7 Common Legal Mistakes to Avoid as a New Business
Starting a new business can be exciting. For many businesses, the excitement is the thrill of seeing their venture prosper and grow. For other businesses, though, this initial excitement can turn into regret caused by major legal issues that occur due to mistakes made during the business startup process.
Here are some of the common legal mistakes that people make when forming a business so you will be more likely to avoid them. The good news is all of these mistakes are easily sidestepped by working with an experienced startup business lawyer who can guide you through the process and make sure your interests are protected every step of the way.
Not Protecting Your Personal Property
A business is risky. If you’re not careful, you might be risking everything in your business venture. One of the most important things you need to do when starting a business is to take steps to protect your personal property from business liabilities.
This is especially true if you work in any field that carries liability risks, such as construction or healthcare. However, it’s also important if you are considering acquiring any kind of debt to help start your business – that business debt can quickly overwhelm your personal capacity for paying it.
Not Having Good Written Agreements
A lot of people enter business naively assuming that your word and a handshake is enough to secure a deal. In business, there are many situations where it’s important to clarify the details of a deal so that everyone proceeds with the same understanding.
When you are starting a business with others, it’s important to make strong partnership documents that define key elements like ownership of the assets, liability for losses, and payment from profits. This is important even if you aren’t forming a legal corporation.
It’s also important to have strong contracts that define your relationship to clients. You need to make sure that you have legal remedies in place in case they opt not to pay your invoices. You also need to define your liability in the event that something goes wrong with your work.
Finally, it’s important to have contracts with your employees, but we’ll talk about that in more detail later.
Not Keeping Good Books to Preserve Liability Protection
You might think that you’ve protected your personal assets by setting up a corporation or limited liability company (LLC), but that’s only the first step. Next, you have to make sure that you’re keeping business and personal property separate. If you are using personal assets in the business or using business assets as if they were your personal property, you might erode the protection your legal documents provide.
To avoid this problem, keep careful track of what are personal assets and what are business assets, and use them accordingly.
Unclear Relationships with Contractors or Employees
Bringing on employees is a big responsibility for your business. There are major tax implications and numerous regulations governing how you are supposed to treat your employees. Often, it makes more sense to work with an independent contractor at first. It simplifies the interactions from the standpoint of your business and reduces your tax liabilities.
The problem is that if you are essentially declaring someone an independent contractor when they’re really an employee, you can create a major legal problem for your business. Make sure that you are really treating independent contractors as independent contractors, not as employees. When you really need an employee, go ahead and take the plunge into the labor pool. Just make sure you’re protected with proper employment contracts and that you understand your legal obligations to employees.
Not Protecting Intellectual Property
When you think about protecting your assets, it’s easy to forget about your intellectual property (IP). However, for many small businesses, especially tech start-ups, your IP is your most valuable asset.
Make sure you’re protecting your software and other IP by taking appropriate steps like registering copyrights and trademarks. Don’t forget to take steps to protect your IP from partners. You may trust them. You may think they are your friends. However, the history of the tech industry is littered with creators who lost control of their ideas. It’s a good idea to make sure you keep control of your personal IP or at least make sure that you will receive adequate payment for your contributions to the business.
Ignoring Regulations
All businesses must contend with tax regulations and employment laws. However, some businesses must deal with specific regulations that govern their industry. For many businesses, the web of regulations they must contend with can be quite complex, and if you violate them, the consequences can be severe.
You can’t plead ignorance to avoid the penalties of breaking regulations. Instead, it’s best to talk to a business planning lawyer to understand the major regulations affecting your industry.
Not Having a Start-up Business Lawyer
What we’re looking at here are just the common legal mistakes that many businesses make. However, there are plenty of uncommon legal mistakes you might make, and you may only discover them by making them, at which point you need the help of a business planning lawyer.
Having a business formation lawyer that you work with from the beginning can help you understand the potential risks facing your business so that you can avoid legal troubles rather than struggling to get out of them.
Elizabeth Lewis is a business lawyer who has been helping small businesses in Colorado since 2007, including many start-ups. She has helped people figure out how to organize their business to protect their personal property and helped them secure their valuable IP.
She is very supportive, focused on building a relationship with your business and achieving the results your business needs to get started. In addition, Elizabeth has the experience necessary to help you navigate a wide range of legal matters after your business becomes established. This ensures you’ll have the legal protection you need moving forward as your business grows and evolves.
If you are looking for a lawyer to help your start-up navigate legal challenges, please contact the Law Office of E.C. Lewis today for a consultation.
How to Choose the Right Legal Entity for Your Business
If you are considering starting a business, it’s easy to get caught up in the excitement over your idea and skip important details like legal entities. In fact, many people have only the vaguest notion about what different entities are available. They may miss opportunities to save money on taxes and, most importantly, protect their personal assets in the event of lawsuits or contract disputes. They might also risk losing control of the business and their ideas to their partners.
Everyone is encouraged to consult with a startup business lawyer before deciding on a legal entity for their business. You want to make sure that you understand the options and select the one that meets your needs.
Factors to Consider in Choosing a Business Structure
Before you can decide on the right legal entity, there are several important factors to consider. Here are some of the ones that come up most often:
Protection of personal assets: One of the most important factors to consider is whether you’re prepared to risk your home, your car, and any other assets if the business gets into debt.
Partners: If you are starting a business with one or more other people, you will want to define who owns what and the personal responsibility of each owner.
Taxes: Legal entities are often taxed differently. Which one you choose can make a big difference on your taxes.
Funding: When you look for backers for the business, your legal entity can make it easier or more challenging to secure funding.
Paperwork: Some legal entities require no special paperwork. Others require a significant amount before you can start operating.
Registration: Registration is like more paperwork, but sometimes registration of your legal entity is necessary to get tax benefits.
Intellectual property: If your business is based on a certain piece of intellectual property, it’s important to determine who owns that idea.
Weighing these factors can be difficult. A business planning lawyer can help you sort through them to find the best option for your business.
The Simplest Options
Many people default to the simplest options for setting up their business: sole proprietorship and limited partnership. These are functional legal entities and may be right for your business, but it’s important that you aren’t just choosing them because they’re easy. In some cases, these legal entities can cause big problems.
Sole Proprietorship
A sole proprietorship is the simplest business option. It’s the default if you just start doing business without filing any paperwork. Just choose a name for your business and start selling.
Who’s it for:Small and home-based businesses with low overhead, low startup costs, and minimal liability exposure. This can be a good choice for people who are operating multi-level marketing companies, those who are starting a business and are under 18, or those that are doing a side business such as babysitting a few hours a week.
Disadvantages: Your personal property is exposed to any legal risks your business faces. Unless you are in an industry that is very low risk and where you are going to make very little money, a sole proprietorship is usually not recommended. In addition, it carries a heavy tax burden because you have to pay self-employment taxes. Finally, it can be hard to secure backing as a sole proprietorship.
General Partnerships
General partnerships are the equivalent of sole proprietorship for multiple people. There is no paperwork required, though it is recommended. If your partner is anyone except for your legal spouse, you should have a partnership agreement to make sure everyone knows their rights and responsibilities though.
Who’s it for: Businesses started by married couples with minimal liability exposure.
Disadvantages: Personal property might be exposed to legal risks. Ownership of business assets can be murky. This is extremely problematic if people are bringing different intellectual property into the partnership. Tax burden can also be murky: depending on how leadership is shared, limited partners may or may not have to pay self-employment taxes. A robust partnership contract is recommended to make sure these issues are clearly laid out from the beginning unless your partner is your legal spouse.
Finding the Smartest Option
Although the above options are (relatively) simple, they may not be ideal for your business in many situations.
For example, any individual working in areas with significant liability risks, like construction or healthcare, will want to insulate their personal property from business liability. You can do this with a limited liability company (LLC). However, an LLC won’t alleviate your tax burden unless you choose to be taxed as an s-corporation: you will still need to pay self-employment taxes. In some cases, an corporations and LLCs can reduce your taxes if you are a s-corporation, but other times a C corporation is the better option.
For partners who aren’t married to each other, partnerships can work, if you get the help of a business formation lawyer in drawing up the partnership documents. Other times, a corporation makes more sense.
Talk to a Start-Up Business Lawyer
Are you considering starting a business? Before you start, talk to a start-up business lawyer about the different options to determine which one might be best for you. If your new business is based in Denver, the Law Office of E.C. Lewis will make sure you choose the right legal entity to protect your interests.
Elizabeth Lewis is a business planning lawyer who has helped many people start businesses in Denver and throughout Colorado. She has extensive experience helping small businesses. Since 2007, she has helped many startups in Colorado get on firm legal footing before they made it big, including software companies and others with valuable IPs. She is focused on results and understands the challenges your business faces starting out. She’s not only great at setting up legal entities, she has the extensive experience necessary to address just about any legal issue your business encounters moving forward.
Finding the right legal entity of your business can boost your odds of success. When you’re ready to start a business, Elizabeth is ready to help you start it right. Please contact the Law Office of E.C. Lewis today for a consultation.
Small businesses play a critical role in our nation’s economy. In fact, small businesses are responsible for roughly 44% of the country’s economic activity, and they employ roughly 50% of the private-sector workforce. If you’re planning on starting a business, you’ll likely fall under the “small business” category for a while, as it typically takes time to grow your company into a large enterprise.
Starting a business is a high risk, high reward venture. It offers the potential for a lucrative income while allowing you to build something from the ground up in a field you’re passionate about. This can lead to a more fulfilling work life for many individuals. However, there are also many challenges associated with starting a business – startup costs and ongoing overhead expenses can be significant, attracting and retaining quality employees is more difficult than ever, and there are myriad other issues you’ll need to navigate in order to build the foundation for a successful business.
With such high stakes associated with starting a business, it’s critical to make the right decisions from the beginning of the process. One of the most important decisions you’ll make is where to start your business, as not every state provides the same climate for success. Even if you make a savvy choice and operate in a business-friendly state, you will still need the guidance and expertise of an experienced small business lawyer who can protect your interests and set you up for success.
Should I Start a Business in Colorado?
If you’re considering Colorado as the home for your small business, you’re making a smart decision. A recent study ranked Colorado as the 7th best state to start a business in 2024. This data remains consistent with rankings from the previous few years, where Colorado is regularly considered to be among the most business-friendly states.
Key Factors Contributing to Colorado’s Business-Friendly Environment
Colorado possesses a variety of attributes which make it a great place to start a business. The following factors will increase your chances of success when you choose Colorado as the location for your business:
Low Startup Costs and Ease of Formation
Favorable Tax Climate
Highly Educated Workforce
Strong Small Business Presence
Economic Strength and Growth
Low Startup Costs and Ease of Formation
Colorado offers a wide range of incentives and resources to encourage new business formation, and it boasts one of the lowest startup costs in the country for small businesses. The cost to establish an LLC or corporation in Colorado is only $50. This low barrier to entry makes it attractive for entrepreneurs looking for a place to operate their new venture.
Favorable Tax Climate
Colorado’s 4.55% income tax rate for corporate entities and 2.9% sales tax can be extremely beneficial for small businesses. This relatively low tax burden will help fledgling businesses retain more of their earnings, making it easier to succeed during the early years when you are still building your reputation.
Highly Educated Workforce
You’ll need a team of highly educated and skilled employees for your business to thrive. Colorado provides an abundant supply of highly educated talent, as it ranks as the second most educated state in the country. This highly educated workforce not only gives you access to a skilled and competitive labor pool, but it fuels much of the innovation and economic growth that Colorado has become known for in recent years.
U.S. News & World Report ranked Colorado 4th in the country for best economy, best business environment and employment. In addition, numerous Colorado cities regularly appear on a wide range of “best places to live” lists, allowing the state to attract talented individuals looking for a great lifestyle. This strong economic environment provides opportunities for small businesses to thrive and expand.
Recent Initiatives Which Support Colorado’s Business-Friendly Environment
The Colorado state government is continuously taking steps to further enhance its business-friendly environment. Some recent initiatives that will help small business owners include:
Investing in workforce development programs to ensure a skilled labor supply
Implementing tax cuts and increasing certainty for business leaders
Focusing on increasing housing supply and affordability to support employee recruitment and retention
Allocating over $10.5 million to strengthen the state’s business climate and create more opportunities for small business development
Establishing the Colorado Enterprise Zone Program which offers a major incentive for new businesses by providing up to $3,000 in tax credits for qualified businesses
Elizabeth Lewis Provides Legal Services for Small Businesses in Colorado
Colorado’s combination of low startup costs, favorable tax climate, highly educated workforce and supportive government policies make it an attractive destination for businesses. While the advantages of operating in a business-friendly state like Colorado can set you up for success, you still need expert legal guidance to help you navigate many of the challenges impacting small businesses. At the Law Office of E.C. Lewis, we’ll make sure your interests are protected every step of the way.
Elizabeth Lewis is a small business attorney providing comprehensive legal services for businesses in Denver and throughout Colorado. If you’re considering starting a business in Colorado, she can assist you with any legal matters associated with business formation to ensure your company is set up properly. In addition, Elizabeth will be your go-to lawyer for any legal challenges your business experiences moving forward, including contract law matters, employment law issues, and more. When you work with Elizabeth Lewis, you’ll have peace of mind that all legal matters will be handled properly, and your business will be positioned for ongoing success.
Contact us today to schedule a consultation. The Law Office of E.C. Lewis serves small and medium-sized businesses in Denver and throughout Colorado.
If you’ve recently formed an LLC in Colorado, you may be wondering whether you need to obtain a business license. In Colorado, there is no statewide requirement that LLCs must get a business license other than registering the business with the Secretary of State. However, you may need to obtain local business licenses and industry-specific permits depending on your industry and the location of your LLC.
Business licensing requirements in Colorado and the process of getting a license can be highly complex. There are many factors which impact whether you need a license as well as the type(s) of license your LLC needs. The following overview will provide you with some basic information as you begin your research, but it’s important to work with an experienced start-up business lawyer who can help ensure you comply with all licensing requirements and complete the process properly.
Types of Business Licenses in Colorado
Many Colorado-based businesses must hold at least one type of license to legally operate in their local area. The type of license(s) you will need will largely depend on the local and county regulations where you reside. In certain industries, businesses may need to obtain state and/or federal business licenses as well. This is more common for businesses in heavily regulated industries such as alcohol or cannabis. This variability is why it’s critical that you work with a business formation lawyer who knows the proper licenses associated with your industry.
In general, there are two different types of state-level business licenses:
General Business License
Occupational License
General Business License
A general business license refers to a license that all businesses operating in a particular state must have, regardless of their industry. Colorado doesn’t require a general business license, so your LLC will not need to obtain one. However, you may need an occupational license or a local (municipal) license depending on the type of business you operate and the city/county requirements in your place of business.
Occupational License
Occupational licenses may be required for businesses in certain industries. Some examples of businesses that may need an occupational license include hair salons, daycare centers or used car dealerships. Occupational licenses may be needed through the State, the city you operate in, the county you operate in, or a mixture of them. Your small business lawyer will be able to advise you as to whether you need an occupational license to operate your LLC business in Colorado.
Other Types of Business Licenses in Colorado
There are other types of business licenses that may be required based on your location and type of business. Some of the most common include:
Municipal Business License
Colorado Sales Tax License
Municipal business licenses are issued by the city, town or county where your LLC does business. Each municipality in Colorado has a different set of rules governing which types of businesses need a license. Your business start-up lawyer will know the municipal business license requirements associated with your LLC.
There are two types of municipal business licenses:
General Business License – If a general business license is required, every business operating in that municipality must obtain a license to operate.
Industry-Specific License – In some municipalities, a license is only required for certain industries. You may or may not need one depending on what your business does.
A Colorado sales tax license may be required if your business sells products to consumers. In these situations, you may also need to register your LLC with the Department of Revenue.
Federal Business License Requirements
Most Colorado small businesses won’t be required to get a federal business license unless you conduct activities that are regulated on the federal level. The following industries are examples of some of the industries that may require a federal business license:
Agriculture
Alcohol sales, serving, importing or distribution
Aviation
Firearms, ammunition and explosives
Fish and wildlife
Commercial fisheries
Maritime transportation
Mining and drilling
Nuclear energy
Radio and TV broadcasting
Transportation
How to Get a Business License in Colorado
If your LLC needs a business license in Colorado, you’ll need to apply for one with the appropriate licensing or regulatory agency. The agency governing your business license will depend on the location of your business and your specific industry. As part of the business license application, you will generally need to provide the following basic information:
Business/LLC/Corporation name
Employer Identification Number (EIN)
Business address and phone number
Business plan containing your anticipated expenses and revenue
Certificate of insurance (COI) for your business insurance policy
Once you’ve gathered this information, you can fill out the required forms on the licensing agency’s website to apply for your license. Your business formation attorney will be able to help you with this process to ensure the application is completed correctly.
Elizabeth Lewis Can Help if You Need a Business License for Your LLC
Whether you know for certain that your LLC needs a business license or you need to find out whether any licenses are required, the Law Office of E.C. Lewis can help. Elizabeth Lewis is a Colorado small business attorney with extensive experience assisting new businesses with a wide range of items associated with the business formation process. She can advise you as to whether you need a license and if so, which license(s) your business must obtain. Elizabeth can also help you with the application process to ensure everything goes smoothly.
The Law Office of E.C. Lewis has been providing comprehensive legal services for businesses in Denver and throughout Colorado since 2010. She can help you with a wide range of legal needs, including business formation tasks, contract law matters, employment law issues and more. Elizabeth is committed to providing your business with the highly personalized attention and sound legal guidance necessary to protect your interests and set you up for long-term success.
Contact us today to schedule a consultation. The Law Office of E.C. Lewis serves small and medium-sized businesses in Denver and throughout Colorado.
Colorado employment law is complicated, and it’s impossible for us to give a complete rundown of all the key laws. An employment law attorney such as Elizabeth Lewis can help keep your business on the right side of the law. Here are a few of the major Colorado employment laws that you need to know, either as an employee or an employer.
Wages
In 2024, the minimum wage in Colorado is $14.42 for untipped employees, and $11.40 for tipped employees. Denver minimum wage is higher than Colorado’s so for any employees providing services in Denver, the minimum wage is $18.29 for untipped employees, and $15.27 for tipped employees.
When employees meet overtime requirements, employers must pay them 1.5 times their regular pay. Overtime triggers when an employee works:
More than 40 hours in a week
More than 12 hours in a workday
More than 12 consecutive hours
Typically, this only applies to hourly employees. Provided that a salaried employee is exempt, then a salaried employee doesn’t earn overtime and may have a more difficult time managing expectations that they work additional hours each day and/or week. Salaried employees who are not exempt are still subject to overtime requirements.
Break Requirements
Employers in certain sectors (including, but not limited to, retail and service, food and beverage, commercial support services, and health and medical) must give employees a duty-free meal period of 30 minutes for every five hours worked. This break can be unpaid, but if employees have to eat while on duty or are otherwise required to be on-call, they should be paid.
A 10-minute rest break should be allowed for every four hours worked in these same industries.
Nursing mothers should be allowed to use their break time to express milk, and they should be provided with a private place (other than a toilet stall) to do so.
Leave Requirements
Colorado requires that employers give employees paid sick leave, which should accrue at a rate of at least one hour for every 30 hours worked. Employees can use this leave for many purposes, including preventive care, helping a family member, or absence due to domestic abuse, sexual assault, or harassment. Employees may also take unpaid leave (up to three days per 12 months) to deal with domestic abuse. This “sick time” is also available for bereavement leave in some instances.
There is no requirement for holiday leave or pay.
In addition, large employers and all employees (regardless of the size of the company they work for) must contribute to Colorado’s Family and Medical Leave Insurance Program (FAMLI).
Colorado Anti-Discrimination Laws
In addition to Federal anti-discrimination laws, Colorado bans discrimination on the basis of lawful activity outside of work, AIDS/HIV status, arrest or sealed convictions, marriage to a co-employee, bad credit, or wage garnishment for debt.
“Chance to Compete” Law
Similar to anti-discrimination laws, Colorado wants to help convicted criminals avoid discrimination in the early parts of the application process.
An employer may not advertise that people cannot apply for a position if they’re not convicted, nor may they ask for a conviction record on an initial application. (This doesn’t apply to specific positions where a person with a criminal history cannot hold the position.)
Record-Keeping Laws
Colorado law requires employers to maintain records of employees and wage payments for one, two, or three years, depending on the specific type of records.
Access to Personnel Files
Personnel files are not just for HR – each employee is entitled to view their own personnel files in Colorado. This includes viewing information about discipline records, and whether an employee is being considered for advancement. This only applies to written records – employers don’t have to tell employees about conversations regarding them where no formal notes are made.
Whistleblower Protection Laws
Employers cannot retaliate against employees for speaking out if they think people at work are committing crimes. This includes the waste or misuse of public funds if a company gets payments from the state.
Wage Discussion Laws
In Colorado, employees are free to talk about their compensation. Employers cannot ban discussion of wages, nor can they retaliate against workers who share their salary information with others.
Workers’ Compensation
In Colorado, most employers are required to maintain workers’ compensation insurance that pays for medical bills and lost wages in the event that an employee is injured on the job. The level of coverage required depends on the size and nature of the workplace.
Final Paycheck Requirements
When an employer fires an employee, they must provide a final paycheck for hours worked within six hours of firing. If the payroll office is closed at the time of the firing, the employer has until six hours into the next workday.
Labor Peace Laws
Colorado’s Labor Peace Act means that employees can’t generally be forced to join a union or pay union dues. However, they will still get benefits, such as higher wages, that the company extends because of union negotiations and settlements.
Don’t Run Afoul of Labor Laws in Colorado
Colorado labor laws are complicated, and it’s easy for an employer to find themselves on the wrong side of the law if they’re not careful. Working with an employment law attorney when starting your business or adding employees can help you avoid legal problems.
Since 2007, small business lawyer Elizabeth Lewis has been helping businesses in Colorado to comply with the complicated web of legal requirements, including federal laws, Colorado laws, and even local employment laws. She can help you write employment agreements that define the employer-employee relationship to avoid legal issues in the future.
Elizabeth also believes it’s important to form long-term relationships with her clients so she can be available to help whenever new problems arise. This can help you deal with changing laws or respond to new situations that come up with your employees.
To learn how a business attorney can help your company navigate the complex rules of employment law, please contact the Law Office of E. C. Lewis today for a free consultation. We serve small and medium sized businesses in Denver and throughout Colorado.
Your business’ contracts are tools for defining what is expected of different parties in a commercial relationship. Common contracts exist between employers and employees, between suppliers and buyers, and with independent contractors.
Disputes about the terms of a contract are almost inevitable. Some people think this is a drawback of contracts, but it’s actually evidence of their strength. If there were never any disagreements about how parties should operate, there would be no need for contracts in the first place. Contracts define what is expected of each party, and there are effective ways to resolve these disputes, often without souring the relationship that existed before the dispute. A contract law attorney can help direct you through some different strategies to resolve contract disputes.
Informal Complaint and Negotiation
A contract dispute starts when one party points out to the other party that the terms of the contract aren’t being fulfilled. For example, a contractor might say to the company that hired them that they haven’t been paid on time or in the amount specified in the contract. Or a company might believe that their landlord isn’t providing the services required under their lease.
The next step is an informal negotiation. For example, the contracting company might tell a contractor that they will pay them immediately, or, perhaps, ask for a little more time to pay. The landlord may agree to provide snow removal in a more timely manner. If these resolutions are satisfactory, the contract dispute is settled.
However, if parties don’t accept these resolutions, parties may seek to escalate the dispute.
Escalation and Formal Negotiation
During this stage, the parties to a dispute will typically put their complaints in writing. The written complaints will typically include the terms in the contract that have supposedly been broken, how the wronged party wants to have these terms made right, and what they will do if they are not made right.
If parties haven’t consulted with their business lawyers before this point, this is the time to get lawyers involved. Talking to your contract law attorney can help you understand what recourses you have under the terms of the contract, and what level of negotiation you can enter into without affecting your ability to get compensation from other dispute resolution tools, such as arbitration and litigation.
Consulting with your lawyer can also help you avoid trouble for yourself by violating other terms of the contract inadvertently. Most importantly, talking to a business attorney can help you understand whether the contract dispute involves a minor breach that you can patch over, or a material breach that may make it impossible to continue under the current terms.
Formal negotiations can involve whoever the parties agree should be present, including the use of experts and mediators to try to resolve the dispute. Sometimes, though, the contract may put explicit limits on this stage of negotiation. Often, formal negotiations are the last chance to save a working relationship between parties in the contract. Other forms of resolution lead to increasing acrimony and may make one party feel slighted to the point that they can’t continue to work with the other.
If parties can’t resolve the dispute with formal negotiations, they will have to move to binding forms of dispute resolution, such as arbitration and litigation. Sometimes a contract will specify that disputes must be resolved with binding arbitration.
Binding Arbitration
If negotiations between parties fail to resolve contract disputes, people often seek resolution through binding arbitration. In this process, parties present evidence to a neutral third-party arbitrator who renders a binding ruling on the evidence and arguments presented. It’s similar to a trial, but it’s faster and less expensive.
Typically, once the arbitrator issues a ruling, the dispute is considered resolved.
Litigation
If parties don’t agree to arbitration, they may seek to settle their dispute through litigation. This is a lawsuit where parties file formal complaints against each other and seek to achieve restitution for wrongs related to violations of the contract.
Litigation involves multiple steps, including discovery, in which parties disclose documents related to the dispute. Before the trial, parties may file different motions to dismiss certain claims or in an attempt to conceal items from discovery.
Negotiations continue throughout the litigation process, and it’s possible for both parties to reach a settlement before going to trial.
At the end of a trial, either party has the option of appealing the decision to a higher court.
Help with Contract Disputes in Denver
If you’re a business owner, contract disputes can determine whether your business succeeds or fails. It’s important to have an experienced contract law attorney on your side to deal with these disputes when they arise.
Small business attorney Elizabeth Lewis has been helping businesses in Colorado since 2007. She focuses on helping small and medium businesses to use the law to their advantage and compete in a challenging marketplace. Alongside the importance of resolving contract disputes, she knows how important it is to maintain your professional relationships and reputation during the dispute process.
Elizabeth can help your company resolve these disputes without burning bridges along the way. Her results-oriented approach helps cut through animosity to reach a balanced resolution that satisfies everyone involved.
In addition to resolving contract disputes, Elizabeth can help you write contracts that prevent or minimize disputes. She can also help you review contracts so you don’t accept any onerous terms that could impair your business.
To learn how a small business lawyer can help your business with contract disputes, please contact the Law Office of E. C. Lewis today for a free initial consultation. We serve small and medium sized businesses in Denver and throughout Colorado.
