Many small business owners make the cardinal mistake of cutting costs on their legal needs. They may invest all their energies and finances on various functions of their business while thinking that hiring the services of a small business attorney may not be necessary after all.
But think again. You might not have any obvious legal issues that require your immediate concern right now, but having a dependable attorney by your side can support your business in many ways.
How a Small Business Lawyer can Strengthen the Prospects of Your Company
Drafting a Legally Binding Partnership Agreement
Scribbling down agreements on a plain paper does not make a formal partnership document. If you are entering into a contract or agreement with your partner(s), you should make it a Partnership Agreement, Operating Agreement, or Founders’ Agreement.
It is vital to have an agreement that spells out the rights and responsibilities of every party involved. A stellar attorney can make sure you have an agreement that’s legally binding on all partners and works in the best interests of your partnership firm.
Making Sure Your Trade Secrets Are Protected
How many times have you seen a business go bankrupt just because their confidential information on pricing, production process or technology got out? A small business lawyer can make sure that doesn’t happen to you.
They will draft a confidentiality agreement for you that will explicitly prohibit abuse of any trade secrets, intellectual property, or confidential information on you or your business.
If for any reason any sensitive information is leaked, your lawyer will use the appropriate legal tools or an injunction to stop any further damage to your business.
Negotiating Various Terms of Your Contract to Get You a Better Deal
Office Space Negotiations: A lot of business owners face problems with their office space lease. They sign off on the lease without fully understanding how much they are giving up.
But if you have a good lawyer, they can point out certain essential provisions like sharing common utilities with other lessees, automatic rent increments, lease renewal terms, etc. You might not realize the full extent of these terms at the signing off, but they will come up later during your lease period.
Vendor Negotiations: As a business owner, you are going to hire various vendors in order to run your business efficiently. How do you make sure that you don’t get ripped off the in the process?
A lawyer can help you review the contracts that most service providers will require you to sign. An experienced lawyer will point out the liability, dispute resolution clauses, termination, etc. that might harm your business in the long run.
Business Negotiations: Almost every business enters into a merger, acquisition or partnership contract with other parties at some point in time. As your business grows, you might want to take over a company or even join forces with another business owner.
A lawyer will help you thoroughly assess and evaluate the business to determine if it will be a lucrative opportunity for you.
Handling Disgruntled Customers Skillfully
If you ever find yourself involved in controversy or conflict with an upset client, having a lawyer on your side will help you. Regardless of whether you are at fault or not, you probably want to avoid the prospects of litigation anyhow – and a lawyer can make sure that happens.
They will advise you whether to pursue a settlement on the issue. They might even be able to persuade the client to drop the claim altogether.
Keeping Track of Important Documents
Keeping an eye on the vital business documents and filing for annual business fees can be a pain for most business owners.
In addition to taking care of these matters for you, a lawyer can also act as your business’ registered representative on file.
This means if a legal event (summons, letters from the franchise board, legitimate complaints, etc.) comes up any time in the future, your lawyer will be able to address it immediately since they will be on your file.
Making Sure Your Intellectual Property is Protected
Many small business owners completely forget how vital it is to protect their intellectual property (IP) from the very beginning.
It could be the copyright for a software program, a trademark for an innovative product, or the patent for new technology. Whatever it might be, you deserve to have the security of knowing that your product or idea is safe and will continue to be safe.
Your lawyer will also make sure that your employees know (via contract) that they have no IP rights to any work they do for your business. A lawyer will help you fill out the proper paperwork for any IP protection you need.
You should be aware that the majority of the applications submitted for IP protection are rejected due to an incorrect filing. Having a lawyer will ensure that your application gets through on the very first attempt.
If you ever decide to share your IP with others or license it, your attorney will be able to draft the correct licensing agreement for you to protect your rights.
Protecting Your Website
Most businesses have a website or a blog these days, which they use for information dissemination, online marketing, and client engagement. As a business owner, you should know how to use the information related to your customers and third parties in a way that doesn’t violate any privacy laws.
You should also have a disclaimer on your website that visibly states that the information you are providing might be helpful but doesn’t guarantee anything which you don’t intend to.
This way if any of your claims on your website backfires, nobody will be able to hold you accountable for it. Hiring a lawyer will help you take care of intricate concerns like these.
They will also help you draft comprehensive and legally astute “terms and conditions” and “privacy policy” documents for your website.
Many business owners fail to understand the significance of these documents, and later regret when things go wrong with monetary transactions or customer interactions via their website.
Providing Support for Your Business Events
As a business owner, you might hold conferences and marketing events. In these cases, a professional legal counsel can draft liability waivers, media release waivers, and contest terms and conditions, etc. for you.
A lawyer will also help you get general liability insurance to ensure your business interests are protected.
Get in Touch with Lubliner Law Today!
The skilled and knowledgeable lawyers at Lubliner Law have been offering highly competent legal services to clients for four decades. Have a legal problem?
We can help you in the best possible way. Call us at 561-207-2018 for a free consultation today or drop us a message at info@lubliner-law.com.