Five Non-Negotiable Features a Business Lawyer Must Have Before Hiring Them

Hiring a business lawyer is important for any business that strives to be successful in this day and age, but hiring one is not always an easy thing to do. There are a bunch of things that need to be factored in, in your final decision to hire one attorney instead of another. An individual’s education and experience are important, but these can only take you so far in this day and age.. There are a few other things that a business lawyer must have in order to be the best fit for your company and the specific purposes that you need him or her.

• Communication Skills

Good communication skills is one of the first and most important things that any lawyer, and in fact, any professional must-have. It is therefore very important to make ensure that the lawyer or law firm that you are considering hiring shows that they have the ability to properly communicate with their clients. This is not only limited to speaking, but it also includes all aspects of writing, reading and listening.

Listening is oftentimes more important than speaking just because of the fact that, this is the way that most people get information. Therefore your lawyer must be a good listener and should be good at extracting information from the words spoken to them, and even from non-spoken words. Communication skills should also include any languages that the lawyer knows other than English because in this international climate it is easy to misunderstand each other because of the different languages that we speak, or the different accents within a language that exists out there in the business world.

• Commercial Awareness and Research Skills

The business environment is an ever-changing one, and in this very fast-paced world we live in, there is an influx of new information practically every day. It is, therefore, a necessary feature for the business lawyer that you are considering hiring to be aware of, and in tune with the business environment, you operate in, and just as importantly to thrive in it. What they need and what legal practice will yield the most benefit to both sides so that both can reach a quick and acceptable resolution.

Commercial awareness, on the other hand, is something that needs to be done in the background. It is an ongoing practice that keeps you up to date with the stories that form around any partners that the hiring company may have. This way the lawyer can be prepared for any outcome and any development that might force the represented company to go into negotiations or even the court of law.

• Self-Confidence

When hiring a lawyer, it is important to know how confident they are in their abilities. An easy way to check that is by presenting them with a scenario during the interview. Even if they give the wrong answer, it should be seen with how much confidence they gave that answer. Self-confidence is important, but over-confidence is the opposite of good. During the interview phase, it is up to you to decide if the lawyer can accept ignorance or are they too proud to admit that they do not know something.

That will help you know if the lawyer is receptive to new information or is too confident in his abilities to be able to accept information that they themselves have no idea about. It is important for a lawyer to accept new information without any bias and put it to work, so it is important for the company to know whether the lawyer will accept new information or will the lawyer let themselves be blinded by their own confidence.

• Personal Skills

Being a lawyer is one of the professions that deals a lot with other people. It is therefore important for a lawyer to have good personal skills. When hiring a lawyer, it is important to keep in mind how well they address other people. Personal skills also include how likable they are as a person because if people like you they are more likely to listen to what you have to say and accept it. When you hire a business lawyer, you should keep in mind that it helps if they have taken part in any extra-curricular activities that involved leading people or being part of society because that way you know that they belonged to a group and can work effectively with other people and can resolve any problems that arise between them.

• Suitability

In the end, it is up to you to decide if they are a good fit for you and that can only be gauged by you. This is important because this feature is dependent on you and your firm; therefore, you need to assess whether the business lawyer you hire is a good fit for the policies and the people in your company or not. This can be tough to figure out in just one meeting; therefore, it is best to be open with the person that you are hiring so that you both can come to a conclusion on whether you fit each other or not.