We offer this occasional series as your introduction to our volunteer advisors — just a few of your neighbors who truly make local business tick.

Jesse Jones is an attorney based in Cornelius with 34 years experience, who provides legal services to the Lake Norman community in commercial transactions, commercial litigation, business law, estate planning and asset protection. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa and magna cum laude from the University of Tennessee, and earned his law degree from the University of Michigan.

Jones began his career doing complex commercial litigation in a medium-sized firm in Miami, Fla. He started his own law practice in 1998, drawing on his litigation background to represent businesses in commercial transactions and individuals in wealth management, asset protection and estate planning.

"Effective business decisions require not just knowledge of what statutes or regulations say, but the ability to analyze challenges and opportunities and to craft creative responses," says Jones. "To me the practice of law is not just a business, it is a profession."

Jesse and his wife, Beth, live in Huntersville, and are active members of Davidson College Presbyterian Church. Beth is a librarian for Novant Healthcare. They have two adult daughters who live in New York City and in Boston.

• What three words best describe your business style?

Professional, personal, accessible.

• Who are your mentors, business or otherwise, and why?

Bill Dawes, the senior partner in the first law firm I worked in, in Miami, Fla., who instilled in me the conviction that the practice of law is more a profession than a business.

• How do you balance work, personal and leisure time?

By not separating them. When I "went out on my own" in 1998, after 21 years in a medium-sized litigation boutique in Miami, my goal was to let my work time, my family time, and my time doing work for my church and church-related activities flow together seamlessly. It is a model that still works for me.

• What advice would you give a local entrepreneurial hopeful?

Have a good business plan, rooted in reality, and have access to sufficient capital to do it right.

• If you had it to do over again, what professional path would you choose?

My career path has given me thus far 34 years doing work that is intellectually stimulating and lets me help people. It would be hard to top that.

• What about being a business owner/leader makes your PULSE race?

Being able to use my experience and accumulated skills to help people.

Contact Jones at 704-895-4276 or at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .