“An Ounce of Prevention is Worth a Pound of Cure” in the Business World

Most of you have probably heard of the old saying of “An Ounce of Prevention is Worth a Pound of Cure” which was coined by Benjamin Franklin. That quote has been often used in the legal world for the general proposition that if we prevent a problem in the first place, it will save a great deal of time, effort and cost in trying to repair or fix the damage done later. In other words, it is better to keep a bad thing from happening than it is to fix the bad thing once it has happened. This is no different than things we do in our personal lives where we use preventative measures (e.g. vaccines, annual physicals and dental services) in order to protect us from potential harm or severe medical problems.  Unfortunately, and far too often in the business world, business owners and their employees try to do legal related things on their own, which are customarily meant to be done by an experienced business attorney, in order to save money. Many times, owners and their employees do not utilize business attorneys until they’ve got a problem, those problems normally being self-inflicted because they didn’t seek out legal advice in the first place and for which the problem is generally of a serious nature. Likewise, attorneys are not magicians or illusionists and normally can’t simply make a problem disappear with a “wave of wand” or “pixie dust” and, thus, the costs of fixing or repairing a problem are usually substantial as compared to doing something to prevent it in the first place. Business attorneys are generally engaged to provide business clients with preventative, proactive and protective measures so that problems won’t occur in the future, which, if in fact they do occur, will cost the business substantial risks and costs.

6 Reasons to Hire The Right Business Attorney

Below is a non-exhaustive list of when business owners should seek out legal counsel in business related transactions in order to explore what preventative, proactive or protective legal measures should be taken:

Seth T. Seidell, Attorney at Law, is an experienced business attorney in Michigan. For more detailed information on the types of business legal services provided, visit the Business Legal Service page on the website at www.seidell-law.com.