Selecting your M&A attorney is a critical exit preparation step
Most business attorneys can handle the legal document preparation needed to transact the sale of your business to a third party. But only very seasoned ones will keep you from getting sued post-transaction.
Selecting your legal partner for your transaction is not something you do once you’re already entertaining early dialog with potential acquirer’s. A year prior to even thinking about selling your business, you’ll want to interview seasoned mergers & acquisitions (M&A) attorneys to see which is the right one to join your team. This person/firm will represent you in all legal matters related to the transaction and will ensure that legal documents are negotiated to protect in getting the best deal possible and protect you from lawsuits that can commonly arise after you’ve sold your company.
And avoid a common mistake that many owners of smaller privately owned companies make. They turn to their long-time trusted family or business attorney. We aren’t saying never do this, but we are saying think long and hard about how seasoned they are in the specialty field of negotiating legal documents for a company sale. Your acquirer will very likely have a very experienced M&A attorney representing them, so you don’t want to have your generalist up against their specialist.
Don’t leave selecting your M&A legal partner to the last minute. Contact us and we can provide you with the questions to interview lawyers and we can even recommend some that we’ve worked with on smaller deals and very larger ones. Don’t prepare for a euphoric exit event only to find you selected the wrong legal partner to get you over the finish line and protect you years after the transaction was completed.
