One of the biggest challenges most SMEs face is to maintain a thorough focus on the company’s core business, with both its legal and commercial dimension, when the company starts growing quickly. Growth means excitement and opportunity, but at the same time, it makes it harder for owners to maintain a firm grip on the big picture and have, at all times, a deep understanding both of the company’s commitments and of its liability, risk and compliance duties. Luckily, by creating a strong panel of legal documents that define and line-up the company’s business proposition and commercial terms clearly and appropriately descriptive, reaching out to new clients, coming up with new products or services, or diversifying your business model becomes surprisingly easy.
Your house in order: minimum must-have legal documents for all SMEs
The legal suite of any business must comprise at least the following:
- the rules under which it is incorporated (such as a company statute for a BV – required by law -or a Partnership agreement for a VoF – optional, yet extremely useful, especially in times of trouble between the VoF partners);
- the description of its products or services and the compulsory legal warranties (if applicable);
- the specific rules of delivering those products and/or services (who, where, what and how), and the interaction with the customers and their respective rights and obligations – compiled together as the “terms of commerce” or “terms and conditions”;
- employment contracts for its employees and other mandatory formalities, or collaboration agreements if working with independent contractors;
- sale agreements for its products and/or services
- different other agreements, through which the company engages commercially with other companies for the production, sale, promotion, development or diversification of its offering.
Link legal structure to your business strategy harmoniously
The more technologically advanced the world becomes and the more complexly regulated all industries and markets get, keeping the legal structure of your company’s set-up on point, smartly organised and easy to understand and review is the key to ensure cohesiveness and ease of contract, which in turn ensures that your business will be able to access opportunities timely. Moreover, one great way of adding to and elevating such a clarity of obligation is to devise your business strategy as a four-prong unit, constantly focused on:
- aligning your commercial offering with your company values and work processes;
- researching properly your target customer, market and industry
- understanding your legal obligations towards all the parties with whom your company engages commercially and staying aware of them throughout the delivery process; and
- creating a culture of knowledge and communication that ensures transparency, keeps business going at a steady pace and ensures
Once these four parameters are defined with clarity and interlinked, weaving the legal fabric around them that allows for both legal compliance and economic drive, success and prosperity become a simple(r) exercise of discipline.
Let us help you get more clarity
At The Legal Folder, we can help your company revise and draft the documents that form the core of your business, starting from the company statutes and terms of commerce, and moving forward to company internal policies and terms of conduct, as well as specific commercial contracts such as: sale and distribution agreements, partnership and sponsorships, and the all-important license and services agreements. We have in our team competencies that range from legal to marketing, business development, finance, sales and IT and we use these diverse skills to identify the optimal solutions for your specific needs. We want our clients to understand the basis of their business, so they can identify market gaps, future opportunities and synergies with other market players and thus always be a step further than the status quo.
“I’ve always had two main driving factors: helping people and solving problems. I became a lawyer to do both, and today, looking back on the trajectory of my career, I can say that I owe all my success to being motivated, and at the same time, rewarded by a genuine love and concern for people. As a client with The Legal Folder, we will help, support, educate and empower you, always with an empathetic ear and a hands-on attitude.”
Georgiana Vasile, Founder of The Legal Folder
The Legal Folder 