Ethos Business Law

“One really good attorney essentially takes the place of three outside counsel.”

This view was expressed by the Vice President, Associate General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer at Best Buy Enterprise Services Inc. in the May 2010 issue of Inside Counsel.  “Their ability to triage, to understand an issue as it’s coming in, can save me immense amounts of outside counsel fees and in-house resources.”  But why is this approach reserved only for in-house counsel — it is not.

Perhaps the distinction is not whether an attorney works in-house or outside, but whether the company has found the right attorney.  Companies must seek out counsel that understand what it is like to live with decisions in a business environment — not those who just make insulated and unpractical recommendations.  The difference between a really good attorney that can triage issues and solve problems and “outside counsel” is not the location of the attorney, but their skill, experience and approach.

The General Counsel Hotline provides a business-centric, proactive tool to allow clients the luxury of in-house counsel at a fraction of the cost.  See how this program can turn three of your outside counsel into one.

Yesterday, the Wall Street Journal published three articles side-by-side addressing a topic that I believe is very important to all businesspeople looking for attorneys (here, here and here).  That topic is the lack of business knowledge and skills taught in law school.  These articles discussed the niche of attorneys that also pursue an MBA — a niche I am a part of and believe is essential when working with business clients.

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LegalZoom, RocketLawyer, Nolo . . . the list goes on and on. So what do you do when you are faced with what seems like a simple legal issue. Do you pick up the phone and call an attorney, or do you grab your mouse and do it yourself? (more…)