Choosing a law firm for your startup is an important decision that you should handle carefully. Having a startup lawyer and law firm to your new business saves you from many obstacles. You may be a person of relying on online form generators and doing routine along with the support of a lawyer.
Choosing a law firm for your startup is an important decision that you should handle carefully. Having a startup lawyer and law firm to your new business saves you from many obstacles. You may be a person of relying on online form generators and doing routine along with the support of a lawyer.
This may be possible when you try to incorporate small paperwork, but once you start a business firmly, you certainly need a law firm that should be knowledgeable in practice for a start-up. So, it is your prime duty to search for a law firm for your Startup Company.
How do you find it? Yes, here we go with some points.
1) Law Firm Culture and Value
If the lawyer belongs to a large firm that focuses on startups, you are lucky because you can use him in speciality areas such as Licensing, Compensation and benefits, Employment and Intellectual Property, International litigation and more. Additionally, looking out for a law firm’s culture i.e. collaborative Vs an individual is the most important one.
Your lawyer might be better able to leverage the communal knowledge of the firm to provide you with more efficient, effective legal counsel, friendly answers and quicker responses. But, be careful about large legal firms where a startup is not primarily focused and you may be stuck with cost constraint.
2) Identify the Company’s Needs
You may have a second thought of engaging a lawyer in the initial stage for your startup and you may even plan to achieve through some self-serve platforms for information and initial fundraising documents. These tools can only help to automate some of the common legal needs at the initial stage only.
But, once you find a law firm to hire, you can develop intellectual property. When you integrate with a reputed law firm, you can find professionals in many areas for startups say Terms of Service, Commercial Contracts, Compensations, Regulations and Patents. It may not be expected from a single lawyer to cover from the ground level though he may be efficient.
3) Referrals from Others
You have one more way to find Law firms for your Startup Company is asking fellow business owners. Yes, certainly you know your fellow businessmen in person and you can check others from online groups or forums.
Especially, in social media, you can find business owners from different industries and locations and they openly recommend the best startup law firms. Sometimes you may score a free or a discount cost on personal references.
4) Aligned Goals
If you expect legal support only for filing basic incorporation papers, you may need not work out with a lawyer or a firm. But, you are not ending the process with incorporation; there are many moves to take for a startup. So, you must go for a long-term legal integration for aligning goal for your startup.
Every startup chooses different paths when it comes to the founder’s end-mission. Let it be an Initial Public Offering (IPO), a profitable continued private ownership model or an acquisition. Hiring a law firm can support your mission and vision for the future requirements of your company, especially during the early phases.
But, make sure that your law firm understands your vision for the long-term future business of yours.
5) Client Referral
If you decide to fix a law firm for your startup, speak with a former or existing startup client regarding their work with the particular law firm. Sometimes, you might get a heap of reviews for a law firm in Google reviews, but you may not get details about a particular legal work.
So, be sure to ask your referral about how the law firm worked, whether they stay within the budget, whether they assisted the team’s growth and the quality of personal rapport with the law firm.
6) Make your Relationship Official
You need not sign any long-term contract unless you are working with equity as a part of the compensation. Some basic paperwork that needs to be completed and they will be considered for your law firm as a record.
A good firm will stand your side to support your business. When you grow it will help you introduce to your investors, and will shield your startup from overall risk on the way.
7) Be Clear with Cost
Some specialized startup law firms offer economical rates or equity deals in hopes that the startup will flourish and turn stronger in future. They may charge you like hourly billing, fixed fees, full or part-time legal partners, etc.
- Fixed Fees: There are many law firms working to complete only initial incorporation filings and/or review of some basic legal documents at a fixed fee. In this type, you may expect more formal behaviour rather than relationship-based as it is one-time work.
- Hourly Based: This is the most common method of retaining a law firm with you. It represents an initial amount is set to retain the law firm’s service and they used to support your business at hourly rates as and when you require.
Conclusion
Now, you might be clear about the important aspects to be seen when finding a law firm for your startup. Kick-start your startup with a complete law firm successfully.
