You need a corporate lawyer; there’s no doubt about that. No business would even be safe from legal conflicts until they have a good corporate lawyer working to protect their best interest at all times. However, hiring a good lawyer may be easier said than done. Like any step you take for your business, you want to make sure that the corporate lawyer you hire is someone who is good at what he does. He should be able to deliver.
So before you end up hiring the wrong one, here are some of the red flags you should watch out for.
• Inactive/ Suspended / Unlicensed Lawyer – You can choose Google to verify if the attorney you are working with is licensed, was not suspended or has not been inactive in service. You simply have to input attorney search plus the state name. A list of licensed and active lawyers will come out. Never work with an agent that falls under any of these three categories for it will only be a waste of business resources.
• Unresponsive lawyer – Lawyers are always known as your legal counsel for the sole reason that they are equipped with all the skills needed to help you through your legal situations. However, if all you get every time you call his office is the secretary, then you might have a problem. When he doesn’t give you enough time to meet to discuss your legal concerns, then you might want to search for something else.
• False Promises – Every good lawyer knows the value of putting everything in writing; thus, you have to follow such practice every time your lawyer tells you something can be done. Make sure everything is in writing and that the attorney acknowledges all of it. If your attorney does not respond to the follow-ups you have done through email or phone calls, they may not be the right fit for your business.
• Poor Work Ethics – If the legal documents you have received came with a lot of grammatical or syntactical errors, then you might have a serious problem on hand. One of the best ways to catch this early is to request for a sample draft of a legal document so you’ll have an idea of the kind of work that they do. If there are a bunch of typos, you may want to rethink about hiring them for your business.
• Flaking is never acceptable. If your lawyer makes a lot of excuses why he’s not meeting with you or meeting the deadlines he has promised, then keeping him might not be a good business decision.
Finding the right lawyer to hire for your business may be easier said than done and it might take a few more weeks or months before you find the right fit. Keep these red flags in mind and hope for the best.