Starting a Business? 4 Proactive Steps to Limit Legal Complications

If you’re starting your own business, you may be concerned about potential future legal complications and for good reason: one lawsuit can cost your business millions, potentially bankrupting your company and causing you to lose everything you have worked so hard to build. Luckily, there are simple steps you can take now to prevent costly legal complications down the road. The following 4 steps can help you proactively reduce your business’s risk of future legal complications:

Keep accurate and detailed records

One of the easiest ways to minimize your risk of legal complications in the future is to keep accurate and detailed records in the present. In addition to being a sound business practice, keeping detailed records can help tremendously in the event of an audit, investigation, or litigation. Keeping your records organized and in multiple formats, such as digital and hard copy, will make accessing your records when needed much easier.

Develop an employee handbook

Many businesses have an employee handbook; few take the time to develop an employee handbook that foresees potential litigation issues and plans for them accordingly. With the help of an attorney, you can ensure that your employee policies don’t run afoul of federal or state laws and prevent a potential lawsuit before it happens.

Obtain adequate insurance coverage

When starting a business, you should expect the unexpected. That’s why obtaining adequate insurance coverage for your assets is vital. Protect your investment by insuring against fire, flood, and other disasters, so you can be confident that your business is protected, no matter what life throws at you.

Invest in training

When it comes to training employees on legal issues such as sexual harassment and discrimination, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. These types of lawsuits can easily bankrupt a business; as such, dedicating resources to the thorough training of employees in these issues is a worthwhile investment.  

Minimize your business’s risk with The Law Firm of J.W. Stafford

At The Law Firm of J.W. Stafford, we provide full legal services for entrepreneurs. Each service that is offered is backed by our experience, education, professional training, and passion for employment law, business law, and litigation. For more information on how our firm can help your business, please visit us online at www.staffordtrialteam.com or contact us by telephone at (301) 832-2479.