Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Why hire an attorney who has a business background?



If you run a business, you want your entire team aligned behind your efforts.  Obviously, the Sales and Marketing personnel are interested in revenue and number of units sold, but does your support staff understand the sales process as well as fixed, variable, short term, and long term costs? 

Your legal counsel should be as interested in business as you are.  Counsel with a background in business can relate to your problems and offer solutions that make sense in your environment.  The legal experience provides the boundaries while the business experience provides the innovation and practical understanding.  In-house attorneys handling transactions need to be even-keeled, patient, detail-oriented individuals who can catch potential problems to save your business from disaster.  To do that, your counsel needs the breadth of knowledge from years of exposure outside of law schools, law firms, and legal departments.  To be a true team member, the individual you hire for this role should be comfortable interacting with all levels within the company and should be a potential resource to be tapped should a need occur on the business side.

If your legal counsel cannot relate to the truck drivers, the work crews, the sales reps, the office staff, the accounting team, the executives, and the board members, you may wish to consider a change.  Consider bringing in a well-rounded individual to represent your interests.

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