Attorney recommendation for hourly rate, operating agreement

December 21, 2023

by a searcher from Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, GA, USA

Hi all - I have a business under contract and am using seller's APA (purchase agreement) and a template operating agreement. I have heard of attorney's charging a large flat fee to handle everything. However, I only need help for a the last leg of docs diligence prior to closing. e.g. less than 10 hours of work.

Anyone know of a lawyer that offers this type of service? The target business is in Georgia but I don't necessarily know if it's necessary for attorney to be licensed in my state. TIA!

Reply by an intermediary
from Clemson University in Raleigh, NC, USA

I have a fantastic transaction attorney I use regularly located in North Carolina who takes hourly engagements. DM me if interested. That being said, as a buyer I would NEVER use seller prepared documents. The reason the seller likely agreed to pay for these is so that the terms and conditions would be most favorable. The purchase agreement is a "buy side document". At this point you will want to have it heavily scrutinized by an experienced transaction attorney that is representing your interests - not the sellers.

Reply by an intermediary
from Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, NC, USA

Regardless of which side provides the initial draft of ______ (fill in the blank) agreement, the other side should scrutinize it for both business and legal points. At the end of the day, a successful transaction will be documented by agreements that represent both party's interests and mitigate their risks. Sometimes this is a little bit of a challenge with lender documents (and particularly SBA mandated language), but even those have some latitude.

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