The day is nearly here. You’ve been planning the ins and outs of your business for months, and it’s just time to get any lawyer to fill in the paperwork.
There’s only one problem. Business formation is not nearly that simple, and the relationships you create with your lawyer at this stage can help your business succeed well down the line.
There’s no need to panic at the sudden importance of this decision. We’re providing you five key questions you can ask to find the perfect business formation lawyer. You can keep these questions in your mind when browsing through LawPath’s lawyer directory for business formation lawyers.
1. Do you work mainly with new businesses?
This allows you to understand exactly the expertise of the business lawyer. There are so many areas of business that lawyers deal with, from intellectual property to environmental concerns.
As a new business, you want someone who has experience working with laws specifically related to business formation, rather than ones who are more comfortable working with established companies. These areas of law may be:
- Protection;
- Taxation;
- Succession;
- Creating a business structure;
- Shares structuring; and
- Contracts.
Lawyers with expertise in those areas are much more useful than those who have experience in regulating existing businesses.
2. What do I need to get my business up-and-running?
The simplest question you can ask, but one of the most effective. After being confident that you’re talking to a person that can help you out, business formation lawyers can start their work. Be prepared to discuss your entire business proposal so that the lawyer can understand exactly what you need to achieve your goals. Apart from business registration, these may include, depending on the type of business you’re running:
- Contractor contracts
- Confidentiality agreements
- Non-Disclosure agreements
- Intellectual property protection
You can only receive whatever you put in. The more you can discuss your business, the more complete your business formation will be.
3. What are the legal costs?
There’s many funds to take into account when starting up a business. The last thing you’d want is to be drowned in a wave of legal fees. However, you also want to balance costs with an effective legal plan that establishes your business for success in the long-term.
There are two common methods of payment.
Billable hours.
Billable hours are when the lawyer charges for every hour spent on your issue. You should try and get an idea of how many hours the lawyer expects to take. Keep in mind that even a short five minute conversation can add much more than that into your final charge.
Flat fee.
A flat fee can provide a better idea of what you’re paying. The flat fee, however, may not cover all legal costs such as filing or updates to your plans in the future.
You can connect with a business formation lawyer using LawPath’s lawyer directory. You can also learn more about how lawyers charge clients by reading our legal guide on how much you should pay a lawyer.
4. How should I plan my business out for the future?
Chances are, forming a business is just the first out of many legal issues that you will have to deal with. A good business formation lawyer will be able to create a business plan that considers factors including:
- How the business will be financed in the future.
- How profit will be distributed.
- Best ways to achieve business goals.
- Business succession.
Lawyers aren’t just there to provide legal advice. They’re also one of your closest support people in running the business. Your perfect lawyer ideally should understand your business and how their legal advice mixes in with what you’re aiming to achieve throughout your business’s lifespan.
5. Are you, or someone else close, able to provide help with my business plan?
You’ve ideally got a business plan that gives you guidance heading forward. But if something goes wrong, or circumstances change, you may not particularly want to explain the way your business works to a new lawyer, wasting valuable time and money. This is where you can ask the lawyer about their, or their associates, future involvement with your business. You may not want a short-term lawyer who is unable, or unwilling, to remain involved in the future.
Conclusion
Choosing a business formation lawyer is one of the most important decisions to make. These questions will narrow down your search for business formation lawyers and ensure that your business is in excellent hands, both in the present and for the future. You can begin searching for business formation lawyers on LawPath’s lawyer directory.
Need specialised advice on forming a business? Contact a LawPath consultant on 1800 529 728 to learn more about customising legal documents, obtaining a fixed-fee quote from our lawyer marketplace or any other legal needs.
