What is the problem, exactly?

Lesson 1. What is the problem, exactly?

“What is the problem, exactly?”

You can ask this any time — long before a trip to the US, or after the move, when your familiar logic stops working.

Let me show you the problem. Very briefly.

Expectation vs Reality

You think a lawyer will defend you. In reality, the American attorney is an instrument of the system. They work inside it, by its rules; the job is not to “defend” but to walk you through a procedure — across a minefield.

You think the law is written and clear. In reality, in the US law is interpretation. The same text means one thing in one state, another in another state, and a third in a courtroom — depending on precedent.

You think the cost of defence is predictable. In reality the price is unpredictable. Attorneys bill by the hour, with no cap, and the invoice can grow many times beyond the initial estimate.

You assume that what wins in court is the truth and fairness. In reality, what wins is the right strategy.

“In American legal disputes, the winner is not the one who is right — it is the one who understands the system.”

Remember this sentence. It will be the red thread of the whole course.

A case I know personally

Husband and wife. Co-own a small business, fifty-fifty. They decide to divorce. Each hires their own attorney — normal, logical.

Then the avalanche starts. In the US a business is a separate legal subject. When the owners are in conflict, the business itself needs its own attorney. A third one. Three bills already.

Trust collapses. One side asks the court to appoint an independent manager. That is a fourth professional, paid out of the business’s income.

Then a question — how do we split the money when all family income comes from this same business? A forensic accountant is needed. The fifth.

Can you guess the ending? The business could not hold the load and went bankrupt. Nobody got anything. They were both right in their own way. They simply did not understand the system.

“The winner is not the one who is right. The winner is the one who understands the system.”

The American legal labyrinth

The American legal system is a labyrinth. Hundreds of forms, thousands of rules, fifty states with their own laws, plus a separate federal system. And, crucially — a mistake costs money. Sometimes a lot. Sometimes everything.

Find the right path — or go broke. This is not scaremongering. It is the working rule by which the system lives.

Who I am

My name is Andrey Stolbunov. In 2003 I graduated from a law institute in Moscow and spent seven years leading the human-rights organisation “Spravedlivost”. Twelve years ago I came to the US, convinced I would figure out the legal system quickly. I was wrong.

I finished Law School at the University of Dayton, Ohio, in the LLM in United States Legal Practice. I worked five years as a licensed private-detective assistant. Since 2025 I lead the non-profit Business Family Social Club.

The paradox of the system

This system is not designed to crush you. It is at once very expensive, very adversarial, and very complex — yet it protects property rights better than most systems in the world. It is efficient on long horizons. You can live well inside it. If you understand how it is built.

What you will get by the end of this course

1. You will learn to think about legal situations the American way.
2. You will stop being afraid of documents. You will start to see what to look for and why they read the way they do.
3. You will learn to tell when you need a professional — and when you can act on your own.

“The winner is not the one who is right — it is the one who understands the system. Let us start understanding it.”

In the next lesson I will tell you who exactly this course is for — and who it is not for.