Whether it’s in-house or retained on an as-needed basis, a good attorney is crucial to any successful business.  Hiring a business attorney may not seem obvious or necessary from the outset but a good business attorney will provide important assistance in almost every aspect of a business, from basic zoning compliance and copyright and trademark advice to formal business incorporation and lawsuits and liability.

Like doctors, lawyers are becoming increasingly specialized. Someone who does mostly wills, house closings and other “non-business” matters is probably not a good fit for a business, small or large.  At the very least, the lawyer one selects for a small business must provide a certain set of acquired and specialized skills.

The first skill a lawyer must provide is dealing with contracts.  Business usually need a attorney who can understand the business quickly; prepare the standard form contracts needed with customers, clients and suppliers; and help the entrepreneur respond to contracts that other person will want him/her to sign.

The second service an attorney will need to provide is for business organization. Businesses will need a lawyer who can help decide whether a corporation or limited liability company (LLC) is the better way to organize the business, and prepare the paperwork accordingly.

Real estate is also a specialized area that may often times require the trained skills of an attorney. Leases of commercial space such as offices and retail stores can be highly complex and are always drafted to benefit the landlord. Because they tend to be standard documents, one may be tempted to think they are not negotiable. However an attorney can have a standard “tenant’s addendum,” containing provisions that benefit the business owner, that can be added to the standard lease document.

The area of taxes is one that tends to get overlooked in terms of attorney’s services. Although the accountant will prepare and file business tax returns as necessary, it is the lawyer who should (also) know how to register the business for tax identification numbers and understand the tax consequences of the more basic business transactions in which the business will engage.

For businesses and entities that are in a media, design or other creative-type areas, it is certainly a bonus to have an attorney that can help register products and services for trademark and copyright protection. Generally, these tasks are performed by specialists who do nothing but ‘intellectual property’ legal work. If a lawyer specializes in small businesses, then he or she should have a close working relationship with one or more intellectual property specialist.

As a rule of thumb it is also always good to secure legal advice or legal service to avoid or certainly before the entity is in legal trouble with another party or the state. These things are often the result of ignorance of the law and the ramifications of certain actions, which an attorney could have advised on.

Also one must consider whether to seek the services of a large firm or a small firm. While larger firms are more costly, they have two distinct advantages. Firstly, they usually have all the legal skills in the various specialized areas. They would more likely be able to effectively handle lawsuits, negotiate lease of office or retail space, file a patent or trademark, draft a software license agreement and advise on terminating a disruptive employee. Secondly, larger firms have more clout in the local and regional legal community. A terse letter from a “powerhouse” law firm with offices in more than one country is a lot more intimidating than a nasty letter from a solo practitioner with limited experience.

Much like accountants, their services are often underappreciated and overlooked. Again, much like accountants the question is not if you need and can afford legal services, but can you afford to not have legal services – if even on an ‘as needed’ basis.