You may have dreamed for years about getting out of the rat race for good. And now, your dream may be much closer to becoming reality. You may have drafted an ingenious business plan or formulated some initial connections to get your idea out to the masses, and you may even have constructed a web site that will blow them away once it’s been launched. However, you may not have considered that you would need legal assistance.
Don’t Make These Small Business Mistakes
If you have a website, then you could be putting yourself in a position of legal peril. Copyright law comes into play whenever you republish content written by someone else on your site, share that republished content with newsletter or email subscribers, or use images in posts that you make on your blog. Many business owners assume that it’s enough to provide the original author or artist with credit and a link to their website. Unfortunately, this can lead to being fined or served with litigation papers. Many experts advise getting consent in writing for everything you plan to use on your own site or redistribute to your subscribers.
Similarly, anything you create in your business can benefit from legal protection and the sooner after creation, the better. Experienced law firms like LegalZoom can help you start your business and help you avoid the many grey areas in creative asset ownership that can be overwhelming unless there is a professional that can help you navigate your way through.
Going it alone may be the rule of thumb for any entrepreneur who’s decided to form their 
own business. But using this rule where it comes to disputes could land you in legal hot water. Many think they can save a lot of money by handling disputes solo, only to discover later on that they are paying much more than they would have by hiring an attorney. A legal professional knows that documentation is required for every step of the business process, from ownership of the company to exit strategies.
How Hiring a Lawyer Can Help Your Business
If your business has a name, logo, brand and goods and services that can be considered to be distinctive, then it is entitled to protection under copyright law. Many business owners think that they are exempt from patents because they don’t have machines or manufactured products. But the truth is that patents can be used to protect these as well as processes and new matter compositions like chemical compounds.Basically put, registrations for patent, copyright and trademark can assist a business with protecting the very things that give it a competitive edge.
When you’re thinking about all the tasks associated with starting a business, you’re likely not thinking about what will happen should a partner or shareholder decide to leave. Not thinking about it from the very beginning can put the continued operation of your business in jeopardy. The buy-sell or buy-back agreement is crucial to any business that wants to ensure their shareholders or partners can sell their business interests without legal implications.
If you have employees that have intimate knowledge about your business, they are a huge asset to your business’s success. But if that employee leaves your company and discloses this closely-guarded knowledge, they can be a liability. This is why it’s crucial to have non-disclosure and non-compete agreements in place.
A Lawyer Can Help You to Enforce Contracts
Any business that has contracts in place can, at one time or another, experience a breach of a contract. This occurs when one party accuses another of not performing according to the standards outlined in a contract. When a breach happens, it becomes time to somehow enforce the contract’s terms. This could mean attempting to recover any lost finances, which often results in litigation. When contract breaches occur, legal counsel can be instrumental in developing a resolution that suits both parties.
Finding the Right Legal Professional
The good news is that there are online resources that can help you start your business by connecting you with legal professionals. But there is also a lot that you can do on your own once you’ve obtained your list of potential attorneys.
Unfortunately, no lawyer can know everything there is to know about business law, especially if your business has special legal needs. So when thinking about the questions to ask a lawyer consider finding out whether or not they are well-connected and can refer you to a professional that can help you when they cannot.
As well, consider that every legal firm has three types of lawyers: those who find new clients, those who take them on while maintaining relationships with current clients, and those who do the actual work for the client. The best lawyer for the job is the one who can both take you on and keep you happy while doing all of the work your case requires.
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