Choosing the right law firm can be a minefield. You may be lucky enough to have been given a referral but, even then, the fact that Graves & Sons has drawn up an excellent will for your neighbour by no means makes them the best solicitors to consult for your business transaction. It’s important you find a solicitor who specialises in the particular area of law in which you need advice – but also a solicitor who is not so specialised that he or she is incapable of seeing the bigger picture. In particular, if you’re looking for solicitor to help you with the sale or purchase of a business, you need someone who understands every aspect of the transaction and its relative value to the overall deal.

Bigger is not always better

If one can be critical of mainstream law firms, too often over-specialisation means that the lawyer’s advice misses the obvious commercial angle because he or she has been immersed in the detail and failed to communicate with other specialists in the firm. And we haven’t even talked about the departmental “turf wars”…

We’ve heard it said that:

“A generalist is one who knows less and less about more and more,
until he/she knows nothing about everything…

A specialist is one who knows more and more about less and less,
until he/she knows everything about nothing.”

Striking the right balance

The team at Truelegal is a happy blend of generalist-specialist commercial solicitors. We are lawyers with experience of running our own businesses: commercial and entrepreneurial business people, but with legal training and qualifications. We aspire to give balanced advice, that’s to say: specialist business legal advice without losing sight of the bigger picture.

Established for over 15 years, our solicitors have advised entrepreneurs and business owners on many areas of business law such as:

  • commercial (eg contracts, intellectual property, supply, distribution and agency agreements)
  • commercial property: commercial leases (including lease assignments, lease surrenders) and freehold purchases
  • corporate (eg buying and selling companies, mergers, acquisitions, disposals, joint ventures, restructuring, due diligence)
  • business start ups/business migration/path to IPO (eg company formation, company secretarial, shareholder agreements, share options)
  • internet, web and e-law (eg website terms and conditions, branding, hosting, licensing, partnering, e-commerce, staff email policy, data protection/privacy, payment gateway, security)
  • employment/consultancy/contractor law

Not found the area of commercial law you were looking for? No law firm can (should?) specialise in every subject. The above are just examples.

Not afraid to say “no”

Truelegal’s success is underpinned by our commitment to doing the right type of business, not by winning just any business. We know what we’re good at and we enjoy making a difference for our clients. Since 2012, we have chosen to spend 95% of our time advising only buyers and sellers of businesses as we realised that even we were becoming too generalist and needed to become a little more specialist.  As a result, we now refer the majority of our non-business selling and buying commercial work to other firms who share our values.  So, if we say ‘no’, it’s nothing personal – we just feel we are not best placed to advise you directly. We are, however, more than happy to recommend a suitable expert and manage your relationship with that firm.

Good chemistry

When choosing a solicitor, don’t underestimate personality. Choose a solicitor whom you like, trust and can relate to. Choose a solicitor who talks your language, shows a genuine interest and who makes themselves available when you need them. Choose a solicitor who is as passionate about completing the deal as you are. It makes a huge difference.

If you’d like to come and meet the Truelegal team to discuss your business law needs, we’d love to meet you.

Make a free enquiry

The sooner we become involved in the process of helping you to buy or sell your business, the better understanding you will have of the associated risk and the more likely it is that your transaction will be successful.

Please either call us now on 01392 879414 or complete our Free Online Enquiry and we will soon be in touch.

Our full contact details can be found on our Contact Us page.

We look forward to hearing from you.