No one wants to spend the money to hire an attorney just like no one wants to visit the dentist. But if one is to have healthy teeth one must visit the dentist; and so to if one is to have a healthy business then one must at some point consult a lawyer.
If one’s business is a franchise then it is very wise to consult a lawyer early on in the process—be it the process of starting a franchise or buying a franchise. Franchise law is not easily labeled. It is actually a collection of many different types of law –including agency law, ant-trust law, employment law, contract law, administrative law, trademark and patent law, debtor/creditor law, tort law, trade secrets law, financial services law, and international law.
Everybody loves a good lawyer joke. And people have coffee mugs adorned with the Shakepearean quote: “The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers.” But the fact of the matter is that what everybody loves even more than a good lawyer joke is to be secure in the knowledge that he/she has a good lawyer. Lamentably the cost of legal services has risen significantly in the last decade. This has driven some people to take a pro se approach to their legal needs. Undoubtedly this pro se approach works for many. What is also equally true is that it does not work for a great many others as well. And the aggregate cost to those who failed to spend money on the front-end in forfeited rights and missed business and legal opportunities dwarfs the amount of money that was “saved”.
All lawyers are not created equal. Some are better than others. Lawyering is no different than any other skill or talent, and like any other skill or talent there are many factors that go into the making of a good lawyer. A “one size fits all” approach does not work well when it comes to choosing a lawyer. Considerable time and care should be taken when choosing a lawyer–after all, entering into franchising is likely one of the greatest single investments one will make in their business career. But be sober and judicious in the choice. Just because the lawyer charges $500 an hour at a large law firm does not necessarily make her a better lawyer than a lawyer who charges $200 in a solo practice. Moreover, just because a lawyer has an Ivy League education does not necessarily make him a better lawyer than a lawyer who does not. (Elsewhere on this site I go into more detail on the requisite skills that one should look for in a lawyer.) With that said, both the hourly rate and the education are important factors that should be considered when choosing an attorney.
The key is that it makes little sense to eliminate altogether the expense of hiring a lawyer when one is talking about one of the biggest decisions of one’s life. Cut back on going out to eat or taking that extra trip to the beach. But don’t cut back on solid legal advice. You will likely not be able to recall what you spent money on last year by dining out but you will never forget how much you lost by not hiring an attorney if you find yourself in a dispute involving the legal intracies surrounding the franchising documents and agreements that YOU signed.