It is not uncommon for entrepreneurs to try to start a company without the help of a corporate lawyer. After all, money is tight at first and any smart entrepreneur will try to stretch his capital as much as possible. Nobody wants to go back to the original investors and ask for more. With that said, all businesses, from a start-up to an established corporation, can benefit from legal advice. Here are some of the reasons why your business may need the assistance of a lawyer and what to look for when hiring one.
Money
The most repeated reason a business owner will give you when asked why you don’t hire a corporate attorney is that it costs too much money. While lawyers can be expensive, choosing not to hire one can be even more so. Make a bad deal without consulting a lawyer, and your business could feel the financial ramifications for years to come. Most startups can’t afford to make a bad decision like that early on. You do not want to be forced to hire an attorney after the fact; By having one early on, you can avoid the costly litigation that sometimes arises after making a bad legal decision.
Services
You cannot separate the business of a company from the legal entanglements in which it involves you. Everything you do as a business owner should be within the law and hopefully to your advantage. Take employee recruitment, for example. Every state has laws that govern how you can hire people, how much you must pay them, and the hours they can work. Federal laws are also in effect. No businessman can know all of them, but if he breaks those laws, he could end up losing everything. This extends to a wide variety of legal issues you may be involved in: licences, intellectual property, and contracts of any kind. If you don’t have a corporate lawyer to help you take these steps, you could easily make a costly mistake.
Hiring a Corporate Lawyer
Of course, making the decision that you need legal representation is only half the battle. Now you have to go out and find one. You will soon discover that not everyone is created equal. Here are some things to look for when hiring. You want experience first and foremost. Next, you want a company that will give your business the personal attention it deserves for its money. If you feel like you are going to become another number, look elsewhere. Hiring a corporate lawyer isn’t cheap, and you should be able to count on great communication when you hire someone.
