Since 2014, I’ve represented a publicly-traded company, as outside corporate counsel, and whether I’m working with that client, the owners of small and medium private companies, or individual consultants, I find that successful and busy executives can become engrossed (a/k/a myopic) with respect to their own businesses and how they have “always done things.”

Also, members of the C-Suite may not have the same depth of experience across as many businesses that I have. As such, when negotiating deals, my 28 years of experience practicing general corporate law and my decade-long experience as a business owner are often sourced from. My value-add as a solopreneur includes leveraging my knowledge and experience representing clients in a variety of industries. I provide clients with creative and innovative solutions, often assisting the C-Suite to resolve complex legal and business issues, including legal matters that become business decisions.

Do You Give Your Business Judgment With Your Legal Advice?

I posed that question to Anne Pansard, who I wrote about in Inspiring Business Women in America One Woman at a Time. I felt validated when Anne concurred:

“Because of our experiences, we’ve seen a lot of transactions, across lots of situations. Our viewpoints and opinions about business decisions add value. Because we’ve had a varied pool of clients and have been involved in various situations, that lends itself to providing a deeper and broader perspective. But, the downside of an attorney asserting her opinion is being adamant about it, especially when it’s not asked for. As attorneys, when we feel confident in our views, we tend to advocate strongly for our position.”

I agree with Anne. It’s important to understand the goals and objectives of our particular clients, before freely giving unsolicited or solicited business advice. Certainly, attorneys should be mindful that there may be business interests at play that are not specific to a particular deal (and which we are not privy to), but might be important to the client’s business as a whole. Often, these considerations are fueling the business decisions.

Attorneys must remain open to the client’s perspective, and at all times avoid getting hung up on any issue that may “kill the deal.”  The key to success is to always listen to the other point of view, whether it’s a client, the counterparty in a transaction, and/or opposing counsel. Most importantly, when the client says enough is enough, it’s time to stop advocating and/or imposing our attorney’s viewpoint, and proceed diligently to close the deal.