A business attorney mainly offered legal services and advice to a business in all its aspects and stages. Any business needs a business attorney regardless of its size. Most small business will overlook hiring a business lawyer and therefore forego the benefits that come with having a lawyer in your team. Not only will a good business attorney support your efforts, but also contribute significantly to helping you protect your intellectual and property rights in addition to minimizing risks for your business which in turn saves you money.
In order to get the best out of an attorney, you have to have the right attitude and mindset when hiring a lawyer. In order to work as a successful team with a business attorney, put the following into consideration.
Change your perception about lawyers.
Lawyers have been looked upon in bad light. This is the primary reason why businesses in Singapore are most likely to shun having a lawyer. They are generally thought to be exploitative and to harbor devious intentions whenever one is doing business with them. However, this is not true of every lawyer. Lawyers are passionate and dedicated to their work and providing solutions for their clients. When you have the right attitude towards the lawyer, you are able to forge a relationship that will be beneficial to your business.
Think value.
Anything that you adopt for your business should add value and contribute to increasing revenue or reducing risk. This way you will have a return on investment regardless of the cost of investment. Most lawyers worth the title will have admittedly higher rates but it is good to look at what value the business attorney is bringing in to the business. Hiring a lawyer is buying into to an assurance that you will be spared the headache and the cost of having to deal with legal matters of the business at any given point in time.
Find a business attorney that resonates with your vision.
The lawyer spectrum is wide in every sense of the phrase. It is important therefore to do some homework before hiring a lawyer so that you can come up with the best suited lawyer for the kind of business that you handle. Some lawyers are well versed in matters fashion while others handle intellectual property matters well. Find one that does it for you. If yours is a start up or a small business, then you need to find a lawyer that will handle legal demands of a start up. A good place to start can be a lawyer that solely runs a small legal practice as they identify with the dynamics of a small business. This being as it may, settle for a solo practitioner that worked for a large law firm as they may have valuable experience. A solo practitioner is also more likely to give friendly rates since they want to build a clientele base for their practice and will most likely take any business offered. This principle will also be the premise behind the zeal they will work with in order to keep you and get your recommendation to friends and associates.
Consult and give an ear.
During the onset of the consultative process, you might want to shed some light on the nature of your business and the type of legal support you are seeking. Most lawyers may not be keen on charging you for the initial consultation, make sure you utilize this to do some detailed consultation. Gather as much information as you can that will help you in decision making. You can be free to give as much information about your business as you desire because whether or not you hire the lawyer, all the information will be protected by the attorney client privilege. This is also a good time to ask what are the best services that your business can benefit from hiring a business attorney. Ask questions and listen keenly so that you can learn from the consultant.
Build a relationship.
Smart business gets done where there are relationships that uphold mutual interests and ethical standards. Once you have brought your preferred lawyer onboard, it is good to cultivate a good working relationship with them. This will define the extent to which the lawyer can be beneficial to you. Any professional may withhold some of the tricks in his professional that would otherwise be extremely valuable if they shared with you if you had a good relationship. Time means money to your lawyer so you would want to strategically use that time to get the best out of them. Make it possible for you to get a lot done by your lawyer in the shortest time possible. Do not use time unwisely by venturing into anything unprofessional and out of the scope of work. Do proper research and see how much you can do for yourself and how much you can leave for the lawyer to handle. This was, you are sure to get value for money with an objective relationship. Having a good relationship with your lawyer may open up your business to new information and networks that business attorney usually have. This is especially beneficial for small businesses that do not have enough clout in the business world. Associational ties play an important part in business growth through information, marketing, recommendation, endorsements and networking.
Professionalism should be the key to building a workable relationship with your business attorney.
When looking for a lawyer, it is also important to do proper back ground checks and ensure that they are certified and meet all the legal criterial to undertake the nature of task you are enlisting them for. This should be done by visiting the state website in legal matters that provides all listings on lawyers and other such information. Any business that doesn’t have a lawyer is open to unnecessary risk and has foregone the possibility of growth. The cost of not hiring a lawyer is just too high that you should consider getting one. There is much more to gain for a business to have a business attorney but the loss is even greater with the absence of one.