When you own a company, you need legal representation in order to protect your business's well-being. Business law is a special area that deals with issues that arise from interactions between your corporation and other entities. To protect your company, you need an attorney familiar with this legal area.
Business Law Coverage
In short, this legal area not only deals with legal interactions that may arise from conflicts between your company and others, but also the creation of a new enterprise. An attorney who specializes in this arena has a background in many different disciplines such as bankruptcy, tax, intellectual property, employment, sales, and real estate. Many corporations employ a team of such representatives, one lawyer for each area.
To ensure you have the best representation, you should view your company as an entity of its own. It must be separate from you and your employees and represented in this manner. Your enterprise is subject to the same laws and rules as every other person or association working in the same marketplace.
Forming New Enterprises
While it may seem like a business attorney has the main job of keeping his or her client out of trouble, he or she also works to form new companies. In order to create new entities for their customers, they must fill out the necessary documents for the secretary of state. Small associations may be able to handle some of this paperwork themselves. However, it is a good idea to contact a legal representative to ensure the documents are filled out correctly.
There are many different ways your attorney can form a new entity. Limited liability companies (LLC) and corporations are among the most common. However, sometimes a limited partnership is formed that allows the owners to participate in the corporation as an investor only. Other options include becoming an "S corp," which allows the syndicate to gain certain tax savings.
While drafting the paperwork to form a new opportunity, your lawyer may also work to draw up documentation that outlines management of the new association. Heavy consideration and care are taken in order to draft these files, as it indicates how owners will agree on decisions, transfer any ownership rights, and share in the profits and losses. A good example of this type of document is an operating agreement for a new LLC.
Transaction Navigation and Avoiding Litigation
There are many times that you, as the business owner, won't need to seek legal advice before conducting transactions. Day-to-day operation of your enterprise is based on the needs of your customer base. If you need to order new equipment to do the job, you simply do it. However, there are other areas in which you need someone to weigh in. These are complex legal areas such as Internet commerce or securities regulations that are wrapped in a lot of legalese that you may not understand.
An attorney that works in this legal area can also take steps to keep his or her clients from being drawn into a lengthy court battle. By allowing your representative to handle these complex transactions, he or she can structure the deals in a way that will minimize the litigation possibilities for your entity.
