Start-up Lawyers – 4 Shocking Benefits of Having One

If you’re a start-up founder or leader, you’re likely to have a few noticeable qualities. You are probably fiercely driven, intensely creative, and very optimistic. After all, you have to be optimistic to attempt an endeavour which fails 9 out of 10 times. Optimism is a very valuable resource in business, but it has one downside. It can lead a person to not prepare properly for when things go wrong. That’s what specialist start-up lawyers are for, not just to help a start-up cope when it hits a pothole, but to help steer it around those potholes in the first place. Here are just 4 of the surprising ways a start-up lawyer can support you. 

1. They can be the difference between start-up success and failure​

An expert start-up lawyer on board from day one can provide you with essential advice on a broad range of fronts, from intellectual property to employment contracts to commercial agreements. Failing to attend to these properly can cause untold damage and heartache later. In a major study, 1 in 20 failed start-up founders said that the reason their businesses crashed and burnt was down to legal challenges. That’s ahead of hiring mistakes, poor marketing or burnout!

Conversely, an experienced and savvy start-up lawyer will work by your side to secure milestone commercial opportunities and make sure you get the fairest deal possible from them, plus a lot of coverage for if they go wrong. A wise lawyer will also keep you legally up to date: many start-ups operate in circumstances where the law frontiers are shifting all the time. A good adviser will make sure you aren’t caught out. 

2. They aren’t just there for the start

You might think from the job title that a start-up lawyer is only there for your enterprise’s earliest days, but a wisely chosen lawyer may be with you for decades to come. Having a start-up lawyer by your side to guide you through your business decisions is essential if you want to be legally protected and to avoid any impending mistakes. Famously, Amazon’s very first litigation lawyer, David Zapolsky, is still advising them as their general counsel 21 years and many, many billions of dollars down the line, having developed and grown with the business as it transformed itself from David into Goliath.

In fact, there are huge benefits in finding a start-up lawyer with the right skills and mindset to immerse themselves in your business from the conception stage right through to the day you really hit your stride or even sell up for billions. Working with the same advisers from the start can save you a lot of time and money, while the trust that is developed over time is priceless. 

3. A start-up laywer can protect you from yourself​

Start-up founders can be their organisation’s biggest assets but also – we hate to say it, but it’s true – their biggest liabilities. You don’t have to be a spectacular flame-out like Adam Neumann for that to be the case. Your flaw could be as simple as being too trusting with a partner or being so single-minded about ‘growth’ that you forget some of the legal details. A good start-up lawyer will step in to address any such weaknesses, making sure those partners are legally responsible and all your paperwork is watertight.

Even if you don’t have any of the above flaws, very few start-up founders or leaders come from a legal background, and some don’t even have a particularly long track history in the business world. It’s easy to overlook the details when you’re first starting and difficult to see potential problems without an expert’s keen eye for the legal details. That’s where a start-up lawyer steps in. 

4. They can spot dangerous territories ahead of time​

Failing to invest in an experienced start-up lawyer can be a big mistake with many forthcoming consequences. After all, a good legal adviser will help you understand such crucial matters such as tax law and employment law. As any businessman who has ever ended up in an employment tribunal or a tax audit can tell you, neglecting these details can be like taking all your funding out of your bank account and setting it on fire.

Indeed, Forbes lists not having the right legal counsel as one of the ten biggest mistakes a start-up founder can make. Working with a savvy and smart start-up lawyer will not only help you avoid stressful and financially draining legal challenges down the track, but it will also free you up to focus on the development of the business. That’s that rare thing in business, a win-win. 

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Mark Lazarus

Mark Lazarus, the visionary behind the business and the fresh blood of the Lazarus Legal team, Mark (or Laz as he is often known) owes much of his success to his past experiences. And he’s made it his personal goal to bring that wisdom and formula to the firm.

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Barry Lazarus

CEO & Notary Public

barry@lazaruslegal.com.au 

We’d be lying if we told you that this bloke isn’t the big honcho of our team, but his name is a dead give-away. The founder of Lazarus Legal, Barry is an old school, tough as nails lawyer. They don’t forge litigators like this anymore.

With decades of experience in both Australia and South Africa, his wisdom is as renowned as his name. Back in the days when Schwarzenegger and Van Damme were kicking ass on VHS, Barry was kicking ass in the courtroom. And after all these years, he still has a reputation for refusing to back down.Barry is definitely the badass you’d want in a fight – in court or otherwise. But really, he’s a big softie. Just don’t let him know you know that (although he probably won’t read this anyway – navigating the Internet is not his strong point).

Aside from putting other lawyers in their place, taking long walks on the beach and spending time with his family, Barry enjoys seeing others succeed. Not only is Barry a staunch and unmoving litigator, he has sharp business and commercial acumen having started up ventures from scratch and growing them into full-blown franchises – from real estate to creating ice cream, to making pasta. With his experience on both sides of the commercial and legal equation, you want this guy to be on your side, whether you’re the next Zuckerberg realising your genius, or the next Zuckerberg taking on your opponents in court.

When Barry is not busy lawyering about, he is a part-time lawn bowler and a wannabe comedian, but never took both as a day job, because let’s face it, he’s a lot better at his day job.

If someone ever threatens you to lawyer up…relax, call Barry and he’ll handle the rest. 

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Mark Lazarus Director

Mark Lazarus

Director

mark@lazaruslegal.com.au 

The visionary behind the business and the fresh blood of the Lazarus Legal team, Mark (or Laz as he is often known) owes much of his success to his past stories and experiences. And he’s made it his personal goal to bring that wisdom and formula to the firm.

He’s a bit of jet setter, splitting his time between Australia and the UK, maximising every hour of his professional life. He thrives on this adrenalin. It allowed him to work in private practice in Sydney, act for a host of famous celebrities in London, do a two year stint as a NSW barrister (and not the pretentious coffee type in the Melbourne laneways) and more recently did a gig as the Legal Director covering Europe, the Middle East and Africa for one of the world’s coolest fast-moving consumer good brands!  

As an Aussie and UK lawyer and former barrister, Mark not only has the gift of the gab but he’ll walk the walk to prove it too. He likes to think he’s a bit like Harvey Specter or Michael Corleone, the main difference is you can actually retain him as your lawyer and consigliere. He’ll tell you how it really is and will take on any challenge head on. Although litigation and court advocacy comes naturally to him, commercial and IP is what gets his blood pumping! 

When Mark is not out there doing his thing, you will probably catch him chilling at home with his family, on the sidelines of the soccer (football) pitch cheering on his two boys, crawling through mud obstacles, or training hard at the gym. Passion and commitment is what drives Mark to succeed, along with his burning desire to disrupt the legal profession by finding new ways to change the game.

He has sights on the future. So if you’re breaking new ground, ahead of the times, and on the verge of something big, but you need someone who’s got your back and who can give you straight up advice, this is the guy you will want on speed dial.

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