FROM THE DETRIMENTAL EFFECTS OF LAWSUITS HOW TO PROTECT YOUR BUSINESS
Whether you’re just starting up a small business or you’ve been doing it for years, there are probably a few challenges that you’re contemplating fairly regularly. Maybe those challenges include standing out from your competition or creating an effective marketing campaign. Do they include protecting your business from lawsuits? The sad truth is that lawsuits against small businesses are common enough that pretty much every small business owner will have to grapple with one at some point in time. Fortunately, however, there are a few ways that you can mitigate how often they come your way. LEAVE A PAPER TRAIL WITH YOUR CONTRACTS. Breaches of contract are the most common causes of lawsuits against small businesses. They’re the genesis of nearly a third (31.4%) of all lawsuits filed. So, if you want to avoid lawsuits, always get your contracts in writing, ideally on legal documents with signatures. That way, your opponents will have a harder time finding breaches. CONSIDER ADR PROCESSES INSTEAD OF LEGAL DISPUTES. Alternative dispute resolution (ADR) processes are any means by which you can settle a dispute with another party outside
of the courtroom. Since going to trial is usually the most expensive part of the lawsuit,
it’s beneficial to both parties to work things out to a satisfactory end outside of court. It may not feel great to write the check, but you’re probably saving yourself from writing a bigger one down the road! RETAIN A LAWYER TO HELP YOU NAVIGATE LAWSUITS AGAINST YOUR BUSINESS. Some 36%–53% of small businesses face a lawsuit of some sort in any given year, so any business owner should have the contact info for an experienced business lawyer. A good lawyer can draft and review your contracts as well as advise you on how to best proceed when another party brings a complaint or a suit against you. If you or someone you know is looking for a business lawyer who can help them prevent and navigate lawsuits against their small business, visit our website at ReibLaw.com or call (940) 591-0600 to set up a consultation.
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Along those same lines, if you’ve developed unique or proprietary business systems, you should take the necessary precautions to ensure no one can steal or share those systems with your competitors. We can help you put in place legal agreements to make sure the systems you’ve worked so hard to create are safe from such theft. DON’T OVERLOOK THESE CRITICAL SYSTEMS Even if you’ve developed efficient systems to deliver your core product or service, your company is still at risk if it
doesn’t have effective legal, insurance, financial, and tax (LIFT) systems. Indeed, without solid LIFT systems, your business is just one accident, audit, or lawsuit away from ruin. Our Access Legal Coaching Program is specifically designed to help you integrate these cornerstone systems into your operations and provide your company with SHATTERPROOF Foundation.
In editions of this newsletter, we’ve covered everything from business contracts to how to handle the former spouse who wound up with everything because there was no business succession plan in place. But now we’re wondering: What would you like to see? You know those legal questions that Google can’t give you a satisfactory answer to? The ones that keep you up at night as you wonder whether it’s time to call a lawyer? We want to answer those. Send us your questions, and we’ll use them to address the topics you want to know more about. Text your questions and curiosities to 972.677.3002 .
As your Access Lawyer we're specifically trained to help entrepreneurs like you put these cornerstone systems in place, providing your company with a shatterproof foundation. To see how stable your foundation is take our Shatterproof Business Audit and assess your confidence in how much your legal, insurance, financial, and tax foundations will support your business growth. Just go to https://reiblaw.com/shatterproof-audit and complete your audit. We will send you back a report card.
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