5 ms·

None. An entrepreneur should hire a lawyer for legal matters and focus on building a company.

by akadien 15y ago

mindcrime 15y ago
I don't disagree with the idea of "division of labor" and specialization and all that, but I think it's short-sighted to say an entrepreneur should not read at least a little about business law. As an entrepreneur, I think it's valuable to have at least enough of an understanding to know what questions to ask, and to be able to have an informed conversation with your legal counsel. There's quite a continuum between studying as much as a lawyer-in-training, and going and taking a "Business Law 101" course, or just reading the textbook from a "Business Law 101" course. I think most entrepreneurs would be well served by at least reading over such a textbook or taking such a class.
- sycren 15y ago
  I agree with you though I concede that one should hire a lawyer when facing litigation or starting it. I meant more along the lines of starting a project, finding an idea to take further. I think that it is this stage where an entrepreneur when researching should read some law books and was wondering if there were any some could suggest..
  - akadien 15y ago
    Good luck on your project research, then. I don't have any law book recommendations. I still contend you may be better off talking to a lawyer about what you need to know rather than reading law books during your research phase. They can cut through all the company formation, IP, etc. jargon pretty quickly.
bryanleesims 15y ago
If you're boot strapping a business you'll want to have a base level of understanding which will save you thousands in legal fees. It's one thing to get legal strategy for $300-$400/hour, it's another thing to pay that for basic legal explanation.
chris_dcosta 15y ago
In the long run you cannot make some serious decisions without knowing what the Law is or is likely to be. Neither can you call your lawyer to advise you at every decision. Large companies operate on the "what we can get away with" principle, which of you put it in the context of this forum is a Law hack. For example earlier today the telephone company O2 in the UK was lambasted for including people's telephone number in the header of all http requests of every site visited on a mobile device. Someone somewhere made that decision not knowing it was illegal, perhaps not even stopping to think about it. Or alternatively they made the decision in full knowledge that it was illegal, but so obscure that Joe Public would probably not find it or understand the implications even if they did discover it.

None. An entrepreneur should hire a lawyer for legal matters and focus on building a company.

by akadien 15y ago

None. An entrepreneur should hire a lawyer for legal matters and focus on building a company.

I don't disagree with the idea of "division of labor" and specialization and all that, but I think it's short-sighted to say an entrepreneur should not read at least a little about business law. As an entrepreneur, I think it's valuable to have at least enough of an understanding to know what questions to ask, and to be able to have an informed conversation with your legal counsel. There's quite a continuum between studying as much as a lawyer-in-training, and going and taking a "Business Law 101" course, or just reading the textbook from a "Business Law 101" course. I think most entrepreneurs would be well served by at least reading over such a textbook or taking such a class.

sycren 15y ago
I agree with you though I concede that one should hire a lawyer when facing litigation or starting it. I meant more along the lines of starting a project, finding an idea to take further. I think that it is this stage where an entrepreneur when researching should read some law books and was wondering if there were any some could suggest..
- akadien 15y ago
  Good luck on your project research, then. I don't have any law book recommendations. I still contend you may be better off talking to a lawyer about what you need to know rather than reading law books during your research phase. They can cut through all the company formation, IP, etc. jargon pretty quickly.

bryanleesims 15y ago

If you're boot strapping a business you'll want to have a base level of understanding which will save you thousands in legal fees. It's one thing to get legal strategy for $300-$400/hour, it's another thing to pay that for basic legal explanation.

chris_dcosta 15y ago

In the long run you cannot make some serious decisions without knowing what the Law is or is likely to be. Neither can you call your lawyer to advise you at every decision. Large companies operate on the "what we can get away with" principle, which of you put it in the context of this forum is a Law hack. For example earlier today the telephone company O2 in the UK was lambasted for including people's telephone number in the header of all http requests of every site visited on a mobile device. Someone somewhere made that decision not knowing it was illegal, perhaps not even stopping to think about it. Or alternatively they made the decision in full knowledge that it was illegal, but so obscure that Joe Public would probably not find it or understand the implications even if they did discover it.