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I am asked this question all the time. Mainly, this question comes from people I run and operate a small business with and are always doing things for themselves. The business may have few employees, may own some assets and is quite profitable. When talking with them, I always hear “I don’t really have any legal problems so why do I need a lawyer? Business is good and my employees love me.” Well, when I hear this, I know what I’m doing.
The first thing I ask these people is: How is your business? LLC? Corporation? Once we determine that answer, the next questions become: Do you have an operating agreement if you are an LLC or if you are a corporation? Do you have annual meeting minutes? Seven times out of ten people answer ‘no’ to these questions. That’s why they need a business lawyer. If they are not following corporate formalities and organizational protocols and someone sues the company, the likelihood of that litigant piercing the corporate veil and attacking the owner’s personal assets increases exponentially.
Another question I would ask is this: Do you have written contracts for the work that you do and the business that you are involved in? About 4 out of 10 say no. Again, this is why they need a business lawyer. Handshake agreement doesn’t work in today’s society. Everything should be in writing, not because you can’t trust someone, it’s because you need to protect your rights. If they don’t have contracts they use or have written themselves, you can bet they’ll end up spending a lot of money settling disputes, which would have prevented them from working with a business attorney from the start. could go.
Finally, I usually ask them whether they understand the various federal and state employment laws governing the employer-employee relationship. Most respond with “Pennsylvania is an at-will employee and I can fire anyone at any time.” This is what I call a ticking time bomb. Yes, it is true that Pennsylvania recognizes employment at will; However, there are many laws that provide protection to employees from discrimination, unfair treatment, unfair pay, etc. Most of the time these business owners don’t know what they don’t know and end up with something that costs them thousands of dollars. to solve. That’s why they need a business lawyer.
So as you can see, there are many reasons to work with a business attorney when you are a business owner from the start. People wrongly believe that a lawyer is needed only when they are suing. However, a good business lawyer will help you run your business in a way that limits the causes for which you can be sued to a fraction of the cost of prosecuting and resolving a dispute down the road.
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