Should You Hire a Lawyer to Start a Business in the UK

Should You Hire a Lawyer to Start a Business in the UK

There is an incomprehensible number of business types in the UK, which has only been exacerbated by the growth in startups. For many of these businesses, there is little need for legal advice when starting out. This is because the vast majority of very early-stage businesses start as individuals trying out a business idea, but what about businesses that require more in-depth planning and structure due to their scale? For businesses such as these, the use of an experienced corporate lawyer may be extremely beneficial.

The most important aspect when starting a business is the preparation phase. Having a clear idea of what your business will look like when it is up and running can help you to put the necessary steps in place to make the dream become a reality, but what if you aren’t sure which business structure is best? Well, certainly a corporate lawyer can be very useful in this instance. Not only can a corporate lawyer help to identify the ideal structure for your new business but they can also help to put the steps in place to help you to achieve this. As most successful entrepreneurs will tell you, the early stages of a business are by far the most important for long-term survival and prosperity.

Reasons to Use a Corporate Lawyer When Starting Up

As we have already looked at, a corporate lawyer can help when it comes to deciding on the way that your business will be structured, but what else can they do? Many corporate lawyers can also help to protect your business from external factors. For instance, if you have an exclusive product or service that you are bringing to market, a corporate lawyer can help to protect this very precious intellectual property. For many early-stage startups, this protection can be the difference between success and failure. But what else can they protect? Well, with numerous laws and rules that must be abided by, corporate lawyers can help you to head off any number of potential bumps in the road. Issues such as immigration law compliance (for Tier 2 Sponsor Licence holders) can be a headache, but the use of a lawyer experienced in the field can be extremely helpful in offsetting any risk to your business.

The use of a corporate lawyer is also necessary if you are planning on using external funding sources such as crowdfunding or angel investing to get your business off of the ground. Many of these investors will need to see that the structure of the business is set up in such a way that means that their investment will provide equity in the business. A corporate lawyer can also help to set up the tax structures that are necessary to ensure complete compliance with UK law. This depth of assistance is often required due to the way that businesses are often started and funded in the UK. With a whole new world of investment and startup opportunities comes a whole new raft of rules that must be followed.

Types of Business That Need Lawyers

In reality, almost any business that you can think of could benefit from the use of a corporate lawyer. With so many hurdles for businesses to jump these days, great advice is the key to making a success of an entrepreneurial venture, but there are specific business types that almost certainly require the use of a corporate lawyer in order to get started. Certainly, businesses that make use of business immigration visas can benefit from the input of a specialised immigration lawyer. Due to the requirements laid out, it is vital that these businesses protect themselves. Any failure to abide by the stringent rules laid out could result in extremely poor outcomes for the business. This risk can be mitigated by the use of experienced immigration solicitors who can set up a business to ensure that compliance is well managed. Leaving you free to run the business without worry.

There is also a clear case for businesses that are going to use external funding to make use of the services of a corporate lawyer. Due to the potentially complex structures involved, a corporate lawyer can ensure that all parties are protected, and can help to satisfy the requirements that are likely to be put in place by the party making the investment. While investors clearly want to help to make the business a success, they want to know that should the worst happen, they will be protected to the largest possible degree. The use of an experienced corporate lawyer can help to allay any such fears.

Getting Great Advice

Of course, it is easy to see the big things that need to be sorted by a corporate lawyer, but there are also smaller day-to-day issues that can also be managed by a corporate lawyer. For instance, the setting up of employment practices and payroll structures are vital to the ongoing running of a business. Issues such as employment contracts can be a major bugbear for many businesses, the use of a corporate lawyer get help to institute a standard set of practices which make the day-to-day running of the business simple and sustainable.

The use of a corporate lawyer is all about making the setup and day-to-day running of a business as simple and straightforward as possible. You can tap into their vast resources to help make some of the more complicated issues surrounding the early stages of a business as easy as possible. With the startup stage being so important to the long-term chances of a business, can you really afford not to use a corporate lawyer?