What Should I Look for When Hiring a Commercial Real Estate Attorney

Many people are not entirely aware of what commercial real estate attorneys are, and what their job truly is. That’s one of the common reasons why people don’t know what to look for when they need to hire a commercial attorney.

Commercial real estate attorneys are lawyers who can not only help you represent your case in court and get the best possible outcome in a real estate case, but also mitigate your risks when investing in real estate. 

What’s more, you don’t need to be a victim of some shady practice or downright fraud when investing in real estate, as these attorneys can be helpful in many ways by mitigating your risks, when it comes to commercial real estate, from reviewing/negotiating the language on leases, to even helping to review and negotiate the terms of a commercial real estate loan.  

If you’re interested in getting the best possible outcome when investing in commercial real estate, it would be best to continue reading this text.

Experience is Always Crucial

When it comes to commercial real estate attorneys and people in the field of law in general, the main thing you need to look for is the experience. It’s in the nature of the profession itself that experience trumps everything else. It doesn’t matter how schooled or how skillful a lawyer is, if they don’t have the experience, they won’t do you much good.

It’s thus essential for you to look for a combination of all of these – as long as their experience is plentiful – both professional experience, as well as experience in handling cases. The second part is especially crucial if you have a claim, as it’s vital for your attorney to have experience in handling cases like yours.

Their Plan Matters as Well

We are sure that you can agree that it matters how these attorneys will approach a specific case or something else that you need. You want to know how they operate as that can have a significant effect on the outcome and especially the costs.

Naturally, you don’t need to ask them about every single detail – it’s more than enough to have their plan in the form of a brief outline of the steps they plan to take. Enquiring about this is also helpful as it shows you how attentive to details they are and how hard they will fight for your case.

What Is Their Cost?

When you need to hire professionals, money matters. It is always the case and applies to any service, but it’s more important in the field of law as attorneys can be costly. What’s more, they have wildly different fees as some ask for a lot and some are very cheap – yet both are equally good.

That’s why it’s vital for you to compare the prices of various commercial real estate attorneys and organizations before you opt for a specific one and before signing a contract.

One crucial thing to remember here is to ask the attorney about upfront costs, and expected time to review the matters.  

Try to find one that specializes specifically in what you are looking for, after all, you don’t want to pay someone to research and learn as they go, even if their hourly rate is lower. Look at what suits your needs best before deciding to hire them. 

Our last advise, is to give clear instructions to your attorney that they are there to review the legal matters only, not try and negotiate better economic terms.  I see this all too often, where an attorney tries to renegotiate better terms and it ends up just costing the client more fees (in hours spent), with very little return, or in some cases even blowing the deal up!

For more information, you may reach us at info@cbicommercial.com