Small Business and Start-Up Lawyers
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Launching your business is an incredibly exciting and momentous time; however, it is also an incredibly busy time. On top of preparing and launching your new products and services, it is paramount your start-up has sturdy foundations.
With Witan Solicitors by your side from day one, you can rest assured that your business has the right legal advice and understanding. Our solicitors have over 50 years of combined experience, allowing us to offer legal advice embedded in an intense knowledge of business law. With our guidance, your small business can ensure it has all the necessary documentation and contracts in place. From our years working with both large corporations and smaller start-ups, we can help set you up for your long-term plan, allowing you to avoid common pitfalls along the way. As start-up lawyers, we also understand that our legal services must be proportionate in value as well as cost. That is why we provide free, initial consultations to help you get started. This allows our experts to check the health of your business from a legal perspective and map out the next steps. Plus, we have competitive rates and transparent arrangements. For more information, contact our professional start-up lawyers at info@witansolicitors.co.uk to arrange your no-obligation discussion.
Start-Up Legal Services: Witan Solicitors Can Support You
Due to the infancy of your start-up business, our small business legal advice spans a wide range of services, aiming to get you well-prepared for your business’s future regardless of your industry. We can help your start-up with:
- General legal advice and training
- Shareholder and partnership contracts and agreements
- The terms and conditions of trading
- Setting up personal guarantees
- Protecting your interests with third-party negotiations
- GDPR and data protection compliance
- Employment law support
- Drawing up and agreeing to contracts with consultants and contractors
- Legal advice with website developments and hosting
- Your business’s structure – including advice on partnerships, limited companies and group structures
- Licences and regulatory compliance
Structuring Your Start-Up
The structure of your business will affect you in a number of ways, from your ability to raise capital from different sources and how much tax you pay to the level of risk and your personal assets. The good news is that we have a wealth of experience helping businesses determine the most appropriate structure. We can even advise on amending the standard articles of association and other supplemental documents.
Advising on Intellectual Property and Technology
It is important to protect your trade secrets and intellectual property. After all, this is what makes your business special and separates you from your competitors. Our intellectual property solicitors will help you understand what your rights are and advise on how to safeguard them in a practical and cost-effective way. We can even help you capitalise on your IP assets through commercial transactions or simply by protecting them to make your company more attractive to investors.
Securing the Right Premises
In the early stages of your business, it is crucial to secure the right premises. Our commercial property lawyers excel at:
- Conducting thorough legal research and due diligence
- Negotiating lease terms and ensuring favourable conditions
- Drafting and reviewing lease agreements
- Developing exit strategies
Advising on All Aspects of Employment and HR
When you start expanding your team, you need to make sure that your practices, procedures and documents align with the latest employment laws and regulations. Our specialist employment lawyers excel at:
- Drafting and reviewing employment policies, procedures and documents
- Negotiating employment contracts
- Providing guidance on HR issues
- Advising on disciplinary, performance and grievance issues
- Handling employment tribunal claims
- Dealing with discrimination and harassment claims
- Advising on business reorganisations and redundancies
- Negotiating settlement agreements
- Managing dismissals
The Witan Approach
As a small business, if you are unsure whether your legal needs are covered by our start-up lawyers, get in touch. We are proud to be a part of the Law Society’s Lawyers For Your Business scheme, offering free introductory meetings to help us understand your needs in more detail. All consultations have a no-obligation policy; however, if you do choose to utilise our experience, we can help appoint you with the right Witan solicitor.
For any start-up business owner in need of legal guidance, we encourage you to contact us and see whether our approach and services are right for you. The professional relationship between you and your start-up lawyer will help support the success of your business. From your initial consultation, we can gain a better understanding of what we can offer and best support your start-up.
Legal Risks To Ensure Your Start-Up Avoids
Just as your start-up is getting up and running, there are some considerable legal risks you want to mitigate and avoid. The most common three factors that small businesses underestimate the importance of include:
- Personal Liability – never underestimate just how critical personal liability is, especially if you are going into business with another person. In these instances, ensure a partnership or shareholder agreement has been carefully considered and implemented.
- Contracts and Documentation – simply having the correct documentation is not enough for a small business owner. It is vital you gain training in contract law, giving yourself a basic understanding of what can and sometimes will go wrong if someone does not understand the meaning behind these documents.
- Obtaining Legal Advice – small business legal advice will also help your start-up attract funding. Most lenders will only consider parting with their money if the person/business they are investing in is well-informed of their risks, and has a sensible attitude towards this risk. And, as you well know, additional investment and cash flow are vital to a start-up.
Protecting Your Wealth and Business
Starting or scaling up a new business can be pretty challenging. To protect your business, it is crucial to get legal advice from experts you can trust. After all, there are a number of legal issues that business owners may encounter when launching, from contractual issues and disputes between owners to intellectual property infringement. Resolving these issues can be costly, so it is important to make sure that your business has the right documents, policies and procedures in place from the outset.
Early Stage Legal Support
Our startup lawyers are here to support you at the earliest stages of launching your company. For instance, if you are setting up a business with other founders, we can help you determine whether you need a shareholder agreement. Similarly, if you operate in a regulated industry, such as the pharmaceutical or the financial services industry we will help you ensure that your business is compliant with any relevant laws and regulations.
Of course, there are mandatory requirements for every business when hiring employees, such as enrolling employees into pension schemes and registering with HMRC. Our experts will be on hand to support you throughout this process.
On top of this, we have experience reviewing and drafting employment contracts and contractor agreements to reduce confidentiality and intellectual property concerns.
Fees
We understand that startups and smaller businesses may have limits on what they can spend. That is why we provide fixed-fee arrangements to ensure that your business gets the legal support it deserves at an affordable price. To learn more about our pricing, get in touch with our team today.
Why Should You Choose Witan Start-Up Solicitors?
By appointing our start-up lawyers, your small business’s reputation and brand can be protected from the common risks mentioned above. Our solicitors are happy to provide you with whatever assistance you may require as your business finds its feet.
With Witan start-up lawyers on your side, your small business will have access to:
- Over 100 years of combined experience
- A law firm that is recognised by Legal 500
- Jargon-free legal guidance and recommendations
- Representation through our PR and media
Contact Us
We have start-up lawyers based across the country at our London, Birmingham and Northampton offices, allowing you to gain business law advice no matter where you are based. With our wealth of knowledge and experience, we can help prepare your start-up for a successful future. Get in touch with our team to book your free, introductory consultation. Send your enquiry to our email account at info@witansolicitors.co.uk.
Qarrar Somji
Solicitor-Advocate
Qarrar qualified as a Solicitor Advocate in 2014 having previously had experience in a varying range of litigation roles.
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