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Ask HN: How to find a reliable lawyer/agent to initialize a startup?

4 points by lightoverhead ↗ HN
Guys, I may have a naive question but it concerns me a lot and I cannot find a good answer. How did you guys find a lawyer/agent to initialize your startup? I may want to have a SaaS startup including consulting. But I don't know where I can find a lawyer/agent helping me register my company, fill all the forms and give me all the legal advice(such as where to register it, delaware or nevada?). I can find some resource online (basically ads from google search). But if there are some reviews or ratings for these lawyers/agents . It would be great. Could you generously share some experience with me regarding this matter? Thank you very much.

9 comments

[ 4.7 ms ] story [ 33.8 ms ] thread
mahatmamanic
All the people I know have found their lawyers through referrals. The good news is that there are several great law firms out there that are either doing incorporations for free, or are deferring costs significantly.

Reach out to the founders, board members, and CEO/COOs you know and ask them if they have any recommendations. They will almost certainly know someone.

lightoverhead
Thank you for your quick responses. However, that's the problem for me that I am lack of connections with CEO/COOs. But I am pretty interested in what you mentioned that there are several great law firms which provide incorporations service for free. Could you list some of them for our reference. I think more people may benefit from such a information. Thank you.
rahimnathwani
You don't need connections to reach out to startup CEOs. They are visible and you can easily find or guess their email addresses.
archagon
I have a similar issue. Want to start an LLC, don't have any connections, not entirely comfortable picking a lawyer out of a hat. Interested in seeing the answers.

(By the way, I heard that incorporating in Deleware/Nevada may not be such a great idea if you live in California at least, since they still want taxes from you if you "do business" from there. But I don't really know what "doing business" entails, which is another great reason to find a competent lawyer...)

rahimnathwani
At the beginning of every Mixergy recording, Andrew Warner recommends that startups use Scott Edward Walker of Walker Corporate Law.
kkhire
Check out your local law schools, I've had friends with startups who paid like a $300 flat fee or something cheap to get all their legal startup advice for the year. Just make sure that you're not their first customer.

Just a side note, just register as a LLC in your state of residence, it's cheaper and pretty straightforward to convert to a Delaware C-corp when it comes time to raise funds from VCs.

tejasm
In the past, I've used two agencies and have wonderful experience with both of them.

1. Ryan Roberts of Roberts Foster - http://robertsfoster.com/. He's a wonderful guy with personalized response to every question you might have. He's knowledgable and can guide you what state and what entity depending upon your situation.

2. Harvard Business Services - https://www.delawareinc.com/ - Reliable and cheap. You can incorporate in as less as $250 and get started in less than a week.

I've personally used both the above entities and recommend them.

All the best!

P.S. I'm not affiliated with any of them.

tptacek
Do you have a cofounder today? If not, just set up a Delaware LLC. You won't need a lawyer. Corporate agents are something that the LLC registration sites do for you.
saturdayplace
Why would one prefer a Deleware LLC over one in their home state?