How solicitors can benefit small businesses

Working with a solicitor might be something you believe that your small business only needs to do on rare occasions. In fact, businesses of all sizes can benefit from the experience and expertise of skilled solicitors. For example, it is well known that solicitors are often used to offer advice and guidance. 

However, solicitors can actually provide far more than what you might think: “Excellent advice can add to businesses of all shapes and sizes,” says Aimee Ellery, solicitor at George Ide LLP “high quality solicitors can provide you with expertise in everything from shareholder agreements and partnership agreements to non-disclosure and confidentiality agreements, and much more”. 

When we think about small businesses, we might consider that solicitors can’t be quite as helpful. However, it is important to note that if your SME has any aspirations to grow, having the right foundations in terms of legal documents and business planning can be completely essential, and a brilliant thing to have in place as you develop. 

Here we take a look at how working with a solicitor can hugely benefit a small business. 

Getting you started

When you start up any kind of business, you need to have specific documents and agreements in place, especially if there are multiple parties involved in the business. For example, you might need to have a partnership agreement drawn up, or if your business is going to have shareholders, a shareholders agreement. 

Having these documents in place early can provide you with the foundations that you need for your small business to thrive.

Drawing up company documents

There are actually many types of documents that businesses need to have drawn up at the beginning of their life - this is something that solicitors can help you with. 

Many documents need to have specific legal wording to protect owners against potential legal ramifications. A good example of this relates to documents surrounding health and safety, as well as your terms of trading. 

Help with buying and selling property and assets

Of course, one of the key ways that businesses often get involved with solicitors is because they need to buy or sell property or assets. It is worth noting here that it is a great idea to find a solicitor that you can work with for all of your needs. If your small business has to work with multiple solicitors it can make things more complicated. 

Working with a solicitor that you trust on big purchases and sales can be a huge weight off your mind at a stressful time. 

The importance of legal contracts 

Contracts play an extremely important role in businesses of all sizes. Whether they are contracts of employment, or those with suppliers and clients - making sure that they are completely in accordance with the law is vital. This is the last thing that you want to have come back and make problems for you. 

Final thoughts

There really is a great deal that solicitors can do for small businesses, but it is important to choose a solicitor that has specific experience working with companies like yours. When you are choosing your solicitor, it is best to select a local option who can point you to examples of clients that are similar to you.