You know what can kill a business very quickly? Getting in trouble with the law (or other businesses!). If you don’t take the right legal steps, whatever business you’re in, you could be signing yourself up for big trouble.
Here are just a few of the things you need to consider when you go forward with your business idea.
Health and safety
This, of course, is the first thing people usually think of when they think about keeping a business legally protected. If someone is injured in your business under your watch, then you could be looking down the barrel of a lawsuit. It is absolutely vital that you keep the workplace safe. And I’m not just talking about obvious things like spillage and putting up signs in danger zones. You even need to think about the effect the chairs might have on the long-term spinal health of your employees. Inflicting stress over long periods can also land you into trouble!
Intellectual property
If you didn’t immediately think of health and safety, then you probably thought of this one. Patents, copyrights, trademarks… There are a lot of complex areas you need to get your head around. But it’s worth doing it. If you’re not protecting your ideas, then you could easily become the victim of corporate espionage. Of course, this works both ways. You need to ensure that any business ideas that are brought to you can be sold or implemented by your company.
Protection from other professionals
When businesses are just starting out, they often get help from a lot of different professionals. A financial advisor is often around to help you with loans, investments, and debts. Lawyers may be around to help you with acquiring property or other assets. Accountants, brokers, and other representatives may have helped you out. But what if something has gone wrong because of advice they gave you or action they took? In such a situation, you should be looking into professional negligence claims.
Contractual agreements
If you’ve made a contract with one of the parties mentioned above, and things didn’t go as agreed? Then that many count as professional negligence. Unless, of course, you were the party that didn’t fulfill their part of the bargain! Whether the contract was between you and another professional, or between you and a customer or employee? You need to make sure it’s followed perfectly. You’re going to be signing a lot of contracts during your “startup” days. And you’re going to be signing even more during your tenure as a business. Make sure you keep to your word. Especially if it was legally binding!
Commercial and business law
In general, it’s simply in your best interest to know as much as you can about business and commercial law. We’ve covered quite a lot here – but we’ve only just about scratched the surface. In your line of work, you may get yourself into some very unique situations or business deals. This is why it’s so important for you to either research this stuff, or to work with a lawyer when things get complex.
This article was provided by ellie jo