Don't Let Your Lawyer Run Your Business

I went to law school, I didn't finish. Partly because the parking was a nightmare, but mainly because I worked out I didn't actually want to be a lawyer.

I like business. And that's exactly why I didn't continue.

Most lawyers don't understand business in the way business owners mean it. That's not an insult. It's just a fact of training. Lawyers are trained to reduce legal risk, interpret statutes, and argue positions. They are not trained in accounting, cashflow, pricing, or how businesses actually make and lose money. Those are different disciplines.

Where people go wrong

One of the most expensive mistakes I see business owners make is asking their lawyer for business advice, and then treating it as gospel.

Lawyers are very good at telling you what you can't do, what might expose you to liability, and how to protect your position if things go wrong.

They are usually terrible at telling you whether something is commercially sensible, whether it's affordable, whether it's worth the opportunity cost, or whether the juice is worth the squeeze.

That's not their job. The problem starts when owners confuse legal safety with commercial wisdom.

Why lawyers sound convincing

Lawyers speak with authority because they are trained to. Their advice is usually cautious, structured, and well-reasoned – within a legal framework.

The danger is that legal frameworks don't care about cashflow timing, staff morale, customer behaviour, or whether a "technically correct" outcome quietly destroys the business.

A lawyer will often recommend the safest legal option, not the best commercial one, because that's what they are trained and insured to do. That doesn't make them wrong. It makes them incomplete.

Accounting and commerce matter more than people admit

Most lawyers are not good at accounting. They don't live in P&Ls, balance sheets, or working capital cycles. They don't feel the pressure of payroll or the fragility of margin.

So when a lawyer says "this is the right approach", the unspoken assumption is "from a legal perspective." Business owners hear "this is the right approach, full stop."

That gap is where value leaks out. Slowly at first, then all at once.

The correct relationship

Good businesses don't let lawyers run strategy. They let lawyers support strategy.

The sequence matters: decide what makes sense commercially, decide what risk you're prepared to carry, then ask the lawyer how to execute that decision safely. Not the other way around.

Legal advice should inform decisions, not replace judgement.

When this really hurts people

This matters most in disputes. Lawyers are trained to win arguments. Businesses need to win outcomes.

The legally perfect path can be slow, expensive, reputation-damaging, and operationally exhausting. Sometimes the right business decision is to settle early, restructure, or walk away – even when the law is on your side.

That decision won't come from a legal memo. It comes from understanding the business.

The blunt truth

Don't misunderstand this as anti-lawyer. Good lawyers are essential. You need them. You should listen to them.

Just don't ask them to be something they're not.

Legal advice: yes. Business advice: no.

If you let your lawyer make business decisions for you, you're outsourcing judgement to someone who isn't trained for it, and who doesn't carry the commercial consequences.

That's your job. And if you don't like owning that responsibility, running a business will be very expensive.