Entrepreneurship requires a lot of hard work and dedication to ideas or products that you believe in. An entrepreneur is an innovator who can see the value in something, even before anyone else can. This is a strength as many entrepreneurs over the years have changed the world with their ideas, but they cannot accomplish all of their goals alone. This is especially true when it comes to legal matters and technical parts of their business that require the help of a lawyer.
Read below to discover the different legal situations when every entrepreneur should contact a lawyer.
When Forming A Business
Creating a startup of any kind means that you have to draw up a lot of paperwork in order to register your business in the country or region in which you are working. If this is your first time creating a business or a brand or it is your first time doing it in a certain place, you should find a local lawyer to help you. They can look through local government laws and create contracts to help you establish your business legally. This is a step at the beginning of your entrepreneurship journey that you cannot skip because the legality of your company is the only way you can conduct business with the public.
Related: 10 Reasons Being An Entrepreneur Is Better Than Employment
When Writing Up Contracts for Employees
As you start to hire employees, you need to write up contracts so that they know that they are signing on to a legitimate company and they know their rights. Employee contracts usually include information about sick days, vacation days, insurance, salary, and many other important details that come with employment. This is the type of document that only a lawyer can do correctly because they know the lingo and how to structure contracts. You should contact a lawyer to start writing up contracts for you long before you officially hire any employees.
When Dealing with Insurance Claims
In any business there is going to be a risk to employees or property to some degree. This may include the risk of natural disasters, on-the-job injuries, theft, or even the risk of exposure to hazardous materials. An important example of this is the lawsuit against American Laundry in Rochester, New York where hundreds of employees were exposed to asbestos and had long-term or fatal illnesses as a result. This was a laundry factory that operated for around 30 years in a building where they used asbestos to operate dry cleaning machinery. Nowadays we know just how bad asbestos is for the human body, but it is too late for many of the employees at that company.
It’s hazards like this that make it so important to work with a lawyer while running a business. Entrepreneurs are always experimenting with new ideas and sometimes that can be dangerous, no matter how important the work is. If something happens under your roof to one of your employees, it is your responsibility to take care of them. You should always call a lawyer to help set insurance claims and also make sure that you are running an environment that is as safe as it can be.
When Registering a Trademark
If you are an entrepreneur who is also an inventor and you are working towards getting trademarks or patents, then you need the help of a lawyer. A lawyer can assist you in the efforts to protect your intellectual property and guide you through the process of drafting confidentiality agreements, applying for a trademark or a patent, and protecting them once you have them.
When Navigating Taxes
Taxes are always a touchy subject for business owners as they can be complicated depending on the type of business that you run. If you realize that you have paid taxes incorrectly or didn’t know you had to pay certain taxes as an entrepreneur, then you should contact a lawyer. They can walk you through what you need to do to amend the tax issues and help you get back into the government’s good graces.
Before you even launch your business, you should have a conversation with a lawyer or a tax expert about exactly what you have to pay. Sit down with them and discuss your business plan and how much you estimate that you will earn in a year and you can go from there. It is better to do this at the beginning than to find out you’ve done something wrong and you might lose your business.
There are many different legal situations that require entrepreneurs to contact a lawyer because businesses can encounter many legal issues. The list above just highlights a few of these situations, but if you feel like you need a lawyer in any legal situation, then contact one immediately. It’s better to be safe than sorry.
