Freelancers : a lawyer, for what purpose?

Freedom and flexibility with a touch of loneliness

Starting a career as a freelancer often means conducting professional activities on a standalone basis. A freelancer has no structure to rely upon, as it would be the case should he(she) work under an employment contract and be part of an organization.

However, freelancers, as specialists, are working in a very competitive and demanding environment, collaborating with major players in the market equipped with very competent internal resources. In essence, even though freelancers are ‘alone’, they have to act with a similar level of professionalism.

Freelancers have thus the freedom to manage their careers as they want. However, they also need to combine technical skills in many areas in order to manage all aspects deriving from their activities.

Specialization, regulation, and complementarity    

Laws, regulations, contracts, liabilities,…there are many examples illustrating how legal matters are ‘unavoidable’ when it comes to the conduct of a business. Even more given the huge increase in regulations that we are facing in our modern society, which makes it every day more difficult to find ‘a way’ without assistance.

Hence, a lawyer, such as an accountant, for example, is part of the team of specialists assisting any business, from its beginning to the end. To be surrounded by such complementary profiles will often be a key element for reaching success in the long run.

A trusted partner

It is important to properly understand the type of relationship one should have with a lawyer. Law is, as such, impersonal, elaborated to cover numerous envisaged situations while each case will be different.

A lawyer will, therefore, have to learn about the situation at stake, to become familiar with its specificities and a perfect understanding between the lawyer and its client will be crucial to establish an efficient and successful collaboration since it will allow them to build it on mutual trust.

A cost, but with which added values?

As for any service provider, seeking legal advice from a lawyer triggers some costs since as a rule, the advisor will invoice fees for the services rendered (more often on the basis of an hourly rate).

In the event that the intervention is taking place lately, when a complex problem raises an actual risk or dispute, the expense will often be perceived as a pure loss that will increase the final ‘bill’.

However, if consulted on time (i.e., proactively), a lawyer will be able to substantially reduce these costs by identifying and anticipating commercial issues, risks, litigations, and allowing more opportune and secure investments.

In addition, above improvement of the risk-management, a lawyer will :

• facilitate: management, commercialization, planning;
• secure: the business case, relationships with clients and contractors, investments;
• optimize: flows, income, returns on investments;
• represent: persons, trademarks, interests;
• help: understanding market trends, consequences, …

It will, therefore, be a significant ally for any freelancer willing to adopt healthy and proactive business management.