10 Questions Business-Minded Lawyers Ask to Drive Impact

Deep Dive

Business-minded lawyers get curious to drive impact.

Curiosity is one of the most underrated superpowers of a great in-house lawyer.

Not the academic kind that makes you want to read every footnote in a regulatory update. (Personally, that’s never been me.  Is this you?  I’ve always wondered: do you really enjoy reading these random details or are you pretending?).  

In any event, what I am talking about is the practical kind of curiosity that makes you ask: What’s actually going on here? What are we trying to do? Who else needs to weigh in?

It’s a humble curiosity, and says: No ego here. I don’t have all the answers, but I’ll search out ways to drive impact.

The lawyers who consistently drive impact are great issue spotters and careful reviewers. But they don’t stop there.  They’re also sharp, business-minded collaborators who pause long enough to ask the questions that shape strategy, avoid rework, and meaningfully move things forward.  

Here are 10 of those questions. I ask them on repeat. Asking these questions, and getting your team to ask them, can help your legal department too.

1. What are the key business goals this year or quarter?

Start here. Always.

You can’t align with the business if you don’t know what it’s trying to do. If you don’t have a regular cadence for checking this, set one. Ask your GC. Ask your business leaders. Ask the COO. Because sometimes alignment isn’t perfect: consider asking them all. 

2. What’s the broader context or strategy behind this?

Sometimes the immediate business goal is clear, but the strategic angle isn’t.

This question is especially useful when a project seems strange or sudden. Maybe a team is pushing hard for something that seems low-priority from where you sit. Or someone’s urgently trying to revive a contract that’s been dormant for six months.

Pause and ask: What’s driving this now? You’ll often find the urgency makes sense once you understand what’s going on behind the scenes.  And if you find that it still doesn’t make sense, level setting with the team on where their asks fall among company-wide priorities is a good idea.  

I remember a time when an internal team was really focused on a very small sales contract.  I didn’t understand the urgency, or their desire to rip apart tiny details.  In fact, negotiating the deal probably took more cost in internal time than the entire value of the contract.  But when I dug in with the team live, it turned out that they were expecting to do several much bigger sales to the affiliates of the client that year, and despite confidentiality provisions in the contract, they were pretty sure the different companies would compare notes. They didn’t want to start negotiating the other contracts from a perceived position of weakness.

3. What does success look like for this project?

You’d be surprised how often people haven’t thought this through. Or how differently two stakeholders define success.

Sometimes success is “sign this by Friday.” Sometimes it’s “make sure we’re protected if X goes wrong.” Other times, it’s “don’t create a single ripple; just get it done with as little friction as possible.”  Various stakeholders may not agree on what success looks like, and this can be ok.  But you need to know how everyone is viewing it. 

Asking this up front gives you a clear target. And sometimes, it changes how you approach the work entirely.

4. What’s already been tried—or discussed—on this? Have any decisions already been made?

A while ago, my team spent hours redlining a contract.

We suggested changes to indemnity, added standard fallback language, and flagged a few reputational risks. It was technically strong legal work. Unfortunately, it was also a complete waste of time.

Because what we didn’t know was that the business had already been told, and agreed, that the terms were non-negotiable. It was a big deal (dollarwise) for us, but tiny for the counterparty. It was a take-it-or-leave-it deal, and we were never going to change it.

Now, I ask this question constantly. What’s already been decided? What conversations have already happened? Are there things that we are too early, or too late, to change?

5. Who are the interested stakeholders here? Is there anyone we may be leaving out?

Missing stakeholders slow everything down.

Maybe marketing is the one who actually has the numbers. Maybe security flagged this exact issue six months ago. Maybe finance will need to approve the spend before anything moves forward.   

Your job isn’t just to get things right; you also add value by keeping things moving. And that means making sure the right people are in the loop.

6. Who owns the final decision?

In some companies, it’s always clear. In others, you’ll hear “we’re still figuring that out” more often than you’d like.

But you still need to ask.

Knowing who’s ultimately responsible helps you shape your advice, manage risk, and move the ball forward. If the answer is “no one yet,” that’s a flag in itself.

7. What assumptions are we making here?

This one is subtle but powerful.

Every project rests on assumptions. That a deal will close. That a regulation applies. That a vendor is reliable. That marketing will launch on time.

When you ask this question early, you expose potential gaps. And sometimes, you spot landmines the business didn’t know were there.

8. What’s the risk if we do nothing?

This is one of my favorite framing questions, especially when resources are tight.

If the answer is “nothing major,” you might decide to de-prioritize. If the answer is “a major deal might fall apart,” then you’ve got clear justification for making it urgent.

It also helps surface whether people are asking for legal support because they need it—or just because it’s the next checkbox on their list.

9. When do you need this? Is it a fixed deadline or flexible—and what’s driving the timing?

Every lawyer has been handed something “urgent” that turns out not to be.

This question helps you triage. If it’s flexible, you can slot it into your broader workflow. If it’s fixed, you can escalate or push something else aside.

The key is the second part: What’s driving the deadline? That gives you context to judge how real it is and what happens if you miss it. 

Ideally, for repeat tasks like sales contracts, this question works in conjunction with legal department SLAs that your colleagues already understand and accept.  So you can answer your own question, and ask only for exceptions: “Per our SLAs, this will be back to you in 3 business days.  If that doesn’t work, please let me know and provide detail on why.” 

10. What’s the best way to approach this project?

Even when everyone agrees on what needs to happen, the how can get messy fast.

Do we start with legal review, or wait for business terms to solidify? Should we hop on a quick call, or will trading redlines work better? Who’s drafting, and who’s reviewing? What’s the expected order of operations, and who owns what?

This question helps set expectations early and avoids wheel-spinning later. It also gives you space to propose a better process when needed.

A five-minute conversation about approach can save hours of back-and-forth. Ask it early, and revisit if things shift.

Bookmark and Repeat

None of these questions is flashy. But they are high-leverage.

When you ask them consistently, you avoid rework, earn trust, and deliver better outcomes without burning extra time or energy.

The best part is that these questions aren’t just for new projects. They’re just as valuable when something’s veering off-track or moving too fast.

So keep them handy. And don’t wait for the perfect moment to ask.

Ask early. Ask often. And watch how much easier it is to do great work that actually matters.