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Small Business Solicitors

Going it alone is very risky when it comes to launching a new business. Bring a solicitor in on your project as soon as possible.

Solicitors charge for their services but they look out for you and your interests. Employing a solicitor to help you get started will be far cheaper than employing one should you get into legal difficulty later.

Before you buy or lease property for the business, be sure to request a land registry search through your solicitor. Although everything might look fantastic on the estate agent's information sheet, they are only acting on the word of the vendor, and not everything may be true. The search will reveal important information about access, by-laws, parking and if the property is sitting on any dodgy radioactive pockets of gas. Most importantly it will confirm that the person asking for the money is indeed entitled to sell or lease.

Solicitors have template contracts available at the touch of a button. Unless your company is employing permanent legal staff or happens to have a qualified lawyer on the board, this information and their knowledge of current law is absolutely vital to your business and continued good relations with your staff. Employing somebody to work for a business is more of a commitment than it has ever been. Staff obviously help bring the business to life and help you achieve your goals; they're also your most expensive drain on resources. In a small business this can cause all sorts of problems, not least of which is long-term illness. Protect yourself and your staff with a bona fide contract of employment.

If you plan to launch a website it is paramount that you have a legal statement on the site. The pages should cover your contractual agreement with users and their agreement when using your site. Is it clear who owns the copyright on text, images and other content found on your site? It is well worth the cost of having a legal expert read over your statement. Pinching another website's statement and altering it to suit you own needs is not good enough - you will be caught out either by the originator or by a user finding loopholes.

It will quickly become apparent during the creation of a business plan that you are likely to need the services of a law firm. Depending on the need and the cost, it might be wise to set up a fixed monthly or quarterly payment that is offset against their invoices. The monthly charge will be easier to manage and much better for cash flow than reacting to varying sized bills as and when they are presented. The firm itself will be able to suggest a suitable amount - if it is incorrect you will both soon realise and the situation is easy to resolve.

To build up a good working relationship fast, it is well worth putting any private work you might have through the firm of solicitors you plan to use for the business. Something simple, like a will, will cost you very little, and is something that you should have organised anyway. Because you have a number of reasons to call, your name will soon register with the solicitor and, sometimes more importantly, her secretary; if you do need to talk urgently you are far more likely to be top of the list of messages, not bottom.


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