C. Tyler Prochnow, an attorney who served eight years as state legislative counsel for the American Teleservices Association, has announced plans to leave the ATA and the practice of law for a new job unrelated to telemarketing.
Prochnow departs his law firm, Kansas City, MO-based Lathrop & Gage, on Oct. 11 for Prairie Capital Management, an investment management firm in Kansas City, KS, where he will serve as vice president. Prochnow announced the decision at the ATA's 19th Annual Convention & Exhibition, held Oct. 6-9 at the New Orleans Marriott.
Prochnow will remain the ATA's state legal expert until the end of the year and agreed to assist the trade group's search committee in finding a replacement. He also is a DM News columnist, and his final contribution is to appear in the Nov. 25 issue.
Part of the reason Prochnow is leaving is that his job was cutting into his time with his children, ages 6 and 4. However, a bigger reason was the paperwork associated with being a lawyer, particularly the time sheets attorneys use to keep painstaking track of the minutes they spend working, he said.
“Ask any lawyer,” he said. “The bane of the practice of law is the time sheet.”
Prochnow leaves the ATA just as it prepares a legal challenge to the Federal Trade Commission's proposed national do-not-call list. However, in his role at the ATA, Prochnow was more involved in state legal matters, and his departure is not expected to affect the plans for a court challenge.
“Tyler is a very valued team member,” said Bill Miklas, outgoing chairman of the ATA. “We're going to miss him dearly.”
Prochnow has been involved in telemarketing law for about nine years, starting when he worked as a clerk in the Colorado office of Washington-based law firm Patton Boggs while attending law school at the University of Denver. Two of his friends owned a telemarketing firm and came to him seeking legal help during the implementation of the Telemarketing Sales Rule in the mid-1990s.
That led to a partnership between Prochnow and the ATA, and when he left Patton Boggs in 1996, the ATA followed him to Lathrop & Gage.
