Small businesses are often created out of the owner's passion for their product or service. This means that many small business owners, while skilled in their particular niche, may not be as experienced with the legal aspects of owning a business. If you're a small business owner who lacks legal expertise, it's important to understand how the necessary legal documents can protect your company. Here are a few common legal documents you may need for your small business.
Business Plan
A business plan is vital for businesses of all sizes. A comprehensive business plan provides you with clarity about your company's mission and goals. This can help you focus your efforts in ways that will help you reach those goals, reducing the risk of getting sidetracked. Additionally, if you intend to seek any investments or financing, you'll need to show a business plan to the potential investors.
Nondisclosure Agreement
A nondisclosure agreement, often referred to as an NDA, is vital for protecting your company's trade secrets. Since most business secrets aren't protected by trademark, patent or copyright laws, you'll need something like this to ensure that vital information about your business isn't shared with others. If you're seeking investors or hiring employees, this contract not only prevents them from legally disclosing your business information, but also provides you with legal recourse in the event that they violate it.
Employee Handbook
Employee handbooks are ideal for ensuring that all of your staff understand the expectations of the company. You can use the handbook to outline all of the things that are permitted during work time and what things are not. For example, you can clearly define the times when personal internet access is permitted, if at all. You should also explain vacation days, holidays and review structures. Include information in the employee handbook about dress codes, grievance filing procedures and other human resources requirements, too.
Website Terms of Use
In today's digital business environment, your company's legal documents don't stop with your staff. You'll also need to ensure that your online presence is protected, too. Terms of Use for your website are great, because they clearly define your company's warranties for your information and the hyperlinks on your site. You can use the Terms of Use to tell your site visitors that you aren't claiming responsibility for information on external websites, even if they are linked from your page. This protects you from problems with other resources that you may share. A clear Terms of Use document also tells visitors what they can legally do with the information that they find on your site, such as sharing blog posts and other information.
Website Privacy Policy
In addition to clearly defining how the information on your site can be used, it's equally important to define how you use your site visitor's information. A privacy policy will tell your website users what kinds of information you collect, how that information is stored and how you may use it in the future. If your site uses cookies to track readers, you need to provide an explanation of what those cookies track and how long they are valid.
If you aren't clear about precisely how to create any of these documents, it may be in your best interest to work with a corporate attorney to ensure that they are done correctly. It is essential that all of these documents be validated by a legal professional to ensure that they are enforceable, particularly in the case of nondisclosure agreements and employee handbooks. A corporate attorney, like those at Carter West Law, can not only help you create all of these documents, but can also help you with legal enforcement in the event that one is breached.
