Legal relationship

HOW TO… be an entrepreneur in your day job.

Posted on by thelegalknow

swan

Some of us are not quite at the point of saying goodbye to the salary and entering the world of risk and unpredictability. However, guess what? You don’t have to kick the day job in order to start honing the skills of an entrepreneur. Whilst you are planning your future business, you can start to test your entrepreneurial ability now, at your desk, under the nose of your boss.

  1. Respond to a request with a suggestion – If you are planning on leaving your day job, it is often because there is something about it, maybe how it is run or what it actually does, that you do not like. SO since you’re planning your exit, why not challenge some of those things that drive you nuts. When asked to negotiate that sale or purchase on the usual terms, suggest a different tactic. If you are asked to, yet again, make that same salad for the Monday customers, suggest changing the ingredients a bit, for example adding a bit of chilli? If you are asked to do the rota for whatever, suggest a change that makes that rota better. Start to challenge the norm. That’s what you do as an entrepreneur right? You see what others do not and you push the boundaries.
  2. Be yourself – This one is difficult in an office environment or a store where you are reminded daily that it is better to conform than to be yourself. But hey, you’re about to go it alone so you may as well shine and encourage others to shine too. I have a few clients who are unapologetically themselves. They ask you the most direct questions or they decline to come to an event you’re hosting because they, in their words “can’t be bothered with that sort of thing”; I respect these clients. Try to be the person you want to be and see how people respond. Do those under you work harder for you? Do those above you listen more? You can then get a feel for how you will be perceived by others when you are running your own business.
  3. Get to know everyone – When you eventually go it alone, you’ll need to be a people person. You will need to let everyone know who you are, where you are and what you’re up to. You will need to market yourself. So why not start now? Start marketing who you are. If you’re in a big organisation, go and talk to other teams; pop up to the third floor and say hello to the person you email in accounts every Monday. Basically, start honing your networking skills.
  4. Say yes – If you are asked to do something new, do not shy away. If it is out of your comfort zone, step up and take the challenge. Sink or swim that’s what you’ll be doing as your own boss with no one to delegate to. You’ll be doing new things daily, from attending events to speaking at events, from negotiating contracts to drafting strategies. Just do it and get used to a) the initial fear and b) the adrenaline once you realise that, whether you’re doing it well or not so well, you are trying and you are learning.
  5. Ask for help – When you set up on your own it is all about resources. You will be calling in favours and hiring professionals at a competitive price. SO whilst you are still in a day job, get used to asking for help from the people who know how to do what you can’t. If you don’t really know how to use your computer, ask IT for help. If you’ve never been part of a pitch and want to learn, ask a colleague who has done one before. Get used to asking for help, NOW.

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How your business can help the world.

Posted on by thelegalknow

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Ok so what does business facilitate unintentionally, every day that can assist in breaking down barriers, prejudices, discrimination etc in one swift swoop…they bring PEOPLE, all kinds of crazy, different people together! Admittedly the intention isn’t initially to get everyone to hold hands and appreciate their various differences but it certainly ends up that way. You see in our common quest to make money, we end up fostering relationships with everyone and anyone because money doesn’t care about gender, sexual orientation, faith or race and that’s THAT. Anyone can make it.

Manufacturers and suppliers are all over the world, we drop an email to China, New York or London with a click. If there is a big event in our industry, we doll ourselves up and go and meet the cool kids with eager hand shakes and smiles of “give me your business“. In business, we don’t care whether your hand is black or white, if you are paying we will shake it and if you are talented we will hold it. Take McDonalds for example, there is a restaurant in pretty much every country with an airport. I’ll never forget the joy of seeing those golden arches after almost 3 months of eating spicy food (delicious as it was) for breakfast, lunch and dinner in beautiful India. I ate three McChicken sandwiches in one go at a familiar table, in a familiar decor and with a familiar service, nevertheless they also had masala fries and tandoori nuggets; amazing. McDonalds know that DIVERSITY and CULTURE is good for business.

Even the legal industry in the UK has recognised this. Traditionally pale, stale and male with degrees from Oxbridge only, the English legal profession is now more diverse than ever. In fact, globally, major law firms are continuously expanding all over the world, recruiting from oversees and right round the corner. Just go on to the website of Clifford Chance, Norton Rose Fulbright or Linklaters and have fun clicking on the sites of their many global offices. Even the ordinary pop star knows that culture and diversity pay, if you ever meet Beyonce, ask her where she HASN’T performed or Justin Bieber how many endorsements he has done in Japan! Ok you get it, but how does this HELP?

You see, in recognising that diversity and cultural awareness is good for business you help the world to stay connected and to integrate. Entrepreneurs, businesses and startups are key tools in building a community of human beings and not a community of “us and them” which politicians love to exploit. Imagine how much more we can achieve if we actively encouraged diversity and it wasn’t just a by product money making. If you own a restaurant and your beef suppliers are a farm in Scotland, a work trip to Scotland could really encourage relationships and mutual understanding. Or if you manufacture your clothes in China, going over and seeing with your own eyes, the place where your stock begins could encourage your Chinese team and also enlighten you to improving conditions for workers over there (this is an issue for another post on another blog). I’m sure this can all be put more elegantly but you get the gist right. I did a post on Corporate Responsibility which touched upon this BUT this post isn’t about your branding or your promotion its about YOU consciously making your company an educator to its employees and a friend to its customers; that’s how your business can help the world.

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Drag-Along/Tag-Along

Posted on by thelegalknow

polar bear tug of war

In business there are times when you will actually want to drag others along or to tag along yourself. Drag-Along and Tag-Along clauses are very, very, (one more) VERY useful clauses when selling your company. Essentially these clauses ensure that neither the business owner (usually the majority holder of the shares) nor the investor (usually the minority holder of the shares) in a company gets held up or left behind (respectively). Let’s take a closer look so that you can appreciate the beauty of these legal mechanisms.

Drag-Along

You have a company in which you hold the majority of the shares. The minority of the shares is held by your investor. Your company has been doing well BUT you want to move on and branch out into other industries. You consider selling your majority shareholding to a buyer – Buyer A.

Buyer A offers you a great price BUT he wants ALL the shares in your company. Your investor thinks the company is doing well and doesn’t want to sell its shares. How do you get around this? You review your investment  or shareholder contract and you see the following clause:

“If the holder of majority of the Shares in issue for the time being (Selling Shareholder) wishes to transfer all (but not some only) of its Shares (Seller’s Shares) to a bona fide purchaser on arm’s length terms (Proposed Buyer), the Selling Shareholder may require all other Shareholders (Called Shareholders) to sell and transfer all their shares (Called Shares) to the Proposed Buyer (or as the Proposed Buyer directs) in accordance with the provisions of this clause (Drag Along Option).”

You realise that you can MAKE your investor sell his shares to Buyer A. The Drag-Along clause enables a majority shareholder to force a minority shareholder to join in the sale of a company. The only catch is that the majority shareholder doing the dragging must give the minority shareholder the same price, terms, and conditions that it is receiving. This is a very basic example of a Drag-Along clause. A good lawyer would make this way more sophisticated for you and your investor. For example, there may be a trigger for the clause so that the offer from Buyer A must be above a certain amount before the Drag-Along clause can be activated or the majority shareholder may need board approval.

Tag-Along

As with most things in life there is a FLIP side. What if you are the investor, a minority shareholder in a company, and the majority shareholder wants to up and sell its shares to a buyer – Buyer B. You may not want to go into business with this strange new Buyer B or, recognising that it would be difficult to sell a small number of shares for a decent price, you may want in on the great price being offered to the majority shareholder; this is where you TAG along. You are protected by the following clause in your investment or shareholder contract:

“If,  in one or a series of related transactions, one or more Sellers propose to transfer any of the Shares (Proposed Transfer) which would, if carried out, result in any person (Buyer) acquiring a Controlling Interest in the Company, the Non-Sellers may also transfer their shares as part of the Proposed Transfer.”

You are ecstatic because due to the fact that Buyer B is buying the majority shareholding giving it a “controlling interest”, you realise that you have a right to tag along to the sale to Buyer B. If you activate this right, the majority shareholder has to include your interest in any negotiations with Buyer B and Buyer B has to buy your shares too.  You have tagged along.

Essentially Drag-Along and Tag-Along clauses are all about protecting the parties on a sale. These clauses also help to keep the value of the company up; it would be very hard to sell a minority shareholding at a competitive price and likewise it is usually more attractive to a buyer to be able to buy the entire shareholding.

So there you have it, as with many of my posts, you just cannot beat the experience of a good commercial lawyer. So, whilst I hope this post has been helpful in furthering your legal knowledge and assisting you in instructing your lawyer more intelligently, DO NOT do this yourself. The examples in this post are extremely basic. In reality these clauses are complex and there are many wonderful things your lawyer can recommend to you depending on the particulars of your business – family run, startup with friends, employee shares involved etc.

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HOW TO…reduce your legal bill!

Posted on by thelegalknow

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A legally smart business woman asked me to write a post about how to reduce her legal bill. As a City lawyer, here are my best tips on how to get the most out of your lawyer for less!

  1. Give legally smart instructions – Of course I would start with this one! The smarter your instructions the sooner your lawyer can get to work; they don’t have to waste billable time trying to figure out what you want. For example compare “Hey Cara please can you draft us a contract to buy apples from Fruit Ltd on a weekly basis” to “Hey Cara please can you draft us a contract to buy apples from Fruit Ltd on a weekly basis for X amount per box. In each box there will be X apples. We want the contract to last for a year with a right of renewal and we want it to be governed by English law and the English courts have jurisdiction. We also need a clause that states we have a right to terminate if the apples are Y. Delivery should be on Y of each week….” The former encourages a huge bill, the latter demands an efficient bill.
  2. Ask a junior lawyer to do it – Unless you are giving a complex instruction there is no reason why a junior lawyer should not be doing the bulk of the work. A senior lawyer only needs to give it a once over to make sure there are no glaring mistakes. When you give a standard instruction request for a junior lawyer to do the work in the first instance, if the law firm insists that a more senior lawyer is needed ask WHY and make them JUSTIFY the senior lawyer’s input BEFORE any work is carried out. You may just find that they back down.
  3. Request to see the narratives – Lawyers bill by an hourly rate. As part of that billing structure we are required to write narratives. If your lawyer has spent 7 hours reviewing a contract, ask to see the narratives. They should be detailed enough for you to say “fair enough” BUT if the narratives do not convince you, challenge the bill! This will either a) get you a discount on that very same bill or b) get you a fairer bill next time because that lawyer, terrified, will work as efficiently as possible for you. Most lawyers get annoyed when a client asks to see the narratives BUT its YOUR money and when you’re a growing business every penny counts!
  4. Agree a fixed fee structure – If you prefer predictability, agree a fixed fee arrangement! This means that, unless something unexpected pops up in the process, you know exactly how much you are paying each time. For example, if you have a standard sale contract that your lawyer reviews every time you engage with a new customer, agree a fixed fee for this repeat review i.e £50 per contract. You can also agree a fixed fee for a one off instruction. For example, if you need a lawyer to attend a negotiation with you, ask them to do it for X amount and not by an hourly rate. Hint to the lawyer that if they agree to this, you will send other work their way and watch your proposal be snapped up! Lawyers care more about a longterm business relationship in which they receive frequent work than being able to bill full rates on a single occasion.

Now go read “5 ways to spot a bad lawyer” and “3 ways to get the most out of your lawyer” to learn how to get even more out of your lawyer!

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HOW TO…write like a lawyer.

Posted on by thelegalknow

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Before you read any further I must explain that there are two schools of legal writer. The first is the school of “I want everyone and anyone to understand what I am writing so that there can be no doubt as to what has been agreed/disagreed and that YOU the CLIENT understand what you have paid for”. The second is the school of “I want to confuse you to make myself look smarter and you the CLIENT feel dumber so that you pay me whatever I ask because you have NO IDEA what’s going on”. If you have a lawyer in the second school of legal writer…get rid of them.

In the UK, the legal profession has snubbed long words and sentences. We’re even striving to move away from the ye olde latin phrases. These days if a judge reads a Defence or a letter that is not in plain English, the lawyer responsible for the drafting is in big trouble. The trick is to strike a balance between simple and clear language but without sacrificing gravitas (which lawyers love). There are a number of tricks that lawyers use to do this.

  1. Short, simple sentences. You can always deduct words! Challenge yourself by continuously asking, can I say this in a simpler way? Get rid of all superfluous introductions too. For example, “It is noted that” (get straight to it), “We should be grateful if you would” (just say please), “As aforementioned” (what??). Ok so SOMETIMES you can’t help but use an introduction such as “Further to your request” but at least this is helpful as it gives a context for why you are writing. If the words do not add value to what you are writing, get rid of them. Here’s an example. Compare “It is noted that you have persistently refused to pay” with “You have persistently failed to pay”. Which one is stronger and clearer?
  2. Define your terms. If you are referring to a really long word over and over again, just define it! For example, Apple Bubblegum Flavour Limited can be defined as “ABFL” like this “Our subsidiary company, Apple Bubblegum Flavour Limited (“ABFL”) is a profitable business”. From then on, instead of writing the full title of Apple Bubblegum Flavour Limited you can just write “ABFL”. Let’s look at another example. Tropical Adventures Limited can be defined like this, “Tropical Adventures Limited (“Tropical Adventures”) is a company specialising in coordinating adventurous holidays”. You can define a term in pretty much any way you want EXCEPT that you must actually USE the defined term in your writing and you MUST be CONSISTENT in your use of the defined term. For example, the defined term Tropical Adventures must be referred to as Tropical Adventures throughout the document and cannot suddenly be referred to as “TA”. In my opinion, defined terms can only be used by the very able of writers as whilst they are helpful, they can also be disruptive if you have too many or if you define them in a weird way. Define your terms in a way that helps the writing FLOW and not read like CODE.
  3. NEVER use emotive language. For your credibility’s sake avoid it! Stay away from language that you should only read in Harry Potter (surprised, annoyed, amazed etc). Also don’t make easy overstatements such as “clearly”, “obviously”, and “extremely”. Words like these lack detail and add nothing. For example compare “You received our bill on 7 October 2015” with “You clearly received our bill on 7 October 2015”. What did you notice? The use of the word “clearly” makes the writer appear weak and childish. I mean either something is clear or it is not! Don’t agree? Read this “We find your lack of response extremely rude”  and now this “We find your lack of response rude.” Which version sounds more sure of itself? The LATTER!
  4. Number your paragraphs. The best thing about numbered paragraphs is that you can cross reference! Say for example you are writing a really long complaint to a supplier. You have a strong introduction which sets out in four paragraphs the details of your grievance. You get to the end of your letter after setting out the solution you want. At this point you need to really bring it home to the reader just WHY you are justified in wanting that solution. Are you going to set out your grievance again? NO! You can simply state as follows “As set out in paragraph 3 above, your company has failed to carry out its obligations under the contract. As a result of this breach, we invite you to compensate our company in the sum of £500”. BOOM! You can even number your paragraphs in emails. Imagine this, you’ve drafted a detailed email to a potential investor/client setting out the terms upon which you are willing to negotiate. You should WANT to HELP the investor/client to consider each of your points properly. If you number the paragraphs, the potential investor/client can simply reply with “Dear Jack, I agree with paragraphs 1-7 and paragraph 9 but I’m afraid I cannot commit to paragraphs 8 and 10.” Again, BOOM! Just like that you have narrowed down the negotiation to the key issues (paragraphs 8 and 10) by one considerate email.
  5. Headings. Headings are great as they focus the reader’s attention on key issues that you want to get across and they also prepare the reader for the particular topic or sub topic. Let’s look again at my example at point 4 above (see what I did there…I cross referenced). You are writing a grievance letter to a supplier. How can you focus their attention? You can use headings as follows: Your breach, Loss caused, Solution and Next Steps. Or if you are writing a negotiation paper for a meeting you might use the following headings: Services, Duration of Services and Remuneration.
  6. Font and font size. Please do not write in Times New Roman (just too stuffy and is the automatic format of those who have not really thought about their business identity, unless of course your business identity is stuffy…) or Comic Sans (this font is for children). Pick a font like Arial, Tahoma or Calibri. These fonts are clear and encourage the reader to read what you have written. I personally prefer font size ten. Not too big and not too small. Also create a “house style” for your company. House style will be the formatting that your company uses in all of its correspondence and documentation. This helps with branding and it also protects your business as it grows. If you have a house style, all the employees are writing in the same format and structure.

So there you have it, my tips on how to write like a lawyer, but what I really should have called this post is how to write like a GOOD lawyer. Some lawyers love the serious long words and old school phrases but in my opinion such writing excludes the client, and it’s all about working collaboratively with the client!

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Do you really care about your business? 

Posted on by thelegalknow

Sounds like a silly question right? But do you? You DO. Oh that’s great. Perfect. Then you must have a lawyer! At this point some of you are saying yes and some of you are saying no but in my opinion you should all be saying YES!!

Getting a lawyer at the outset does three magic things:

  1. Prevents catastrophic errors happening – for example signing contracts that are cleverly designed to steal your product, intellectual property or your profits, and ensuring that your business is compliant. The truth is that when you have an amazing business, everybody will want to be involved in it. When you’re just starting out, whether you like it or not, you are easy prey. The bigger businesses, the more experienced investors WILL try and get much more for their money. A lawyer will identify this and protect YOU. And what about non-compliance? Well non-compliance is costing Volkswagen a potential $17billion. They only set aside $6billion to deal with this. This is a perfect example of the consequences for breach of the laws and regulations in your industry. The law will collect payment for breach and it doesn’t care if it kills your business in doing so. A lawyer will highlight these risks to you.
  2. Speeds up the growth of your business – yes having a lawyer actually speeds up the growth of your business because you are letting the pros do what the pros do best allowing you to FOCUS on enhancing your business in the way that you know best! Everything that you need in order to be legally functioning, just happens without YOU spending precious management time trying to do it yourself. NOW you are probably thinking, hey, you always say BE LEGALLY SMART.. yes I do and a part of being legally smart is NOT trying to be a lawyer. Legally smart is about being informed so that you can give clever, well thought out instructions to your lawyer so that you do not suffer at the hand of the billable hour… “Yes the fee is high because I had to look into  X and Y and Z” compared with “No problem, I can do that for you…how long? I can get a draft to you by close of business today”.
  3. Gets you a great bargain in the long term – the client/lawyer relationship is a precious one. It is one of trust and mutual respect. What most clients ought to realise however is that lawyers take the work of their clients PERSONALLY. Once you have given a few instructions, growing THEIR business, lawyers respond in kind, prioritising YOUR business, offering free services, offering discounted rates. Looking out for you without being prompted. This is the ultimate goal for any business, to have an established relationship with a law firm because that’s when the fees get cheaper!

Ok, so some of you will literally just be starting out and you cannot afford a lawyer, in that instance there are many things you can do. If you are confident in your product/service, approach a law firm you like the look of and that you envisage you should be able to afford in about 6 months’ time and ask them if they would be interested in assisting you with a few starter contracts/services pro bono (meaning free). Pitch your business to them, explain that you like their work and can see a genuine client/lawyer relationship developing. Some law firms will show you the door but others, and I’d be one of them, would be intrigued and would do you that favour. Alternatively there are lots of firms that offer start up packages and individual standard form contracts that you can purchase and adapt. This is the next best thing to having a lawyer as such contracts are usually drafted to include key provisions. However this option should not be a long term circumstance. If you are serious about your business, your goal should always be to have a lawyer, eventually a team of lawyers protecting and enhancing your business albeit guided by YOU, the LEGALLY SMART one.

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Beware the Double D’s – Directors’ Duties!

Posted on by thelegalknow


If you are a director of a UK company that is a big deal. To whom much is given much is EXPECTED and the Companies Act 2006 did not forget about this! Shareholders of a company delegate the day-to-day management of the company to the directors so EFFECTIVELY the directors ARE the company. This is why the law has prescribed certain expectations for directors.

BASIC POWERS

Firstly, let’s ensure that you understand the basic power and authority of directors.

Directors work as a board (basically a team). The BOARD OF DIRECTORS may (if the articles of association permit, as they generally will) delegate powers to a committee of board members (sub team) or to an individual director (so this individual director can make particular decisions without referring to the board).

An EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR is an employee (of the company) with specific powers delegated to them either by a resolution (decision) of the board or under their service contracts.

A NON-EXECUTIVE director is, as the name implies, a director to whom no executive powers have been granted by the board. HOWEVER they can VOTE at board meetings and still have the same duties as executive directors. A non-executive director is usually an expert of some sort who acts as a check on the executive directors by using their particular expertise to vote at board meetings.

A MANAGING DIRECTOR (sometimes called a chief executive) is granted more extensive executive powers by the company’s articles of association or by board resolution. As the name suggests,  a managing director manages the other directors.

IF you are a director, you should know and understand the extent of your powers within your company or else you could fall foul of an array of liability. The golden rule is to never act beyond your powers. Take any issues to the board if you are unsure.

STATUTORY DUTIES

As stated in my previous post, the Companies Act 2006 is really your wikipedia for UK Company Law and it is a great start for understanding your role as a director. A director’s general duties are owed to the company and NOT to the individual shareholders. It is the company that will have the right of action against a director if he or she misuses their position.

The Companies Act 2006 codifies certain key duties, as follows:

  1. Duty to act within powers (section 171);
  2. Duty to promote the success of the company (section 172);
  3. Duty to exercise independent judgment (section 173);
  4. Duty to exercise reasonable care, skill and diligence (section 174);
  5. Duty to avoid conflicts of interest (section 175);
  6. Duty not to accept benefits from third parties (section 176); and
  7. Duty to declare interest in proposed transaction or arrangement (sections 177 to 185).

All of the above are designed to prevent directors abusing the position they hold within a company. Some of them may seem pretty obvious but you’d be surprised! Parliament didn’t pass the Company Directors’ Disqualification Act 1986 for nothing! In my experience, directors generally tend to fail to understand the restraints of 6 and 7 (go read these sections).

CODE OF CONDUCT

Alongside the statutory duties there is also what is known as the ‘code of conduct’ for directors. These include but are not limited to:

  • The likely consequence of any decision in the long term – so you have to demonstrate that you have thought about the future impact of your decisions for the company;
  • The interests of the company’s employees;
  • The need to act fairly as between members of the company; and
  • The impact of the company’s operations on the community and the environment.

Basically, directors have a lot to consider when they act. WHY should you CARE? Well sadly, directors are personally liable if they fail to comply with their duties. PERSONALLY (urgh) AND a director can even face criminal charges. That said, if you are a director, you can protect yourself by always taking difficult decisions to the board – you know, a problem shared is a problem halved…BUT if you ALONE are the board, it is important to document WHY you make a particular decision, to demonstrate that you have considered the code of conduct and the statutory duties.

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Introducing the Companies Act 2006

Posted on by thelegalknow


If you are a UK company, the Companies Act 2006 is the main piece of legislation that GOVERNS YOU in the UK.

With approximately 1,300 sections, the Companies Act 2006 was passed in order to modernise and simplify company law, codify directors’ duties, grant improved rights to shareholders and simplify the administrative burden carried by UK companies. It is basically your “go to” for all things company law! Although some lawyers criticise it for being too detailed and trying to cover every eventuality, I actually kind of like it! You can navigate it relatively easily and well, it’s all there! SO if you have a UK company and are at a loss with UK Company Law, the Companies Act 2006 is a good resource to turn to. You can access it right HERE for FREE.

So what can you look forward to educating yourself about in the Companies Act 2006? Well, amongst many (many, many, many – it is the longest piece of legislation in the UK) other things, it sets out the following:

1. a company’s formation (modernised to facilitate incorporation over the Internet…so er…what are you waiting for?);

2. a company’s duties including those that can be fulfilled electronically (YES, so much easier);

3. a company’s communications with its shareholders (this can be done electronically via a website – again, way EASIER);

4. directors’ duties (codified for the first time) including an obligation to promote the success of the company (yup you are OBLIGED to do this by  English LAW), to consider the community and the environment (this is CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY), the interests of employees, and to be fair to shareholders (this is arguably why Google restructured its business);

5. the rights of indirect shareholders, including the right to sue the company’s director(s) if fraud or negligence is suspected;

6. company naming rules and company governance e.g. limited companies are no longer required to have a company secretary, and can be run by one director;

7. company ‘model’ Articles of Association, provided by Companies House (this is your company’s CONSTITUTION);

8. share capital rules (simplified for private companies); and

9. formalities for execution of documents.

This epic piece of legislation may be very detailed and a bit daunting at first BUT I think it is incredibly useful – it is basically Wikipedia for UK Company Law. If you have a query about your company and its operations, skim through the index of the Companies Act 2006 and see what you can find out THEN follow up with your lawyer IF you have to!

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3 ways to get the most out of your lawyer

Posted on by thelegalknow

1. Educate your lawyer about your business – We may know the law (that’s our job) but we do not necessarily know YOUR business. Educate us. Bring us in to the office, let us play around with the product or let us taste the food! Basically, don’t let your lawyer work on assumptions. If you want a tailored, personal service from your lawyer, you have to help them to understand YOU, your EMPLOYEES and your BUSINESS.


2. Maintain good housekeeping – Lawyers will always need to see the paperwork so do yourself a favour and get the paperwork ready. Get all your business contracts together in one place. If possible categorise them by product, by year or by client, whichever, so long as it is ORGANISED! Get every receipt and financial document in a finance folder (electronic is fine) and put all key correspondence (letter, email, text) in a tidy place. Good document management enables your lawyer to hit the ground running from the minute you instruct them. The SOONER you start the better as there is nothing worse than trawling through years of paper/emails. Good document management is also a life saver when you want to attract investors or apply for a loan. This is the famous paper trail!

3. Give realistic deadlines – Most good lawyers will always want to do a Rolls-Royce job. If you need your lawyer to help you review a contract or draft an agreement or settle a dispute, give them as much NOTICE as possible and ASK your lawyer how long they will need. This puts the onus on the lawyer to manage their time and to assess the situation efficiently. If you give your lawyer a day to build Rome you will most likely receive a job riddled with errors or even worse, a great piece of work BUT a disgruntled lawyer who starts to put you at the bottom of the pile and er…dodge your calls.

Do these three things and your lawyer will respect you and work hard for you!

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Be smart but don’t cheat…

Posted on by thelegalknow

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There is a reason why mega successful businesses spend thousands, sometimes millions of pounds/dollars on legal advice. I cannot tell you the number of times that I have almost cried because a client has brought me a problem that could have easily been avoided IF legal advice had been sought in the first place. In the long term, getting proper legal advice could save you so much MONEY and isn’t that what it’s all about – MONEY? You know that saying, what’s worth doing at all is worth doing well…it’s said for a reason! I don’t feel good billing you for my time when it’s for an issue that really shouldn’t have ever become an issue!

Think of it this way, when you have a tooth ache you go to a dentist -you don’t pull out the tooth yourself. When you feel sick you go to a doctor you don’t diagnose yourself. SO, if you need a contract drafted, guess what, you DON’T do it yourself. You go to your lawyer! You should be focusing all your energy into your product/service/idea not struggling to draft a 30 page contract or represent yourself at Court.

So what am I saying? I’m saying be smart BUT don’t cheat.

I am a lawyer and it took me 6 years of training to qualify to be one (a 3 year degree, a 1 year professional practice qualification and a 2 year training contract at an international law firm in the City). You cannot read this blog and become a lawyer BUT you CAN read this blog and become legally smart so that when you seek proper legal advice you are not doing so blindly. You are firing out questions and demanding the best service possible!

It’s quite simple, do things properly at the outset and you will reap the rewards later.

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