Picking an Attorney to Help You Buy a Business

I was speaking at a conference last week and one of the main topics was buying and selling a business. While I was attending the speech of a fellow speaker, his guest speaker was explaining soup to nuts how the transaction started and ended.

One of the things brought up was the legal help and documentation he used. This is a very sore spot for me as someone that has been on both sides of a business purchase transaction for myself as well as for clients.

Unfortunately, the guest explaining how his business was purchased did exactly what I encourage people not to do. He was rather lucky in the end but only because it was a relatively simple transaction.

To see how others that do what I do feel about attorney roles and hiring one, I posed the question to the 2 speakers and to the guest as to their opinions regarding how to pick out an attorney for when the time comes to talk legalities.

The guest picked out a trusted friend that knew real estate deals and some basics on contracts. Wrong answer. The speakers, on the other hand, went along with my thought process, which is to find an attorney actually familiar with business purchase transactions and better yet transactions within your industry.

As I do, they felt that going to a trusted attorney or other business owner to find an experience lawyer in this field is a good idea, but even a simple transaction can turn into a nightmare when a less experienced lawyer starts to protect themselves more than protect you since they are diving into unknown waters.

As do I, they also feel that using an intermediary for both sides or an advisor/broker on both sides is the safest way to make sure any other person in the transaction (banks, lawyers, accountants) don't lose focus at the subject at hand. Namely, you want to buy the business and the seller wants to sell it to you. End of story.

The bottom line is this; this is a big and important transaction. Most entrepreneurs only buy and sell 1 business in their lifetime. Do you really want to go into it without professional help? Are you really going to try and save a few thousand dollars on something that if not done right can cost you tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars in loss?

Let's be serious here. A business buying transaction is best done with an educated buyer and the right professional help including attorneys, accountants and advisors/brokers. be a good buyer and buy a great business.

To Your Business Buying Success

The Business Buying Guru