1. "As lawyers, we have to have a vision,
and plan our work and work our plan
to get there ... You've got to do
something (toward that goal) every
day."
- Alan Crone
Name: Alan G. Crone
Position: Co-Founder and Managing
Member
Company: Crone & Mason PLC
Basics: Crone recently was named a fellow of
the Memphis Bar Foundation.
Crone & Mason Attorney Awarded Fellow Post at Bar Foundation
LESLEY J. GUDEHUS | Special to The Daily News
Alan G. Crone recently became a fellow of the Memphis Bar Foundation. He
received the honor, which is given to Memphis Bar Association members who
have demonstrated a high standard of excellence in professional ethics and
personal conduct, at the joint Annual Meeting of the Memphis Bar
Association and its charitable arm, the Memphis Bar Foundation, on Sept. 11.
Crone is co-founder and managing member of Crone & Mason PLC, where he
is the team leader in the executive employment law practice of the firm. Crone
& Mason was founded in 1995.
Crone received his bachelor's degree in political science in
1986 and his law degree in 1990, both from the University of
Memphis. He serves on the boards of directors of Family
Services of the Mid-South, the Fire Museum of Memphis and
Catholic Charities Inc.
He said his personal role model is St. Ignatius of Loyola,
founder of the Catholic Society of Jesus religious order.
Members are called Jesuits.
Q: Why did you become interested in a law career?
A: I am a former theater major, but I got my degree in political science. I was initially drawn to the
legal profession for superficial reasons - the theatrical aspects of it. Also, as a political science
major, what else could I do? It might sound kind of corny, but my clients come to me to solve
problems and I enjoy the intellectual aspect of solving those problems.
Q: Your educational background is Memphis-based. Are you
originally from Memphis?
A: I am a fifth-generation Memphian. I'm the first attorney in my family that I know of. My
grandfather on my father's side was a regional sales manager for Goodyear in the '40s and '50s. My
grandmother's grandfather was a blacksmith in Memphis. The coffee table in my office has [metal
fittings] that he made. We've been here a long time.
Q: Why is St. Ignatius of Loyola your role model?
A: There are a lot of reasons for that. [For one] he was a visionary, but he also went out and acted
on his vision. Here is a guy who was laid up in a castle because he was injured in battle [after
fighting with the Spanish army against the French] and ends up founding one of the most powerful
religious orders in the [Roman] Catholic Church. He had humble beginnings, and yet he managed
to be befriended by the social and economic elite because they saw something great in him. As
lawyers, we have to have a vision, and plan our work and work our plan to get there. That's
something we stress in the firm, the personal evolution to excellence. You've got to do something
[toward that goal] every day.

2. Q: What kinds of clients do you serve?
A: I represent groups and individuals. These might be anyone from hourly workers who believe
they've been denied overtime payments to entrepreneurs who are protecting their ideas or
companies involved in patent disputes.
Q: What do you bring to your clients through your work?
A: What I think we bring to the table that attracts clients is we are very able attorneys in a firm that
has a solid ability to bring an objective eye to identifying and solving underlying problems, not just
the obvious ones. We suggest remedies that other lawyers don't necessarily look for.
[For example] if the resolution of a lawsuit does not also get the partners away from one another,
they might be in litigation again the next week. [Or] maybe a stockbroker is terminated. Chances
are, he was not happy in his work situation, so being out of that job is not the problem. The real
issue is not being able to find another position, so we will help him connect with professionals who
can help him. So as a firm, we reach out to other disciplines - such as career counselors - to help our
clients.
Q: That sounds like a unique approach. How did that develop?
A: I'll tell you where that comes from: I would have so many initial interviews with clients, from
postal carriers to CEOs, and I'd find I was the only professional they'd sought out. I realized it was
the farthest thing from their minds to get that other help. In employment issues, sometimes the
answer is, "You may have been treated unfairly, but it's not a lawsuit." We try to bring out of clients
what is really bothering them. Sometimes they're really wondering, "What am I going to do now?" If
you can help them with that, you've done them a service.