In starting a business, you should be aware that there are legal potholes that you need to avoid. Not hiring a lawyer is one of the biggest mistakes you’ll ever make. No business is too small or too big for a lawyer to work on. Sometimes, start-up business owners think that hiring a lawyer for their business is like hiring the plumber or electrician – you only do it when there’s a problem that needs to be fixed. But is it?
In every business venture, you know you need to plan carefully for your marketing, staffing, and sales to get the business off the ground. Legal issues take the back seat because they seem to lack the sense of urgency in them. However, isn’t the goal of every start-up business is to prevent problems from occurring in the future? Shouldn’t protection from legal problems be a priority?
A commercial lawyer can teach you the value of corporate governance in a start-up business. While a single proprietorship may not require as much paperwork as that of a corporation, only an experienced corporate lawyer can tell you what you need to prepare and what must be made to get state approval of the business. Failure to submit all these documents can jeopardize the business and cause more trouble than you think.
Did you know that you need to protect both tangible and intangible assets of the firm legally? Unless you are planning to close up the business soon after you put it up, you will have to protect the company name, logo and distinctive goods and services under the copyright law. Patents are usually applied for to protect manufactured products, but it can also be used to protect distinct processes and procedures. Copyright, trademark and patent are just three of the ways you can protect your business and put it in a competitive advantage.
Many businesses count of the knowledge and skills of their employees that’s why they are valuable assets that the business owner needs to protect. And yet a lot of business owners fail to protect these assets with non-disclosure agreements. With a company lawyer working for you, getting protection for the business against employees leaving the business with knowledge of the secrets of the trade with them is relatively easy.
Excellent legal services do not come cheap, but then neither is the cost of hiring any other consultant for your business. Regular consultations will the lawyer will teach you everything you need to know about running your business. Hiring a lawyer is an investment that will help prevent having legal problems down the road.