Our experience shows that the majority of clients require a similar basic range of legal services.

Adroit Lawyers are Sydney lawyers who can service all your core commercial and corporate requirements.

We have received strong recommendations from our clients and you can engage our services in flexible ways including as a virtual general counsel. It is a way for us to be able to deliver big business advantages to small business clients.

We are continually building the breadth and depth of the services we offer.

We have also not lost sight of your requirement for consistently solid legal advice that is delivered on-time and on-budget.

Core Services

Our practice areas include:

• intellectual property
• information technology
• media and entertainment
• capital raising
• mergers and acquisition
• banking
• finance

Referral Services

We also have a trusted network of lawyers available on referral to provide the following services.

• litigation
• property
• environment and planning

Photo by Gaetan Lee

The post Our Practice Areas appeared first on Adroit Lawyers.

Business leaders know how important a deal can be to their company’s future.

They ‘live’ the deal and inevitably the highs and lows of the negotiations assume great importance in their lives.

Adroit Lawyers understand that passionate dedication and the need for legal services that hit the target, on-time and on-budget.

Call us if you want a lawyer who has walked in your shoes, delivered major deals and understands commercial goals and the pressures you face.

We’ll help you achieve!

Our clients include some of Australia’s hottest new start-ups as well as industry leading international companies. We have experience in taking a business from the first seed of an idea right through the growth stages to full operation. We can advise you on structuring the venture, raising funds, issuing shares, building the Board of Directors, corporate governance, business strategy, negotiating key contracts and taking on executives and other employees.

We’re well able to help more mature businesses move into a new phase of launching other subsidiaries, acquiring another business or selling off its assets or business. We can also help you list on a public stock exchange.

We have broad commercial experience and are ready to help you.

The post Our Experience appeared first on Adroit Lawyers.

Johan Lembre, the CEO of Pacom. He originally oversaw the global operations from Australia and then from Sweden.

I have worked with Adroit Lawyers over for the past five years and during this time I have been impressed by Mark Toohey’s ability to quickly understand the commercial background to an agreement and adopt the scope accordingly.

Mark’s ability to protect his client while still finding contract provisions that are acceptable to the other party to the contract saved us time and costs.

Over the years Adroit Lawyers has showed that they have a very solid understanding for technology business and the surrounding legal framework. This has been a great asset to us.

I can strongly recommend the services of Adroit Lawyers.”

Magnus Jonsson was the CEO of Pacom, a multi-national security company.

Magnus was promoted to a senior executive position with the parent company, Niscayah,  in Sweden.

“I’d like to recommend Adroit Lawyers to anyone who wants to work with a law firm with high level integrity and honesty.

In many years in international businesses, I have come across numerous law firms with one main thing in common: an ability to deliver invoices far beyond and above your worst expectations.

With Mark Toohey at Adroit Lawyers, I found the opposite – he looked at the problem or need from our side and always suggested the best approach – even if it meant lower fees for him. That builds a long-term relationship and earns the trust of clients.

Mark has helped us with trademark questions, reseller agreements and professional services contracts and we are very satisfied with the services provided.”

Belinda Kerr recently sold a controlling interest in her human resources company, ICUR Pty Limited.

She, quite rightly, took a lot of pride in the company she’d established and built to such success.

Selling such an important part of her life was an important decision and she needed to be fully rewarded.

The purchaser is well-established in the HR industry in Britain and they intend to use the company as a beachhead for their operations in our region.

“I recently engaged the legal services of Mark Toohey to manage the sale contracts of a business I started in 2001. Mark always had my best interests at heart and threw himself wholeheartedly into the deal to push for the best outcome. He was always available to take my calls and answer my 101 questions.

As I was a novice in selling a business, he ensured I was kept completely informed during the sale process. I knew nothing about the sale of a business when we met, now I know just a little bit and in hindsight I couldn’t have wished for a smoother process.

He is personable, clearly very knowledgeable in his craft but more importantly a genuine professional committed to the best outcomes for his clients.”

Geoff Sparke was the man on the other side of the table in a major deal where he was representing Nine Network in organising the network’s broadcast centre and its engineering requirements for coverage of the M2006 Commonwealth Games. He speaks candidly about how tough the negotiations were and yet we walked away with considerable mutual respect for each other.

“Mark was across the table in a drawn out negotiation where he represented the vendor supplying facilities to the Nine Network coverage of the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne 2006.

The deal involved punitive service levels and Mark represented Global Television well ensuring that the arrangement was balanced. Both parties were satisfied with the contract and were well aware of each other’s obligations.

Mark’s patience and tenacity helped resolve outstanding issues, which then brought about a speedy result.”

Kathy Kenyon is a former colleague who also worked alongside me on some projects that created major changes to the employment structures within the Australian television industry. One project involved drafting and settling over 1,000 employment contracts in just a few weeks. Given all the other things that had to be organised and addressed in the same period, the contracts were possibly one of the easier parts of the project.

“Mark is a superb general counsel. A tenacious individual with a clear passion for law. Unswervingly committed to the job at hand, with the ability to delve into complex details whilst retaining a cool overall perspective.”

The post Our References appeared first on Adroit Lawyers.

There is a clear need for flexible low-cost legal services for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Such businesses need tailored legal advice. Until recently, that was a commercial advantage only larger corporations could access.

Recognising that need, we’ve built Adroit Lawyer’s ‘Virtual Lawyer’ service. It enables SMEs to enjoy the benefit of having an ‘in-house lawyer’ without all of the associated expenses.

In tough economic times, we know the value of you being able to seek legal advice from someone who has a good understanding of your business and your commercial objectives – and is cost conscious.

Years of practical experience has taught us small business faces the same legal challenges as larger corporations. In fact, sometimes the impact is harder due to the lack of resources that can result in a harried boss and a stressed management trying to do a few jobs at once.

We can’t completely solve the issue. Small businesses will always have to work harder due to their lack of scale and limited resources. That is just the task SMEs face. We can help you though to cut through the clutter and sort out your important legal issues.

Risk is also a major issue and knowing how to limit your exposure in a deal or in your operations is important. Our experience will help make your deals more ‘bullet proof’ and we can advise you on ways to implement systems, procedures or structures that minimise your business risks – a few less headaches to worry about.

Contact us if you’d like to discuss how your business could benefit from the corporate experience of a in-house lawyer on an engagement that is as flexible as your needs – with no hidden catches.

If the idea interests you, follow these links to find out How it Works; why it is a Cost-Effective Service; and What we Deliver, or if you want to find out About Us.

Having a Virtual Lawyer that provides big business experience to your SME may be the winning edge your company needs.

The post Virtual Lawyer appeared first on Adroit Lawyers.

The Global Financial Crisis has taught us all a lot about the perils that befall an industry if it ceases to faithfully adhere to balanced professional standards and practices.

Back in 2008, the then-Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, spoke of “extreme capitalism” and stated that “we’ve seen the triumph of greed over integrity; the triumph of speculation over value creation; the triumph of the short term over long-term sustainable growth”.

Sadly, the legal profession also has cause to pause and consider its direction and structure.

Client Satisfaction

Retired American judge, Justice Macklin Fleming, in his book Lawyers, Money, and Success – The Consequences of Dollar Obsession, argues that the American legal profession’s quest for money caused the profession to lose sight of its true tasks and responsibilities. This has resulted in dissatisfied clients, public mistrust and seriously unhappy lawyers.

Job Satisfaction

Australian lawyers may be faring no better. Radio National’s Law Report recently stated that “surveys of professionals in both the USA and Australia put lawyers at the top of the list when it comes to the incidence of depression”. One study, by Beyond Blue and Beaton Consulting, found that 15% of the lawyers surveyed suffer moderate to severe depression. Other studies found the rate to be much higher.

Our Commitment

Adroit Lawyers are Sydney lawyers who have taken these lessons to heart. We aim to provide cost-effective service in a manner that increase client happiness and our own job satisfaction – an approach that makes a lot of sense to us.

The post Cost Effective Service appeared first on Adroit Lawyers.

The Australian legal profession in broad terms is comprised of lawyers who are either barristers (who mainly do court work) or solicitors (who do more general matters).

The larger law firms have grown exponentially in recent decades and many of those firms now have hundreds of employed solicitors. The scale of their operations (and the resultant overheads) may be one reason legal fees have steadily risen in recent times.

In response to the rising cost of briefing external solicitors, many larger companies have formed internal legal departments headed by a General Counsel who is supported by a team of lawyers bearing the ‘Legal Counsel’ title.

Some companies consider it advantageous to have an in-house legal team who are more intimately aligned with the company and its commercial objectives. The belief is that this leads to a deeper understanding of the company’s commercial imperatives and deal-making goals.

Sydney Lawyers

Adroit Lawyers believe a significant gap exists in Australia for legal services provided by commercial lawyers with in-house experience at the senior level of General Counsel.

It is particularly valuable if that experienced advice is combined with the engagement flexibility of an external law firm. You only engage the legal services when you actually need them and thus avoid salary costs and all related employment obligations.

It is a useful commercial opportunity for Australian business as there is a corporate stratum which finds it difficult to afford the high legal fees of external firms. Yet, those companies also don’t have a sufficient volume of legal work to justify hiring an in-house lawyer.

Adroit Lawyers, now offers something that is fairly unique among Sydney lawyers. The opportunity to have an external lawyer with deep knowledge of your company may be a viable solution that helps cash-strapped companies avoid the fixed cost of hiring an internal lawyer.

It Works

Our Virtual General Counsel service is a significant development that will enable your company to enjoy the benefits of extensive in-house legal experience on a more affordable and flexible basis.

Our clients have experienced the benefits and you can read our client’s recommendations. It is encouraging that our innovative Virtual General Counsel service has also been recognized as a promising new business model and has received credible industry recognition – not an insignificant achievement for a relatively small law firm.

Here is how it works.

The post What We Deliver appeared first on Adroit Lawyers.

Experience the benefits of top-level corporate advice when you need it and in the way you need it.

Most large companies have the competitive advantage of being able to engage a team of full-time in-house lawyers who understand its business operations and its legal requirements.

The ready availability of that knowledge and advice can provide a significant strategic advantage when devising business development strategies or seizing growth opportunities. Importantly, it can also help pitfalls be detected and avoided.

Sydney Lawyers

Adroit Lawyers offer flexible engagement structures and your business can now have a virtual General Counsel – a lawyer dedicated to helping your business grow.

You can now have all the advantages of having an in-house Sydney lawyer on your team with the cost benefits of it being a flexible engagement. We offer value-for-money hourly and retainer rates and great savings on ‘day rates’ for longer engagements.

There is another element to this service which is the real ‘value-add’. Many law firms can offer great legal advice and they are well versed in the legal requirements for establishing and operating a business.

We offer an added element – commercial experience where that legal knowledge has been honed by operational reality. It doesn’t change the law, but it does influence the emphasis applied to certain elements.

The strategic application of legal guidelines rather than a broad bush approach would be another way of stating it.

Some executives criticise lawyers for being ‘speed humps’ who overly-complicate deals and get in the way. Such criticism is often not fair as the lawyer is riding shotgun on the deal and protecting them from dangers they may not fully grasp.

There is a lesson in there as well though.

Some dangers may ‘never happen’ and while they need to be taken into consideration and addressed from a risk minimisation perspective, the real emphasis should be on the terms that are the heart and soul of the deal. Getting them right and making them ‘bullet proof’ is what really matters.

The post How it Works – Adroit Lawyers appeared first on Adroit Lawyers.

The task of buying or selling a business can be daunting if you lack experienced assistance. That is why teamwork is key to any major deal and business success.

It can be hard work managing each aspect of the transaction: the accounting, legal, commercial and operational factors – particularly if you don’t have all the assistance you need.

It can be equally demanding if you are trying to launch a new subsidiary or venture and you don’t have all the firepower you need to get the job done.

The load of trying to achieve so much without enough help is grueling and it can result in a deal slowing or even being lost if the other party’s enthusiasm wanes.

We’ve developed a range of service options to meet those needs. We can work with you as an advisor, on a project basis or as a vitual lawyer.  It really comes down to your requirements.

We’re keen to help you take your business to the next level and we’re convinced that experienced advice will lighten the load and make success more achievable.

Of course, choosing the team that will assist you is an important decision and it is wise to understand how our services could help in your particular circumstances.

The best evidence of results we’ve delivered are the recommendations others have kindly given.

Photo by Bob Jagendorf

The post Business Success appeared first on Adroit Lawyers.

How to Get Best Sale Price for Your Business

Selling your business you’ve spent years building is an intense emotional experience.

You want the best price and you care about what happens to the employees who helped you get there.

We understand the process from valuation through to completion and we’ll back your efforts – each step of the way.

Equally, if you’re acquiring a new subsidiary or merging with another business you‘ll need someone familiar with the gamut of commercial contracts.

We can help ensure you get what you are paying for and that you don’t end up ‘inheriting’ the seller’s problems.

Good due diligence not only considers the available documentation, but it searches for what is missing so hidden pitfalls and risks can be avoided.

In most deals the correct structuring of the commercial terms can have an enormous impact on the financial outcome.

Precision is required to clarify each aspect of the deal and to ensure the documentation matches your intentions and the commercial terms are comprehensively captured.

It can be a long road from those first steps through to execution of the deal.  Agile negotiation strategies are required to keep adjusting the terms each time a new path is opened. It is common for a deal to be fairly fluid (at least in some of the less critical terms) and one must be ready to adjust to those rapidly changing factors.

It helps if someone who knows the territory is sharing your load.

We can advise you on the numerous legal aspects of the transaction and help you achieve a solid deal and a good commercial outcome.

The post Selling Your Business appeared first on Adroit Lawyers.

In Turn Numbers into Dollars – Increase EBIT, we looked at why an increase in EBIT is so important if you are about to sell your business. Of course, s strong EBIT remains important even if you do not currently intend to sell.

Every good business manager should monitor gross margin. It is the measure of how much money is left over from the sale of your products or services. It is money available to pay for the operating expenses of the business.

The two options you have to increase your business profits are set out below. Of course, the best outcomes may be achieved if you do both.

Option 1: Increase Sales Income

Sales income can be increased by raising the price you are charging. Often market circumstances are tight and if competition is tough then you may not have this option available. The main methods are to create new demand and to maintain prices by not discounting.

Create New Demand

Look for ways to package your goods or services or to create new demand through better marketing. This is a big topic we’ll address another time.

Evaluate the True Cost of Discounts

There is one drag on sales income that is often overlooked – discounts. I know one business that is always struggling to make ends meet because they are continually discounting. They keep trying to build up goodwill and market position, but it rarely works as customer loyalty is often fleeting. Unless you have a unique product, most buyers simply chase a comparable good or service from someone willing to offer a lower price.

Realise the Dangers of Discounting and guard against crippling your business by selling your time, effort and products too cheaply. If you are tempted to sign up for Groupon or some other Deal of the Day clone, then first consider whether Groupon may kill your business  and how it may erode your EBIT.

Look at recent sales figures and analyse the effect any promotions, sales or free samples had on your profit. What did those discounts really cost you?  How can discounts be reduced or eliminated?

Frankly assess whether each sale still would have been made without a discount.

Option 2: Decrease the Cost of Goods Sold (COGS)

If you are serious about reducing the cost of selling your goods then it would pay to tactically assess each expense. The following steps set out measures that can be taken.

Step 1: Gather the Data

Gather your most recent financial statements and data using (if possible) the last three year’s information.

Step 2: Analyse Your Expenses

Consider ways you can manage your internal and external costs. List your main expenses and examine ways to cut those costs.

• Can staff be redeployed or reorganised?
• Can new tools improve efficiency or productivity?
• Can you obtain similar quality raw materials at a cheaper rate?
• Can you get a volume discount on your raw materials?
• Can you renegotiate the price of raw materials?

Step 3: Analyse Your Business

Search for new strategies by assessing the honest position of your business. A helpful process can be to conduct a brainstorming SWOT analysis of the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats of your business.

Step 4: Trim Your Costs

Determine if there are ways to introduce long-term cost saving technologies for inventory, production and sales or other ways to increase efficiency.

Step 5: Develop a Plan

Plan a coordinated strategy for reducing costs taking into account what your learned from the SWOT analysis and what is achievable now  and also in the medium and long term.

Step 6: Work the Plan

Sadly this is where most great plans fail – they are never fully implemented. The goals and benchmarks have been set down, now work that plan. Schedule reviews of your progress and the timetable for each step to be implemented. Monitor progress and continually adjust your actions.

Photo by Gaetan Lee

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