Handbrake Lawyers: How to Get Your Deal Moving - Part 3/3

See last week for Part 2.

So what’s the lesson behind all this?

Firstly, that most of the time, using external lawyers works well. Most lawyers (external or in-house) are client-focused and want to provide a good service.

Secondly, it’s always better to have a discussion (even remotely) than to swap emails: it’s a much higher bandwidth of communication, and more gets done and faster (and there’s a lot less room for misunderstanding).

Thirdly, on those occasions when the other side is using external lawyers and those lawyers are acting as brakes on the deal, you have to be flexible in your approach. Most likely you will have to try a few different approaches until you find one that works. You need to be able to recognise quickly when it’s time to change.

More generally, if you are looking to buy legal services (or just to improve your experience with lawyers), how do you know who is good and who isn’t?

First, recognise that not all lawyers, and not all law firms, are created equal. Some are better than others; it’s as simple as that.

Second, be clear about what you want from your lawyer. If you want a purely legal view, then that’s one kind of lawyer. If you want a lawyer who can combine legal analysis and legal advice with a commercial view, and make an actionable recommendation based on that combination, that’s a different (and rarer) kind of lawyer.

I recently took on a new client (start-up, second round of money, SaaS tech using a lot of AI) who had already been through two sets of lawyers and was unhappy with the quality of the service he had received. As he put it: I don’t need someone to tell me what the risks are – I’m only too aware of them. What I need to know is what’s the best way to handle the risks.

Third (and this is key), if it doesn’t feel right, then it probably isn’t right. (And it’s not you, it’s them.)

Gut instinct is rarely wrong. So, if it doesn’t feel right, do something about it.

7th April 2026