On hiring lawyers vs. listening to “friendly” (but free) advice.
I see posts here and on other sites (but I don’t care about those people) regarding legal issues, and non-lawyers often responding and providing advice. This is really, really dangerous, especially in areas in which you can back into liability (your intentions are irrelevant). I get it, though — lawyers generally suck. Lawyers are vague and arrogant, and unwilling to admit fault or idiocy. And all of that fantastic companionship comes with a ridiculously stiff price tag. (As an example, my billing rate, if I went back to a large firm, would be $800–$1000 an hour. An HOUR. 60 minutes. This is insanity. It’s usurious, and the reasons for the pricing are the subject of another post.)
If you are dealing with any administrative law area, you can create liability for yourself and your company irrespective of your intentions. That means you can’t just handshake over the error, or reverse easily out of your decision. Your decision is like getting pregnant. Once it happens, you can only deal with the consequences, you can’t just get unpregnant.
The test for administrative law is ask if there is a federal agency that could have some say over your decision or its outcome. For example, dealing with overseas operations or nationals? INS. Making food or medication? FDA (even if you are making “unregulated” nutritional supplements or nutraceuticals, you can easily fit in here — don’t kid yourselves). Selling or buying any sort of interest in a company? SEC. Lending money in any capacity? Federal Reserve (right, Robinhood? shout out to crypto community.) Creating commodities? Likely Department of Agriculture. Figuring out if someone is an independent contractor? IRS. etc etc etc. — and these are just US based. Remember there are counterparts, in greater or lesser number, in every country. In administrative law, your intentions can only impact how severely you get punished for your error, not whether you should be punished.
It is wonderful to receive (and give) advice, especially when it costs you nothing. But always remember the source — it’s only useful if the person advising you (1) actually knows what they’re talking about, and, more importantly, (2) knows enough about the field to know what they do not know. This last part is key. No one knows everything about every subject (except, apparently, my teenaged nephew.). Get medical advice from doctors, get acting advice from working actors, get tax advice from CPAs and tax lawyers, and get legal advice from lawyers. Lay people don’t realize how very narrow their own experiences are with law, what the rules are, how to negotiate around mine fields, or what those mine fields are. Even those new to practice or merely graduating from law school and not practicing, do not realize how very, very little they know. Only after years and years of practice do you realize how much goddamn information there is to know in any practice area, and how many exceptions and questions there are to every issue. This is (one reason) why so many good lawyers suck at giving you a straight answer. It won’t make you less crazy, but it’s, hopefully, more understandable.
Reading about something on the internet (often written by people with limited experience or expertise themselves), watching a show on tv (often with the primary goal of narrative or entertainment than education, even if a documentary), having a professional in your family, or even going through an issue yourself DOES NOT make someone an expert. You do yourself a grave disservice in accepting advice from those with only anecdotal experience, at best.
Yes, I am a lawyer, but am not soliciting anything, and am generally not for hire. Strictly a public service announcement.
