I’m Hanna Hasl-Kelchner, The No Nonsense Lawyer, a licensed attorney and MBA.  I’ve dedicated my career to helping business leaders achieve their objectives with integrity and without turning into a litigator’s chew toy.

I realize that the law can be frustrating, intimidating, and horribly expensive.  My goal is to reduce that frustration and give business leaders more control over their legal risk and legal costs. 

I grew up in an entrepreneurial business family and understand firsthand the daily challenges executives and managers face.  It’s not easy.  The last thing you need is an expensive legal surprise.

That’s why I’ve launched a free teleseminar series called Ask the No Nonsense Lawyer.  That’s also why I wrote The Business Guide to Legal Literacy: What Every Manger Should Know About the Law (Jossey-Bass, 2006). 

My career includes various in-house positions at major corporations where I had the privilege of developing a diverse portfolio of increasing responsibility.  I’ve also been in private and government practice, including service at the U.S. International Trade Commission where one of my cases was decided by President Ronald Reagan.  I’ve witnessed business’ frustration with the law from multiple perspectives and at multiple levels of an organization.

 It is these experiences and observations of how smart, seasoned business professionals could underestimate the legal consequences of their business decisions that formed the basis of my book The Business Guide to Legal Literacy: What Every Manager Should Know About the Law (Jossey-Bass, 2006). They were also the foundation of Legal Leverage®, a course I taught as an adjunct professor at top-ranked Duke University Fuqua School of Business and as visiting professor at the Darden School at the University of Virginia.  They’re all designed to help managers and executives control their legal exposure.  

I feel strongly that it’s a lot cheaper to learn from other people’s mistakes and therefore use my blog to illustrate and update the concepts discussed in my book. 

This blog expresses my personal views, and may not necessarily represent the views of any past or present employers.  It’s a continuation of the concepts introduced in my book.  I hope you’ll check them both out and add to the discussion. 

I live in Chapel Hill, North Carolina with my husband and pets.  I also enjoy speaking to groups about the legal side of business leadership and how the law can be used as a strategic business tool to improve profitability and customer satisfaction.  I also serve on the editorial board of the Journal of Business Ethics Education.

For more information or to share your thoughts about legal literacy, send an e-mail to:

HHasl-Kelchner (at) legalliteracy (dot) com