Ask HN: How did you pick your lawyer or law firm?

#1

Post by SuperDuperTango » Mon, May 05, 2014, 4:22 AM UTC

(ok, take two on this)

I'm a few months into my startup and need to incorporate and make it all "official". It's a tech startup (duh), so will be doing founder stock, bringing on employees, raising capital at some point, etc (the usual things that a startup does).

If you have picked, or are going through the process of picking a lawyer or law firm to work with, what criteria did you use or why did you pick the lawyer/firm that you're using?

I realize there will be a bunch of varying opinions about this, but I'd like to hear what other folks have done. Thanks.

Re: Ask HN: How did you pick your lawyer or law firm?

#2

Post by ejain » Mon, May 05, 2014, 5:44 AM UTC

Where are you located? If possible, pick a lawyer who is used to working with tech startups. Such lawyers will sometimes do free "office hours", which is a good opportunity for you to "interview" the lawyer.

Re: Ask HN: How did you pick your lawyer or law firm?

#3

Post by andymoe » Mon, May 05, 2014, 6:01 AM UTC

Here is what I did. I got a recommendation from someone I trust who has run (and sold) a few successful businesses. This was years before I started my current venture. Reached out and ask the attorney to read my employment contracts every few years. It only ever took an hour or two of his time for each one and built trust on both sides. (you would be amazed the stuff in employment contracts btw... it's always worth the couple hundred bucks to have them looked over.)

When my partner and I were hashing out our operating agreement it was an easy call to make and the trust was already established. I guess this is not very helpful to your situation since you are already in it but I'd suggest going to someone you trust and asking for a personal recommendation. Someone with experience like ejain said is a good idea as well.

Re: Ask HN: How did you pick your lawyer or law firm?

#4

Post by 27182818284 » Mon, May 05, 2014, 7:04 AM UTC

Knowing that the price of tall buildings typically grows faster than linear we chose the law firm that occupied multiple floors of the tallest building.

Re: Ask HN: How did you pick your lawyer or law firm?

#5

Post by mcherm » Mon, May 05, 2014, 1:34 PM UTC

27182818284 wrote: post #4

Knowing that the price of tall buildings typically grows faster than linear we chose the law firm that occupied multiple floors of the tallest building.

An interesting approach. It might, however, be optimizing for the wrong thing.

Re: Ask HN: How did you pick your lawyer or law firm?

#6

Post by Mankhool » Mon, May 05, 2014, 5:27 PM UTC

I read an article on Techvibes written by a lawyer who is interested in working exclusively with startups and SMEs. His website has an online form for Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions quotes. It was very straightforward - you fill in some information about your startup and that's it. He called the next day and got more details. His pricing is great and he is flexible on payment terms for startups. So that's how I became a client . . . if you are in Canada PM me and I'll send you his info. He does incorporations too - although if again, if you are in Canada you can do a Federal Inc online for $200.

Re: Ask HN: How did you pick your lawyer or law firm?

#7

Post by jwb119 » Mon, May 05, 2014, 6:40 PM UTC

I'm a startup lawyer at one of the big firms in SV.

My recommendation would be to shop around and find someone that you like working with, and most importantly, ask to meet the junior associate that will be doing most of the work for you. Your ideal fit will be a partner that will help you with the big strategic decisions (because they've seen other startups grow) and a junior associate that is responsive and fun to work with.

Re: Ask HN: How did you pick your lawyer or law firm?

#8

Post by JSeymourATL » Mon, May 05, 2014, 8:03 PM UTC

I have a preference for lawyers with previous Big Firm experience that have graduated to smaller firm or solo-practitioner status. They typically have a mix of major league seasoning and a certain rugged business acumen.

Re: Ask HN: How did you pick your lawyer or law firm?

#9

Post by SuperDuperTango » Tue, May 06, 2014, 1:19 AM UTC

ejain wrote: post #2

Where are you located? If possible, pick a lawyer who is used to working with tech startups. Such lawyers will sometimes do free "office hours", which is a good opportunity for you to "interview" the lawyer.

I'm in Mountain View, so yeah, i'm in the thick of it.

Re: Ask HN: How did you pick your lawyer or law firm?

#10

Post by SuperDuperTango » Tue, May 06, 2014, 1:21 AM UTC

I've been talking to friends, and one friend who had a startup said they went for the big guns (Wilson Sonsini, Orrick, Fenwick & West, etc) since they thought it would look better to VCs when they went to get their Series A. That's a criteria I hadn't thought of. What do you think of it?