Dealing with a lawyer - or any professional for that matter - is a mix of leading and following for both parties. Although the client is the “boss” in the relationship, there are times when, because of a lawyer’s special knowledge or skills or because of the needs of a particular situation, the boss needs to let the lawyer take the lead. The real trick is to figure out when you need to play the lead role, and when you need to let your lawyer forge ahead.
There are no black and white answers to who ought to lead on legal matters. A lot depends on your relationship with your lawyer and level of trust as well as your own personal leadership style. For instance, its often better to let your lawyer be the lead negotiator on adversarial matters where you want to preserve a related business relationship - let the lawyer be the bad guy and avoid any bad blood between the business people.
Similarly, where you have a good business relationship, but the legal issues don’t appear to be resolving between the lawyers, you may want to step in with your business partner to break through the impasse. The long and the short of it is, whether you are leading or following your lawyer, you should be the one setting the destination. Use your lawyer (and other professionals) - whether as advance guard or rear guard - to help you get there.
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