. As an example, you want to meet us next month but also want to comment on a draft that needs to be submitted tomorrow. If your reference line reads like “Let’s meet next month”, we will typically not get back to that eMail for a couple of days...
1. Use Concise Reference Lines
- use concise reference lines,
- especially if you have several assignments ongoing, address each in a separate eMail!
N.B. Do not worry about the case number – that is totally our issue. Admittedly, it's helpful but not vital.
2. Keep Threads of Thoughts Clean
Please do not refer to incorporation when you have a question about your immigration case – as an example. How are we to keep track of my open assignments when everything is messed up into one eMail with attachments concerning several different persons / assignments / companies / whatever? We get lost in oblivion...
Different projects mean different threads!
3. Be Polite
We all want to be polite but sometimes things go wrong. We will make mistakes, too though we intend to establish – as a rule – polite and precise communication.
4. After Buying a Readymade Company
Many people become confused about "who is who" and "what is what". I am a natural person representing two businesses: "attorney" and "Beam". Beam's business is exclusively the transfer of the company shell to you and parallel to that, providing virtual offices. Everything else will be the attorney's business. Which first name to use? I prefer my real first name, Alex(ander). Especially during acquisition, it is important for me not to confuse anybody, so I use my first name for the attorney's business and my first middle name, Konstantin, for Beam's business.
5. My Name
Especially those people from the Middle East and further eastwards are often not sure how to really politely address me. They do not understand the structure of my name. May I clarify it for you here:
Alexander Konstantin Franz Baron von Engelhardt
"Alexander" is my first name.
"Konstantin Franz" are my middle names.
"Baron von Engelhardt" is my last name.
"Baron" might ring a bell regarding aristocracy. Yes and no. Yes, this is a former aristocratic title. Since 1919, aristocracy has been abolished in Germany. In contrast to e.g. Austria, Germany allowed persons to continue carrying these titles as a part of their last name.
Are you worried about correctly addressing me? No worries, I am flexible. It is most important to be polite! I assume this is your intention as well.
Be patient when sending an Email
Please give us a maximum of three days to reply to your email before calling us to ask if we received your email. Answering constant calls only reduces our effectiveness in serving our clients. It takes up not only our precious time, but it also stops our working momentum.
Send scanned multipage documents (PDF)
We are working together remotely, and you will have to send us copies. Please do not send us pictures (.jpg) but decent scans in PDF format. A simple scanner suffices fully for decent documents. Also please send us a multipage document / file (= PDF) and not scattered single files.
Nobody is perfect
Though we list here many wishes and rules, we also are not faultless. You will surely catch us making a mistake or two. Go ahead and point them out to us! We will not frown on that.