If you have your own business, you might find that you have to refer to the advice of a lawyer fairly often. They are a key figure that you will turn to for guidance as you navigate the world of business. Is it therefore worth it to put them on retainer? We took a closer look at whether or not this could be a good move for your business here.
What Does It Mean to Put Someone on Retainer?
Lawyers are not the only professionals who you can put on retainer, so it is important that you understand the term. You might have several people you want to have on your side, and a retainer contract is going to be the best way to do it.
A retainer contract means that you will get a certain amount of service from the professional each month. You pay for this in advance with a fee, and then you can use this time as you wish. For example, you might pay for 20 hours of a lawyer’s time each month. This means that they can work for you for up to 20 hours. If there is a task that takes you further, you then pay them the extra on top. It is a good system that could save you a lot of money in the long run.
Repeated Work
One of the primary reasons why someone might opt to put a lawyer on retainer is because they are going to work with them a lot. The worlds of business and law go hand in hand more often than people might assume. If a business owner runs into an issue with their operations, they might take on the advice of a lawyer to see how best to proceed.
Having a lawyer on hand is also useful if you are often going to need their services. For example, you might run an event recruitment agency that sees a lot of people coming and going to various hospitality roles. Since a lot of the work here is temporary, that means that there are going to be a lot of contracts you need to deal with. Having an employment lawyer, such as those at www.springhouselaw.com, on hand means that you are going to be able to get answers to any questions that you might have when you need them. They are going to be able to review your contracts and will be able to tell you when you need to make changes.
Building a Relationship
In business, it is always helpful to build a relationship with the people that you are working with the most. It never has to cross from professional into personal, meaning that they do not have to become your friend, but it is important that the relationship is there. If you have one, they are going to be able to respond to you better, and might even be able to pre-emptively guess what your thoughts might be on a certain issue.
Placing someone on retainer, whether it is a solicitor or someone else, gives you that opportunity to begin to build a crucial relationship. You need to make sure that you are going to be focused on each piece of work as it passes between you, and knowing how the other will react in a given situation is going to be a key part of this. When searching for someone to place on retainer, make sure that it is someone you can work with. Again, you might not have to like them on a personal level, but there does need to be the synergy there that will result in a successful working relationship.
If there is anyone that a business owner should place on retainer, it should be a solicitor. You are going to work with them so much that you need to ensure that you have found one who is able to deliver the results that you want. It might take you a while to find a solicitor that you can work with on a professional level, but it will be an important relationship that you need to ensure you properly maintain.
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