You are suggesting that the lawyer can help in two ways:
1. Negotiations
2. Understanding the legal situation
Regarding the second point, the correct advice is not to sign contracts whose consequences you do not understand. Regarding the first point, engaging a lawyer will destroy whatever trust and mutual understanding is left in the relationship between the founders.
This might be the US way of doing things. But before telling someone to hire a lawyer, you should make sure that the case in question is not taking place in a country where doing this is generally taken as a big offense.
Regarding the second point, the correct advice is not to sign contracts whose consequences you do not understand.
Ideally, yes, but it sounds like that ship sailed already.
Regarding the first point, engaging a lawyer will destroy whatever trust and mutual understanding is left in the relationship between the founders.
You don't have to tell them you hired a lawyer at first, when you're just looking for some basic advice about what your situation really is.
If it goes further and your lawyer is actively representing you when dealing with other people in a business context, and those other people take offence at this or it destroys trust, then you never really had a worthwhile relationship with them to begin with and you definitely want a lawyer in your corner.
And when you're screwing someone who holds to the "no lawyers because you're supposed to trust your cofounders" approach that risk is generally greatly diminished.
We don't know whether they want to screw him. All we know is that the hired CTO thinks that he is incompetent and thus should leave the company. The first thing he should do in this situation is to talk to the CEO, and not running to a lawyer or consulting hacker news.
> But before telling someone to hire a lawyer, you should make sure that the case in question is not taking place in a country where doing this is generally taken as a big offense.
Interesting. Can you give an example of such a place, and how things tend to work there? What would be your advice to the founder if they were in that country?
Continental European countries usually work that way. When Germans say "die sprechen nur noch über ihre Anwälte" (translation: they used to have a good relationship but now they only speak through their lawyers to each other), it means that the trust between two parties is broken beyond repair. Generally, by unilaterally involving a lawyer, you signal that there is no hope left to settle disputes on a basis of trust and friendship. Consequently, my advise to the founder would be to discuss the situation with the co-founders and then try to do what's best for the company. The first priority should always be to find a solution by talking directly to each other. Telling the founder to hire a lawyer before having had an open discussion with the CEO is really bad advice.
Not to the same degree. The US spends a much higher share of GDP on lawyers than most other countries.
What I find disgusting is the culture of hiring a lawyer to put as many traps as possible into a contract, which forces the other party to hire another lawyer to remove the traps again. This does not make anyone better off except for the lawyers.
Healthy and lasting business relationships are built on trust. The relationship between McDonald's and Coca-Cola is based on a simple hand-shake. If you want to preserve such a relationship and it comes to a disagreement, the first thing you should do is talking to each other. Once that fails, you can consult the lawyer - which will formalize everything and slow the process down (e.g. "I cannot disuss this today because I have to check with my lawyer first"). And being slow is one of the things one should avoid when being in a startup.
"The relationship between McDonald's and Coca-Cola is based on a simple hand-shake."
...
Look there is no reasonable discourse possible with idiocy like this. If you think a sustainable business is possible without covering your legal grounds, I'm wondering if you'd be interested in this bridge in Brooklyn I have for sale. Blanket statements like 'the US spends a much higher share of its GDP on lawyers' don't mean a thing without a proper understanding of the legal system, business culture etc. It is obvious from your postings in this thread you know nothing about what lawyers actually do for a business, in the US nor in Germany, and that your statements are based on what you see on TV and blind prejudices.
(disclaimers: I have a law degree but have never practiced. I'm not an American, yet I have spend amounts on lawyers the last years that you probably feel are obscene, and this in a country that is considered similar to Germany in its look on lawyers, and they were worth every penny, and then some. I have also paid dearly in the past for not doing things the formal legal way, including in Germany.)
1. Negotiations
2. Understanding the legal situation
Regarding the second point, the correct advice is not to sign contracts whose consequences you do not understand. Regarding the first point, engaging a lawyer will destroy whatever trust and mutual understanding is left in the relationship between the founders.
This might be the US way of doing things. But before telling someone to hire a lawyer, you should make sure that the case in question is not taking place in a country where doing this is generally taken as a big offense.