What tptacek said: get everything you sign reviewed.
I re-read the OP; the overall point there was to be financially prudent, e.g. don't waste money. Don't pay an attorney for work he/she doesn't need to be doing.
The counterpoint is to pay them for the work that they _need_ to be doing; but without legal knowledge it's hard to know what that threshold is. I'd encourage people to err on the side of caution and if there's any doubt at all, engage legal counsel.
Re:Don't waste your money on lawyers
by pauldisneyiv on Thursday June 02, 2011 @01:17PM
(#2612884)
So again....how was your business hit financially by filing incorrectly?
Glad you have an opinion on erring on the side of caution- you've stated it - perhaps now you can answer our questions and share your story.
I'd like to know more about what kind of legal threat an S corp is specifically better at protecting you against. Were you a C corp before, and had a company officer problem?
You mentioned taxes. Taxes are a huge difference between company structures. But you don't need a lawyer to sort that out; you need an accountant. And you probably don't need the accountant until you have significant or prolonged revenue. Either way, the tax problem with company structures is one that every freelancer has to deal with, and most of them don't spend $9k on legal fees to work it out.
[Edit]: Part of this conversation has gone offline into email, and without putting it on HN, I'll reiterate: get client/customer/partner contracts reviewed. Nobody should argue that you should skimp on contract review.