With a successful business comes a lot of challenges. No matter what your company specializes in, you cannot know everything about every law in every state or country. Copyright infringement, tax lawyers, and product liability are all issues you may have to deal with as your business grows.
Today we will explain the 10 different types of lawyers you might need in your business.
#1. Personal Injury Lawyer
Personal injury lawyers such as Portner Bond, found at https://www.portnerbond.com/, normally spend their time fighting for compensation based on accidents or injury. However, another aspect of personal injury that people forget is product liability.
If a customer is harmed due to a fault in your product, they can call a personal injury lawyer such as Portner Bond to help them. Due to their experience in this department, you can often contact the same lawyers and use them in your defense.
Being aware of these lawyers can help you protect your brand, as a bad incident could ruin your business. With this knowledge you can prepare for a lawsuit should a customer be harmed on your property or through your products.
#2. General Business Lawyer
General business lawyers are the jack of all trades when it comes to business law. They have knowledge of every discipline within business law but they don’t specialize in just one aspect. This is both a good thing and a bad thing.
With their wide range of understanding, they can help you with simple legal issues or direct you to more specialist guidance should the issue be complicated. However, they cannot help you with every issue you might come across.
This directory ability means general business lawyers are the best option if you need a lawyer on your payroll.
#3. Tax Lawyer
In the business world, taxes can get extremely complicated. Depending on how far your company reaches and how many sectors it crosses over into, there will be many different laws for your company to abide by.
This is why you should have a tax lawyer handle these affairs. The tax lawyer should hold a certification as a Certified Public Accountant (CPA). Without this certification, you cannot be sure that they understand the complex nature of your taxes. Remember if your taxes are not filled correctly, the IRS can pursue legal action.
#4. Labor And Employment Lawyer
Any business that has more than one employee should be using a labor and employment lawyer. These attorneys create employee manuals, ensure safety regulations have been met, and handle any workplace social issues.
In this context, social issues describe sexual harassment, workplace discrimination, and wrongful terminations. The list goes on, but an employment lawyer will help you navigate your and your employee’s legal rights around employment law.
Use these lawyers to make sure your business actions are lawful and fair to your employees.
#5. Contract Lawyer
When you first start out, it can be tempting to use templates for your employee contracts. Although these might seem functions for your business, they can easily cause legal problems.
Templates are not designed to fit into your specific business, which means they can create loopholes or falsities which can cause a lawsuit later down the road.
For example, if you need your employees to work in shifts to talk to customers, but the contract states that they work 9 till 5, Monday to Friday, then the employees will be within their rights to work their contracted hours.
Hiring a contract lawyer can help you create a contract that matches your needs and protects both you and your employees by giving real expectations and limits.
#6. Intellectual Property Lawyer
Most companies have some kind of intellectual property. This could mean online content through your website, a patented logo, or a trademarked design. The most common concern to plague businesses is copyright.
You could accidentally steal artwork that you thought was common commerce or you use a tagline that you didn’t know was owned by someone else.
Having an intellectual property lawyer (or an IP lawyer) on hand can help you avoid these mistakes. They can also secure any logos or trademarks of your own, to make sure no one else takes your ideas.
#7. Mergers And Acquisitions Lawyers
Mergers and acquisitions lawyers are only needed if you plan on buying or selling a business. You use them to help negotiate a price.
Unlike a real estate lawyer, figuring out a price for your business isn’t straightforward. The lawyers have to consider your assets, your brand, and your company’s worth when it comes to buying and selling the company.
Using this information, they can see just how lucrative your business is and therefore what it is worth. The process is complicated and shouldn’t be undertaken without a specialized mergers and acquisitions lawyer.
#8. Debt Collections Lawyer
Unfortunately, some customers will not pay their debts. If your company deals with transactions of large numbers, this could create a knock-on effect leading to unpaid employees and debts of your own.
In these situations, you need a debt collection lawyer. These lawyers can review your contracts to see how much they are able to obtain through paperwork, and then issue a lawsuit against the customer to demand payment.
#9. Real Estate Lawyer
If you plan on buying or renting a building to house your business, you will need a real estate lawyer to manage the complex legal process involved. Just like when you buy a home, buying any building requires mortgages, proof of payment, property taxes, and contracts.
Buying real estate will also change your business’s asset value. A real estate lawyer will be able to balance these figures and show you your net worth.
#10. Bankruptcy Lawyer
Should your business go into liquidation, you will need a bankruptcy lawyer to manage your assets and help you understand your debts.
Determining the overall size of your debts and assets is this lawyer’s main job, they will then try to negotiate with the creditors to pay back as much as possible.
This process is long, hard, and often emotional, but with an experienced lawyer on hand, they will help you navigate the red waters.
Summary
Some of these lawyers you will never see in your days as a business owner, others you will be contacting every year. If you are wondering if a misdemeanor can put you to jail then you should as your lawyer. Knowing when to reach out to these lawyers and how they can help you and your business will lessen the stress you have as a CEO.