When a business lawyer sits down with a client, a lot of work often goes into providing a good outline of what the client needs to know. You can speed up the consultation process and save yourself some time and money by having a better understanding of these three things they wish you knew.

They're Not Trying to Bill You into Oblivion

People often assume that the attorneys handling work for businesses are trying to rack up as much in the way of billable hours as possible. With a few rare and bad exceptions, this isn't true. Lawyers often give their regular clients lots of micro advice for free, and it might make a difference if any of it were listened to. Likewise, many firms source more mundane work to their paralegals or even automated systems in order to reduce the billings they send to clients.

Your Lawyer Does Not Want War

Especially in the world occupied by the business attorney, life isn't about going to war with other people and organizations. In fact, if your business lawyer is doing the job well, you should be better positioned to resolve disputes peacefully because the contracts you sign will provide robust mechanisms for ending problems. While there is certainly a branch of the profession dedicated to business litigation, the reality is that when things come to litigation that means someone failed at an earlier stage. Also, virtually nothing that makes you angry is ever a criminal case, and even if it is, that's not the domain of a business attorney.

Put Time into Picking Your Counsel

There's a lot more to lawyering than just being successful at legal stuff. Particularly in the business world, you're going to spend more time talking on the phone or meeting with your attorney to discuss rough ideas or to clarify specific issues. Communication means a lot in this trade. Not only do your attorney's communication skills matter, but you should take the time to think about whether you want to deal with the firm's support staff on a regular basis.

Learn about the practice and make sure it's a good match with your needs. Do they focus on creating corporations and LLCs, for example? Are they more known for dealing with negotiations and contracts? Your business lawyer is going to be like your GP, and they need to understand a broad range of corporate legal issues.

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