The attorneys at the Katz Law Group aim to provide the transactional legal services that clients need to protect their interests and further their business goals in Worcester, Framingham, or Marlborough, or in Middlesex or Norfolk Counties. Contact us online or call our law office at (508) 480-8202 for legal help in Massachusetts.
Why Litigation and Trial Experience Still Matters
Because transactional legal services look ahead to a possible lawsuit, it is important to have a transactional lawyer with litigation and trial experience. Experienced litigators appreciate the expenses that pile up in the courtroom and the need to avoid them. They also see how common provisions in contracts actually hold up when they get challenged and go to court. Finally, by experiencing the outcome of lots of different cases, litigators develop a sense of risk management that helps them make good decisions for their clients before a lawsuit becomes a possibility.
David S. Katz is a Massachusetts lawyer with 40 years of experience as a business and contract litigation attorney. Reach out to him for your transactional needs in Massachusetts.
What are Transactional Legal Services?
Broadly speaking, legal services are transactional if they help a client stay out of court. Some examples include:
- Drafting a contract that insulates the client from liability and sets out the penalties for a breach of contract
- Helping a landlord negotiate a commercial lease dispute with an otherwise reliable tenant who is failing to pay rent
- Guiding a small business through the process of obtaining the licenses and certifications that they will need to open a shop
- Responding to an allegation of an unfair trade practice so it does not become a lawsuit
In each of these cases, the goal is to protect your business' brand by resolving a dispute before it can escalate into one that requires legal action, like a cease and desist letter, a demand letter, or a lawsuit.
What is the Difference Between Transactional Work and Litigation?
While transactional legal services aim to keep the client out of the courtroom, litigation is for when the client wants to go to court or cannot avoid being brought there.
Because litigation involves a considerable amount of risk and lots of preparation, it is much more expensive than transactional work.
However, the two are not completely distinct. In fact, most transactional legal services are done with one eye towards litigation – namely avoiding it. That is why transactional lawyers constantly talk about what would happen “if this were to go to court,” even while assuring clients that it won't. Because the goal is to stay out of the courtroom, a lot transactional work – particularly in drafting contracts – seeks to protect the client's interests while still resolving anticipated conflicts and disputes in a way that would be similar to how a court would resolve them. When filing a lawsuit would create a similar outcome, reasonable minds would agree to stay out of court and resolve the dispute among themselves for a fraction of the cost.
Why Should I Hire a Transactional Lawyer?
Because a transactional lawyer can help business owners and other clients protect themselves from a costly lawsuit in the future.
It is easy to see a transactional lawyer as a luxury or as something that would be great to have, if only the business were making a bit more money. But a more accurate perception is to see a transactional lawyer as an investment, or as a way to save money in the future. Having an attorney on hand when the agreements are being made, rather than when they go bad, can protect clients from liability. The guidance of a transactional lawyer can even prevent the deals from going south at all, as a lawyer can explain how the client would be exposed to the risk of litigation and help them to alter the agreement before it is made to reduce that exposure.