How can I save time and money when working with lawyers?

Takeaway: The biggest thing you can do is have a lawyer that you trust and understands your business. This allows your lawyer to think like you and expedite processes. Clear communication by both parties also really helps.

For startups, working with lawyers can be a necessary expense, but it doesn't have to be a burden on the company's time and budget. Here are some tips on how startups can save time and money when working with lawyers.

Plan Ahead

Before working with a lawyer, startups should take the time to plan ahead and prioritize their legal needs. This can help reduce the time and cost associated with legal work by ensuring that only essential legal services are being provided.

Communicate Clearly

Clear and open communication with lawyers is key to ensuring that work is completed efficiently and accurately. Startups should provide all necessary information and be clear about their goals and expectations. Back and forth with lawyers to collect all the materials or information needed to complete a task can drive up the bill so the less of that we do, the better.

Choose the Right Lawyer

Startups should choose a lawyer with experience working with startups and a solid understanding of their industry. This can help ensure that legal services are provided efficiently and with a focus on the needs of the startup. Lawyers are trained to have a highly sophisticated understanding of the law and are not explicitly trained to think as a business person, which is an essential component of representing startups.

It also helps to choose a lawyer with a reasonable billing rate. My (biased) recommendation to clients is that they should choose a lawyer that has a lot of recent experience in the trenches actually doing the work. Partners at big law firms will often take on clients and push most of the work down to the younger associates - it’s how the business model works - so you end up paying a high rate for a junior lawyer to learn on your dime. I saw (and benefited from) this during my years in big-law.

Build a Long-Term Relationship

Establishing a long-term relationship with a lawyer can be beneficial for startups. This can help reduce costs by providing consistency and allowing the lawyer to gain a deeper understanding of the company's legal needs. I often work with founders on their second and third companies and our history together allows us lawyers to work efficiently and provide them with an extremely high level of service.

Conclusion

Startups can save time and money when working with lawyers by planning ahead, communicating clearly, choosing the right lawyer, and building a long-term relationship. By taking these steps, startups can ensure that their legal needs are met efficiently and effectively, while also managing costs and maximizing resources.