Maybe the thing is I'm not in the US but in Western Europe. I'm not sure if it's representative but from seeing US movies/series (in so far those are representative), reading other comments here etc I do get the impression there's more of a 'lawyer up' culture in the US than here. Plus I'm perhaps also in the 'wrong' bubble. I.e. most people I know who own a business are simple one-man companies / contract workers, myself included and we don't have to deal with legal stuff ever. Which just makes me realize: I do have an accountant and he would obviously know laywers.