3 reasons you may need a lawyer when starting a business

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When starting a business, there is much to consider, possibly more than you could ever imagine. Although this is a fascinating time, managing and planning everything can be a very tedious and overwhelming experience. More often than not, long nights are involved, early mornings, and constant phone calls. All necessary tasks mount up, and sometimes, things can fall through the cracks, resulting in issues. In those cases, you may need a lawyer to help you out.

Contracts

When starting a business, you’ll likely read and sign dozens of contracts. Whether with suppliers, a building lease, or any license or permit, the contract you must sign will undoubtedly have some requirements. To ensure that you’re getting exactly what you’ve bargained for and know what you’re signing up for, it’s wise to search for a business lawyer near me who can look over those contracts and ensure no clauses could trip you up. After all, you want this business to succeed, so any contract issues could make you fall at the first hurdle. Reading through dozens of contracts is hugely time-consuming, so you could hand off those contracts to a professional like Cliff Schneider and focus your time elsewhere on other elements of the business.

Copywrite, patents, and trademarks

Suppose you have a product, service, image, etc., that needs to be protected by some Copyright, patent, or trademark law. In that case, you will likely need the help of a lawyer or one of these corporate solicitors to file any necessary paperwork. Having a helping hand to file this documentation means that everything is filed correctly, so if another business were to replicate anything you have covered, they would be held accountable. Again, this is also a lot of paperwork, and there’s often a lot of legal jargon involved, so handing this off to your lawyer is a wise choice as they’re likely to be more knowledgeable in this field.

Registering a business

When you decide to start your own business, you must determine what kind of company you want to run. Will it be a partnership, limited company, sole ownership, or a corporation? If you’ve done your research, you may already know what kind of business structure you’re leaning toward, but if not, a lawyer can help you decide which structure is best for your business. An experienced lawyer can provide all the necessary information about each business structure, giving you both the positives and negatives. Plus, they have no bias, so you know they’re honest with you. Once decided, a lawyer can file all of the legal documents needed to register your business, and then, once done, you can begin trading. Having someone else file the documents for you eases the pressure on you, and you can enjoy the experience of opening a business.

Tax

You may not have an accountant on your payroll as a start-up business. There’s no need to worry about this as the finances can often be handled by yourself or someone else at the company. However, it’s essential that your business is being taxed correctly and that tax is being paid correctly. The tax businesses pay compared to individuals differs, so someone who knows what they’re doing must handle the tax so there are no errors. If there are errors, a business could be penalized, which could have been avoided.

There are likely other reasons to need a lawyer, but these are the main points to focus on. Remember, this should be an exciting time, not completely overwhelming.