Results of the survey on lawyer.ua: corporate lawyer competence

In every company sooner or later there comes a time when the manager asks a question of legal support for business. Solutions may be very different: someone delegate such powers to accountant and it really works, it is true, as long as does not need an expert with deeper legal competence, and someone is trying to find the lawyer. And when the decision on legal services is done, there is a question of the next choice – prefer corporate or freelance services?

To answer this question it is necessary to analyze the important components – the specifics of the company, a situational necessity, value of specialist or company, the complexity of tasks and more. Accordingly, it can not be the universal advice and a top manager or owner will make a decision, on the basis of the needs of the company.

To help LDaily publishes answers of lawyers in a survey on the topic The advantages of a corporate lawyer, conducted by the portal lawyer.ua

Nestorak Olha: If the company is small and has well-established activity, it is possible to cooperate with external consultants on legal issues. So handling them in rare cases, you will be able to save one lawyer salary. In this case, law firms can get advice of several experts, as the company, which is interested in providing quality legal services, cares about their image. But in those cases where a company is often faced with a variety of legal issues it is better to have a staff lawyer. He will be aware of all the affairs of the company and will be able to offer solutions promptly to various problems. He will monitor the accuracy of registration and drawing up contracts, and will make adjustments to them, if necessary. All trials will also lead a staff attorney, because he is familiar with the specifics of the company and will be able to defend its interests.

Nepiiko Vitalii: Staff Lawyer is the most psychologically comfortable for the owner, as he considers him its “own”. Disappears barrier to create a comfort zone and facilitates the control of internal tasks. In addition, the owner is focused on a narrow specialized direction of its business. This has its advantages, the main thing – he does not need to waste time on details and circumstances that arise “here and now” and need less time to get the final answer. Disadvantages of the situation are that a staff attorney dependent on the head, and therefore can not always psychologically and professionally strike a balance between the desire to please the manager and the fact that “the truth hurts”. Part-time specialist requires access to a complete package of information. It is morally difficult for the head of the company, as it is “foreign”, especially when it is necessary to show the “guts of the situation.” It becomes a key factor in the recommendations of the one who took advantage of the service and trusts the head to agree to the involvement by the specialist.

The advantage is the professional impartiality and independence of the part-time lawyer from the head at all stages, which allows to correct the situation and put the emphasis freely without emotional and administrative component. Also, an expert on hand is interested in long-term relationships and recommendations therefore aimed at an objective and comprehensive version of the solution to the situation.

Fedash Mykola: A staff lawyer is more prepared and know the whole situation at the company, can quickly make a decision, less time spent on the study of documents, interaction with other services, knows more fully the legal framework for the industry in which the company operates, is familiar with the regulations and orders.

Zalizniak  Yurii: If the company is small and its activities is adjusted, then it is possible to cooperate with external consultants on legal issues. So how to handle them we have to in rare cases, you will be able to save on staff lawyer salary. In this case, law firms can get advice immediately.

Vozniuk Oleh: It all depends on the company, its turnover, the number of activities and personnel. If the company has economic activities, rather than the provision of services and the number of working staff is 50 or more, you need a staff attorney. One who knows all the nuances of business processes, accounting and taxation, as written before, this is the same lawyer hired employee with a minimum of human rights and a variety of duties. It is all the same to carry out the will of employers, and in case of bad situations he simply has to deal with it some way. Many types of business activity and the order of taxation have long chains, so freelance lawyer can only answer general questions. To study the chain he need financial and accounting documents – it will take a lot of time. But the contents of all operations is estimated on the basis of primary documents, and not on how they should be conducted. Also do not forget about the form of a legal entity, if it is the JSC or LLC with a lot of minority shareholders, it is hardly for freelance lawyer to deal with meetings, manning the boards, and other matters related to corporate assets.

Kolomachenko Halyna: The main advantage of a corporate lawyer is understanding the specifics of the business. Understanding the business processes is necessary for their effective legal support. This is particularly evident in the contract work . I do not mean the standard template contracts (delivery contract). This is a treaty which provides the main economic activities – construction contracts for construction companies, credit – for the banks contracts on forwarding services – for freight forwarders, cargo handling contracts – for ports and stevedoring companies, electricity supply contracts and other. Moreover a corporate lawyer usually knows perfectly legislation, regulating economic activity of the enterprise – employer. This may not always be boasted by external lawyers, because specialization is a luxury that can afford ones. The second important advantage is the constant presence in the enterprise, which allows not only to attract a lawyer when the problem occurs,but to involve a lawyer in the process, in order to avoid this problem.

Frantsyshkevych Juliia: Each activity has its advantages and disadvantages. An external consultant can provide professional advice, but without taking into account features of a particular business. Corporate Lawyer is “living inside” of the company, and have more opportunities to develop a legal approach that is acceptable to the business, which allows to provide a balance of interests of business and protection from legal risks. These are two different areas of legal support and it is desirable that they are not be opposed to each other, but work complementary.

Shtanhei Serhii: A staff lawyer knows the kitchen inside the company and is better versed in it, at the same time,he may have some gap in practice on some questions and in this case it is necessary to cooperate with a supernumerary lawyer.

Andriushchenko Vitalii: Lawyer is one of the key figures in business, it is a challenge to ensure the legal business of purity, and is considered the most important is not just to win a process or to resolve the conflict, but to prevent its occurrence and development. Corporate lawyer – is not just a legal adviser, he is a member of the management team, a full-fledged member of the company strategy. Corporate lawyer must have a perfect command of company law – the requirements for the establishment of joint-stock companies, the order of their registration, types of shares, the rules of formation of blocks of shares, the commission deals with shares, the essence of the dividend policy, etc. Corporate lawyer in civil must possess in-depth knowledge of the business, commercial, corporate and tax law.

Zakharov Yehor: At this time, a corporate lawyer, combines (very often) in itself the personnel and the assistant director and the “junior accountant”, entering the chosen three (director, chief accountant, lawyer), but then be sure to consider the size of the firm, enterprise, company . In large – definitely need a staff attorney (or even a whole department), which will do exactly the nuances of filing and legal services that every company is absolutely unique. At the same time on such company is required to operate law firms, which are usually just focus on the forensic handling complaints. For a small company to have your lawyer is not always economically feasible and even easier to be on the user’s service at yur.firmy or else have a lawyer who is an individual practice (because it’s easier to design and, consequently, with taxes). It is necessary to consider each specific case.

Martyniuk Yaroslav: The choice between these two versions of a legal provision should do, taking into account the economic and operational feasibility. With a large volume of legal work when the legal department will be more than 5 employees, and, in my opinion it would be advisable to transfer the legal issues of the company. You also need to evaluate the qualifications of corporate lawyers. In practice, it often happens that lawyers have in the company, but any complex situation becomes solvable for them, the consequence of which are the wrong recommendations to management and, as a result, wrong decisions and financial losses. It should be borne in mind that in any case, when abnormal, problematic situations is better to contact the law firm. Neither qualified corporate lawyer can not know all things and situations. A legal company has extensive experience and is faced with a lot of different situations, a large percentage of correct decisions to get from the law firm. Thus, the main important criterion for selecting a corporate lawyer is the volume and complexity of the work. If the volume is large, and the work is basically simple, the staff lawyer or legal department in most cases be more cost-effective than the legal service law firm.