December 14, 2016
4 Big Legal Mistakes Small Businesses Make
It’s exciting to have your new business up and running. You are ready to watch it flourish and savor in the fruits of your labor, however there are plenty of things you might have overlooked in the process.
Incorporation
You have to make sure that your business is a legally established structure. If, at some point, there is a want to connect with external investors, founders leave the company, or the company is sued by a customer or employee. not having a legal structure can set them up for personal liability. So, determine whether the company should be an LLC, C or S corporation and have everything set up properly.
Establish a Shareholders’ Agreement
A shareholder’s agreement guides everyone’s actions when a founder leaves or you want to sell the company. Chaos will ensue without one. Once you establish your company legally, have your attorney draft a legal document that will state how issues will be decided between shareholders as well as what happens if someone leaves, dies or gets divorced.
Human Resources
Employee handbooks are essential to guiding the conduct of your team. Small companies can get into trouble if they don’t bother to take the time to put everything in writing. So many companies have gone bankrupt over lawsuits from former employees over myriad problems. Hire an experienced human resource professional to your team or at least seek out a professional’s advice to formulate human resource policies for your company.
Not Getting a Patent or Copyright
There have been so many famous examples of new and small businesses fail to take the necessary steps to protect their intellectual property, only to have another company take it and claim it without a doubt. Ask your attorney to do an inventory of the company’s intellectual property.