Ask him for advice in hiring a lawyer.
by Bruno95 (2018-03-07 10:38:30)

In reply to: I think I'm going - what should I ask him? *  posted by Russiandomer


Tell him you're starting a non-profit. Don't tip your hand just yet ("I think some of our people will be diddlers.") Just say "non-profit" and leave it at that.

Tell him you don't anticipate having enough money to hire a full-time in-house lawyer. The good ones would demand mid-six figure salaries. But you'd be willing to work with a good middle-market firm. No need for a big city firm -- Scranton or Indianapolis-type markets will suffice.

What's a good budget for this work? If you spent $120,000/year on a regional player like that, could you get a de facto chief lawyer on hand? The type that could come in, discuss sensitive issues, train the business people on how to handle critical legal matters? What if you had an existential threat to the organization? For example, if you run a big sports league, and the players were having trouble focusing on sports, on account of being constantly molested -- would the lawyer help with that? Maybe write a policy, revise a policy, help you take internal action, help you report matters to the police, revoke certifications, etc.?

Or would $120k, even at the regional level, just get you a few contract reviews a year? If he's not sure, tell him you have your assumptions wrong. You were going on 1998 dollars. He can assume $180,000 today.


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