Dorman Bell is a business law firm based in Dallas, Texas providing nationwide counsel on starting, maintaining, and protecting small to mid-sized businesses. Dorman Bell is dedicated to supporting businesses throughout their life cycle. Our firm’s goal is to protect our clients, protect their businesses, and to help resolve any of their business disputes, whether internal or external. From formation and beyond, the attorneys at Dorman Bell offer customized services that contribute to the growth and success of our clients’ greatest asset: their business.
Our Partners
Corby D. Bell, Managing Partner
Corby Bell concentrates his practice in the areas of intellectual property law and software licensing audits. He is a registered patent attorney and has testified at trial as a trademark expert. He has extensive experience counseling companies in identifying and protecting their intellectual property portfolio. His experience also includes assisting both technology and legal professionals in the management of software license disputes and negotiating settlements for his clients. With his technical background and breadth of experience within the legal arena, he is an ideal representative for his clients.
Education
B.S. Industrial Engineering, Texas A&M University, 1995
J.D. Texas A&M University School of Law formerly known as Texas Wesleyan School of Law, 2002
Mandy Dorman, Partner
Mandy Dorman focuses her legal practice on issues relating to business disputes. With her communications background, she understands the importance of an open dialogue with all parties in order to reach an efficient and expedited resolution. This candid approach allows her to effectively counsel her clients while reducing the risk of litigation, saving her clients both time and money. Mandy is passionate about offering flexible legal service to small businesses who would otherwise not have the option of legal counsel. Her goal is to create long term relationships with her clients as she understands they entrust her with one of their greatest assets: their business.
Education
B.A. Journalism/Minor in Speech Communication, Texas A&M University, 2002
J.D. Texas A&M University School of Law formerly known as Texas Wesleyan School of Law, 2012
Benjamin Tenenholtz, Partner
Ben Tenenholtz is a trial lawyer and outside general counsel who helps clients solve complex business disputes. Ben has a collaborative and solution-oriented approach to his practice that enables him to obtain results tailored to his clients’ individual needs and challenges. He strongly believes each client is unique and deserves a skilled communicator to understand and achieve their goals. Ben has represented small and mid-size businesses, regional companies, and national corporations in the areas of business, shareholder dispute, non-compete, trade secret, breach of contract, fraud, construction, and real estate litigation. Ben prides himself on being a resource for his clients, many of whom are business owners and executives in need of pragmatic and actionable advice. He also delivers educational presentations, most recently on Texas legislative changes affecting Texas contractors as well as litigants seeking/challenging Anti-Slapp protection.
Education
The University of Texas at Austin, Bachelors of Arts, American Studies, 2001 – 2005
St. Mary’s University School of Law, J.D. Law, 2008 – 2011
Our Office Staff
Ashley Taylor
Assistant to the Managing Partner
Ashley serves as the Executive Assistant to the Managing Partner at our law firm. In this role she is responsible for overseeing the day-to-day operations for our office, accounting and bookkeeping, communications with clients and attorneys, and general management of client files. Ashley keeps our office operating smoothly and effectively while providing superior service to our clients. She brings over 20 years of financial and client service experience. Her uplifting personality and expertise are an asset to our team and to our clients alike.
Our Philosophy
At Dorman Bell, we succeed when our clients succeed. From time to time, businesses are forced to make critical decisions that may have a significant impact on their bottom line, or in some cases their very survival. The partners at Dorman Bell understand your need to have the best information available when making those decisions. We formed this firm to focus on building relationships with our clients and providing them the best information available.
Traditional law firms focus on their own needs, which are based almost exclusively on the amount of billable hours that each attorney can produce. We know this because it is the environment out of which we decided to create a different kind of law firm. You should not be prohibited from receiving the best information and representation available because of the hourly fees charged by huge, impersonal law firms.
We reject the idea that the only method of being compensated for our services is to accumulate billable hours, tack on all incidental expenses, and send the client an invoice. In fact, we do not charge our clients for general overhead expenses, such as long-distance calls, basic copying charges, standard postage, or faxing. Further, no employee at Dorman Bell is asked to meet a minimum billing requirement. Our efficient operating model, flexibility, and disdain for the traditional billable-hour mentality allow us to work directly with you to obtain a billing arrangement that is fair, creative, and mutually beneficial.
While we offer the traditional hourly fee arrangement when it is needed, we are always willing to discuss alternative fee arrangements, including fixed fee, contingency fee, reverse contingency fee, and blended or hybrid fee arrangements. Ideally, our compensation is tied to the value you receive, not to how much time we bill or how long a dispute drags on.
Because we seek to directly align our interests with those of our clients, we succeed when our clients succeed.
Our Mission
At Dorman Bell, our mission is simple: to ensure that you receive the best legal service to protect your business from start to finish. We are passionate about the small business arena as we too are a small business. We are dedicated to providing an alternative to the traditional law firm for both our clients and employees. We aim to do this by:
- Understanding that the client is our customer;
- Building an ongoing, trusting relationship with each client;
- Providing the best available information and representation in the most cost-efficient manner;
- Practicing law in the most ethical manner; and
- Maintaining a work-life balance that enables each of our employees to enjoy their work.