Obviously, you should contact an attorney if you have received notice that you are being sued. But it would probably be a better idea to have legal advice at the earliest possible stage of the game. An attorney can help get you out of a mess, but even more importantly, your attorney can help keep you from getting into that mess in the first place!
The old adage that you should never sign anything until your attorney has had a chance to review it is based on truth.
As a business attorney, I review contracts of all types and make recommendations that will hopefully take into account as many of the ‘what if’ scenarios as possible. Once I have the basics of the contract terms completed, I ask ‘what if ….?’ and then make sure to write down the answer.
For example, in a commercial lease, I will ask ‘what if there is a fire in the property next door and the property involved in this lease has smoke damage?’ Or in starting a new business partnership, I will ask ‘what if one of the partners is injured in an accident and is not able to come to work for 3 months? or 6 months? or ever again?’ Or perhaps, ‘what if your partner and his/her spouse get a divorce?’
Thinking about the ‘what ifs’ and drafting the document to handle those situations is why you should always have an attorney assist you in all of your business needs.
Most of us want to help you have a very successful business, and the best way we can do that is to keep you from ever needing an attorney to help you with a lawsuit!
