The right attorney is all you need to take you out of the thickest legal issues pertaining corporate concerns. You may find numerous business or intellectual property lawyers licensed to handle different types of legal complexities, but the concern is how to choose an attorney who is best fit to handle your case? Let’s examine the questions you need to ask from the prospective attorney in order to choose the right person for the right job.
1. What experience do you have to cater my specific case and industry? Even though any two lawyers may be licensed under the state bar, but their experience and style of working will be hugely different, to the extent of even making them ineligible in a practice outside of their specialty. For instance, having expertise in handling the intellectual properties of media entertainment law and business transaction cases, the lawyer will never opt to accept a case related to criminal matters. The lawyer may have knowledge to the level of CA Bar exam, but he/she is no replacement to a seasoned and experienced criminal lawyer. Ensure the lawyer you want to hire has a proven track record of working in your industry and more specifically your type of cases.
2. Are you working with businesses and startups that are similar to mine? If a law firm or an individual attorney solely works for large corporate clients, then the professional may find it difficult to clearly understand your case and be able to provide consultation within the limited budget and expertise. A professional and experienced law firm will be well-aware of the demographics and scope of the clients they intend to target. Ask your prospective attorney if their firm works with the type of business clients that resembles the aspects your case constitutes.
3. Do you work on flat fees? Unsurprisingly many entrepreneurs and startups tend to operate their business on a very limited budget. In some cases of business and legal matters, a flat fee is preferred as it won’t hit the client with mounting legal costs. While a simple approach of hourly invoicing is best for both the parties. Contingency fees is typically another feasible payment option relevant to limited business concerns and mostly ideal for plaintiff’s litigation lawyers. Speak about the fee structure clearly with your lawyer, arrive at a win-win situation, and then proceed on to discuss your case.
4. Do any of your clients can create conflict of interests? Ask the attorney if he/she is working with one of your competitors or former business partners, as such individuals or companies can cause a potential conflict of interest in the future. If yes, then it’s time to reconsider your decision regarding the attorney as such conflicts of interest make clients insecure when it comes to sharing confidential information of their business.
5. Can the cost of your services be somehow reduced? Attorneys tend to provide discounts to clients on case-to-case basis and may also offer to share some legwork with you. Such situations are normally fact based and depends on the type and complexity of the case involved along with the client’s knowledge and budget for the proceedings.
6. How do you communicate with your clients? Not to mention though, but the days of fax and mails are long gone. Even though it is highly preferred to meet with your attorney in person whenever possible, but various types of communication channels can be effectively employed to regulate an effective client-attorney relationship. A plethora of mediums including texts, calls, emails, video conferencing, cloud-based mobile apps that promotes information sharing, etc. can be acquired to share important documents with your lawyer such as legal contracts and courtroom correspondences. Ask the attorney the channels and resources he/she uses to communicate with clientele and how frequent is the communication expected.
7. Do you propose free consultations? Many lawyers offer free consultations for around 10 minutes to 1 hour of a meeting with client. The first meeting of free consultation can be either in person, over video conferencing or a phone call that is beneficial for both the client and the lawyer, particularly in business sense as the counsel tends to work quite closely with top management and executives of the firm. The questions and subject matter enlisted in the free consultation serves the purpose of allowing clients and attorneys to get to know each other better and decide if the other party is worthy enough to cater your purpose successfully.
Article posted on the behalf of Intellectual Property Lawyer Sydney | Technology Lawyer Sydney
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