A high-quality business sales team should always include an M&A advisor, a tax CPA and a transaction attorney.
This is not the area to go cheap. It will end up costing you so much more than if you do everything right the first time with an A team on your side.
This is your one chance to get this right! Don't take a chance…
If you asked someone what types of attorneys there are – they might be able to say:
- Divorce Attorney
- Tax Attorney
- Product Liability Attorney
- Family Law Attorney
- General Practice Attorney
Hard Stop. I anticipate that 90% would not say Transaction Attorney. They are operating under the generic incorrect premise that any good attorney can handle a transaction. That is like going to a primary care doc for brain surgery.
Most businesses have their “corporate attorney” and they think they can handle their business sales transaction just fine. Afterall, they have been “working with the company for years”.
The scary thing is those “corporate attorney's” also think they can handle a business sales transaction. Most cannot.
When “corporate attorney's” work on most matters their goal is to complete the task with the best possible outcome for their client. This is all well and fine.
It is completely different from being in the crossfire of an evolving negotiation process.
A true transaction attorney has done dozens or hundreds of transactions. It is their specialty and they have the key element that makes them successful. They are “savvy” based upon their years of experience. They know when to escalate and when to diffuse.
Their stature and experience projects very well with the buyer's counsel. They are viewed with respect and thought of as both formidable and reasonable.
Our firm has a great working relationship with a transaction law firm. We often times even agree to cover the legal expense. We know we can do that with confidence because the law firm we work with will not “run the clock” or “delay the transaction”. Our clients love this because they don't have to worry about runaway legal costs. The client relationship remains exclusively between the seller and their attorney.
They are highly effective and they always have our clients' best interests in focus.
I would never sell a company without having the intangible of having a premier transaction attorney on my side!