When to bring in a lawyer: a management decision, the triggers and what to prepare
A formal demand arrives late on Friday. The project team wants to answer quickly, but nobody is sure who can authorize legal advice or whether the response date needs urgent attention. Waiting for the next routine project review could leave an important question unanswered.
Use a company escalation rule for obtaining legal advice when formal claims, termination threats, payment or lien questions, serious incidents or unfamiliar demands exceed the project team’s authority or knowledge. Notify the authorized company decision-maker promptly and seek advice appropriate to any urgency. Preserve the record and prepare a factual timeline. Do not decide a legal deadline or entitlement from a short construction lesson, and do not delay urgent contact while trying to build a perfect file.
Escalate with a usable record
- Define company triggers in advance. Agree who receives formal notices and demands, who can engage counsel and what types of issue require prompt escalation. Confirm the route with management and its legal advisers rather than setting an arbitrary dollar threshold on site.
- Flag time-sensitive information immediately. Preserve the document and report any stated date without assuming its legal effect. Ask the authorized decision-maker or lawyer to assess urgency; an internal review calendar should not determine an external legal deadline.
- Preserve relevant material. Keep the agreement, notices, correspondence, records and original versions available through the company’s appropriate process. Do not alter past notes to make the chronology look clearer.
- Prepare facts in date order. Identify events, references, participants and what is still uncertain. The Law Society of British Columbia’s public guidance recommends preparing the chronology and relevant documents for a lawyer meeting. Separate an observation from your interpretation.
- State the help being sought. Explain the immediate questions, business objective and decisions the company faces. Provide the complete relevant story, including information that may be inconvenient, and ask the lawyer what further material is needed.
- Agree engagement and communication arrangements. Have the authorized person confirm scope, fees, responsible contacts and next steps with counsel. Ask how legal communications should be handled rather than assuming every project email becomes protected by copying a lawyer.
Checklist
For the first legal-advice contact
- The original demand or notice and stated dates.
- The relevant agreement and record locations.
- A factual chronology with gaps marked.
- The company’s objective and immediate questions.
- An authorized engagement and communication contact.
Check your understanding
You are missing two attachments, but the demand appears urgent. Should escalation wait until the file is complete?
