A: Lawyers’ fees to review a lease generally depend on the amount of time it takes to do the job.  That, in turn, depends on a number of factors, including:

• The billable rate of the attorney
• The length of the lease (or sublease) . . . which is often a reflection of the size (and quality) of the space, the amount of the base monthly rent and the sophistication/experience of the landlord
• The kinds of provisions that may need to be added to the lease to protect you
• The extent to which you want the lawyer to be involved in any negotiations with the landlord, which reflects the extent to which you have been provided with a “take it or leave it” offer from the landlord.

Some attorneys may be able to do the work for a fixed fee, so be sure to ask them if they’re able to perform this kind of service on a fixed-fee rate.  If not, you can certainly ask for an estimate based on the scope of the lease and their billable rate.

And yet.

And yet, we can be your greatest support system.  Your protector.  The cool head prevailing when you’re ready to lose your mind.  The one who talks you down off the ledge.  And maybe (if you’re lucky enough to work with me), we’ll tell you a joke or two and make you laugh, so that you realize the world won’t come to an end if that truly awful deal doesn’t close. 

In his article in the New York Enterprise Report, Daniel Abrams identifies 10 ways you can get the most out of your attorney.  But before you reach that point, you also need to be sure you’ve chosen the right one for your business.  My program, How to Choose and Use Attorneys, available through GreatBusinessLawResources.com, can show you how to do just that.  Like dating, you want to be sure you have the right chemistry with your attorney so that you’re comfortable being vulnerable and exposing your not-so-perfect qualities/decisions.

Listen in to my interview of Amy Goldsmith, Esq., an  intellectual property attorney and partner at Gottlieb, Rackman & Reisman, P.C. in New York City. Amy gives us the lowdown on:

• Why you can’t “patent” a company name (you trademark it)–and why it’s important to get the terminology straight
• What kinds of trademarks pass muster with the Trademark Office
• How a trademark search (done by professionals) will unearth possible obstacles you never dreamed of  . . .  and save you time, money and energy

If you want your intellectual property to become a valuable company asset, listen to this interview!

Downloading agreements from the internet is good for starting to educate yourself about the kinds of terms you might want to include in agreements with your clients. But here are two significant things the online agreements (even the ones you pay for) can’t tell you:

• They can’t tell you whether there are any provisions in the contract that could hurt you.
• They can’t tell you whether there are any provisions that are missing that could help you.

Poke around the internet all you like; but in the end, only you can decide which business terms are best for you. What specific products or services will you provide to your clients? Within what time frame do you want to be paid? What happens if you’re not paid in a timely manner? Have a look at my program, How to Train Your Clients to Pay You, to get the lowdown on the important decisions you’ll need to make. And once you’ve made those decisions, have your attorney wrap them up in a nice, neat legal bow to protect you properly.

Of course, this leaves aside the issue of whether you really should be doing business with someone who shoves an NDA under your nose 2 minutes before you’re about to begin a meeting with him or her and expects you to sign it without the benefit of discussing it with your legal counsel. If he or she won’t give you the time to review it carefully (assuming you’re an entrepreneur who takes her contract obligations seriously), you may want to take your business elsewhere. If you’re in a line–or at a stage–of business where NDAs are common, speak to your attorney to get guidance in advance about how best to handle these kinds of situations if they arise.

Well, apparently, the scammers are getting more sophisticated, and some of my bretheren at the bar have fallen for it. As reported in the California Bar Journal:

The scammers know how to delay confirmation that the cashier’s check is not good long enough to get the client trust account money into their own hands, says Ted Kitada, senior counsel for Wells Fargo & Co. They do that by changing the nine-digit MICR (magnetic ink character recognition) lines at the bottom of the check. The bank check may say Citibank, but the code recognizes the check as from, say, a Dallas financial institution.

“Wrongdoers deliberately put misinformation on the MICR line to cause the item to be misrouted,” says Kitada. “Misrouting causes a delay in the processing of the item.”

In defense of those attorneys who got conned, their practice sometimes includes international transactions (so the solicitation was not totally out of line). Also, their initial due diligence appeared to show that the overseas companies (Hong Kong, as reported) were legit.

The lesson: For any of you dealing with overseas payments by cashier’s check, beware. If you have to transfer any funds back overseas to a client, do not be pressured into returning the funds until you are absolutely, positively sure they are there . . .  and have had a few days to sit in your account quietly (without being returned).

50 years ago, May 1 was designated by a joint resolution of Congress as the official date for celebrating Law Day. Originally established by President Dwight D. Eisenhower (by proclamation), Law Day is a national day set aside to celebrate the rule of law and how the legal process contributes to the freedoms that all Americans share.

Before you start to tear your hair out about the ways that laws have complicated your life, take a moment to think about the ways that law has made our society great. People from all over the world risk life and limb, and leave their families behind, to come here. Laws contribute to this being the “land of opportunity.”

Law Day is not just a day to make lawyers feel good about themselves–if you think about what the world was like in 1958, when Law Day was first established, we had emerged from the ashes of World War II, seen two wars in the Middle East, gone in and out of Korea and watched the French get defeated in Vietnam. The U.S. Supreme Court case Brown v. Board of Education (”separate does not mean equal”) had been decided only a few years before and opened the door to significant social change in this country. Law was (and can still be) a way of righting a terrible imbalance of tyranny and unfairness.

We may debate whether laws are wise, necessary or fair, but few would dispense with them altogether. We use laws both to provide our freedoms and to protect our freedoms.

And now, I’m free to get off my soapbox and enjoy the rest of the day!

Turns out, there was very little the seller told her that was true, smooth operator that he was. And Rosie fell for it, hook, line and sinker. What didn’t she do?

• She didn’t ask to see the financials to verify his rosy (no pun intended) reports.
• She didn’t ask to see the lease for the premises to verify arrangements with the landlord.
• She didn’t ask to see the corporate documentation, verifying the seller’s ownership of the company.

Rosie wants out, but getting her out of this deal now is like trying to get milk out of the coffee when you realize you should have had cream. She can’t afford proper legal help because she sank her money into the deposit and on shoring up the ailing business.

As Twilight Zone creator Rod Serling would say: “Offered for your consideration.” Rosie rushed into the deal without guidance from an attorney or any other professional advisor. For whatever her reasons, she had to have this particular business now. For want of spending a few thousand dollars to make sure she got good advice and had seasoned experts watching her back, Rosie is now facing the possible loss of tens of thousands of dollars (that is, a perfectly good down payment that could have been put to better use), additional tens of thousands to get the business up and running (which should already have been up and running), and tens of thousands in possible litigation fees (to either sue the seller or be sued by the seller should she choose to walk away).

So I ask you: When you do the math, is it worth it not to get lawyers involved?

I’ll leave the issue of how important it is for professionals to disclose their fees to clients in advance for another post. For today, however, I have another lesson: Sometimes, you get what you pay for. And if you pay nothing (or very little) for legal services, you may get just that.

This came to mind because of a recent article in The New York Times. Two brothers in Colorado have been accused of duping clients in a long-standing (15-year) fraud by running companies that claim to be a “legal aid” referral service, offering to “help you through the legal process.” As reported by Kirk Johnson,

Some victims wired money in exchange for legal help that never materialized, Ms. Martinez said. She offered the example of a Texas woman, Kristy Matthijetz, who sought help in a child custody case and paid a fee of $525. Ms. Matthijetz was told that a lawyer would meet her at her hearing, but the lawyer never appeared. She spoke for herself in court and ended up losing custody of her daughter.

A word to the wise: Unless you’re dealing with an attorney you have met or who comes recommended, do a little digging to make sure he or she is really an advisor who can meet your needs.

A pre-paid legal plan is like legal insurance.  You’re provided with some services at no cost (except for your monthly membership), some services at a reduced rate.  If most of your company’s legal needs involve quick consultations, pre-paid legal could be a convenient solution.  One of the drawbacks, as reported by Tina Dettman-Bielefeldt, Chairman of the Green Bay (Wisconsin) chapter of the Service Corps of Retired Executives (SCORE) is that you can’t necessarily request a particular attorney.  As a result, you don’t have the same opportunity to work with a trusted advisor who knows about your business and its goals, who can work with you proactively.   

Also, there are many companies offering pre-paid legal plans, and some may be less-than-adequate.  Ask for references, and research the companies before buying the coverage.