Law has a very wide scope. Many people are familiar with the criminal law that dictates how we should relate to each other and illegal actions. However, there is a whole section of the law that governs how businesses operate. Business law is also known as commercial or mercantile law. It is meant to maintain order, protect rights, and establish standards while giving a proper way of resolving disputes within businesses.
If you want to open a business, it is essential to understand various aspects of business law even if you plan to enlist the services of a business law attorney in New York from Rosenbaum & Taylor. These statutes will dictate what you can do with your businesses and best practices you should follow to remain on the right side of the law. If you are not a law expert, worry not as an experienced business law attorney can help you understand the crucial facets of this law and guide you when setting up the business.
Note that you will find several business law attorneys today, and it is critical to assess the options and settle on the best one. An incompetent attorney will derail your business, and it is easy to find yourself in trouble with the government for breaching a part of the law. Such instances are punished by hefty fines that could take up a considerable percentage of your working capital and bring your operations to their knees.
This piece will explain what business law is in detail and guide you when looking for a reliable business law firm in New York.
What is the Background of Business Law?
In any field where there is an engagement between two entities to do something, it is common to find parties who try to take advantage of the situation. Here is where the law comes in handy, as it protects the interests of both these parties and ensures that fairness is upheld.
Business law is no different, and it includes regulations and statues related to companies and individuals in their roles as workers, consumers, and citizens.
Business has become widely globalized, and it defines a massive percentage of our lives. Business law comes in the picture to shape commerce both domestically and abroad while trying to set a standard practice for both companies and consumers. It distinguishes unethical behavior from legal behavior, defines social responsibility, and act as a cornerstone of global citizenship.
This part of the law is evolving, and in recent years, has been changed to encompass the effects of modern technology. Due to the rise of the internet and online business dealings, computer law has become a prominent subset of business law due to its significance in this time and age.
From what has been indicated, business law forms a solid foundation on which businesses can operate. It gives all consumers, companies, and government entities the peace of mind knowing that they have little fear of being shortchanged. If this happens, there are correct avenues for seeking legal compensation.
What Are Some of the Functions of Business Law?
Businesses must comply with the law regardless of their size and position in the market. Business law is broad and subdivided into subsets that define various aspects that entities engage in. Some of the most prominent legal areas that a business owner should be aware of include;
Employment Law
Employment law governs the way businesses should conduct their affairs when engaging people to work for them. They cover things such as the way health insurance and workers’ compensation insurance should be taken for the good of the employees. They also include issues of discrimination between employees and sexual harassment. Employment is an essential aspect of any business and can lead to a soiled reputation as a result of lawsuits filed for mistreating employees. A business law attorney can help you to come up with the right employment policy in a bid to try and avoid lawsuits in the future.
Immigration Law
Laws concerning immigration are slowly creeping into the business law umbrella. Companies are employing people from different countries, and you need to ensure that you are abiding by the law when hiring foreign labor.
Consumer Goods Sales Law
Part of business law that governs financial transactions in the United States. It entails everything from contracts to frauds and leases, among others. It is a complex code of the law that aims to consolidate the rules in one place. Your business lawyer will help you understand how to apply these laws to your actual business practices and will advise you on how to stay compliant.
Contract Law
A category that deals with the terms and conditions under which two entities engage for any business dealings is a contract. It ensures that the parties making the deal are on the same page, and all their interests are taken care of. A business law attorney will help you draft legal contracts and represent you when solving disputes arising from them.
Antitrust Law
This is a category that moves to ensure that all businesses in a particular niche work on a level playing field. Many companies try to use deceptive methods to gain an advantage over their competitors, and it can be hard to know this within your firm. A lawyer will guide you when coming up with a business operations framework to ensure that you operate ethically and also move to protect you from unethical behavior from other firms.
Tax Laws
Tax laws are a critical part of any entity and entail the kind of taxes that you need to pay to the federal and local governments. They include income tax, sales tax, property tax, payroll tax, dividend tax, and excise tax, among others.
Other types of business law include;
- Intellectual property law
- Securities law
- Pensions and benefits
- Corporate law
- Environmental law
- Business organization laws
- Negotiable instruments law
- Computer law
From the different subsets of business law, it is evident that you need a diligent business law attorney in New York, NY. You will find several of them offering you legal assistance but ensure that you land the best.
What Questions Should I Ask Before Hiring a Business Law Attorney?
It is crucial to make sure you are hiring the correct business lawyer. The easiest way to do this is by asking the following questions:
Are you experienced?
The laws should guide business operations, and you need an experienced head to guide you here. Failing to do so can bring your company down. This is probably the most critical question two ask, and there are several sides to it.
Not every kind of experience is suitable for you and look out for the right one. What are they experienced in? Today, you will come across general practice lawyers who are the jack of all trades waiting to take up any client seeking legal assistance. You do not want to go with those kinds of lawyers. You need an experienced head in the business law field.
Someone who lives in the business law niche and understands all the facets of it. It has been seen that the business law niche is in itself wide enough. Do not fall for plain words and ask the business law attorney to show you proof of their experience. They should brand themselves as dedicated business law attorneys for you to be guaranteed that they will offer you the assistance you need.
It helps to go into the details and ask them which parts of the business law they have handled before. If you are dealing with a group of attorneys, ask if they have experts in tax law, antitrust law, and employment laws, among others. You are better off dealing with a team of experienced lawyers who will handle all your business law needs, and you won’t have to look elsewhere.
It is an advantage if you find a business law attorney who is experienced in the niche you are operating in.
Do you have any clients that will cause a conflict of interest?
When you are running a business, you will cross shoulders with many competitors as you are all seeking the largest percentage of the market share. Top business law attorneys will have several clients, and it is paramount to determine whether these clients can cause a conflict of interest and affect the judgment of the attorney.
When screening a business law attorney, ask for a list of some of the clients they are representing. If they are representing your previous partners, an opposing party, or competitors, look at other options regardless of how good this one might be. When working with a business law attorney, you will have to share crucial and confidential information with them, and it might be awkward to do that with someone who is working with your competitors.
What is your approach to conflict resolution?
One crucial area where your business law attorney will come in handy is in the resolution of conflicts with employees and other businesses. Even if you conduct your business in the best way possible, conflicts are always bound to arise, and your attorney should be well placed to help you solve them. Look at their plan for handling any future disputes.
Does the approach resonate with your values? Some attorneys are incredibly litigious and will always want to go to court in the event of a dispute. If you do not want your business to be in and out of court all the time and prefer out of court solutions, a business litigation attorney may not be best for you.
Who are the actual experts working with your business?
If you need a reliable business law attorney, you will most definitely lean towards the companies that have a group of individual lawyers working under it. This way, you can meet up with a company representative and find that the actual lawyers who will be working with your business are different. It is vital to get to know the real lawyers you will be working with if they are not the ones you meet when you contact that company.
Some of them assign work to paralegals, and you do not want too much delegated to them. You are investing money and time to get the services of a certified lawyer, and dealing with a paralegal is the last thing you want. A good lawyer will give you a clear work plan outlining who will be assigned to which tasks and ensure that you are comfortable with it before signing up.
How do you bill your services?
Your engagement with a business law attorney will most likely be a long term one, and this will have some financial implication on your firm. This is why it is vital to look at how much you will be paying for the services of the expert and how you will be doing it. Furthermore, how a lawyer bills you will tell you a lot about their credibility.
Some lawyers bill a flat rate, but many will charge you by the hour. However, a diligent attorney should use their regular billing rate as a benchmark and work with you to create a flexible payment plan that works for you both. For instance, they will be required to do a lot of work upfront when helping you draft the contracts and business structures, but once everything is running, their work will reduce. This way, it will be unfair if they bill you a flat rate every month, yet their workload is reduced significantly.
Who are your previous and current clients?
Lawyers are good at convincing people, and all of them will tell you why they are your best shot. However, do not fall for this blindly and find out what their previous and present clients have to say about them. The best way of gauging whether one is suitable for you is by checking the reviews posted about them. A good business law attorney will receive praise from their previous clients, and their present ones will recommend them to any company seeking a business lawyer. A bad one will receive bad reviews and complaints from clients about several matters.
Luckily, the internet is an excellent resource if you are looking to find out more about an attorney, as you can check out how they are faring on. You want to hire a proven attorney who has helped businesses attain excellence and not one that is full of flaws and does not understand what they are doing.
How do you communicate and relate with clients?
It has been indicated that your contract with a business law attorney will most likely be a lengthy one. This way, you will want to work with a firm that you are comfortable with. Customer service is critical even in legal aid. Some attorneys will only communicate via scheduled physical meetings, and others prefer emails and phone communications. All in all, you will want to work with an attorney that will respond to your questions quickly and one that will always be ready to guide whenever you need their advice.
Find out more about their working relationship with clients and ensure that it works for you. A good lawyer should foster a friendly working relationship for the good of your business since you never know when you might need legal assistance.
The process of choosing a suitable business law attorney might be a lengthy one, but be careful as the professional you settle on goes a long way in determining whether your business runs successfully or not. Do not compromise your standards and only hire the best one for your business.
You should also look at the long run when picking an expert and not just hire one every other time you need legal assistance. The process can be lengthy and involving, and it is important to do it once and dedicate your time to other business tasks. Once you find this lawyer, allow them to guide you both in the short and long run for better business consistency. It is easier to seek legal guidance from a lawyer who understands your business than from one who needs to start learning about from scratch. A top business law attorney is an invaluable asset to your company that can yield significant rewards in due time.
Contact A Business Law Attorney in New York at Rosenbaum Taylor
If you are searching for a top business law attorney in New York, NY, check out Rosenbaum and Taylor law firm for excellent legal assistance. This is a team of qualified lawyers who offer legal representation and advice to businesses, third party administrators, and individuals and protect their interests in both litigation and business settings. We are focused on creating a strong client-attorney relationship, which entails taking a collaborative approach when resolving matters.
We are experts in business law and will review, draft, and negotiate contracts for clients and even come up with different forms of agreements that define engagements in the business world. This law firm is your one-stop-shop for all your legal needs, and when you hire us, you won’t be required to look elsewhere for legal advice and guidance. The team of legal experts you will be working with are available here, and they are all qualified and top lawyers in the field. Contact us today for a consultation session, and we will be glad to keep you and your business on the right side of the law.
