My Lawyer who wasn't a Lawyer, or why Due Diligence matters | Hacker News Reader

My Lawyer who wasn't a Lawyer, or why Due Diligence matters

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35 pointsaltusbrown10 comments

The "in your state" bit in the blurb sounds like the author might be suffering from a misunderstanding:

Licensed attorneys in other states can act as in house council in California: https://www.courts.ca.gov/cms/rules/index.cfm?title=nine&lin... They have to register with the state.

Depending on your origination is doing and what services the attorney is providing this might be completely reasonable.

That registration with the state puts them in one of the other categories I checked. She was not in those categories.

Those in house council also are a very different category than a independent lawyer.

You're not wrong there is an edge case - it just isn't applicable here (And is called out on the state bar web page as something to check)

Sorry if this is a silly question, but what's the best way to go about finding a competent lawyer for one's company?

Let's suppose you don't have a particularly strong network to draw from for recommendations.

Googling or using Yelp don't seem like particularly good options. They mostly turn up personal injury and divorce lawyers.

If you’re talking to investors at all, ask them for recommendations. That’s a good place to start.

I say this because investors sit on boards and work alongside these lawyers once they invest. They learn pretty quickly who is great and can often give very direct recommendations: a specific lawyer, not just a firm. At the startup stage you should choose the lawyer, not the firm.

FYI - at least one friend-of-a-friend large scale investor reached out after this article to note he'd almost hired this same person.

Don't assume someone coming in through a reference has had the level of due diligence you need. Always do your own due diligence. It catches things that will otherwise slip through because everyone assumes everyone else checked.

One thing to keep in mind is that any lawyers the investors recommend are likely to be loyal to the investors and not you.

Depends on what you need. Investment/M&A vs "I need to sue a nonpaying client" are quite different.

Standard lawyer answer: "It depends." :)

Your local attorney bar association can provide referrals.

Alternatively, if you have a large budget, any downtown law firm will be competent at handling business matters.

Referrals

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