Your first conversation with a startup lawyer should help you decide what needs attention, who will do the work and what the first assignment will cost. Bring a short brief so you can spend the call on the questions you need answered.
Prepare a one-page meeting brief
- The business: what you sell, your company’s stage, where you operate and who else needs to be involved, such as co-founders or your board.
- The decision: what you need to decide or get done (for example, setting up the company, issuing founder equity or reviewing a first customer agreement) and what is currently unclear. Write the business problem in your own words.
- The timing: the real deadline, what drives it and what depends on the answer.
- The documents: list the relevant agreements, prior advice and correspondence. Identify the current version and whether anything has been signed. Ask what the lawyer needs and how to share it before sending sensitive material.
- The first deliverable: what would let you take the next step: a revised agreement, written options or a short list of issues to resolve.
- The budget: your working range and any approval needed before spending more. Mark unknowns as questions.
If you want help organizing the assignment, open Lawtrades Agent, our AI assistant, and start a new chat. Describe the work, timing and desired output in general terms, then ask for a draft project scope to take to a lawyer. Treat the draft as a starting point: the lawyer should advise on the legal decision and agree the scope and fees with you. If you already know the help you need, find a lawyer on Lawtrades and bring this brief directly.
Use the call to compare fit and scope
Ask what similar work the lawyer has handled for companies at your stage and in your industry. Who would do your work? What information would they need before recommending an approach? Which parts would require another specialist? If you need an adviser outside their practice, such as an accountant, can they point you to one?
Then ask for a proposal for the first assignment. What is included in the deliverable, and what is outside it? If the work involves a contract, does the proposal cover review only, revisions or negotiation too? The commercial-contract brief can help you describe that assignment.
Ask how the fee is structured, what the estimate assumes and what could change it. Clarify revision rounds, meetings, third-party costs and who must approve additional work. Agree when you will hear about a delay, a new issue or a likely budget change.
Leave with a concrete next step
Before the call ends, confirm the deliverable, timing and what you need to provide. Get the engagement terms in writing before work begins, and keep broader questions on a separate list so the first assignment stays clear.
Adapted from Lawtrades founder Raad Ahmed’s Questions To Ask Your First Startup Lawyer.