- www.finnlaw.co.uk
- 01288 356 256
Setting up a business involves complying with a range of legal requirements. Find out which ones apply to you and your new enterprise.
What particular regulations do specific types of business (such as a hotel, or a printer, or a taxi firm) need to follow? We explain some of the key legal issues to consider for 200 types of business.
While poor governance can bring serious legal consequences, the law can also protect business owners and managers and help to prevent conflict.
Whether you want to raise finance, join forces with someone else, buy or sell a business, it pays to be aware of the legal implications.
From pay, hours and time off to discipline, grievance and hiring and firing employees, find out about your legal responsibilities as an employer.
Marketing matters. Marketing drives sales for businesses of all sizes by ensuring that customers think of their brand when they want to buy.
Commercial disputes can prove time-consuming, stressful and expensive, but having robust legal agreements can help to prevent them from occurring.
Whether your business owns or rents premises, your legal liabilities can be substantial. Commercial property law is complex, but you can avoid common pitfalls.
With information and sound advice, living up to your legal responsibilities to safeguard your employees, customers and visitors need not be difficult or costly.
As information technology continues to evolve, legislation must also change. It affects everything from data protection and online selling to internet policies for employees.
Intellectual property (IP) isn't solely relevant to larger businesses or those involved in developing innovative new products: all products have IP.
Knowing how and when you plan to sell or relinquish control of your business can help you to make better decisions and achieve the best possible outcome.
From bereavement, wills, inheritance, separation and divorce to selling a house, personal injury and traffic offences, learn more about your personal legal rights.
Building a family business and passing it on to your children can be enormously rewarding. But family businesses present particular ownership and management challenges.
Planning ahead and involving family members is essential if you are to achieve your objectives, make the most of your family strengths and minimise the risk of disputes or financial loss.
Retaining family ownership and control is a prime objective for many family businesses, but may limit growth potential. The family-owned business should be open to bringing in outside shareholders if additional investment is needed.
If required, investments can be structured in a way that ensures family control is retained.
Passing the family business on to the next generation can be very challenging and disruptive. From a personal perspective, you will want to ensure that you are treating your children fairly, perhaps splitting ownership between children who are active in the business and those who are not.
At the same time, you need to protect your own interests, say by withdrawing funds from the business to finance your retirement.
Tax efficiency is typically a major concern, particularly in terms of potential inheritance tax liabilities. As with other tax matters, forward planning is essential.
Many family businesses are not just family-owned, but also family-run. Using family members as employees and directors has many advantages, including high levels of commitment, a sense of continuity and shared values, and a long-term perspective.
But equally, family-run businesses can become inward-looking or complacent. Non-family employees may feel that family members receive special treatment. Even where you have brought in outside talent, it can be difficult to retain employees if they are concerned by the family's influence.
Again, the family business faces challenges as control passes to the next generation. Will you be able to stand back from the business, or will you undermine your successor? What happens if none of your children want to run the business - or several of them do? Succession planning is vital.
In the family business, business disputes can quickly become personal - and personal disputes can impact the business. Unforeseen events such as a divorce can have a dramatic impact.
While building a family business can secure the family's financial future, it can also bring an unacceptable degree of risk. This can be particularly acute when personal financial assets are concentrated in the business, or you have given personal guarantees for business debts.
Careful planning allows you to identify potential problems in advance. Options include an appropriate shareholder agreement, clauses in the company's articles of association and the use of a family trust to hold shares.
Above all, open communication can help resolve any issues and allow the business to prosper.