Finding a Corporate Lawyer
These days if you are planning to run a business you are going to need a corporate lawyer. There are all kinds of legal issues that come up when you start your own company like licensing, tax law, labour law, contracts and litigation, just to name a few. It is usually a good idea to have a lawyer involved right from the beginning when you are starting your business. A corporate lawyer can help you avoid a lot of problems along the way. The last thing you want to do is start looking for a lawyer after you already in trouble.
The first thing that you are going to need to do when looking for a lawyer is determine why you need a lawyer. Are you looking for a lawyer who specializes in one particular field like contracts or litigation or do you need a whole range of services. Once you have this determined you will need to decide if you need a big law firm or a small partnership or even just an individual lawyer. The advantage of a large firm is that you will have access to a lot of different lawyers who specialize in different areas, the downside is that by dealing with different lawyers all the time none of them will really get to know your company. Large law firms also tend to be very expensive. Going with a smaller firm will be cheaper and will let you work with the same lawyer all the time which will make the service more personalized, however you won't have access to all the specialist lawyers a large firm can provide.
The next step is going to be to ask for a referral, preferably from a lawyer, who else but a lawyer would know if another lawyer is any good. You will also want to get a list of your potential firms clients, you want to look to see that they represent companies that are similar in size to your company and that they are familiar with the industry that you are in. It is also a good idea to go to the website of any firm that you are considering and read through the information provided there. Most law firms provide background information about their experience and expertise on their website so take advantage of it.
You are going to want get references from any lawyer you are considering and actually contact the references. You should have a list of things that you want to ask them about the lawyer, like how a good a job they they did and if they were happy with the service. You will also want to check with the American Bar Association to make sure that any lawyer you are considering is in good standing. The state Attorney Generals office should also be contacted to make sure that your lawyer is in good standing there as well. Once you have all this information it is time to actually meet with your potential corporate lawyer, the idea here is to make sure that you find a lawyer that you are comfortable with.
