

Ask HN How much do you spend on lawyers? - hayksaakian

With a Bootstrapped company, every dollar counts, and it seems like legal fees are a never ending money pit.<p>Beyond the basic requirements of doing business, what do you pay lawyers to do, and how do you keep it affordable?
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tluyben2
I imagine you are talking about the US. Just to show the EU side of things. I
have been in business (around 10 businesses; most of them sold) for over 20
years now, I have been threatened with lawsuits over 500 times in that time.
But the legal system in the Netherlands works in such a way that you won't
gain anything on either side, so threats almost never pan out to real cases.

A few of them did and in total I spent a few E100 on them in 20 years. Here,
even if your ToS or disclaimers and whatever suck, there is not really money
to get. A lawsuit is lost money wise for both parties. Which I like. I can
just say; bring it on, whatever they are saying. Which usually is a good
deterrent.

Thought I would say this here as the US seems quite the opposite. I cannot
imagine the feeling defending yourself for $10k+ to some troll. Your hard work
punished by some moron with deep pockets and no morals. Seems like a horrible
way to be; I would always incorporate here and have a sibling company in the
US, all contracts stating that Dutch law applies and that any suits have to be
fought out in the court of Utrecht, NL.

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cdvonstinkpot
I had to spend $300 for an hour of my attorney to have him review my ToS, and
he found that I had copied/pasted a Creative Commons ToS from another country
that was using phrases & terminology that wouldn't hold up in the US, and
advised that I redo it all because it wouldn't hold up in court. So I was glad
to have hired him to learn that.

The company folded before I had to hire him to rewrite it though, otherwise I
would've spent another $600 on another 2 hours of writing & revising a new
ToS.

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rush-tea
when you use a lawyer to draft your ToS, then if your company is sued because
of ToS that the lawyer provide, is the lawyer for any lawsuit that comes with
the ToS? and lets say if your company lost a lawsuit due to ToS, who will be
liable for it? and who is going to pay the damage or settlement?

I am thinking it's the lawyer who may have to pay because your company paid
the lawyer to draft the ToS and he was not competent if such case happens. But
I am not sure, hence the question.

Thanks.

