Lawyers are essential people in our lives. We use personal injury lawyers when we are seeking compensation. We use divorce attorneys to ease the divorce process. What you might not know is that companies are the biggest consumers of legal work. In this article, we look at the five key reasons why companies hire legal attorneys.

Legal Consultation

Companies require legal advice before they do most things. They do this mostly because they want to avoid legal liability from other companies and consumers. They also want to ensure that they are following the law. For example, a financial company in Europe needs to ensure that it is following MIFID II laws before it launches its business. This is because it wants to avoid the legal cost of not following these regulations. A law firm like Pavlaw can help companies be more successful.

Capital Markets

Companies use the capital markets as the best way to raise money. For example, companies use the capital markets to list more shares or issue bonds. In such a situation, an attorney is needed to ensure that everything goes on well. They draft the terms of the offering and countercheck the documents from alternative capital market providers. In addition, law firms are usually consulted during an IPO.

Intellectual Properties

Companies spend millions of dollars in research and development. Indeed, companies like Apple and Microsoft spend more than 10% of their annual income on research. The result of this is that they get intellectual property like patents and trademarks. The role of an attorney is to ensure that the patent is protected. They register the intellectual property and fight companies that steal the property in a court of law. A patent that is won in court can mean billions of dollars for a company. A good example of this is the case between Qualcomm and Apple.

Compensation and Benefits

Employees are the most important part of any company. Without them, a company will not be able to make the products it makes and offer additional services to customers. As such, companies are required by law to ensure that they offer the best services to their employees. This involves coming up with employee contracts before they start working. At the same time, there are times when the employees have issues with a company. For example, the lawyers are usually consulted when a company wants to layoff employees. This is because a company wants to do it legally.

Asset Recovery

Banks and other financial companies lend money to people and companies. The challenge is when the funds are not paid on time. When this happens, law firms are usually engaged to help the companies require their funds. They do this by taking the borrowers to court. They also do this by letting a borrower declare bankruptcy.

Conclusion

Lawyers are very important because of how crucial the justice system is. Many companies employ their inhouse legal teams. However, in many occasions, these companies hire external attorneys depending on what they are facing. Having a good solo attorney or legal team is an important thing that companies should strive to have.