Tips For Businesses: Getting the Most From Your Attorney

New York City business attorney Dan Abrams has published an article in the New York Enterprise Report called Getting the Most From Your Attorney.  I have linked to it here because it contains lots of helpful suggestions for business owners about how -- and when -- to make the best use of an attorney.  In the third item on Dan's list is one I always emphasize:

Use lawyers to prevent problems, not just fix them. Many small businesses do not have attorneys until they think they need them. You need to make sure you are proactive in identifying legal issues before they become problems, and problems before they become lawsuits.

I would personally prefer to have my days be filled with short, simple, inexpensive legal work that solves problems and ends them, instead of having them filled with long, complicated, intractable and expensive problems.  The latter might ultimately be slightly more lucrative for the attorney, but my view is that both myself and my clients are best served when the problems are handled while they are still small, manageable, easy to handle, and cost little to solve.