If you are like most entrepreneurs, when beginning your own business, you and your team spend countless hours trying to make your startup company as successful as possible. But despite today’s roaring economy, most new businesses fail. So, you want to put together the best team likely to make your new business thrive. A critical member of your team should be an outside general counsel. With the right startup lawyer that has excellent experience helping businesses, your company has a much better chance of success.
An outside general counsel is an attorney that works for your business on routine legal needs of your company on a part-time basis, as opposed to being an employee of your company or in-house attorney. An outside general counsel typically handles corporate matters and corporate filings and yearly meetings, employee and human resource issues, contract negotiation and drafting, sales agreements and vendor issues as well as litigation that company is involved in. Any need that your business has should be at least at the very start, run through and managed through your outside counsel.
There are many benefits to having an outside general counsel versus an in-house attorney that is on the payroll. First and foremost, many startup companies do not need a full-time attorney that is 
an employee of the company. Often there will be short bursts of work required by an attorney. Therefore, it would be more cost-effective and more efficient to have a part-time outside counsel working with you when things need to be accomplished.
Second, an outside counsel lawyer that handles all or most of the company’s legal needs will come to know the ins and outs of your business. With each legal transaction the attorney performs, he or she will become better acquainted with the needs of the business and even the corporate culture. As this knowledge grows, the attorney can become even more efficient with the various legal tasks and become proactive in spotting future issues. As your company becomes more successful and grows, your outside counsel will have the knowledge to grow with your business.
The last reason to retain experienced outside counsel is to allow the people running the business to focus on the business and not have to spend all of their time bogged down in a legal quagmire, some of which they have little understanding of. As an entrepreneur, you are most likely risking everything on your startup company. You are the person that knows your business the most. Your time should be spent running that business. Let the outside counsel attorney worry about the legal aspects and needs of your business.
The attorneys at Leiva Law Firm have been helping corporations and businesses in the position of outside general counsel for over 25 years. We have the knowledge and experience to handle any issues that your company will need to be addressed. Whether you are a new entrepreneur just beginning your startup company or have been in business for years, we can help you sheppard your business through legal minefields. Please do not hesitate to contact us. The consultation is always free.
