Hiring a lawyer is a big, BIG deal. As I’ve said before, a great lawyer will facilitate your business and help you get to the next level, a bad lawyer will leave you feeling frustrated, perplexed and out of pocket. So when you decide to give some of your hard earned profits to a lawyer, you need to make sure that you get it right. Here are 3 things you should satisfy yourself of before you sign that retainer!
- Do you believe them? Lawyers are great talkers AND charmers. As soon as you tell them what you need help with, they will tell you that that specific thing is their particular expertise (sorry fellow lawyers). I’ve seen it done many times. A prospective client asks for help contracting with aliens on Mars and suddenly that lawyer has not only done some similar work in the past, they’ve been to Mars and had dinner with those very aliens! Don’t get me wrong, lawyers are excellent at coming up to speed on any issue, even if they’ve only remotely come across it before however you should still make them prove themselves! So the questions you have to ask are why can they do the job and will they do the job? The answers will help you to decide whether to believe them. WHY – ask for their qualifications and their actual experience. Ask them questions about your business and your industry – do they really know what they’re talking about? WILL – as you already know, in business, execution is key. You need to be confident that your lawyer will actually do what they say they will and that you won’t be chasing for updates. Do they have the relevant resources? In respect of bigger instructions, do they have a team to carry out the work? If they prove that they can do the work and will do the work in good time, then you can believe them. Stay away from the lawyers that reel off their client list to try and impress you….you could end up being the back of the queue.
- How do they help their community? Good old corporate responsibility! Do not over look this. Lawyers will flatter you to high heaven and impress you with their catalogue of work BUT a good way to tell if they really CARE is by assessing their charity. The best law firms know this and have a glossy pro bono team offering free legal services to those unable to afford legal representation. They also send their lawyers out to lecture, teach or tutor in their spare time. If you hear about a law firm or lawyer working in the community, that’s usually a sign that they have a soul and really will do what they say they will do. Ask the prospective lawyer what they do outside of work in their wider community? What are their interests? This will also help you to get to know their personality and decide whether you actually LIKE them.
- Meet everyone! In most cases your lawyer will be supported by a team of junior lawyers which they may head up and those junior lawyers will be the ones doing the work. Ask to meet those people so that you can assess their personality and their experience. Are they bright? Do they know about your business or will they just be taking orders? How does the team function? It is important to feel confident that you will be looked after and that everyone who handles your work will give it the same level of care and attention. Also, meeting the team will inspire them. If that junior lawyer can out a face to the email address, they’ll work harder!
Ok so those are my 3 things to be happy about before you hire a lawyer. It is well known that legal fees are not cheap BUT that doesn’t mean that you should part with your money just like that. You need to make sure that you’re in good hands. It’s not just about getting the work done. Engage a lawyer that you would want to hire as an employee in your business. The lawyer/client relationship is one that is built up and developed over years, so get it right!
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