You are a business owner, and you think need a “Business Lawyer”. How do you begin to pick one? First, you try to narrow your focus a bit. What is the most pressing issue you face, that has you thinking of hiring a lawyer in the first place?
A Business Lawyer can help you organize and set up a new business. A Business Lawyer can negotiate a commercial real estate lease or the purchase of a building for your business. A Business Lawyer can help you with complicated commercial contracts, like negotiating a custom software contract, an equipment lease, or various types of financial agreements.
Business lawyers can help you prepare agreements with your partners, or with investors in your business. They can help you register trademarks and copyrights to protect your brand, and your goods and services. Business lawyers can help you prepare an employee handbook, and negotiate an employment or stock option agreement for your top performers.
Or you might have a business dispute that may wind up in court. Business lawyers cover a lot of territory and have a lot of sub-specialties. So, the first step is to determine, “Is this a one-time problem I have”, or “Could I use a relationship with an attorney who will understand my business for the issues that inevitably arise over time?”
Most businesses look at lawyers as an expense to be controlled and avoided, if at all possible. Many lawyers have earned that reputation, by not paying enough attention to how they charge for their services and the value they deliver to their clients. But your relationship with a business attorney doesn’t have to be that way. Let me describe another way to engage with a lawyer – a “Legal Operations” approach.
What do we mean by “Legal Operations”? We mean the intersection of a legal issue with the day-to-day operation of your business. Let me provide you with some examples.
Legal Operations is like having a virtual “Chief Operating Officer” for your business; the person who makes sure that legal forms and strategies are in place to make your business run smoothly. For instance, does your company have form contracts? It makes your company easier to do business with if you deliver a consistent experience to your prospective customers, clients, and third parties you do business with.
Form contracts can be a great first step. You are probably familiar with the term “transaction costs”. In a nutshell, transaction costs measure how much time and money it takes to turn prospects into customers for your business. If every job you do is a custom job, requiring a new contract to be negotiated from scratch every time, you are going to spend more time on paperwork than you will making money and performing your services for customers.
“Time is money” is more than just a catchy phrase; it’s great advice. Value your time because it’s precious. Spend as much of it as possible delivering your service, selling your goods, and generating revenue. Having predictable, but easily customizable form contracts is a great first step. Another important step to maximizing your revenues through Legal Operations is to have incentive programs in place for your sales staff. This can be done through form agreements, too, stating commission rates for levels of sales achieved, or providing profit sharing or even stock options to your key employees.
Your employees are the most important asset of your business. But they also present risks to be managed. You can use non-compete and non-disclosure agreements to protect your customer relationships and prevent your top salesperson from running off with your best clients to start their own business. You also want to have in place policies and procedures to manage a respectful and productive workplace.
Another way in which “Legal Operations” can help improve your business is through filing trademarks and copyrights to protect your company’s brand and products. You can use non-disclosure agreements to protect your trade secrets, like the terms and renewal dates of your customer contracts, or how much you pay to buy your raw materials, or how much you pay for shipping goods. All of these business operation issues have legal aspects to them.
That’s why many companies find it cost-effective to have a lawyer “on retainer” as an extended member of their management team. Ideally, from the client’s perspective, having a lawyer “on retainer” doesn’t mean that they charge you every month, whether or not you have legal matters that require handling.
Rather, new billing methods are available where a business owner can “buy a bucket of hours” from an attorney that can be used as you need them; hours that never expire. You know that you can simply call your lawyer without having to go through the whole “dance” of whether or not to hire them and figure out who will do the work.
Attorneys on retainer are encouraged to get to know your business, so when a legal issue arises, you don’t have to start from “Square One”, explaining the basics of your business to each new lawyer you hire, to set the context for the actual legal matter you need assistance with. Both sides benefit from a long-term relationship since work can be done more efficiently by an attorney who already knows your business.
For more information about the Legal Operations approach to managing your business, contact us for a free consultation at www.mattvanrynlaw.com.
