Tuesday, June 8, 2010

When To Seek Legal Advice In Your Home Business

As the title of this article suggests, getting legal advice related to your home business is not an 'if', but rather a 'when’.  Among other things, having a lawyer review any legal documents or contracts you may draft or sign, while expensive, will more than pay for itself if you should ever run into problems down the road.  Think of it as homeowner’s insurance for your home business; hopefully you’ll never have to defend a patent or dispute a contract, but if someday you do, you’ll want to know that you have an airtight case legally.

The typical approach for most first time entrepreneurs is to only bring a lawyer into the situation when they feel it is getting out of hand, however much of the work a lawyer can do for your small business will preempt problems that may arise down the road.  It is not uncommon for a small business to work regularly with a lawyer and in many cases, bringing a lawyer onto the team can be a great idea to keep you legal from the beginning and every step along the way.  This is often cost-prohibitive for new small businesses, however giving away even a small piece of the company (perhaps 1 or 2 percent) will be well worth it if it buys you legal expertise from the outset.

If you neglect to consult a lawyer at the beginning and even decide to draw up your own contracts and foundational documents without a lawyer, if someone decides to take legal action against you and your company, this is where you will absolutely need to seek the help of a lawyer.  Depending on how you incorporated your small business, you may have left yourself liable personally, and if you neglected to properly patent any technologies you are selling in your business, it may be a game ender for your business.  The moral of the story is, find a way to get legal counsel at the outset of your business, if you can’t afford it when you’re starting out, reach out to a relative or friend who is a lawyer and simply asking their advice on which type of corporation to form will help protect you personally if you run into trouble down the road.



Read more about When To Seek Legal Advice In Your Home Business at HomeBusinessBug.com


For more work from home articles, visit http://www.homebusinessbug.com/work-from-home-articles/


Work From Home Opportunities

No comments:

Post a Comment