How can a lawyer help you to run a business today?

We live in a great time of changes and challenges. We have to focus on new rules of living and doing business. How can a lawyer help you to run a business today? Constant development, review of existing arrangements, and adaptation to the current situation – is a new business reality.

Under the prevailing circumstances, some industries have suspended or minimized their activity and have engaged in self-regulation, with varying degrees of success. Some business sectors such as tourism, offline stores, etc. will need huge investments to return to their former level.  A lot of them need to review the biggest part of existing contracts and agreements, because of the market changes. Some companies operating on the web, like online grocery stores, delivery services, online training, etc got a huge boost and are expected to grow. 

The lawyer is a profession that is especially needed in times of crisis

Well, if we are talking about lawyers with regard to this crisis, what services can legal practitioners offer? A lot of services and agreements between partners and contractors should be reconsidered in the light of actual customers’ needs and limitations placed by the law. They should take a look at the terms and conditions of payment, delivery, liability, and find the best ways to optimize labor issues. Each CEO who wants his company to survive and grow has to help it to be as flexible as it is possible. Certainly, it is necessary to change an approach of doing business and offering to the end consumer. If necessary changes are accepted immediately, all the issues connected to the market situation will disappear simultaneously.

How to protect your company from the outset and run a business safely?

Let’s imagine that the only businessman’s goal was a rapid start. Obviously, his primary goal was to make a profit and he did not care when concluding contracts. He did not spend any money on legal services. All the agreements with partners were signed without review, using the contractor’s template or template downloaded from the internet. In another case, he had failed to conclude an agreement at all, because he earned standing services and profits. 

Such entrepreneurs have no idea what the consequences could be. There may be issues arising that may merit particular treatment in the current situation. Your contractors may prove to be either unreliable or reliable, but without the possibility to honor their commitments. Nevertheless, the businessman finally makes up his mind and gets the lawyers to ensure the firm’s best interests are protected. In conclusion, it turns out he does not have an agreement or the context provided by a partner and covers only the contractor’s interests at this critical time.

Okay, now, what can be done if you have a limited budget and can’t hire a lawyer? 

To do this, you can use the services of a freelance legal consultant or legal consulting company. The choice of the format of the relationship depends on the scope of the work, the number of specialists involved, and urgency. It could be a one-time consultation or constant cooperation.

How Can a Lawyer Help Your Startup?

What benefit can a lawyer offer you at the beginning of your business activity?

  1. Specify provisions and arrangements
    You can work on your own or have other founders, investors, partners. Play fair with everyone and agree from the start.
  2. The organizational-legal form
    A specialist helps to choose the organizational-legal in line with priority actions established in the business plans. He will find better institutional responses and enable an integrated approach to solving problems arising in the process of the enterprises’ activity.
  3. Preparing the templates
    Besides that there are a lot of unique products and services on the market, every company has its primary activity. Everyone’s best interest is to have prepared agreement templates and to use legal contracts with 100 percent transparency. Doing so will eliminate a lot of mishaps.
  4. Arranging business operations
    They assist in arranging effective enterprise operations, including employment contracts.

If you only hire a lawyer at the organization’s very beginning, I highly recommend periodically contacting a legal practitioner to review the terms of the template contracts. In my practice, I encountered contracts that contained references to outdated laws and regulations. It may not be of benefit to your company.

What to do when the contractor makes changes to the template agreements?

If they put in a simple question, you can provide an answer on your own. In any doubt or ambiguity, contact a specialist and protect yourself from undesirable effects. 

And the last call, when you are ready to hire a lawyer, try not to find an all-in-one specialist, who will be both as an administrator or a recruiter, and a lawyer. Do not do this even if you are looking for a newcomer ready to learn. It is possible to find out what processes can be optimized and transferred into digital. There are many different tools for document generation and service provision. 

Summing up, lawyers do not interfere with what the business wants. Lawyers are the first and foremost business advisers who find the optimal solution for online business growth in the face of constant changes.