<p>Just a few thoughts from someone with no experience with lawyers: since very few lawyers will have experience with Bitcoin, I personally would look for a lawyer familiar with (1) tax law, (2) currency trading and/or commodities trading, and (3) technology in general. Familiarity with technology may be the least important, and may actually not matter at all, except that the lawyer needs to understand the analogy between Bitcoin and a commodity/currency.</p>

<p>While it doesn't sound like you will be doing Bitcoin speculation, you will still, presumably, be trading services for Bitcoin, and then Bitcoin for a national currency. This is where the lawyers knowledge of currency/commodities trading comes into play. For example, do you pay taxes on the spot price of the Bitcoin at the point of transaction? At the end of the year? Or only when you trade the Bitcoin for national currency? What if you trade the Bitcoin for something other than national currency? Such as if you pay your web site hosting fees with Bitcoin? I'm assuming that these are the sorts of questions you'll need answered in the end. You might use these questions during a free/initial consultation to get a sense of the lawyers ability to field the sorts of questions you'll have.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-06-14T17:35:49.303Z
I also got some good insights from Greg Broiles' Bitcoin conf 2013 talk. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3_lkLh-Xw0
John
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-06-14T13:51:05.170Z
2013-06-14T13:51:05.170Z
Dane
<p>I'd like to accept freelance work with bitcoin, probably a large enough amount to consult a lawyer.</p>

<p>What kinds of questions would you ask to make sure they're competent? How would you go about finding such an attorney?</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-12-24T23:15:34.750Z
I am at a similar level and I am planning on starting with whether I can pay my retainer with Bitcoin and how to do the accounting on the fund. What I mean is I believe Bitcoin will skyrocket so I don't want to cash them in to pay the retainer but rather want to give the Bitcoin themselves as the retainer. Then, if they go up another 4000% next year, I have that much more in my legal fund.
user2180634
<legal><taxes>
bitcoin knowledgeable attorneys?
John
# bitcoin knowledgeable attorneys?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2013-05-10)

I'd like to accept freelance work with bitcoin, probably a large enough amount to consult a lawyer.

What kinds of questions would you ask to make sure they're competent? How would you go about finding such an attorney?

**Tags:** legal, taxes

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: I am at a similar level and I am planning on starting with whether I can pay my retainer with Bitcoin and how to do the accounting on the fund. What I mean is I believe Bitcoin will skyrocket so I don't want to cash them in to pay the retainer but rather want to give the Bitcoin themselves as the retainer. Then, if they go up another 4000% next year, I have that much more in my legal fund.  

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2013-06-14. Score: 5 | Accepted answer

Just a few thoughts from someone with no experience with lawyers: since very few lawyers will have experience with Bitcoin, I personally would look for a lawyer familiar with (1) tax law, (2) currency trading and/or commodities trading, and (3) technology in general. Familiarity with technology may be the least important, and may actually not matter at all, except that the lawyer needs to understand the analogy between Bitcoin and a commodity/currency.

While it doesn't sound like you will be doing Bitcoin speculation, you will still, presumably, be trading services for Bitcoin, and then Bitcoin for a national currency. This is where the lawyers knowledge of currency/commodities trading comes into play. For example, do you pay taxes on the spot price of the Bitcoin at the point of transaction? At the end of the year? Or only when you trade the Bitcoin for national currency? What if you trade the Bitcoin for something other than national currency? Such as if you pay your web site hosting fees with Bitcoin? I'm assuming that these are the sorts of questions you'll need answered in the end. You might use these questions during a free/initial consultation to get a sense of the lawyers ability to field the sorts of questions you'll have.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: I also got some good insights from Greg Broiles' Bitcoin conf 2013 talk. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3_lkLh-Xw0  

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