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My talk at LawyersLounge in Montreal on 27 September 2011. Goes over some basic tips on choosing and using legal help for startups.
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Who am I?
Founder, Wikitravel Founder, StatusNet
Why should you care?
Lawyers write the source code for your business
Legal costs are high You have to use them a lot
What you need a lawyer for
Incorporation Funding documents Employment agreements IP and non-compete agreements
What you need a lawyer for (cont'd)
Terms of service and privacy policy Software licensing agreement Services and consulting agreements Registering IP (trademarks, copyright, patents)
You will probably...
...have venture funding ...seek tax credits ...have a cross-border business ...license or sell software ...use or include someone else's software ...provide an on-line software service
What does a lawyer do?
Translates your ideas into legal documents ...doesn't create your ideas for you
Advises you of risks or issues ...doesn't make decisions for you
Helps plan for government relations ...doesn't deal with the government bureaucracy
Works for the company ...doesn't work for you
Organizes deal documents ...doesn't organize your business
Who to hire?
Not your family or personal attorney They're busy They're kind of conflicted They probably don't have experience in your area They really won't mind!
Who to hire?
Someone well-known in the city First impression important Ask around
Not someone your investors are using! #CONFLICT
Someone expensive Easy; they're all expensive
What to ask for
Venture funding experience Information technology experience
Web framework != new cancer drug Cross-border connections Local references
Top 5 things to do
Incorporate clean and early Have agreements for all contractors and
employees IP, employment
Keep track of all IP you use or make software, domains, images, text
Don't work without a contract! Keep contact info and records
Everyone, everything
Top 5 things not to do
Let legal discussions run on forever You're the one to make things move forward
Phone, email, chat, think about lawyer unnecessarily $$$$$$$$
Treat lawyers like private tutors read up on your own!
Clean it up later Get paranoid
Open Source legal docs
http://www.seriesseed.com/ Series Seed from Fenwick & West
http://lexpubli.ca/ LexPublica Http://en.wordpress.com/tos/ Wordpress.com
TOS Mostly for US legal frameworks
Other resources
Venture Deals – Feld & Mendelson Don't do a deal without reading this book!
