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Business Lawyers Minneapolis: Preparing for Initial Consultation II

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In previous article, I discussed what type of information you should bring to your Minneapolis business attorney. In this essay, I shift the focus toward the second part of the preparation which is about what type of questions you need to ask your business lawyer.

Usually, the questions that you want your Minneapolis business lawyer to answer should, at the very least, cover the following four areas:

1.    Cost and Billing

The most common and important issue is the cost of the case as well as the manner in which you will be billed.  Unless this is a flat-fee case, you should not expect your business attorney to give you a precise amount of money you will need to spend on your case.  Usually, a Minneapolis business lawyer will give you an estimate, which, in the end, may or may not correspond to the actual cost of the case.

In terms of the manner of billing, you are likely to billed per hour in most business litigation and large business transaction matters. Small contracts and certain common-place business services are often subject to a flat fee with an additional hourly fee charged in case of further modifications as requested by a client.

2.     Time

The next area you should discuss with your Minneapolis business attorney is how long the case will need to be conducted.   The estimates here are likely to vary significantly.   While it is often fairly easy to predict when an employment contract will be finished, it is much harder to estimate an amount of time a business litigation case may take (especially if an extensive motion practice is anticipated).

3.    Participation

Ask your Minneapolis business lawyer about who will handle your case – i.e. whether the attorney will handle it personally or turn it over to his associates.  When you are dealing with a large law firm, you run the risk that the attorney with whom you are having the initial consultation will not be the one handling your case, especially if you are a small business or an individual.  Due to common division of labor in large law firms, it is very likely that the case will be turned over to inexperienced associates whose work will be only reviewed by the attorney who conducted the initial consultation.

If, however, you are hiring a small firm or a solo practitioner, you are very likely to avoid this problem and your case will be handled from the beginning through the end by your experienced business lawyer who is probably an owner of the law firm and personally responsible for the case.

4.     Percentage of Practice

The last question is how much time per month, on the average, your Minneapolis business attorney devotes to his business practice.  At a minimum, your business lawyer should devote about 25% of his practice to business law.

Conclusion

While these four questions do not represent a complete list of questions you should ask your business attorney, they are likely to provide that minimum background necessary for the review of a retainer agreement with your Minneapolis business lawyer.

Sherayzen Law Office can help you with your business issues, whether you want to establish a new business, create a legal structure for an existing one, draft an employment contract or an Independent Contractor Agreement, engage in complex business planning, litigate a business dispute, and so on.

Contact Sherayzen Law Office to discuss your business case with an experienced business attorney!

Minnesota Business Lawyers: Applying for a Business License

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In many industries, obtaining a business license is one of the most significant prerequisites for doing business in Minnesota. Paradoxically, despite its importance, too many businesses resist involving Minnesota business lawyers in this process from the very beginning – at the stage of the business license application preparation. Instead, attorneys throughout Minnesota (including Minneapolis business attorneys and St. Paul business attorneys) are involved in the process only after the business license application is rejected by the relevant state agency.

There are two primary reasons for the late involvement of Minnesota business lawyers in the process. First, business owners believe themselves perfectly capable of filling-out a license application. Second, small businesses are always looking for a way to cut costs and think they are saving money by involving business lawyers only by the time of an administrative appeal hearing.

Both motivations are flawed. A business license application often involves much more than simply filling out the basic information and gathering the supporting materials (such as financial statements or criminal records). The key to a successful application is the ability to spot potential issues and fix the problems prior to the submission of the application to the government agency. It is true that Minnesota business owners are smart and energetic individuals perfectly capable of filling out an application. However, they often lack the necessary legal experience and training to identify potential problems and know how to fix them.

Second, it is much cheaper to involve an attorney at an early stage of the business license application process than to deal with the problems at an administrative appeal hearing. Prior to the submission of the application to the agency, the attorney should be able to review the application filled-out by the owner and all of the supporting materials, spot potential problems, and advise on how to fix these problems immediately. Even after the application is submitted and the relevant Minnesota government agency raises an objection, involving an attorney who may be able to negotiate the solution to the problem prior to the final agency determination may prove to be very cost-effective.

By the time the application is rejected, however, Minnesota business license appeal lawyers will have to deal with a prolonged process defending the business owner’s interests. Even worse, in many cases, the burden of proof may be on the initial applicant, which means, for example, that a business lawyer would have to prove that the government more likely than not committed an error of judgment (or some other legal theory).

In sum, litigation is almost always more expensive than the prophylactic measure of involving a Minnesota business license lawyer at an early stage of the business license application process. At the very latest (i.e. the last opportunity to save the application while lowering legal expenses), the business owners should involve Minnesota business lawyers at the time when they receive the first request for additional information from a relevant Minnesota government agency.

Sherayzen Law Office can help you at every stage of the business license application process, starting from the initial review of the application to dealing with the government agencies , handling the administrative appeal hearing, and litigating further appeals to the district court and higher appellate courts if necessary.

Call  to speak with an experienced Minnesota business license application lawyer!