Annual Legal Audit for Growing Businesses: What to Review Every Year to Prevent Problems You Don't See Coming
Legal problems in operating businesses tend to build quietly over months or years while the business owner is focused on revenue, operations, and growth. An entity falls out of good standing because nobody filed the franchise tax report.
Read MoreContract Review for Operating Businesses: What Your Attorney Should Check Every Time You Sign
A business owner who signs a vendor agreement without legal review is accepting terms someone else's attorney drafted to protect someone else's interests, and finding out what those terms mean when a dispute reveals a provision the owner didn't know was there.
Read MoreEmployment Law Basics for Texas Business Owners: Hiring, Firing, and the Rules Between
Texas is an at-will employment state, and most business owners understand that to mean they can hire and fire anyone for any reason at any time. That's roughly correct. At-will employment has exceptions, and the rules governing how you classify workers, what you pay them, how you document the relationship, and what you owe when the relationship ends are more detailed than most business owners realize.
Read MoreHandling a Demand Letter: What to Do When Your Business Receives One
A demand letter is a written assertion of a legal claim accompanied by a request for payment, performance, or some other remedy. No one has filed anything with a court yet, but the letter is the opening salvo in a dispute, and how you respond to it often determines whether the dispute ends with a negotiated resolution or escalates into litigation.
Read MoreVendor and Customer Disputes: When to Send a Demand Letter and When to File Suit
Every operating business will eventually have a vendor who doesn't deliver what it promised, a customer who doesn't pay what it owes, or a counterparty who breaches a contract. How you handle that dispute affects whether you recover what you're owed, how much you spend doing it, and whether the business relationship survives the process.
Read MoreWhen Your Business Needs a Lawyer on Call: How Outside General Counsel Works and When It Makes Sense
Most growing businesses reach a point where calling a lawyer once or twice a year isn't enough but hiring one full-time isn't justified. Contracts need reviewing before they're signed, not after a dispute reveals a problem. Employment questions come up every time someone is hired, promoted, or let go.
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