Courtesy of Dan Hull’s post on this same topic, I was drawn to a post by Scott Edward Walker on Venture Hacks, Top 10 Reasons Why Entrepreneurs Hate Lawyers. I actually read this post half a dozen times looking for my favorite reason in the list of 10 so I could quote something here. But all of the reasons are spot on. And they are in no way limited to entrepreneurs. So I heartily encourage you to click over and read the entire post.
When I started practicing back in 1982, my firm’s clients were entrepreneurs. I remember feeling like I was missing something since our clients didn’t have GCs. They weren’t big institutions. I felt I was missing out. Instead, I had to deal directly with CEOs and CFOs. I learned if you didn’t provide business advice, you had no voice. I learned the two paragraph rule–whatever you want to say to a CEO better fit in two paragraphs because that was all the time you got. As I look back, that training was priceless.
These days, in-house law departments are becoming more like small businesses than most can imagine. They speak the same language. They are starting to use the same tools as the businesses do. Law, whether in-house or outside, is a business with a different name. As a result, the lessons listed by Scott Edward Walker are perfectly applicable in every environment.
POSTSCRIPT: While Dan Hull runs from start-ups and entrepreneurs, Valorem embraces them. They bring an excitement and passion to what they do that is infectious. So Dan, before you turn to run, given them our phone number!