How to make the most of your lawyer

07 Mar 2022 How to make the most of your lawyer

I have been a lawyer for a relatively long time. I have worked in-house in several iconic multi-national companies based in Bahrain and Qatar, and I have worked in private practice in Bahrain and now in Manhattan, where I am building my own law practice, the Law Offices of Sonya Shaykhoun, Esq. In my nearly 18 years of working as a lawyer, I have learned the best and worst ways to use your lawyer, whether in-house or in private practice.

During my time in Bahrain and Qatar, my colleagues would throw a lot of matters at me (not literally, of course) because they perceived lawyers as the ultimate problem solvers who could/should get stuck into anything complex and difficult.

Whether in-house or in private practice, lawyers’ time, energy, and expertise should not be wasted or overburdened. That said, it can be intimidating to deal with lawyers and legal documents, especially if it is not part of your normal routine. If you are new to working with lawyers, approach it with a student’s mind. Contrariwise, even if you have a lot of experience working with lawyers, unless you are also a lawyer, it is not advisable to bully your lawyer if you want them to do their best work for you.

Best ways to use your lawyer:

1. Partnership. Most lawyers want to help their clients – whether in-house or in private practice. Being a lawyer is a bit like being a waiter, only the deliverables are different. So, approach your lawyer in the spirit of partnership and a willingness to work with her. In my days as an in-house lawyer, I spent A LOT of time with my colleagues and in-house clients, getting to know the project better, asking questions, clarifying points, improving language, etc. Lawyers are people and they want to help so make it easy for them to do their job, that is, to serve you;
2. Be clear. A lawyer is often only as good as your instructions. The clearer the better. And it is preferable that the instructions are written. If you’re working in a company that has an in-house legal department and you need that lawyer’s help, pick up the phone to introduce the matter and then follow up with an email outlining the instructions. This applies equally to working with private practice lawyers;
3. Cost-effectiveness. This point only applies to working with lawyers who are in private practice. Private practice lawyers, especially solo practitioners, are often lawyers who have a wealth of experience who have gone out on their own. In the case of the Law Offices of Sonya Shaykhoun, Esq., my practice is “small but mighty” in that I have a wealth of international experience and have worked on a lot of high-value and cutting-edge contracts in several sectors. Be prepared to pay your lawyers according to their expertise and time, but also be aware that many lawyers will help you out by making cost-effective deals that are fair to both you and the lawyer. On a Business-to-Business level, costs are not often an issue, especially if you work with companies with deep pockets as I have done. Even so, it is wise to ensure your lawyer is not milking you. When I worked for Al Jazeera Media Network in Doha, Qatar, I was responsible for approving the invoices from law firms. I scoured the invoices with a fine-tooth comb, so when I discovered that the big Turkish law firm in Istanbul was charging an insane amount of money for an NDA that they said took 20 hours to finalize (an NDA does not take 20 hours!), they heard about it. In another instance, the law firm to which I assigned a dispute settlement while I was on holiday charged Al Jazeera four times the amount the dispute was worth. Not all lawyers are honest and some will willingly pad their invoices, so be careful;
4. Relationship-building. Whether you work for a big corporation or a small enterprise, the relationship you have with your lawyer/s can be one of the most important relationships you have. If you are building an enterprise of any size, it behooves you to stick with the same lawyers, provided the relationship is healthy and built on mutual respect and trust, who know your commercial enterprise, its history, and your working style. If you have to hire a new private practice lawyer every time you have an issue, you will waste a lot of time re-explaining yourself; and,
5. Communicate, be responsive, and transparent. If, for example, you’ve moved along in your commercial discussions with your commercial counterparts, keep your lawyer informed. Even if it’s in a CC of an email – keep them informed of what’s going on. Furthermore, it’s important that you give your lawyer all the information – from the due-diligence exercises to any salient conversation minutes. A lawyer can’t do his or her job without all the information or if you have been tasked with doing something that only you can do because the lawyer doesn’t have the internal contacts or the information. Of course, a lawyer has to ask all the questions, but if you don’t give all the information and make assumptions without seeking clarification, you will disadvantage your lawyer and cripple your project.

How not to use your lawyer:

1. Don’t be impatient; patience is everything. Every lawyer has his or her own working style. Lawyering is like baking a cake, it doesn’t matter exactly how it is made, just so long as the ingredients are right and the end result tastes good;
2. Don’t be disrespectful; respect your lawyer. Don’t patronize or bully your lawyer. Sometime last year, a woman at my workspace asked me to do something for her, and I had not done it in a while – so I spent some time updating myself on the protocols. When the woman saw me doing this, she asked me rather brusquely, “Haven’t you ever done this before?” I felt like I had been slapped in the face. Not only was I doing this task pro bono, but the audacity was notable. Don’t be rude to your lawyer, unless they have really, really, really messed up;
3. Lawyers need to eat, too. Last year (i.e., 2021), I suffered through a short-lived trend before I nipped it in the bud with the help of a business coach whose course I took last year – Erin Halper’s The Accelerator (well worth the money and time spent). Specifically, that trend was getting charmed into doing legal work for free, leaving me tired, pissed off, resentful, and out of pocket. If you know any lawyers who are solo practitioners, remember that solopreneurs don’t have a paycheck every two weeks – rather, they depend on paying clients. Also, family members – don’t abuse your family by expecting free legal work. Legal work is time-intensive and not easy – so if you ask your sister/brother, cousin, etc. to “just handle this case” or “just write this response,” don’t be a jerk – at least be willing to pay a “Friends & Family” rate;
4. Don’t make your lawyer a co-conspirator. In early 2015, I worked for a start-up in Doha, Qatar. The situation was “too good to be true” and my instincts told me that there was something fishy about them and the relationship lasted 5 months before it fell apart (word on the street was they were a tech-start-up fronting as a criminal organization.) One of the first signs that this company was not up to par was the day that the owner asked me to negotiate his cut of under-the-table money. Of course, I refused. Other lawyers, lawyers who are fearful or worried about losing their jobs, might have said, “yes” and breached their professional conduct obligations. Even if you’re in the mob, your lawyer should dot her “i’s” and cross her “t’s“;
5. Is this the right lawyer? Make sure the work you are putting in front of your lawyer is work that can be done by this lawyer – when I worked in-house, all kinds of matters that were commercial but not legal passed my desk and I sometimes had to redirect the client elsewhere; and,
6. Leave your ego at the door. I once had a call with a potential client who said, “It’s not my first rodeo” after I presented my proposal. I pondered that response for a while and I concluded two things: i) she expected me to work for cheap/free because of her family name; and, ii) she was operating from her ego. You need lawyers for their specific skill-set. We all have different levels of experience and different skill-sets. The more specific the requirements, the more specialized and experienced the lawyer you need will have to be. Rather than show off your knowledge, forge an intellectual partnership with your lawyer, ask questions, explain your business, but check your ego at the door.

Working with a lawyer can be intimidating. But the bottom line is that lawyering and being commercially savvy requires a lot of common sense, not just a law degree, law license, and some experience. You will get the most out of your lawyer if you follow these “do’s and don’t’s.”

Originally published on LinkedIn on January 8^th, 2022