The Value of a Business Lawyer

Not only do you get a lawyer who helps you feel out the risks of anything, whether you’re entering into a contract or you’re going to form a new entity. I also have worked with other business. What I do is I kind of look over your shoulder to help you, guide you, in your decisions without overcoming your business decision making. The idea is that oftentimes when you have a business lawyer, they’re always sort of pigeon holders, just naysayers or deal breakers. My idea is I want to be your trusted advisor. I want to guide you, give you all the information you need for you to make the decision.

More than that, I’ve seen what doesn’t work, and I can help steer you away from that. For example, I have had two friends of mine; they’ve formed a business together, and it was an LLC. They took a 50% interest each. Over time, one of the partners started making all of the money, but he was locked in at 50%. The other partner wasn’t earning as much, but he took a management role. He was making sure the bills were paid, and that the files were kept in order, and those sorts of things, but he wasn’t being compensated for that work. He felt that somehow he was being degraded because he was keeping the doors open.

If they had come to see me, what I would have recommended for them is a base salary. They would have gotten something that they could both take away at the end of the day, and that if one person reaches certain profit targets, they take more home. For the other partner, the one who is doing the management, he would get an additional base salary to compensate him for that. I think that would’ve made both of them happy. At the end of the day, the business ultimately failed. Had they come seen a business attorney, they would’ve maybe kept their friendship and their business.