We have been using a law firm here in NY since we began in June that we got through a reference from our accountant. Our current attorney is a corporate lawyer who has helped us with things like incorporation and employment contracts with prospective employees. However, Seth and I agreed that we needed legal counsel that could also help us with legal documentation related to raising money, patents (IP), and general corporate law. I headed up the search last week by reaching out yet once again to my personal network and asking Seth to shoot an email to his fraternity list-serve from Cornell, which has an amazing number of lawyers/consultants/banker in its graduating ranks. We received a bunch of responses, both directly from attorneys at prospective firms and from individuals providing recommendations to certain law firms or attorneys they knew. One of my parents’ friends came up huge and recommended a firm on the east coast. Most of the firms were based out in CA, not a surprise since most start-ups are out there as well. I have calls set up with approximately 5 law firms over the next week or two and will let you know how it goes… Bottom Line: Given I had no idea where to start, we were forced to be as resourceful as possible. My first piece of advice would be to be resourceful and use your friends and personal network to find the people/firms you need. Don’t use the internet. Personal relationships, it seems to us even at this point, are what makes the world go ’round and will probably lead to a better decision and less headaches. I’ll let you know if this our hypothesis turns out to be true… JT
