the Price of Legal Services for Small Businesses

When I decided to finally open a small restaurant, I hired a lawyer to give me advice and to draft the ownership documents, incorporate the business and set up a structure to minimize taxes. I had an initial meeting with the lawyer for an hour to talk about my plans and requirements, and we then talked on the telephone a number of times while he was doing the work, and then we met one final time for him to present and explain the work and documents to me. He charged a flat fee of $1750 for the service, which covered about 10 hours of time from him and his paralegal, as well as some computer research and filing costs.

I was really concerned about setting up my business in the wrong way, and I found this lawyer through a referral service and he turned out to be exactly what I needed. He understood the stress of opening a small business and provided me with solid advice that was practical and helpful. It made me feel a lot better when he explained things to me in basic terms and I could focus on the business instead of the legal issues. All of the organizational documents turned out fine and the business is still running based in part on the legal advice that I got from that attorney. He was responsive and the cost of the service was reasonable for the nature of the work and his time that he spent.

It is really hard for small businesses to get off the ground, but it is a smart and important investment to get good legal advice, so my suggestion is to spend the money in the beginning to do things right and relieve yourself of some worries.