Legal Services For Small Business—A Plan

Each business is different and therefore has different legal needs. Unfortunately too many business owners are not aware of what their needs are until it is too late to reduce or eliminate their exposure in general. Generally, the problem lies in the fact that most people do not contact legal counsel until they need to respond to, instead of prevent, a situation. Sometimes this is unavoidable, but for many businesses a proactive, consistent, thoughtful approach can reduce overall legal costs.

Proactive - One of the ways to be proactive in providing legal services is by arranging for periodic legal reviews for your particular business covering numerous areas. The review appropriate for your specific business varies, but could include the following:

• Litigation Risk Review - In today’s litigious society, no prudent business can ignore the possibility of a lawsuit which is costly. A Litigation Risk Review which can be part of the Fernandes Law Firm Small Business Program will help evaluate what your business’ exposure is and find opportunities to minimize or eliminate the occurrence and cost of and potential litigation.

• Intellectual Property Review - The importance of the things that distinguish your business, products or services cannot be ignored in today’s global economy. Protecting your corporate image, trade secrets, brandings, and other items can make the difference between success and failure.

• Employer/Employee/Contractor Review - How a business manages its employees and independent contractors can be crucial. Properly maintained relationships prevent potentially damaging litigation from being directed at the business.

• Business Succession Review - Many businesses fail because they do not anticipate what might happen when one or more business owners transfers ownership (whether during life or death). Others are sold at “fire sale” prices because of a planning failure. Having worked hard to build your business why not protect it?

Consistent - The need for legal counsel can be event based. But there are a variety of needs that ought to be addressed regularly to protect the business from creditors, competitors and other forces. A key component of the Fernandes Law Firm Small Business Program for your business will be a schedule of important, reoccurring services. Some of these services include:

• Annual Review and Update of Corporate Books and Formalities - Failure to keep good corporate records can be grounds for “piercing the corporate veil,” meaning that the personal assets of the shareholders (you) can be seized. Good records are also absolutely essential for business growth. When you want to borrow money, bring in investors, or sell the business and retire, lenders, investors, and buyers want to see your company minute books and records. The Fernandes Law Firm Small Business Program makes keeping good records easy and help you to avoid missing important filing deadlines, remind you to hold annual meetings, renew contracts, review personnel files and meet government filing deadlines.

• Regular Reviews - A key component of the Fernandes Law Firm Small Business Program is the periodic review process. These reviews take place at least annually, although your program may call for semi-annual, quarterly or monthly reviews. Whatever frequency is appropriate for your business, the regular reviews are designed to spot legal issues before they become problems, keep the Fernandes Law Firm apprised of what is happening in your business, determine opportunities that changes in the business or legal climate may provide, etc... consistent communication is a key to a successful working relationship of each Small Business program.

• Predetermined Number of Hours of Legal Service - Each Fernandes Law Firm Small Business Program will also include a set amount of hours of legal counsel based in part upon the anticipated needs of your business. Of course, each year your program will be reviewed and included hours adjusted to account for changes in your business and other factors. The establishment of this “bank” of hours will encourage client-initiated contact which will in turn facilitate more communication between your business and J.P. Fernandes. As suggested above, the more open the lines of communication, the better the Fernandes Law Firm Small Business Program will work.

Gaining Control Over Legal Expenses.

Frustration in attorney-client relationships often arises over misunderstandings regarding the cost of legal services. The Fernandes Law Firm Small Business Program will provide you with a system to avoid such misunderstandings and take control over your legal expenses in a number of ways:

• Anticipating Problems - The design of the Fernandes Law Firm Small Business Program makes sure that your contact with the of Fernandes Law Firm do not occur only in response to a legal problem, striving to anticipate problems in partnership with you and correct them in an efficient manner before they turn into crises.

• Regular Review of Legal Expenses - At least annually, we will review with you your actual legal expenses to determine if you are spending an inordinate amount on certain legal matters given your business. If so, we will partner with you to look for ways to reduce these expenses - including ways to reduce payments to Fernandes Law Firm.

The Right Legal Solutions

The Fernandes Law Firm Small Business Program is structured to obtain for you the right solution for each legal issue your business faces. From our perspective, we do not see how locking yourself in to anything other than the best, most cost-effective attorney for each particular situation makes sense. We believe most clients feel the same. That is why the Fernandes Law Firm Small Business Program is uniquely designed to assist you in securing competent, cost-appropriate representation, regardless of law firm affiliation, whether for out-of-state litigation, an intellectual property concern, or anything else and monitor performance by reviewing (and challenging where needed) billings and appropriate correspondence.