Doing the work yourself to save money?

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August 17, 2022

by a searcher from Universidad Panamericana in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico

I am a lawyer with a lot of experience in M&A advisory (due diligence, contract negotiation, etc). I im inclined to think that I could just do the legal work in the search myself and save that money or using it for hiring other kind of advisors instead of retaining a law firm that will do precisely what I can do.

Question: do you think is a good idea to undertake this activity myself; or even if I can do it, just hire a law firm?

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Reply by an admin
from Stanford University in Honolulu, HI, USA
I think in the early stages DYI would be fine. In the later stages, I can see 3 drawbacks:
i) What happens if you fall in love with a poor deal? Part of the value of an attorney is to ensure you do not have blind spots.
ii) What happens if negotiations get tough? Having an attorney to be the bad cop to your good cop has value, especially if it maintains the relationship with the seller and you get to close.
iii) How much will you either be slowing down the deal or sacrificing on the other important aspects to get to close: due diligence, maintaining the relationship with the seller and thinking about how you will operate your new company. I would argue that if you have a good operational plan, the fees will turn out to be a blip.
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Reply by a searcher
from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, TX, USA
There are a lot of specialty areas involved in diligence. Do you feel like you have enough experience in all of them to do it solo (i.e. labor, employment, real estate, tax, IP, etc.).
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