WHEN DO I NEED A LAWYER?

Knowing when to seek counsel can make a world of difference in protecting your rights.

Seeking legal counsel from a competent attorney at the right time can often significantly effect the attorney's ability to protect your interests. We have encountered endless cases where earlier legal intervention would have resolved catastrophic consequences, or at best would have served to better protect certain rights. If you are not sure if you need counsel yet, it is better to be conservative and seek a consultation now.  The following are guidelines that we think may help you decide if you need help now.

• I am forming a business: Seek counsel BEFORE beginning the business formation process or filing any documents. When you are considering a new business concept, the rule of thumb is the "sooner the better". An experienced business attorney can save you time and money by counseling on the best way to move forward from the start to protect your assets and develop the entity, develop and protect your trademarks, develop a partner arrangement, and consider other contractual arrangements.

• I am considering using a brand name, business name, or new logo:  Many new businesses wait until using a name or logo for months or even years before seeking counsel on trademark issues. This can be extremely detrimental and many business find out the hard way that they can no longer use a name or logo. This results in substantial costs and loss of business goodwill by forcing a business to change their logo, name, web page domain name, signs, business cards, etc.

• I am about to sign an agreement: Seek counsel as soon as you begin negotiating a new agreement. Experienced counsel can save you time and money and better protect your rights by assisting with a negotiating strategy and ensuring that you consider important legal and business terms from the beginning. In addition, counsel can help you draft agreements or review agreements that are proposed by others, or come up with different or creative ways to build a transaction to better effectuate your needs or design a structure that is the best fit for all parties. This process often takes time and by waiting to a late stage in the process, the consummation of the agreement can be delayed or even worse, your rights may be negatively effected due to the need to get the deal done expediently.
  
• I am forming a band, in a band, signing a record deal or publishing, starting a label, or signing an agreement to perform a show: Many music business often ignore legal and business issues. Whether a performer, artists, venue promoter, manager, producer, publisher, or other music, arts, or sports related business or individual, we have encountered endless cases where earlier legal intervention would have resolved catastrophic consequences, or at best would have served to better protect certain rights.
  
• I am thinking about purchasing or selling real estate. Attorneys can BEST protect your rights in real estate if you seek counsel BEFORE you sign a real estate purchase agreement. Often times these agreements are signed and only THEN is an attorney contacted to assist at the closing. Once the agreement is signed, it is difficult, if not impossible to protect your some or all of contractual right.
• I have a legal issue that could at some point turn into a future lawsuit. Whether you are thinking about suing or you think you might be sued, contact a lawyer at the first inclination that there might be problem at some point down the road. People are often delay contacting a lawyer because they fear that lawyers are expensive and they hope the problem will resolve itself. However, even if you don't actually need an attorney do anything yet, early lawyer intervention can help you identify your rights and outline steps to take to best protect you if and when the lawsuit comes. The earlier you are ready for the lawsuit the better chances you have to protect your rights. Moreover, an attorney may even be able to better help you AVOID the lawsuit to begin with. At our firm we believe that litigation is an absolute last resort and is typically not beneficial to either party in the end. Therefore, the earlier you contact us, the better chance we have to both avoid the lawsuit and protect your rights in the event of either a pre-litigation resolution or suit being commenced. Bottom line: do not wait to contact an attorney. Even if you don't actually need one now, the earlier you discuss the potential claim, the better off you will be.

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