What kind of lawyer am i looking for and does it matter?

[luniac]

Hi guys,

Im a tech guy working in the litigation industry for over 3 years.
Its just a job, pays bills, and my silly app business and website expenses on my fastlane journey
Thing is though, despite how much i hate being a wage slave, in the 3 years i have inevitably learned at least some stuff about the litigation industry, especially the kind of work there is to do.

Lately i've been entertaining the idea of starting my own business in a niche slice of the industry.
A lot of the tech stuff we do involves very expensive software with ridiculous licensing costs, but not for the niche I'm interested in. The software ill need are very cheap one time purchases for that niche.

My one big obstacle is the ocean of complex laws and rules regarding sensitive law firm data, nondisclosure stuff, etc, etc...
I know ZERO about that stuff, I'm just a tech drone who gets the actual shit done so the sales guy can make his fat commission, the company gets to charge crazy markups, and i get a bullshit 500 bonus that becomes 250 after 50% tax.

I'm feeling pretty confident that if i can get through the law mumbo jumbo to keep my a$$ covered, I can start calling law firms up and getting jobs. Getting clients of course is my second obstacle but i've been reading up on copywriting, marketing, how to sell and shit. I'm starting to grow a pair of balls to do it, especially since I'm super confident that i can do the tech stuff in this specific niche.

And i can train others to do the tech stuff for me, ergo... FASTLANE BABY...
It would be absolutely poetic if i can pull this off.

My question is what kind of lawyer do i need to talk to, does it even matter?
I never hired anyone before, the task is honestly very daunting to me.

But I've been reading Felix Dennis's book and he talks about taking the skills learned from your industry and if you see an opportunity, grab it!

In the book he talked about raising capital and how he hates dealing with loan sharks and venture capital firms(dolphins), and loves the fishes(friends, family, ordinary folks)
He had a lawyer friend help with forming a company, publisher friends help with talking to printing presses, the dude had good connections.

my only startup costs is getting the cheap software and i guess paying a lawyer cause i don't have connects.... my failure for not networking and being young i guess.

Man if i had a lawyer and a sales guy and we split everything 3 ways, wed make a killing lol

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[MidwestLandlord]

I don't know what kind of lawyer you would need for this, but I can tell you that the type of lawyer and quality of the lawyer matters A LOT.

Lawyer's do specialize. You don't want a real estate lawyer working on this. Nor a lawyer that typically handles divorces, etc.

Your best bet is to probably call one of the largest firms you can find, and explain EXACTLY what you are looking for. Then when they get you in contact with the lawyer in the firm that they think is the best fit, quiz that person. What is their experience in this? What types of issues do they deal with most of the time? After you vet and find what you think is a good fit, continue to judge their performance. Fire them if they prove to be lazy or inept.

I had a lawsuit once that I almost lost, just because the lawyer didn't file the correct paperwork in time. He only had 3 months to get the ONE PAGE FORM done for the state, but NOOO...he still couldn't get it done in time. I had to hunt down his paralegal to get it turned in literally an hour before it was due!

A good lawyer will not only service the issues you know you are looking to fix, but will also point out what you are missing. Much like a good accountant will save you money by guiding you in reducing tax burdens and such.

A good lawyer will explain things in layman's terms too. If you sit down with them and they spout off a bunch of legal bullshit to make themselves look important, look elsewhere.

Keep in mind that if you're not established, you'll probably have to pay a deposit for services up front. Make sure this is refundable if you fire them before you spend it all. In the USA, they are required to give it back...doesn't mean it will happen timely though.

 

[OldFaithful]

Thanks @MidwestLandlord that's great advice for all of us!

 

[MidwestLandlord]

Thanks @MidwestLandlord that's great advice for all of us!

No problem.

More for the OP...

If you're young and inexperienced with lawyers, it can be very easy to be "charmed" by their knowledge. Obviously lawyers are very well educated, and the breadth of knowledge they have can seem daunting. It's easy to "trust the expert" and assume they will do a good job for you. This is especially true if they are a good salesman.

DON'T fall for it. Control your emotions. Learn from them, use their knowledge to your benefit, but never forget they work for YOU.

Make sure you gain a "working knowledge" of how the law works in your situation. You don't have to be an expert, but you don't want to operate in the dark and just say "my lawyer will handle that"

This keeps control for you.

Also, price should not be high on the list of considerations. I do not use the cheapest lawyer in town. I probably don't use the most expensive either, I have no idea. I use an attorney that fits my needs and gives good service. His price is what it is. If his rates go up, I'll pay them, because he does right by me. If he switches firms, I'll follow him, because he does right by me. If he retires, I'll give whomever he recommends a shot, because he does right by me.

In exchange for his good service, not only do I pay his bill timely, but I have referred to him several high paying clients. Plus, he's referred business opportunities to me that have more than made up for his fee's.

Hope this helps.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[G-Man]

Lawyer's do specialize. You don't want a real estate lawyer working on this. Nor a lawyer that typically handles divorces, etc.

A small tale if you will: A few years ago, I was the accountant caught in the middle of two business partners suing each other. It was super fun. One guy was a pill popping violent lunatic that had people calling to find out where I live, and had me parking two blocks away from everywhere I went and checking under my car before I started it. Like I said, super fun.

Douchey McGee hired a smooth talking fancy suit lawyer to handle his case and the filthiest, book cookingest forensic accountant I've ever had the misfortune to step in.

Other partner, let's call him Captain America, hired a super boring attorney whose entire practice consists of himself and an assistant. Captain America's attorney had done a ton of cases with this set of circumstances. He was also quite expensive. Because people that are competent to get you out of expensive fubars are expensive, get it?

Captain kicked Douchey's a$$. I mean, beat. that. a$$. At the end, the judge was so pissed that Douchey's lawyers had wasted the court's time that he basically demanded everyone get out of his court room.

Turns out, Douchey's attorney handled mainly divorces, and the forensic "accountant" also handled mainly divorces and had some kind of cert from a community college, which I realized when I got questioned after her, and had to explain to the court that the bitch clearly didn't know how an ACH works... which you might not if you've only ever done divorces....

Take the time to find a lawyer that really knows this shit. You'll probably find some super boring guy that works his entire life with just this area of law and charges 500 an hour.

Make sure you gain a "working knowledge" of how the law works in your situation. You don't have to be an expert, but you don't want to operate in the dark and just say "my lawyer will handle that"

Also this. You can't practice caveat emptor in attorney hiring if you don't at least have a grasp of the basics.

 

[MidwestLandlord]

A small tale if you will: A few years ago, I was the accountant caught in the middle of two business partners suing each other. It was super fun. One guy was a pill popping violent lunatic that had people calling to find out where I live, and had me parking two blocks away from everywhere I went and checking under my car before I started it. Like I said, super fun.

Douchey McGee hired a smooth talking fancy suit lawyer to handle his case and the filthiest, book cookingest forensic accountant I've ever had the misfortune to step in.

Other partner, let's call him Captain America, hired a super boring attorney whose entire practice consists of himself and an assistant. Captain America's attorney had done a ton of cases with this set of circumstances. He was also quite expensive. Because people that are competent to get you out of expensive fubars are expensive, get it?

Captain kicked Douchey's a$$. I mean, beat. that. a$$. At the end, the judge was so pissed that Douchey's lawyers had wasted the court's time that he basically demanded everyone get out of his court room.

Turns out, Douchey's attorney handled mainly divorces, and the forensic "accountant" also handled mainly divorces and had some kind of cert from a community college, which I realized when I got questioned after her, and had to explain to the court that the bitch clearly didn't know how an ACH works... which you might not if you've only ever done divorces....

Take the time to find a lawyer that really knows this shit. You'll probably find some super boring guy that works his entire life with just this area of law and charges 500 an hour.



Also this. You can't practice caveat emptor in attorney hiring if you don't at least have a grasp of the basics.

Haha! I love stories like that.

My sister sued me once (long story)

She hired the most expensive lawyer in town. I needed a lawyer that specialized in this problem, couldn't use my regular lawyer, and on his recommendation hired this 4'5 tiny woman lawyer that my sister's lawyer kept calling "small fry"

One of the smartest people I've ever met in my life. Gorgeous too lol.

That tiny woman DESTROYED my sister's attorney in court. It was EPIC.

Worth every penny just for the entertainment!

 

[luniac]

lmao great stories and thanks a lot for the advice, pretty much my thoughts as well.

Right now i'm asking all my friends if they personally know any lawyers, cause i'd be willing to partner up with one. Everyone needs a financial start in life somewhere even if it means i lose equity.

But anyway this isn't the only basket im looking at, it's just something that really feels promising to me and worth trying to execute.

Thanks again guys!

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[luniac]

OMG! holy shit! this is almost surreal...

just hit up a former coworker asking if he knew a lawyer and to partner up and get the business going, and he told me he got hit up by another former coworker just last week asking to start business in the same industry!!! and that second coworker has lawyer affiliations!!!!

is this F*ckin insane or what!?!?! he's gonna hit me back up as soon as possible to set up a meeting and we can discuss shit.

WOWOWWOW i don't know wtf is gonna happen, maybe it'll happen maybe not, but goddamn it im gonna give it a shot i don't care if i end up looking like a fool, or failing spectacularly, im so F*ckin hype right now!

The coworker i called even said that when the other coworker called him about starting business, he wasn't really warming up to the idea but now that I called as well, it's getting him interested now.

Just the hypeness im feeling right now is already worth it!

 

[Ubermensch]

Hi guys,

Im a tech guy working in the litigation industry for over 3 years.
Its just a job, pays bills, and my silly app business and website expenses on my fastlane journey
Thing is though, despite how much i hate being a wage slave, in the 3 years i have inevitably learned at least some stuff about the litigation industry, especially the kind of work there is to do.

Lately i've been entertaining the idea of starting my own business in a niche slice of the industry.
A lot of the tech stuff we do involves very expensive software with ridiculous licensing costs, but not for the niche I'm interested in. The software ill need are very cheap one time purchases for that niche.

My one big obstacle is the ocean of complex laws and rules regarding sensitive law firm data, nondisclosure stuff, etc, etc...
I know ZERO about that stuff, I'm just a tech drone who gets the actual shit done so the sales guy can make his fat commission, the company gets to charge crazy markups, and i get a bullshit 500 bonus that becomes 250 after 50% tax.

I'm feeling pretty confident that if i can get through the law mumbo jumbo to keep my a$$ covered, I can start calling law firms up and getting jobs. Getting clients of course is my second obstacle but i've been reading up on copywriting, marketing, how to sell and shit. I'm starting to grow a pair of balls to do it, especially since I'm super confident that i can do the tech stuff in this specific niche.

And i can train others to do the tech stuff for me, ergo... FASTLANE BABY...
It would be absolutely poetic if i can pull this off.

My question is what kind of lawyer do i need to talk to, does it even matter?
I never hired anyone before, the task is honestly very daunting to me.

But I've been reading Felix Dennis's book and he talks about taking the skills learned from your industry and if you see an opportunity, grab it!

In the book he talked about raising capital and how he hates dealing with loan sharks and venture capital firms(dolphins), and loves the fishes(friends, family, ordinary folks)
He had a lawyer friend help with forming a company, publisher friends help with talking to printing presses, the dude had good connections.

my only startup costs is getting the cheap software and i guess paying a lawyer cause i don't have connects.... my failure for not networking and being young i guess.

Man if i had a lawyer and a sales guy and we split everything 3 ways, wed make a killing lol

Hey, man. Kudos to you for putting yourself out there.

You raised many different points in the OP; I'll address what I consider relevant to your success.

It is not clear to me why you need an attorney. Are you looking for an attorney to help you network within the legal industry to meet other attorneys and law firms (i.e. potential prospects)? If that is your reasoning, I think that is a pretty good idea. However, don't stop there. If you really believe in the idea, you should be willing to get on the phone and cold call for clients yourself. Obviously, the goal is not to cold call for the rest of your life, but if it's your idea - and you're real about the passion behind it - no one will be able to sell the service or product like you. Once you develop the sales process and have success, you will be able to scale by replicating yourself.

If you're going to sell to attorneys, it would probably be a good idea to consult with an attorney in the relevant industry to ask questions about industry stipulations and rules that you may not be aware of. And it always good to have an attorney to protect yourself.

 

[luniac]

Hey, man. Kudos to you for putting yourself out there.

You raised many different points in the OP; I'll address what I consider relevant to your success.

It is not clear to me why you need an attorney. Are you looking for an attorney to help you network within the legal industry to meet other attorneys and law firms (i.e. potential prospects)? If that is your reasoning, I think that is a pretty good idea. However, don't stop there. If you really believe in the idea, you should be willing to get on the phone and cold call for clients yourself. Obviously, the goal is not to cold call for the rest of your life, but if it's your idea - and you're real about the passion behind it - no one will be able to sell the service or product like you. Once you develop the sales process and have success, you will be able to scale by replicating yourself.

If you're going to sell to attorneys, it would probably be a good idea to consult with an attorney in the relevant industry to ask questions about industry stipulations and rules that you may not be aware of. And it always good to have an attorney to protect yourself.

Thank you.

To be more clear, i need an attorney to handle the paperwork for sensitive data laws and such stuff.
Basically in my industry we process confidential court case data. I presume law firms have contracts with litigation support companies that encompass all that nondisclosure and sensitive data mumbo jumbo i know nothing about.
I have a sense that this stuff is SUPER important so i need an expert lawyer who can handle this stuff.
I'm pretty sure i can't even begin to do work for law firms until this is done.

But yes it'd also be pretty awesome if the lawyer i end up working with can also become a client


P.S.
this is also the reason why my coworkers never even bother considering quitting and starting their own shit.
They hit a brick wall with all the law stuff, not even counting the getting clients part. We're all just tech workers.
But i'm gonna give it a shot and see if i can surmount this obstacle. The meeting i'm gonna have hopefully sooner than later is a step in the right direction i think.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Ubermensch]

Thank you.

To be more clear, i need an attorney to handle the paperwork for sensitive data laws and such stuff.
Basically in my industry we process confidential court case data. I presume law firms have contracts with litigation support companies that encompass all that nondisclosure and sensitive data mumbo jumbo i know nothing about.
I have a sense that this stuff is SUPER important so i need an expert lawyer who can handle this stuff.
I'm pretty sure i can't even begin to do work for law firms until this is done.

But yes it'd also be pretty awesome if the lawyer i end up working with can also become a client


P.S.
this is also the reason why my coworkers never even bother considering quitting and starting their own shit.
They hit a brick wall with all the law stuff, not even counting the getting clients part. We're all just tech workers.
But i'm gonna give it a shot and see if i can surmount this obstacle. The meeting i'm gonna have hopefully sooner than later is a step in the right direction i think.

I used to handle highly sensitive company data and transport it for a living when I was much younger and starting out hustling. I am NOT an attorney. However, I understand their purpose, and I appreciate their role in "The Game."

Why are you asking this forum? It should be common sense to just pick up the phone and talk to an attorney. Asking this forum to answer your questions is borderline action-faking.

I mean, think about it. If you think you need an attorney... duh, pick up the phone and call one.

smh

*walks away*