Operating a business in the fast-paced, high-stakes world of Bay Area tech has no shortage of legal challenges. Whether it's business formation, securing intellectual property, or growing your team, there are significant legal obligations that you must meet for your business to run efficiently. 

It's tempting to think you can “do it all yourself”, but most businesses quickly learn the value of hiring a business lawyer once they run into their first real legal hurdle.  

The good news is most small to midsized and growing businesses benefit immensely from hiring a business lawyer to manage their legal responsibilities.

With over two decades of experience delivering legal advice for businesses in the tech industry, SVTech understands the value of hiring a business lawyer for growing businesses. 

Today we'll answer the question “Do I need a business lawyer?”, discuss business lawyer costs, and examine strategies for choosing a business lawyer.

Do I Need a Business Lawyer?

With so many obligations and responsibilities, many businesses assume they don't need a business lawyer until a legal issue crops up, but business lawyers offer essential legal guidance that's difficult to get on your own, without a full-time in-house legal team. 

While many worry about legal costs for business, waiting until there is trouble to hire a business lawyer is a recipe for disaster. 

The truth is, there are many reasons why small-to medium-sized businesses should establish a working relationship with a business lawyer early on, particularly for those in the tech industry. 

Some of the things that business lawyers can help with include:

• Business formation: Choosing the right business/ownership structure

• Contract creation: Drafting contracts that protect your interests

• IP/asset protection: Safeguarding intellectual property that defines your business

• Regulatory compliance: Helping you meet compliance requirements for your industry

• HR policy development: Building policies that protect your workplace

• Dispute resolution: Managing conflicts with partners, vendors, and employees

And the list goes on. There are simply far too many legal loose ends in the modern business world for a business to handle on their own without help from experienced legal counsel. Business lawyer services give their clients help where they need it most—deciphering legal responsibilities and protecting the best interests of the business.

What Do Business Lawyers Actually Do?

The role of a business lawyer is to provide ongoing legal advice for businesses in a wide range of areas: everything from day-to-day operations to regulatory compliance and contract negotiations. 

Some of the most common benefits of working with a business lawyer include:

Deep Business Experience

Through their work with a diverse range of clients, business lawyers are continually exposed to the legal and operational needs of businesses. That experience is extremely valuable to their clients, and leaves them well positioned to help solve even the most complex legal issues. 

Contract Creation

One of the most valuable business lawyer services is the creation of clear, enforceable contracts. While it may be tempting to use a free online template for your business contracts, without a custom contract you can end up agreeing to unfavorable terms or leaving out important provisions altogether. Working with a business lawyer ensures that contracts are written to protect your interests and reduce exposure. 

Compliance Guidelines

Businesses in the technology industry must maintain constant compliance with a wide variety of regulations around everything from data handling and storage to user privacy. Choosing a business lawyer to work with will help you understand your obligations and ensure that you maintain compliance with rapidly evolving regulations. 

Business Formation

Working with a business attorney for entrepreneurs is essential for startups and businesses that are in the early stages of development. They can advise you on the best business structure for your needs, as well as help you create the ownership structure and bylaws that will govern the day-to-day operation of your business. 

IP and Asset Protection

As a startup, your most valuable asset is your intellectual property (IP). It's what sets you apart in a crowded marketplace, and it is essential that you protect this. A business attorney for entrepreneurs will help you file the right protections for your IP so you don't risk losing it. 

No matter what stage a business is in, choosing a business lawyer to work with helps you solidify your foundation, and avoid mistakes that are far too easy to make on your own. 

What Does a Business Lawyer Cost?

At SVTech, we've found that many of our clients who come to us seeking legal help are initially concerned about the cost of business attorney fees. 

While there is no set range of fees for a business lawyer, it's important to remember that the cost of proactively hiring a business lawyer pales in comparison to the potential legal costs of an avoidable lawsuit or penalty for a compliance violation. 

With that in mind, there are several factors to consider when asking “what does a business lawyer cost?”

Business attorneys typically set their fees based on:

• Number of years of experience

• Their overall success rate 

• The complexity of the case or the industry

• The location of the law firm itself (business lawyers in large cities are likely to charge more than those in smaller cities)

When you're looking to hire a business lawyer, they may offer different payment options based on the scope and nature of the work. 

Common structures include:

• Flat fees: Often used for standardized tasks like business formation or contract review

• Hourly rates: Typical for more complex legal situations

• Retainer: A monthly fee paid for ongoing legal help that can actually be more budget friendly a la carte legal services

The Risks of Not Choosing the Right Business Attorney

Imagine your business is about to license your technology to a third party. Instead of hiring a business lawyer to draft a custom agreement, you grab a free online template. 

However, the template fails to define clear use cases for your technology or restrict competing products. You sign the contract and everything seems fine… until six months later, that same partner releases a clone of your product, using your own technology, to compete directly with you. 

It's not an outcome you expected, but because the language in the agreement was vague, it wasn't prohibited. Now you've got a major problem on your hands that could have been easily avoided with a custom contract. 

While this is just a hypothetical situation, it's one that happens in the tech world more often than most founders realize. 

Hiring a skilled business lawyer is essential to preventing issues like this, along with other risks such as: 

• Unenforceable Contracts: Online templates or poorly drafted agreements from an inexperienced lawyer often lack essential protections. Some end up impossible to enforce. 

• Employment Issues: A business attorney can help avoid costly mistakes like misclassification of employees and navigate disputes before they escalate.

• Ownership/Partnership Disputes: Formation documents define who has decision-making power and even how profits are distributed amongst founders. 

• Tax Implications: Setting up your business without legal guidance can lead to improper or disadvantageous tax classifications. Getting this wrong in the beginning can lead to a very costly realignment that can potentially cost you significant sums.

• Compliance Mistakes: Tech companies have strict rules around data, security, and privacy. Missing a requirement can lead to significant fines, penalties, and reputational damage. 

Navigating these challenges on your own is risky. Hiring a business lawyer early on is an investment in the foundation and success of your business. Fixing these mistakes later can easily exceed the cost of business attorney fees today. 

SVTech: Delivering Legal Advice for Businesses for Over 25 Years

If you're still wondering “Do I need a business lawyer?”, the answer is undoubtedly yes. No organization can survive the cutthroat world of technology without a skilled business attorney at their side to offer customized legal advice for businesses.

Small legal issues can quickly snowball into gigantic problems if they're not handled properly. Establishing a working relationship with a business lawyer early on in your business life-cycle can pay dividends as the relationship grows alongside your business. 

With 25 years of experience serving Bay Area startups, SVTech has the skill, knowledge and expertise to help startups and growing businesses answer their most pressing legal challenges, while providing a solid foundation for future growth. 

Don't wait for a legal issue to arise before choosing a business lawyer to work with. Get legal help today, and begin building a professional relationship that will serve you well now and when you need it most. Contact SVTech today for a free consultation. 

**Disclaimer**

The information provided in this blog post is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Please consult with a qualified attorney to address your specific legal needs.