4 Types of Companies and When You Need to Hire a Business Law Attorney

Many budding entrepreneurs have tight wallets and balk at the thought of handing over cash to a business law attorney when they could use that to invest in their company. While in many cases, you can easily start up your company without legal aid, as time goes on, or if you choose a more complicated startup, you’ll definitely need some professional help.

Partnership
If you and someone else are planning on going into business together, you’re likely considering partnership options and all of the technicalities that will eventually come with it. While starting up a partnership is simple enough, as finances, responsibilities, and legalities increase, so do the grey areas when it comes to sharing the workload, profits, and debts. Once you’ve become more established and have the funds, it would be a wise idea to enlist the aid of a business law attorney to help you iron out any details of a partnership or mediate problems that may arise. Not only can they help you if the terms of your partnership changes over the years, but can even save relationships that are threatened by internal problems due to the business.

Sole Proprietorship
A common and fairly straightforward method of opening a business is forgoing a partnership and going it alone. A sole proprietorship is an easy way to get started, but also comes with many potential pitfalls if you aren’t prepared. In this scenario, you and you alone are responsible for every aspect of the business. If you have a fairly safe venture you’ll likely be fine without the assistance of a business law attorney. However, if you are dealing with something that has potential hazards, you will have to consider that if you are successfully sued, the burden to pay is entirely on you. Invest in good insurance and don’t hesitate to contact a professional business law attorney in the case that you do need some legal aid.

Limited Liability Company
Want the perks of a corporation but your business is on a much smaller scale? Limited liability companies, or LLCs, take many of the burdens of sole proprietorship off the owners and come with some other extra perks. However, they can be a bit trickier to successfully set up and the laws vary greatly by state. If attempting to set up an LLC on your own, you’ll need a lot of patience and research materials. Hiring a business law attorney can help expedite the process and ensure proper documentation is filed. If this is your first foray into the business world or you simply can’t devote the time needed to organize an LLC properly, it is far better to shell out the extra cash for a lawyer to get it right the first time.

Corporation
If you’re looking into the big time, a corporation may be the way to go. You have far fewer liabilities and the business takes on a life of its own, independent of you. There are several benefits to opening a corporation, but not all businesses are suitable for this. It also takes quite a bit of capital and time to get organized. With a corporation, you’d be insane not to have one business law attorney if not several to handle legal affairs as they will pop up regularly.