By all means, get a layer. Why?
- Freelancing is hard enough without spending mental and emotional energy with this kind of thing. Let someone else handle the unpleasant talks.
- You are a business, having a legal counselor is the professional way to do it.
- I like to think all business start with the best of intentions from both parts, but often things go wrong. You need a hired gun to make sure you will get paid no matter what and to cover your ass (last thing you want is exposing yourself to liability).
I could not put it better than Mike Monteiro:
http://shelby.tv/video/vimeo/22053820/2011-03-mike-monteiro-f-ck-you-pay-me