If your small business is like most other startups, you began your operations on a shoestring budget. There wasn’t a lot of money for any unnecessary expenses, so maybe you put off hiring an attorney.
That’s a bad idea. You don’t want to wait until your business is facing a lawsuit to make your first appointment with an attorney. In fact, the best way to prevent a lawsuit in the first place is to get an attorney involved in your business operations as early as possible.
When does a small business need an attorney on board? Whenever:
- You draft a partnership agreement. Good partnership agreements look ahead and anticipate problems before they happen so that everyone is protected.
- You’re deciding on a business structure. Operating as a sole proprietor is financially risky, but you may not know which type of business entity is best for your needs.
- You want to protect your intellectual property. At the very minimum, you want to protect your trademark and company logo, and that’s not always easy to do.
- You create contracts. Contracts exist to mitigate risk and allocate the losses each party may have to face if there is a problem with a supplier, distributor or client.
- You’re hiring or firing. You need an employee handbook to keep your company out of lawsuits, and you also need to make sure that you follow your own rules.
- You’re collecting on a debt. At some point, every business faces a debt collection problem. Handle it the wrong way, and you could cost your business a lot.
If you own a small business, having an experienced attorney on your side is essential to your company’s growth. Find out more about the services we offer by continuing to review our website.
