Meet Our Founder
Roxanne Zhilo, Esq.
Long before Roxanne Zhilo founded Zhilo Law, people came to her when they needed help solving a problem.
Long before Roxanne Zhilo founded Zhilo Law, people came to her when they needed help solving a problem.
Part protector, part strategist, part connector, Roxanne has always been drawn to the puzzle behind a challenge: not simply whether something can be done, but how it can be done thoughtfully, legally, and in a way that keeps the bigger goal moving forward.
That perspective has shaped a career built at the intersection of law, business, communication and relationships.
Before law school, Roxanne studied strategic and organizational communication, with concentrations in rhetorical studies and public relations. That foundation continues to influence the way she practices law today. She understands that some of the best legal work happens long before there is a legal problem. Clear communication can prevent misunderstandings from becoming disputes. Thoughtful planning can address risk before it becomes exposure. And understanding how people, businesses and relationships work can sometimes accomplish more than reaching immediately for a legal remedy.
Roxanne's understanding of law firms came from the ground up. She began at the front desk and, over the course of her career, worked as an intern, paralegal, law clerk and attorney. She has also served as a technology liaison for multiple firms. Having experienced nearly every moving piece of legal practice, she developed strong ideas about what works, what does not, and how legal services could better keep pace with the businesses they are meant to serve.
Some relationships formed during those earliest years have followed her throughout her career, from firm to firm and eventually to Zhilo Law. Some now span two decades, beginning before Roxanne was even an attorney. To her, that longevity means far more than a number. It reflects the kind of relationship she wants to build with every client: one grounded in trust, accessibility, curiosity and the confidence that when the answer is not immediately obvious, she will figure out how to find it.
A Business Owner Advising Business Owners
Founding Zhilo Law changed Roxanne's perspective in another important way: she became the person on the other side of the table.
She understands what it means to build something of your own, make decisions without perfect information, invest in growth, manage people, embrace technology, take calculated risks and occasionally wonder whether the thing you are contemplating is brilliant, insane, or some combination of the two.
That experience reinforces a principle at the center of her practice: a lawyer's job is not simply to say yes or no.
The job is to help a client understand the landscape. What is the risk? What can be protected? What can be negotiated? What alternatives exist? Is there another path to the same objective? How do we solve the problem without unnecessarily slowing the business down?
Then the business owner can make an informed decision and do what they do best: lead the business.
It is also why Roxanne wants to understand far more than the legal question in front of her. She wants to know the people, services, products, spaces, relationships, opportunities and ambitions behind it. She enjoys learning how businesses work, identifying connections across industries, introducing people who should know one another, spotting opportunities a client may not have considered, and helping put the pieces together.
For Roxanne, that is what it means to be a strategic legal partner.
Built for Businesses at Every Stage
Today, Roxanne works with businesses ranging from individual entrepreneurs building something new to established organizations with hundreds of employees and revenues approaching $100 million.
The size may change. The underlying relationship does not.
She has grown alongside clients as they have expanded into new markets and new states, collaborating with local and co-counsel when needed and helping clients navigate the legal questions that accompany growth. What excites her most is not simply solving the issue in front of her. It is getting to know what someone is building well enough to help them build it, grow it, scale it and protect it.
Technology is an important part of that philosophy as well. Roxanne believes legal counsel should understand that businesses move quickly. The goal is not to become an unnecessary roadblock to progress, but to provide the information and perspective clients need to move intelligently.
An Accessible Kind of Counsel
Roxanne is the daughter of immigrants who came to the United States with $200 in their pockets, and built businesses of their own. She is also, proudly, a product of Philly's public schools. (Go Birds!)
Those experiences shaped more than her path to becoming an attorney. They shaped her belief in possibility and her conviction that sophisticated legal counsel does not need to feel inaccessible, intimidating or reserved for people who already know how to navigate traditional professional spaces.
Roxanne knows what it is like not to fit someone's preconceived image of who belongs in the room. Some of her clients know that feeling too.
She built Zhilo Law in part to create a different experience: one where clients can ask the question they think they should already know the answer to, bring an idea before it is fully formed, admit when something has gone wrong, or call simply because they want another perspective before making an important decision.
The strongest attorney-client relationships are built long before the emergency.
And that is ultimately why Roxanne founded Zhilo Law: to make sophisticated legal counsel more strategic, more connected to the businesses it serves, and more human.
Ready to Work With Zhilo Law?
Start with a conversation. No pressure, no pitch, just a chance to talk about your business and whether Zhilo Law is the right fit.