The worst thing about committing a legal mistake is that everyone seems to find it obvious after the event especially your wife/partner. If business owners started to create new, exciting, unique legal mistakes then it would be a real challenge for us lawyers-fortunately for us they do not.  This means that your lawyer has probably seen the legal mistake before and has a good idea what to do.  Although it may not seem that way to you. Many small business legal services can be divided into “deals” where lawyers prepare documents to anticipate and avoid future problems or “disputes” where things did not get documented at the start and the parties come out swinging.  Usually deals are cheaper than disputes.   Experienced business owners are adept at working out when to document and when to wing it. Mistake no. 1        You unexpectedly die and your business stops dead too. This can be very inconvenient. Avoid this by having a will including a busines...

Your new manager is aggressively making his mark. Staff leave, pushed by his new broom, and are replaced by his own team of friends/relatives who take up newly labelled positions on inflated salaries.   You find yourself having to ask him before you can do anything, nothing is good enough and he is terse with you and even raises his voice – it is a bit like being married, although your spouse is commendably less keen to get rid of you on some days. You hear his brother-in-law is in-between jobs and you fear the worst.   Ask yourself two questions: 1.  Can you convince a more senior manager to save you? Normally, unless you are sleeping with one of them, the answer is “No,” but it is worth a try. 2.  Are you too honourable to employ underhand tactics? For instance, does he have any obvious weaknesses, e.g. women or sex? Could an accident be arranged?   If the answer to 1 and 2 is “No,” do not expect a last-minute reprieve; prepare to leave.   As an ageing, b...

Policies and Procedures are extremely important but often unbearably long and incredibly dull. There is a certain satisfaction in drafting a considered policy document and keeping it up to date. But if employees do not read it until a problem arises then they may not be aware of the avoidable legal pitfalls that can cause significant loss to their employer before it is too late. In about 2007, I founded Employee Legal Awareness Day. Since then, I have made legal presentations, written articles such as  Ten Legal Things That your Employees Need To Know  and devised the 3 Minute  "Are you legally savvy" Quiz  to promote the advantages of keeping employees legally savvy. One US company proposed three tips to make the day a hit, including a Trivia Night. However, I accept that it could be a long night for employees unless the prizes were exceptionally expensive. In the last decade, policy documents appear to have substantially increased in length while remaining unappeal...

  If you are the sort of Employer who likes to guide your staff from time to time on how to improve themselves and you have exhausted your diatribes on safety, working as a team and not putting cigarette butts out the window then law is the subject for you.  Here are 10 legal things that your employees need to know: Do not write down your insults in emails. It is too easy to prove if the company and you are sued for defamation. Illegal downloads (music, pornography etc.) do not disappear when you press the delete button. Don’t take the client list or reveal our secrets when you leave or we will sue your pants off. Emails can be binding legal contracts. Don’t unwittingly commit the company. Court cases waste time and money and take the focus off business do not get us involved in disputes. If we get into legal proceedings because of you even if you are in the right, we are likely to settle the proceedings before we get anywhere near court having incurred a great deal of expense...