This is the fourth of my four part series, focusing on ways that startups, entrepreneurs and small businesses can work better with their lawyers.

Last week, a post on Venture Hacks briefly discussed the 10 reasons why entrepreneurs hate lawyers. I felt that post, while good, missed an opportunity to offer practical advice on what entrepreneurs and small business owners should do when working with lawyers. Many of these frustrations are fair, but you can take steps to improve your relationship with your lawyer – and more importantly, to find a lawyer you trust. In the video below, I discuss five things that entrepreneurs and small businesses can do to reduce their frustrations and to improve the relationship with their lawyers.

By way of background for those who don’t know me: prior to crowdSPRING, I practiced law for 13 years. During that time, I counseled and represented clients (from internet startups to Fortune 100 companies) in transactional matters and in complex trials. I’ve set at the table as a lawyer, and now have the perspective of an entrepreneur. Here we go (Part 4):

This is the second of a four part series, focusing on ways that startups, entrepreneurs and small businesses can work better with their lawyers.

Last week, a post on Venture Hacks briefly discussed the 10 reasons why entrepreneurs hate lawyers. I felt that post, while good, missed an opportunity to offer practical advice on what entrepreneurs and small business owners should do when working with lawyers.

Over the next three days (If you haven’t seen it, here’s part 1 of working with lawyers.), I’ll talk about how you can better work with your legal counsel and will suggest some strategies to help you find a good lawyer. I’ll use the Venture Hacks post as a guide. Every day, working backwards from reason 10, I’ll discuss three of the reasons why entrepreneurs hate lawyers (I’ll save the top reason for the last day).

By way of background for those who don’t know me: prior to crowdSPRING, I practiced law for 13 years. During that time, I counseled and represented clients (from internet startups to Fortune 100 companies) in transactional matters and in complex trials. I’ve set at the table as a lawyer, and now have the perspective of an entrepreneur. Here we go (Part 2):

Last week, a post on Venture Hacks briefly discussed the 10 reasons why entrepreneurs hate lawyers. I felt that post, while good, missed an opportunity to offer practical advice on what entrepreneurs and small business owners should do when working with lawyers.

Over the next four days, I’ll talk about how you can better work with your legal counsel and will suggest some strategies to help you find a good lawyer. I’ll use the Venture Hacks post as a guide. Every day, working backwards from reason 10, I’ll discuss three of the reasons why entrepreneurs hate lawyers (I’ll save the top reason for the last day).

By way of background for those who don’t know me: prior to crowdSPRING, I practiced law for 13 years. During that time, I counseled and represented clients (from internet startups to Fortune 100 companies) in transactional matters and in complex trials. I’ve set at the table as a lawyer, and now have the perspective of an entrepreneur. Here we go: