Corporate Attorney
Los Angeles, California, USA — A corporate attorney can help you open the doors of your startup and welcome in success. They can help you with a number of general business tasks like:
- Resolving conflict
- Creating strong contracts
- Handling litigation like ADA lawsuits or employment lawsuits
- Advising on the best business entity for your company
- Providing general business resources
- Negotiating contracts
- Connecting you with other business professionals
- Advising on employment policies and practices
The law firm California Business Lawyer and Corporate Lawyer has attorneys ranging from employment to business litigation attorneys in Orange County that help companies explore in detail the ways a corporate lawyer can help your business and look at how to find an experienced corporate attorney.
When Should I Seek the Help of a Corporate Lawyer?
You need to hire a corporate lawyer right away. These lawyers will oversee the general legal compliance of your business and be an adviser on important decisions. They can stop your pride from taking the wheel and ensure you make rational decisions that will help your business to grow. A corporate lawyer is invaluable for referring employees disputes in San Diego, to the Nakase Law Firm employment lawyer in San Diego.
One of the first things you do when starting a business is choosing an entity. This decision has huge legal and tax implications for your business. It may affect things like:
- Personal liability
- Tax rates
- Flexibility
- Ease of dissolution
Your business lawyer will be able to help you weigh up the pros and cons and consider both short and long-term business objectives when choosing an entity. They will assist with the paperwork and ensure you keep to filing deadlines.
These are some other things a corporate attorney can help you with from the very start:
- Taxes While a business attorney cannot do your taxes, they can ensure you are set up in the correct tax codes and point out common deductibles to save you money. They will also be able to advise on the tax implications of certain business decisions.
- Employment A business lawyer can help your company significantly when you are ready to employ staff. They will provide you with information about labor laws and help you to create your policies and employee handbooks. These documents will be vital evidence in labor claims, so they must be legally compliant. If you need additional training for your or your staff in implementing these policies, an attorney can help with that too.
- Discrimination claims Your corporate lawyer will help defend your company against discrimination claims from employees or the general public. They will ensure you and your staff understand anti-discrimination laws like the EEOC and ADA. A corporate lawyer can also help you ensure your premises are accessible and termination and recruitment policies protect your company from discrimination and wrongful termination claims.
- Contracts To protect your business interests, you need to have unambiguous and enforceable contracts. These will ensure that the parties you deal with will fulfil their agreed-upon duties and will keep business secrets confidential. A business lawyer can write contracts that will ensure employees do not compete with your business and keep a supplier maintaining product consistently. Your contracts are your best asset as long as they are written by a corporate lawyer
- Intellectual property protection Protect your business’s competitive advantage through trademarks, patents and copyrights. Depending on your business, you may only need to trademark a few things. If your company requires regular patents and copyrights, like a graphic designer or publisher might then consider hiring a business lawyer who specializes in intellectual property protection.
- Litigation Your business will face a lawsuit at some point. It is an unfortunate truth. But, your corporate lawyer has been preparing your company for litigation since you first hired them. The best protection against litigation is proactively ensuring your company is legally compliant, which is exactly what your lawyer has been doing. This means that you have a mountain of hard evidence showing that the claim is unjustified, and you can get the case thrown out without too much trouble. A corporate attorney can handle most litigation with early motions.
- Referrals At some point, your business will need expert legal help. You may face a complex tax matter or be dealing with a difficult merger and acquisition. When this happens, your corporate attorney will refer you to one of their colleagues who has the expertise you require. They will consult with the colleague and ensure they have all the information they need about your business.
- Bankruptcy Guidance Most business owners see bankruptcy as a dirty word or as a sign they failed as an entrepreneur. This is not true. Bankruptcy is a second chance. It allows you to rid yourself of suffocating debt and reorganize your company for success. It buys you much needed time to come back with a vengeance. Bankruptcy is a complex legal process that requires the help of a skilled corporate lawyer. Do not ever attempt to go through it alone. There are a number of different types of bankruptcy you can choose from, and your choice will have implications for the types of debt you can write off and the future of your company.
- Day to day advice A corporate lawyer works with many businesses of all sizes. They have seen just about everything and therefore are a great source of advice. Use your corporate attorney as a sounding board, especially for major business decisions. You may be surprised what they can help with. You should also ask your corporate lawyer if they can provide you with resources. Many will have general business resources on their websites that can help business owners with non-legal matters. This may be things like finding a HR consultant or things to consider when choosing a domain name. Find out if your attorney has a newsletter with tips and updates that you can join.
How to Find a Business Lawyer
No matter if you are starting the search before you start a company or if you are a little late to the party, the process is much the same. We have simplified it down to three easy steps.
Step One: Work Out What You Need
Decide what type of help you need from a business lawyer. It might be that you need all-around general help from a lawyer that specializes in startups. You might prefer a corporate lawyer who specializes in working with franchises or restaurants. There may be a number of factors that influence your decision. Make a list and figure out what the most important things are. Refer to this list often while you are searching for a corporate lawyer.
Step Two: Search For Lawyers
There are hundreds of corporate lawyers in every city. One of the best places to find a list of all the practising ones is online legal directories. They will list lawyers in a particular specialty by area to make it easier to find local lawyers. Research each of the potential attorneys to determine if they meet the criteria on your list. This will help you narrow down to a shortlist that you want to meet.
Vetting attorneys is very important. You do not have time to meet 20 or 30 lawyers, so by vetting them, you can narrow the list down considerably. For example, a business lawyer that boasts about their Fortune 500 clients and who seems to exclusively take big accounts will have the fees to match those grandiose ambitions. Industry news and customer reviews are great sources of unbiased opinions.
Step Three: Interview Your Shortlist
Meeting each of the shortlist in person will help you to make your decision on who you want to hire. Try to meet them in person where possible so you can get an accurate feel for the personality of the corporate attorney, even if you plan to deal with them over the phone or email most of the time. The personality is just as important as the skills lawyers bring to the table. You want to hire someone who is easy to work with and who you will not dread calling.
Prepare a list of questions when meeting the corporate lawyers and ask each of them the same basic questions. You should, of course, ask any questions you need to in response to their answers, but make sure you ask the same 5 or 10 base questions. This will help you to compare the lawyers on even footing when you are making your decision.
Media contact:
California Business Lawyer and Corporate Lawyer
355 South Grand Ave., Suite 2450, Los Angeles, California 90071
Tel: (213) 277-7400
Press Release Distributed by The Express Wire
To view the original version on The Express Wire visit Why You Need a Corporate Attorney in Orange County CA
