What Is a Financial Attorney?

What do you know about financial law as it pertains to your specific business? This branch of law regulates such industries as investments, insurance, and capital marketing. Further, financial law also deals with project finance, private equity finance, and real estate finance. Does your company deal with any of these areas or something similar? Consider working with a financial attorney to help with financial matters and uncover business opportunities.

What Tasks Do Financial Attorneys Commonly Perform?

Besides standard banking matters such as mortgages, bank disputes, and loans, financial legal professionals handle several additional tasks. For instance, financial attorneys help clients navigate bankruptcy. Business owners going through insolvency must understand their rights and know how to protect their company’s assets and their personal assets.

Some legal advocates specialize in collections and debt. They help clients comprehend legal debt collection practices for a specific state according to the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. Financial attorneys also help indebted clients draft a settlement for all their outstanding debts.

Don’t wait until tax season rolls around. Work with a financial legal representative throughout the year to determine how the latest tax laws and regulations impact your business and overall tax bill. Another task these legal advocates commonly perform is helping entrepreneurs understand their annuity contracts and commercial insurance policies.

Perhaps you want to leave your business to an heir or beneficiary. If so, a financial lawyer can assist you with learning your state’s estate laws and making sure you handle all estate planning tasks properly and legally. They’ll ensure the validity and a smooth transfer of ownership.

Financial attorneys also know securities law. This insight proves helpful if you want to sell, buy or create securities interests; you must adhere to the most current state and federal regulations and laws.

What Sets Financial Attorneys Apart From Other Attorneys?

When it comes to legal matters, finding the right professional with expertise in the specific area you need is essential. Just like you wouldn’t hire an auto HVAC specialist to fix your home’s heating system, you want a lawyer who’s well-versed in the field relevant to your issue.

Financial legal representatives don’t just pass the LSAT and attend law school—they often pursue specialized courses in areas like bankruptcy, corporate finance, business taxation, and securities. For deeper expertise, especially in complex business or financial issues, consider seeking a lawyer with a voluntary certification from the American Board of Certification, such as in bankruptcy law.

Before contacting a financial attorney, identify which legal issues you need help with. That way, you can further narrow the legal defendant you need.

What Legal Situations Can a Financial Attorney Keep You and Your Business Out Of?

Bankruptcy

Even if you don’t need legal counsel right now, consider having a financial lawyer periodically review your business’s financial health. Consulting with a legal expert regularly can help prevent issues before they become crises.

For example, a financial attorney can do more than assist in bankruptcy proceedings—they can help you avoid bankruptcy altogether. By working alongside your accountant, a lawyer can keep your business on track, offering insight into potential financial trouble spots. This proactive approach allows you to address risks early, giving you the chance to steer clear of bankruptcy or at least reduce its impact.

Exploitation

These legal advocates also help you sidestep potential exploitation during finance-related cases. Depending on the situation, a judge may force you to pay damages to the other party for a crime that you did not commit. When you are the plaintiff rather than the defendant in a legal case, working closely with a financial attorney better allows you to receive full and fair compensation.

Penalties

You may already know how many penalties a company may rack up by dropping the ball on bank accounts, tax identification numbers, contracts, and credit card numbers. With the right professional help in your corner, you do not have to worry as much about accruing unnecessary penalties, fines, and fees. No matter the size of your business, or how long you have been in business, you never know when you may accidentally slip up and open yourself up to monetary punishment.

Contracts

Before entering an agreement with another business owner, entrepreneur, or vendor, have a legal advocate look over the contract. You do not want to risk signing an illegal agreement. You also do not want to enter into a contract with a difficult business partner. A legal representative can help you perform due diligence so that you know what kind of people and companies you desire to work with.

Copyrights and Trademarks

What do you know about copyright laws in your state and for your industry? A lack of knowledge could leave you vulnerable to an intellectual property theft case if you do not properly or quickly register your services or products. A financial legal practitioner can assist with registering so you have the proper copyright protection and federal trademark. Even if something should go wrong later, your representative can handle the legal battle for you while you focus on running your company.

Do You Need to Work With an Attorney When You Have a Commercial Accountant?

You already have a commercial accountant, so do you even need a financial lawyer, too? Accountants can handle many of the financial aspects of operating a business. However, they do not possess training in legal analysis or laws.

For instance, your accountant can aid you in filing paperwork to leave an LLC. But, she or he may not submit all the necessary documents. You must decide what liabilities and assets remain with the business and which remain with you when you depart. As the departing member, you want to properly take your name off security interests and liabilities. You must also fully disassociate your name from anything like outstanding tax obligations. Miss any of these steps, and you may have trouble in the years ahead with securing personal financing if an unpaid company credit card that still bears your name goes to collections.

Work With an Experienced Local Lawyer

Could your company use help from a financial attorney? Submit a request online or call us today at (866) 345-6784 to get in touch with an experienced lawyer in your area!

About the Author

Aaron is a professional legal writer with a B.S. in English Education from Southern Illinois University – Carbondale. He has written, published, and edited thousands of legal articles for RequestLegalHelp, which has connected over 5 million people to legal help in the United States.

With over five years of experience writing thousands of legal articles for law firms across the U.S. and Canada, Aaron specializes in covering federal, state, and city-level legal issues ranging from auto accidents to wrongful terminations. Contact Aaron at [email protected] for article suggestions, collaborations, or inquiries.