Category: Lawyer

Almost every lawyer has been there. A friend is looking forward to filing a divorce or domestic abuse case and reaches out to you for help. Yes, it’s okay to represent a relative, friend, or family member in court, but sometimes most lawyers take reservations. 

Most attorneys question what if they lose the case or involve a disagreement with a family member who is also their client. 

“As a lawyer, the decision to represent a family member in court is something you cannot take for granted,” says Sima Najma, a family and immigration barrister in London. Before you agree to represent your family or friend in court, you should consider these factors:

1. Privacy 

It may sound awkward representing a family member or relative in court because they may not be willing to disclose all the critical information you need for the case. 

You are likely to inquire about your clients’ income, criminal history, health information, and other issues that they may not be willing to share with you. Therefore, before you agree to represent your family member, you should ask them if they are free to share such sensitive information with you. 

2. Independency 

Apart from conflict of interest, another issue that comes up when representing a family member is independence. That means you are not likely to give honest, objective, and independent opinion when handling the case. Your ability to provide honest opinions about the case is greatly affected when you take a family member’s case.  

You have an emotional connection with the family member and maintaining a professional distance is almost impossible. This is going to affect your judgment and opinion. As a lawyer, the law requires you to give honest and candid advice to your clients. However, when the client is a family member, being honest becomes challenging because of the emotional connection and conflict of interest in the case.

3. Payment 

Most lawyers are paid hourly and charge hundreds of bucks per hour of service. If the case you are handling is a bit complicated and requires a lot of time, it means you are likely to charge higher legal fees. It becomes challenging to approach a family member with such an invoice. When the legal fees are a bit high, some family members are likely to contest paying. In this case, you run into loss because you won’t sue your family for bills not paid.

4. Lawyer-client relationship 

When a case is ongoing, you should not discuss it with your client in public. However, this may not be the case when you take on a family member’s file.

A friend or family member is likely to visit you anytime. They are always free to discuss anything with you, and that means they can start talking about the case when you are having dinner or out to party. Sometimes you may be out with your friends, and your family member starts to discuss the case with you in public.

Family members are always close …

There are two professionals every business will need early on: an accountant and a lawyer. The explanations for hiring an accountant are pretty obvious–you need someone to assist you, find out your chart of accounts, review your numbers periodically and prepare all of your necessary federal, state, and native tax returns. The rationale for hiring legal services for small businesses might not, however, be so apparent. Good legal services for small businesses will provide vital assistance in almost every aspect of your business, from basic zoning compliance and copyright and trademark advice to formal business incorporation and lawsuits and liability.

Startups plan to bluff their way through everything to save lots of costs—but they don’t realize the impact this will have afterward.

Business law seriously affects how your business runs, from contract law to employment law to tax law to workplace safety law and more you only have to bear in mind of potential issues then work together with your lawyers to form sure you’re on the proper side of the law.

Like doctors, lawyers are getting increasingly specialized. Someone who does mostly wills, house closings, and other “non-business” matters are perhaps not a good fit for your business.

You will need legal services for small businesses who can understand your business quickly; prepare the standard form contracts you’ll need with customers, clients, and suppliers; and assist you in reply to contracts that people will want you to sign.

You will need legal services for small businesses that can assist you to decide whether an organization or limited liability company (LLC) is that the better way to organize your business and prepare the required paperwork.

Leases of commercial space such as offices and retail stores are highly complex and are always drafted to profit the owner. Because they tend to be “printed form” documents, you’ll be tempted to think they’re not negotiable. Not so. Your attorney should have a typical “tenant’s addendum,” containing provisions that benefit you, which will be added to the printed form lease document.

A great place to begin looking for legal services for small businesses is with the American Bar Association. The ABA’s website features a wealth of data for consumers and professionals alike who have legal questions. Within the “Hire a Lawyer” section, you will find information on public service lawyer referral programs, wherein you’re interviewed to have your needs diagnosed then given a referral to a lawyer or helpful community resources.

There also are commercial lawyer referral services online, and you’ve got instant access to thousands of legal services for small businesses. You’ll search by city and state, and several other results come up within the world you specify, with details of every firm’s background, areas of practice, published works, attorneys on staff then on. There are other similar services listed on the ABA site.

For a fee, you’ll also request an inquiry of the ABA’s National Lawyer Regulatory Data Bank to check if any disciplinary action has ever been taken against the lawyers …

Unlike many other professions, law is a tricky area that requires more than a college degree. This is so especially in the field of business. The waters are murky here, and not every lawyer can guarantee perfection and a smooth running of your business.

Why hire an attorney who will purport to handle the legal issues concerning your business only to realize they are inefficient.

You have to do proper research, get a list of names, and eliminate them depending on a few qualities as detailed below.

• Great communication skills

Almost every lawyer can communicate, but to get a great communicator, you may have to go deeper and broaden your search. A great lawyer must have excellent communication and presentation skills, both written and oral. For them to argue more persuasively before a distinguished judge, they must be furnished in their skills. They must be able to speak with fluency and effectively, and these skills are not learned in school. Perfection in the skills is gained over time and with practice. They’ll engage in activities that will improve their speaking skills.

• Sound in judgment

You will often be faced with limited communication regarding a particular jurisdiction or legal business tool that needs execution. Thus a good lawyer can draw logical conclusions from the scanty information received. They must anticipate possible scenarios of a case and prepare adequately to ensure the case is formidable.

If your lawyer is poor in judgment, you could be shocked when you get a judgment you shockingly didn’t expect. 

• Research skills

A good lawyer is a good researcher.  Any good lawyer knows that most judgments are made on the premise of similar previous ones done in the same or a different jurisdiction. Thus the lawyer should be able to do extensive research, get similar cases, and try to analyze the possible outcome. They should also be aware of the correct legal strategies to protect and safeguard your interests.

• Creativity

Great jurists and attorneys are quite analytical and engage a higher level of creativity in formulating their case. They not only know how to take paths of precedents or obviousness but engage a high level of creativity and can think outside the box. 

You see, everyone in the legal profession knows what is contained in law. Thus what will make a lawyer different from others is their creative ability in presenting their case.

• A good lawyer is a great listener.

Imagine someone is representing you in a grievous case, and all they do is to hear your case passively and never allow you time to express yourself.  A great attorney will carefully listen to your interests and every other party involved. They can listen carefully and patiently. This skill helps them when cross-examining a witness and facilitating an effective rebuttal. 

Not every attorney is competent to guarantee a good representation. You need a reputable consultant like Karl Schranz who will advise you on the correct measures to take in your business and avoid problems.  That’s why you …