2. Lawyers and Legal Matters

In all the time I have been running my own business I have never needed to consult a lawyer and I sincerely hope things stay that way. Having said that, I can think of at least three situations in which legal help can be useful if not indispensable:

• If you are setting up a company or a partnership, rather than acting as a sole trader, it would probably be a good idea to get a lawyer involved in drawing up documents like employment contracts, partnership agreements and terms of engagement for clients.
• If you win a really important piece of work (one that is likely to provide most of your income for some time, for example), it would be useful to get a lawyer to draw up a contract for your client to sign, or look over any contracts provided by the client, to make sure that your position is safeguarded as far as possible if things go wrong.
• If your business involves publishing rather than simply working for publishers (for example if you produce a newsletter or website for general consumption), then you should have access to a lawyer who can make sure you will not fall foul of libel laws. (Many publishers have their own in-house legal person or team to take care of this.)