Maintaining a working relationship with a credible attorney is just good business sense. After all, you never really know when you are going to find yourself in need of expert legal advice. But do you know how to get more from this critical relationship? On this episode of unsuitable on Rea Radio we give you a look inside the mind your attorney via Chris Pycraft, an attorney with Critchfield, Critchfield & Johnston, a regional law firm headquartered in Wooster, Ohio. Chris has worked with numerous business owners and entrepreneurs over the course of his career and today he shares tips that will enable us to get more value from relationships with legal counsel – particularly when it comes to optimizing our business strategies.

If you’ve listened to this podcast before, then you already know how valuable an advisory team can be to your bottom line; and when putting yours together “diversity” is the name of the game. Not only do you need to tap into the expertise of a CPA and a banker, the advice and insight you can gain from your lawyer is critical as well.

Chris notes, however, that because business owners are not necessarily required to maintain regularly scheduled touchpoints with their lawyer (like a CPA would during tax season), too often a business’s legal council will only receive a call when there’s already a problem. By then, Chris says, it may already be too late.

An Ounce of Prevention is Worth a Pound of Cure

Listen to this episode to discover:

• Why you should plan to touch base with your legal counsel once or twice a year to maintain good business health.
• How a conversation with legal counsel during the initiation phase of a new transaction or acquisition can protect your interests.
• Why your attorney looks at contracts different and how their perspective is beneficial to your business.

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We’ve also included some great resources on our website. Visit http://www.reacpa.com/podcast for articles, past podcast episodes and more.