The Value of Having a Business Acquisition Attorney
When it comes to buying or selling a business, hiring the right acquisition lawyer near you is an essential part of the transaction process. These lawyers can provide the legal expertise of negotiating your deal and drafting all necessary contracts that will fulfill your legal obligations while protecting your interests . Your acquisition lawyer can help negotiate any contingencies or conditions that may impact the transaction, as well as guide you through the due diligence process to ensure all requirements or stipulations are met before closing.
Your acquisition lawyer will work diligently to ensure you stay protected through the entire transaction period, so you never get caught up in on-going surprises and you don’t lose out on money or make poor decisions that impact the outcome.
Top Qualifications for Your Business Acquisition Lawyer
An essential step in acquiring a business is hiring an experienced business acquisition lawyer to assist you with the process. Finding the best business acquisition lawyer near you means looking for the following key traits: Experience: Depending on your industry and business size, you may want a lawyer with a specific type of experience. However, any top business acquisition lawyer will have significant experience in business acquisitions and should be willing to discuss this with you. Specialization in Business Law: Business acquisition law is a highly specialized area that requires an in-depth knowledge of the business formation, merger, and acquisition process and laws. A top business acquisition lawyer will only accept your case if it falls within his or her area of expertise. Successful Case History: As with many other areas of the law, successful legal representation is often determined by the success of prior cases. If you want to find the best business acquisition lawyer near you, speak directly to past clients about their experience.
How Being Local Can Help the Success of Your Business
Most people, when looking for the best local business acquisition lawyer they can find, consider familiarity with the laws of the state in which they conduct their business operations. While it is indeed essential for any business lawyer to have this expertise, there is another kind of experience that is equally essential if not more so. This is locally relevant experience, both regulatory and market based.
Legal assistance with acquisitions or buyouts is not the same everywhere. Some states are friendlier to business purchasers than others. In Delaware, for example, where there are no usury limitations on the rates charged by lenders, the risk of incurring bad faith claims is greatly reduced. In Texas, usury penalties are quite harsh. Any person who sues in Texas for a usurious rate (amount exceeding the legally prescribed maximum rate), even when such a loan was inextricably part of a larger commercial project and the loan was at market rates, may be entitled to a very steep damages award including attorney’s fees. In California and Florida, lenders must charge the same loan rates (even at the risk of having the loan declared usurious) as those charged for such loans that are initiated in the originating state, but need to do so for at least 10 days before the loan is consummated.
Local market knowledge is also crucial to your success in business. By this we mean an understanding of the supply and demand for goods and services in both the originating and acquiring markets. Some markets are over-saturated, with more sellers than buyers at a given time, while others are much more profitable places for company acquisitions because you will not be in direct competition with other firms having similar business goals. The sourcing of local information about businesses in potential acquisition markets will afford you far more leverage in negotiations, because you will know what your counterpart does not about either side’s position.
Most importantly, having intimate knowledge of your market can lead you to the sweetheart of a deal and also warn you away from a lemon. Understanding how a local economy works will help you to be a better negotiator and dealmaker. Simply put, the more you know about a local economy, the lower the chance you have of getting burned on a business deal, is that deal a merger, a buyout, a purchase or an investment.
Merely moving to a different state for a couple of months and opening an office as part of a deal does not suffice to make you a local market expert. The time spent deliberately in acquiring a deal or deal(s) will afford you the perspective to make top-dollar and avoid bottom dollar. Your current lawyers may indeed have acquired the skills to advise you well enough but only if they have located and used outside counsel familiar with local law and local markets. In other words, there is a limit to what they can offer you, and finding the best local acquisition counsel can make a world of difference in any business deal.
Things You Must Ask Your Business Acquisition Lawyer
Business owners considering a merger or acquisition should start a dialogue with prospective lawyers early in the deal process. When you are looking to buy into or sell a business for the best price, it is in your best interest to get a sense of whether your attorney can craft a transaction that suits your needs and helps you meet your goals. Some questions that are important to ask your prospective lawyer include:
1) What is your fee structure?
Be sure you know exactly what the attorney’s rates will be. Rates often vary, and can be based on a fixed fee schedule, hourly rate, monthly retainer, or a combination of these. Be sure you are comfortable with the method of payment your lawyer is asking for.
2) How long have you handled these types of transactions?
If you are looking to divest yourself of a segment of your business or expand by acquiring another company, it is important that you know how much experience your attorney has actually represented similar types of deals. Be sure the lawyer has the requisite experience needed to handle the complexities of your specific deal. If the attorney has handled other deals but not ones similar to yours , ask him or her how they plan to educate themselves about your industry and the specifics of your transaction.
3) Who else will be involved in your deal?
If your attorney will be bringing in other attorneys, paralegals, or even law students to assist with your transaction, find out who will be involved and what experience they have handling such cases. Doing this can save you a lot of trouble later, as you will know from the beginning the lawyer’s whole team of personnel who will be working for you.
4) What else can you provide?
Ask what other services the attorney may offer that can benefit your company, such as tax services, HR support services, insurance brokering services and advice about other legal issues you may face as an entrepreneur. Additionally, determine if the lawyer can help you assess other competing law firms and business advisors to ensure your interests are globally protected.
Hiring a Business Lawyer and How Much It Costs
Cost Considerations for Hiring a Business Acquisition Lawyer
Working with the right business acquisition lawyer can not only be key to a successful transaction but also to ensuring you get the right services for your investment. When it comes to fees, different business acquisition lawyers have different approaches and fee structures. Here are some costs of hiring a business lawyer you will want to be aware of:
Fee Structures – There are a range of fee structures used by business acquisition lawyers. Familiarize yourself with them all so that you know what will end up costing you more in fees. For example, there are hourly fees, flat fees, and retainers, in addition to upfront costs. Hourly fees are charged based on a predetermined hourly rate, and typically, the more experience the business lawyer has, the higher this hourly fee will be. A flat fee is usually charged for specific services, such as a business agreement or purchase agreement. The reason you will want to ask upfront about fees and for an estimate of total costs for any services rendered is that they often increase once the transaction gets underway. An additional consideration is whether or not travel costs will be included, especially if the lawyer is not located in the same town where your business is located.
Value of Services – Many small businesses charge lower rates than larger firms that have more experienced lawyers working in business acquisitions. However, in many cases, that can also mean lower value services that could result in avoidable mistakes. The right business lawyer will perform a thorough due diligence process that helps to ensure a problem-free transaction.
Adding Financial Value – The best business acquisition lawyers add financial value to your transaction by helping you to negotiate a better deal, performing the due diligence process that helps you to avoid costly problems later on, and preparing the paperwork for the transaction, saving you time and money. A good lawyer will be able to help you gauge the worth of the business you are considering purchasing. This helps to ensure that a fair amount of money is being paid for it up front, which will have a significant impact since you will be paying interest each month in addition to the principal of the loan.
There isn’t one particular way to find the right business acquisition lawyer to help you purchase a business. While even a smaller town may have a number of law firms, you may have to do some research to determine the best lawyer for the job.
Locating and Selecting the Right Lawyer Near You
So, that takes care of the initial selection for the best business acquisition lawyer for you. And now you need to do some due diligence on that short list of prospective lawyers. You need to find a business acquisition lawyer near you, either by looking in your local search engine, and/or using a legal directory or lawyer finder service. Either way, you will be lead to a listing service or directory that turns up attorneys by their location.
For example, let’s say you’ve done your homework, and come up with a short list of potential lawyers, by searching for "business acquisition lawyers near me." From this search, you’ll see a few lawyers with excellent reviews, nearby.
But do you really know, based on a few reviews, if these lawyers are the best ones suited to your needs? Not necessarily.
Legal directories are a great way to find and screen lawyers in your area . Legal Finder (for example) draws up a list of competent, vetted lawyers across the country, so your search results will give you a good idea of who’s available, and who is a good fit for your case.
You don’t want to have a lawyer that puts you at the bottom of a long line, and takes months to get back to you about your needs, only to tell you that they are too busy to take on your case. You want someone who has the bandwidth to take on your case, and you will be able to discuss your situation with them directly.
It’s also always a good idea to get a referral from someone you know. Anyone who has had experience buying or selling a business will have interviewed, hired, and worked with at least a few business acquisition lawyers. You can ask your social media connections if they can refer a business acquisition lawyer to you. If you know anyone who has worked with a business acquisition lawyer before, get a name or two from them.
In sum, there are a number of ways to find the best business acquisition lawyer near you, and now it is up to you to deliberate!