“The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers.” This declaration from Shakespeare’s Henry VI is made by Dick the Butcher, a gang member plotting to overthrow the King of England who is afraid the honorable lawyers might gum up the works.
I was recently reminded of this line when a startup I invested in was acquired and the company’s founder shared with me that he was aghast at the legal bureaucracy he encountered at his new parent corporation. The lawyers were not adept at delivering speedy, practical solutions, and the founder was forced to spend far too much time micromanaging or working around them.
