Retaining External Legal Counsell

Running Header: RETAINING EXTERNAL LEGAL COUNSEL PAPER

Retaining External Legal Counsel Paper

Team A

MBA: Law/C529 Legal Environment of Business Law

Week Two

June 16, 2009

Introduction

Recently, our company was awarded a five year, $50 million subcontract for producing original parts for a new line of commercial airplanes. As our organization currently does not have an in house legal team, our team has been tasked to analyze and recommend an external law firm that can review the subcontract and provide us with the proper legal advice before proceeding.

Characteristics of the Firm

Ideally, the decision to select outside legal representation should be based on how well the candidates meet the general legal needs of our business. For example, the ideal firm should have a detailed understanding of:

1) legal requirements in a manufacturing industry,

2) contract law and negotiations,

3) the legal aspects relevant to avionics,

4) product liability, patents, and trade licensing,

5) insurance requirements (The Law Society – Starting a business, 2009, p. 1),

6) tax implications (The Law Society – Starting a business, 2009, p. 1),

7) land or premises leasing requirements (The Law Society – Taking on leased premises, 2009, p. 2),

8) health and safety,

9) and legal business structuring and corporate culture (The Law Society – Structuring your business, 2009, p. 1).

Characteristics of the Solicitor

Some of the more specific things that will be considered when choosing a legal representative include (The Law Society, 2009, para. 4);

1) location; as costs associated with travel and billing will be impacted,

2) level of professionalism; this function will be privy to the most private and secret information for our business trust and reputation will be very important,

3) industry knowledge; since we have not had in-house representation prior to this process, experience and industry knowledge...