Levels of Business Lawyer Involvement

The level of lawyer involvement in any business transaction can vary. Some clients wish to limit their lawyers involvement to a very basic level, while others need significant legal assistance. Sometimes this decision is based upon the type of transaction, the issues at stake, or the client’s legal budget. Many times a potential client is not aware of the different levels of assistance that are available or the value that a lawyer could add to a transaction.

Intermediate Level III - Regulatory Compliance Expert or Specialized Knowledge

Aside from being a “transactional cost engineer” or a “gatekeeper,” business lawyers often add value to a business transaction as a “regulatory compliance” or specialized knowledge expert. While not all businesses are regulated, and while not all areas of the law require specialized knowledge, some do exist. However, clients often overestimate the extent to which regulatory or specialized knowledge is needed, or that attorneys possess. In those cases where such specialization is relevant, the knowledge of the business lawyer in the particular industry can have great value in complying with regulatory and other requirements. For example, in the sale of a medical practice involving providers who participate in Medicare, the Medicare regulations impose specific requirements on those transactions in a variety of ways.

It is also often the case that the client itself is in the best position to have acquired and mastered the regulatory and spccialized knowledge of its own industry. However, many times it is those areas “just outside” the client’s day to day experience where the specialization is needed, and sometimes not in the industry-itself, but perhaps in an ancilliary field, such as taxation, corporate governance, or intellectual property. In all of these instances, there’s no substitute for competent and experienced business transaction counsel that either knows the area of specialization, or more likely, can spot the issue in advance to bring in the specialized attorney for the particular issues.