Before you hire a business attorney: the questions that show who will serve you well

Ask about fit, representation, fees and communication before anything else

Before you hire a business attorney, ask four things: whether business entities and owner disputes are a core part of their practice, whom they will represent when there is more than one owner, how they charge and what the first piece of work will cost, and how they will explain your documents to you. The answers tell you whether the attorney fits your problem and whether you will understand what you are paying for.

I have been licensed in Texas since 1998 and have practiced business law in Dallas since 2003. I have sat on both sides of this first conversation many times, and the owners who ask pointed questions almost always end up better served. What follows is general information to help you interview any attorney, including me. It is not legal advice about your situation.

Start by checking the basics yourself

Some questions you can answer before the meeting. The State Bar of Texas runs an online membership directory with basic information about attorneys licensed to practice in Texas, and you can search it by name, location and practice area. Confirm the attorney is licensed in Texas and look at how they describe their practice on their own website. An attorney whose site lists forty unrelated practice areas may still be excellent, but you will want to ask how much of their time goes to work like yours.

Think about your own matter before you search, too. Write one paragraph that describes the business, who owns it, what you need and any deadline you know about. That paragraph helps you judge whether an attorney's practice matches your problem, and it makes the first call faster and cheaper. If the matter involves a specialized area, such as a licensed profession, a nonprofit seeking tax exemption, a homeowners association or a construction project, ask specifically about experience in that area rather than assuming general business experience covers it.

Also notice whether the attorney handles only paperwork or also handles disputes. That distinction matters more in business law than most owners realize, and it is the subject of the next question.

Do you draft agreements, litigate them, or both?

An attorney who has spent years in court arguing over badly drafted buy-sell clauses writes different agreements from one who has only drafted them. Litigation teaches you which provisions fail under pressure: the valuation formula nobody can apply, the deadlock clause with no tiebreaker, the non-compete that a court will not enforce as written. My practice covers formation, governance and litigation, so the attorney who drafted the agreement can also enforce it, and I draft with that later reader, a judge or an arbitrator, in mind.

If your matter is purely transactional, a strong drafting attorney may be all you need. If you are forming a company with partners or already sense friction, ask the attorney to describe a dispute they handled that turned on a document. Their answer will show whether they think about how your paperwork will hold up years from now.

Who exactly is your client?

This is the question owners most often forget, and the one that causes the most confusion later. When two or three partners hire one attorney to form a company or draft a company agreement, the attorney may represent the company, one owner, or in some arrangements more than one owner with their informed consent. Each arrangement has consequences for confidentiality and for what happens if the owners later disagree.

A good attorney raises this before you do and puts the answer in the engagement letter. If the interests of the owners differ sharply, for example one is contributing cash and the other labor, it is reasonable for each owner to have independent counsel review the terms. I make clear at the first meeting whom I represent so everyone can decide whether they want their own attorney.

Questions about fees that prevent surprises

Business attorneys bill in different ways, and none is automatically better. What matters is that you understand the arrangement and can predict the cost of the first phase of work. My separate guide on what drives the cost of forming a Texas LLC explains the factors behind a formation quote. For any engagement, ask these questions and get the answers in writing.

Cost-sensitivity is a fair thing to raise directly. Tell the attorney what the matter is worth to you and what you can reasonably spend. A good attorney will tell you honestly whether the economics make sense, suggest a phased approach where it fits, and warn you when a dispute is likely to cost more than it can recover.

• Is this hourly, a flat fee for a defined task, or a mix?
• What exactly does the quoted fee include, and what would be extra?
• Who will do the work, and at what rates if others are involved?
• How will I be billed, and how often?
• Is a retainer required, and how is it applied?
• In a dispute, what is your estimate for the next phase, and what would change it?

Will you work with my CPA and my other advisors?

Business legal decisions and tax decisions are tangled together. Entity choice, distributions, buyout payment terms and tax elections all have tax consequences, and an attorney who drafts without talking to your CPA can leave you with a structure that is legally sound and financially awkward. I work alongside the owner's CPA on entity structure and governance as a matter of course.

Ask the attorney how they coordinate with accountants, bankers, insurance professionals and business brokers. You want someone who sees those people as part of the team rather than as a complication.

A practical test: ask whether the attorney is comfortable joining a call with your CPA before the documents are drafted, and whether they will send drafts to your accountant for review. If the answer is an easy yes, coordination will probably happen. If the attorney treats your other advisors as people to be managed around, expect to be the messenger between them, which costs you time and invites mistakes.

How will you explain my documents to me?

My approach is what I call straight talk counsel. The owners should understand their own documents well enough to govern their company by them, without creating personal liability. If you cannot explain your company agreement in your own words after your attorney walks you through it, something has gone wrong with either the document or the explanation.

Ask whether you will receive a plain-language summary of key provisions, how quickly the attorney usually returns calls and messages, and who your day-to-day contact will be. In a dispute, ask how the attorney keeps you informed and how decisions about settlement and strategy will be made. I work closely with clients at every stage so they control the direction and the cost of their matter.

Red flags in a first meeting

Most attorneys are conscientious, but a few warning signs are worth taking seriously. None of them alone is disqualifying; a pattern of them usually is.

Pay attention to the questions the attorney asks you, as well. A careful attorney wants to know who the owners are, what has been signed, what the business does and what outcome you want before offering opinions. An attorney who gives confident answers before asking any of that is guessing, and guessing is expensive in business law.

• A promise about the outcome of a lawsuit or how a court will rule
• No clear answer about whom they represent when there are several owners
• Reluctance to put the fee arrangement in writing
• A standard-form agreement offered before they understand your business
• Pressure to sue immediately without discussing cost, risk or settlement
• Explanations that leave you more confused than when you arrived

If you are hiring because a dispute has already started

The questions change when there is a lawsuit, a demand letter or a falling-out with a partner. You need to know how quickly the attorney can review your documents, what deadlines may already be running, and how they assess the merits without running up cost. Lawsuits often grow from parties focusing on issues that feel important but have little bearing on the outcome, and an experienced attorney helps you concentrate on the facts that matter.

If a demand letter or a lawsuit has just arrived, the guide on the first ten days after a demand letter or lawsuit is a useful checklist. If the dispute is with your own co-owners, my guide on signs a minority owner is being squeezed out covers what to gather first. Ask any attorney you interview how they approach negotiated settlement, mediation and other alternative dispute resolution, and when they would recommend trial.

Bring these to the first meeting with any attorney

A first meeting is far more productive when the attorney can see the documents rather than hear them described. Bring the certificate of formation, any company agreement, bylaws or shareholder agreement, the relevant contracts, and a short timeline of what happened and when. Write down the outcome you want and the questions you want answered.

If you meet with me, at my office in One Campbell Centre in Dallas or by phone or video, I will tell you what your documents say, where I see risk, what I would do first and what that will cost. Then you decide. Whoever you hire, the right attorney leaves you clearer about your options than when you walked in. Talk to a licensed Texas attorney before you sign, file or respond to anything with legal consequences.

Questions people ask me