Legal Support and Advice for Business

We give advice to business owners and executives about how to manage risk, transactions and how to comply with the law. This advice spans the below areas and beyond. If you are not sure if what you have is a legal issue, or if we can help, reach out and we will either assist or point you in the right direction.

If you are buying or selling a business, there are a myriad of issues that need to be considered. There is no such thing as a standard business sale or purchase, or a standard contract.

Contracts can be tricky to negotiate when you want to maintain relationships. We can either take the lead or guide you to manage these contract negotiations yourself, talking you through the big ticket issues and suggesting appropriate compromises that will keep everyone happy.

If you need a contract prepared, we can write it. We are skilled at preparing bespoke contracts that are written in plain English and that you can understand. We do not sell you templates, all of our contracts are tailored for you and your business

If you have a contract that you have received, or have inherited, and you are not sure if it is appropriate, send it to us to review. We will let you know whether it is ok to use, or needs to be updated or replaced.

Whilst Fair Work is an excellent resource, and should be your starting point for most matters, they will not give legal advice. We assist with strategy, advice and writing letters to support you in managing your resources including performance management, terminations and redundancies. We also prepare template employment agreements and contractor agreements.

Whether you are the franchisee or the franchisor, we can advise on opportunities, the Franchising Code, set up your agreements and manage your issues, disputes and exits.

Boards often need an outside perspective on decisions that they are making, or assistance with resolving intra-Board conflict. We advise individual board members and boards as a collective in managing these matters. We conduct training sessions on all areas of the law. We can also prepare and review policies and procedures and advise on risk management within the organisation.

If you or someone you work with is having trouble meeting their financial obligations, it’s time to consider whether you are potentially insolvent. We work closely with your accountant to navigate these tricky times and give you options.

If you have an app, software, a trade mark or some other intellectual property that others use, you need a licence agreement to set out what they are getting, what they can and can’t do, give you flexibility to keep developing and limit your liability.

Whether you are leasing an office, retail space, plant and equipment or a farm, we do it all. We know our way around the Retail Leases Act. We also consider the PPSR implications and make sure that is covered.

If someone else manufactures your products, you need to manage approval of prototypes, confidentiality and exclusivity, ordering, shipping and payment. We can talk you through common issues and protect you from those common disputes.

We advise on setting up partnerships, the right structure and tie in shareholder agreements and succession planning. We also advise on how to manage outside investors and what that relationship looks like.

If you have individual items of property worth $5000 or more that someone else has in their possession (most commonly hiring forklifts or other business equipment) then you should have registrations on the PPSR. We can set up your documents and processes so that you can manage your PPSR yourself.

We work with you to set up risk registers and risk management procedures to make sure risk is reviewed regularly and you are set up to survive the risks that may besiege your organisation.

We often say that the process of putting together a shareholders agreement is more valuable than the document you get at the end because we ask tricky questions and get you to think about (and agree) on what happens – for example if one of you dies, goes on parental leave, doesn’t want to work in the business anymore or wants to sell the whole business. We are skilled at guiding you through these discussions and setting you up with a robust organisation that survives these types of issues.

If you want to bring in a new partner, sell your business, offer ownership to employees or otherwise change the ownership of your business, involve us in your planning so that we can talk you through the common issues and topics to be covered.

Every business needs terms and conditions to manage expectations with their customers. We don’t believe in template documents. Your business is unique and your documents should have your voice, your values and your rules. A clever set of terms and conditions forms part of your marketing strategy in addition to managing your risk and reducing the chances of disputes.

We register trade marks and give advice on infringement. IP Australia is deceptively simple to use, and business owners often go it alone before running into registration problems and forfeiting their application fees. We offer a guided DIY option where you prepare your application after a chat with us and we check it over for you. A cost effective solution for small and larger businesses who want to control their legal spend.

If what you need does not fit within the box, but you are a business or an executive, it is likely we can assist. Just reach out and we will let you know. If we can’t personally assist, we will refer you to our network of specialised lawyers all over Australia.