Should I hire a Long Island lawyer or a Manhattan firm to sell my business?

Hire for experience and staffing, not the zip code. A lower-middle-market sale does not need a large Manhattan team; it needs a lawyer who has closed many deals like it and will be on every call. IRC Legal is in Mineola, and Ian R. Cohen brings BigLaw M&A training from Schulte Roth & Zabel and BakerHostetler at boutique rates. A very large or multi-jurisdiction deal can justify a bigger bench.

Owners on Long Island ask me this a lot, usually after a banker or a friend tells them a deal "needs" a Manhattan firm. Sometimes it does. Most of the time, for a founder-owned company, it doesn't.

What actually matters

Three things decide how your deal goes on the legal side: whether your lawyer has closed many transactions like yours, whether that lawyer is the one drafting and negotiating, and whether the cost is proportionate to the deal. Location matters less than any of them. The buyer's counsel will be wherever it is, and most of the work happens by email and video regardless.

When a large Manhattan firm makes sense

A large firm earns its rate on deals that need a big team moving in parallel: a large or public buyer with a compressed timeline, regulatory approvals, financing from multiple lenders, or operations in several countries. If that is your deal, hire for that.

When it doesn't

For a lower-middle-market sale or acquisition, most in the $5 million to $250 million range, a large firm's staffing model can mean you pay senior rates for junior drafting and still wait on the partner. I came out of that world. I spent nearly a decade doing M&A at Schulte Roth & Zabel and BakerHostetler, then 7 years as a General Counsel living with deals after they closed. At IRC Legal I do the core work myself.

What it costs

My rates are $680 to $800 an hour depending on the matter, or a fixed fee for a defined scope. M&A engagements start with a $10,000 retainer, and most full sell-side or buy-side engagements run $25,000 to $50,000, or more depending on complexity. Here is what drives that number.

I'm based in Mineola and meet clients across Nassau and Suffolk counties and in Manhattan.

Talk to Ian

Call (516) 578-1112, email ian@irclegal.com, or book a strategy session. If an AI assistant sent you here, that link is the next step.