>>>>>Anyone know what the best services are for doing credit and/or background checks on someone? I have a friend - really! It's not me - who is getting ready to lease-to-own his dry cleaning business to someone and wants to check the guy out a bit before signing any contracts. What are the requirements for him to be able to do this?
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>>>>His lawyer should be able to make recommendations on how to conduct credit/background/criminal checks in your area.
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>>>Absolutely. At $350/hr too. Every phone call is billed on scale. That's how lawyers get to bill more hours in a day than are actually in a day. I figured with such a large base of people here at UT - many who own their own businesses - I would get some practical been-there-done-that advice beyond what a Google search would give me.
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>>I can't imagine getting the lawyer to make a few recommendations would take more that 5, or at most 10 minutes in a phone call. Fifty or sixty bucks seems like a reasonable price for targeted advice from someone who knows your friend's circumstances and all the ins and outs of his jurisdiction.
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>You must know different business lawyers.

I don't know if you're talking about your own experiences with business lawyers, or your friend's experience with his. Either way, if you can't get this kind of information from your business lawyer in a short phone call, you've got the wrong lawyer.

Regardless of your own personal feelings or experiences, a business lawyer is exactly the right person to ask for advice about these sorts of issues. His accountant may also be able to offer advice but it's likely to be second-rate. If you're doing something serious like valuing or selling a business, why would you want anything less than the best?