Many are under the impression that creating a long-term relationship with a transactional attorney does two things: it makes your business appear litigious and creates an additional expense. However, a long-term relationship with a transactional attorney has the potential to save money for your business. In this post, you’ll learn about the four ways that a long-term relationship with a transactional attorney can be of benefit.
Potential for Less Litigation
Transactional attorneys do a lot of things. Yet, one of the most important things is working to represent your business in ways that help facilitate long-term, fair relationships with clients, vendors, and partners while also helping manage actual and potential risks. Creating and maintaining good working relationships while also partnering with a transactional lawyer who gets to know your business and its risks can help keep your business out of the courtroom.
It’s much easier (and more cost-efficient) to identify and work with potential issues before they grow. Litigation is expensive and there are no guarantees about the outcome. While a transactional attorney can’t guarantee that you’ll never end up involved in a lawsuit, you’ll have a long-term relationship with someone who wants to help you protect your business and help take care of problems before litigation seems to be the only option.
A Potential Overall Decrease in Legal Costs
We’ve already mentioned that litigation is expensive. There’s no way to really place a dollar amount on what it could potentially cost. Yet, that’s not the only legal cost of a business. There are contract reviews, contraction negotiations, drafting of contracts, and the review and drafting of other necessary business documents, such as software licensing agreements and website disclaimers. Although we certainly don’t wish to downplay the importance of legal services, we’re going to simplify this concept by using an example with which you are likely familiar: buying goods and services for your business. If, for example, you buy office supplies and coffee for your office, you likely noticed that although you can buy the office supplies and the coffee from different vendors through out the year, doing so is more expensive. Most vendors provide a discount of some kind to be your exclusive provider for a certain amount of time. You save some money and you know that you’ll get what you need, when you need it. Of course, the main drawback could be that you end up with an overabundance of staples if you can’t pause the delivery. The vendors get to know you and your needs. And you get to know your vendor.
Related: How a Business Attorney Can Help Your Business Relationships
A long-term relationship with a transactional attorney provides you with access to legal services and advice when your business needs it. Because it’s a long-term arrangement, it often costs less than reaching out and contacting an attorney at the very moment you need a contract drafted. If the attorney doesn’t have a working relationship with you or if you’re running against a deadline, you could end up paying more. Whereas, a long-term relationship means that you know exactly what your legal fees will be, even if you’re running against a hard deadline!
A Potential Reduction of Regulatory Costs
Practically every industry has specific regulations to which they must comply. Trying to keep up with the regulations on their own, let alone attempting to determine the best methods of compliance and implementing those methods, can, at best, be difficult. Then, there are regulatory issues if a merger or acquisition becomes an option. Running afoul of regulations in any capacity can be highly detrimental to your business. It could be something that only results in a warning or a fine. It could be something that results in your business being shut down.
A transactional attorney can help by identifying the regulations that affect your business practices (including mergers and acquisitions), educate you on the regulations as well as the options you have for compliance, and provide you with legal advice related to agreements presented. A transactional attorney can also negotiate on your behalf which will help your business know of any potential issues of non-compliance with regulations that may be occurring on either side of the equation. This insight and feedback can help your business avoid potential compliance issues.
Protected Communication with a Lawyer Who Gets to Know Your Company
Long-term relationships between a transactional attorney and a business are beneficial because the ongoing relationship gives the lawyer the opportunity to really get to know your business as well as your future goals. Your goals become the clear focus. You have a partner with whom you have protected communication. Not all professionals can claim privilege.
You and your transactional attorney can discuss potential business offerings and risks. You can talk with your transactional attorney about fears related regulatory compliance. You can talk about the concerns you may have about a current or potential client where a contract may be offered. These shared experiences do more than help protect your business. It provides insight that the lawyer may rely on the future when working in some capacity on behalf of your business.
Having a lawyer who understands your business and its goals helps save your business money by giving you access to a sounding board who can help you evaluate new ideas and their associated risks. As the old saying goes, proper planning prevents poor performance. Creating and implementing a risk management plan for new ideas can help you expand your company and its offerings with as little risk as possible.
Larsen Law: Denver, Colorado Transactional Attorney
Transactional lawyers involved in long-term relationships with clients are invaluable. It gives a business access to legal services such as contract drafting and negotiation, software licensing reviews, and more. With more than 30 years of experience, Larsen Law provides services as a transactional attorney to businesses across the United States. To learn more about how Larsen Law can help you, schedule a consultation by calling us now at 303-520-6030. Our focus is the total wellness of your business!