Contracts Class
Today’s Legal Minute for Small Businesses: Just a reminder that one week from today, I will be teaching a class on contract law for the North Metro Small Business Development Center. More information can be found here.
Patent Attorneys
Today’s Legal Minute for Small Businesses: I’ve recently had several clients ask me why I don’t do patent law so I thought I would take a minute to talk about patent law. Patent law is one of the few areas of the law that you can truly specialize in. To become a patent attorney, you must pass a separate bar exam called the patent bar. In order to even be eligible to take this exam, you must have either a Bachelors, Masters, or PhD in specific scientific areas. Most attorneys that I know that practice patent law only practice intellectual property law. (I have yet to meet someone that does both patent law and family law!) Therefore, if you are looking for a patent attorney, please let me know because although I do not practice patent law, I can refer you to someone who does!
Quarter Third 941s
Today’s Legal Minute for Small Businesses: If you are required to prepare 941s, please make sure to prepare and file your third quarter 941s this month. If you are mailing them, you should mail them certified mail, return receipt requested. Your certified mail stamped green card will serve as proof of mailing – even the IRS can lose things and you will be happy you have the receipt if they do!
Customer Service Done Right
Today’s Legal Minute for Small Businesses: As a transactional business attorney, part of my goal is to help my clients avoid legal troubles. One way to do that which many business owners don’t think about is providing good customer service. To illustrate this, I would like to talk about the Similac recall that happened last month. As most of my readers know, I have a three-month-old son. We use Similac. Late last month, Similac recalled all its powered formula, of which we had one container. Similac made the recall process easy – I signed up on the website, a box was shipped to my house, I sent the formula to them, and they sent me a check and a coupon for new formula. By recalling their product and making the recall so easy, I have continued to use Similac and the thought of suing the company for anything never crossed my mind (except to write about customer service). So while customer service isn’t always the way to solve legal issues, it definitely goes a long way!
Does your company use independent contractors?
Today’s Legal Minute for Small Businesses: Does your company use independent contractors? If so, please read my FAQ on independent contractors. The State of Colorado is independent contractor unfriendly – meaning that you need to make sure that the people you classify as independent contractors are really independent contractors or you can be subject to fines and penalties for misclassification. In addition to getting advice to make sure the individual really can be classified as an independent contractor, businesses should have written agreements with all independent contractors. If you are using independent contractors and want to make sure you are complying with Colorado state law, please feel free to contact me, your Denver small business attorney at 720-258-6647 or Elizabeth.Lewis@eclewis.com.
Do you keep receipts for business expenses?
Today’s Legal Minute for Small Businesses: Do you keep receipts for business expenses? If not, you should be keeping receipts. As I explained in one of my FAQs, the IRS requires that you keep many different kinds of receipts. In addition, if you ever get audited having receipts will help prove your expenses. To keep your receipts organized, you can use a program such as NeatReceipts or keep your receipts in some kind of filing system. If you have questions about what receipts to keep or how to store them, please feel free to contact me, your Denver business lawyer, at 720-258-6647 or Elizabeth.Lewis@eclewis.com.