Why companies bring in an outside firm
Some of the companies we work with have no lawyer on staff at all, and legal questions have been landing on a founder, a controller, or an operations lead. Others have an in-house team that handles day-to-day work but hits a matter outside what it normally covers, or simply runs out of hours during a busy quarter. A board sometimes wants a read from someone who does not report to management. And occasionally the need is structural: the company has grown into contracts, hiring, and regulators that its old habits were not built for. The reason you are looking usually shapes how narrow or broad the engagement should be.
What to settle before work starts
An engagement is easier to manage when the scope is written down: which matters are covered, who inside the company can give instructions, and how often you want to hear about status and cost. Tell us the full list of affiliates, investors, and counterparties early so conflicts can be checked properly rather than halfway through. Keep the circle of people copied on legal advice tight, since privilege is easier to protect than to repair. If prior counsel handled part of the file, arrange for those materials to be transferred rather than reconstructed. These are unglamorous details, and they prevent most of the friction we see later.
What the first conversation covers
We start with the documents that already exist, because outside counsel guessing at facts is expensive. We also ask which state's law governs the relationship, since that is often written into the agreement and changes the analysis more than owners expect. From there we sort the work into what needs a decision this week, what can be scheduled, and what is better handled by your accountant or another adviser. You should leave knowing the shape of the engagement and who does what. If a matter is small enough to handle without us, we will say so.
