how an attorney changed the outcome of my lawsuit

Posted on: 21 February 2016

Are you the owner of a small business? Are you trying to come up with ways to help your business expand? When you're just starting out, hiring a lawyer may seem like an extraneous expense that your budget can't afford. But here are a few reasons how hiring a lawyer may be able to help your company grow:

Double check your contracts: The wording for contracts can sometimes seem obscure and be difficult for the average person to understand. While you may think that the contract drawn up by the other party is favorable to you, it may actually turn out that there are several clauses that will make your business difficult. A lawyer who is skilled in business law can read over any contracts that you're thinking of signing, pointing out any potentially troublesome parts. If you want to draw up contracts for your clients to sign, your lawyer can make sure that the terms of the contract are valid and legally enforceable. Without a legally enforceable contract, a client could receive your services and then escape having to pay all or part of the agreed upon fee.

Help avoid legal issues: Business law can be a complicated issue. You may be under the impression that doing business in a certain way is fine, only to find out later that what you've been doing is actually illegal. For example, if you have a store that sells knives, it may be perfectly legal to sell them and ship them within your own state. However, due to the widely differing laws in each state, if you want to sell them to people who live in another state you could be helping them to break the law. A good lawyer can help you wade through all of the relevant legislation, pointing out when your business plans could be legally troublesome. 

Avoid frivolous lawsuits: Some of your clients may seem to like to sue other people, especially if it means they can get out of paying the money they owe. While this is unlikely to happen very often, you may still run across a customer who threatens to sue because their project was 5 minutes late or because they claim that the painting they ordered was a few millimeters too small. Even though you may have an airtight contract or terms of service, people like this may still try to waste your time and money by suing you. But by retaining a lawyer who deals in business law, you'll be one step ahead of these types of lawsuits. Some of these people may be deterred when they find out that you have an actual lawyer and won't simply be representing yourself.

If they decide to try to sue you anyway, having a business law lawyer on retainer means that he or she will already be familiar with your company. Instead of having to explain your business practices to a new lawyer, your lawyer on retainer can instead start filing the necessary paperwork to help ensure that the lawsuit is decided in your favor.