by eclewis | Mar 14, 2011 | Business News, Misc. Legal Tidbits
Business Continuity Planning
Anyone watching the disaster unfold in Japan is confronted with hundreds of emotions. Sadness at the loss of life. Disbelief in the amount of tragedy that is occurring – earthquakes, nuclear fears, tsunamis, and volcanoes all at once. Concern for the people who have lost their houses, their businesses, everything they owned.
However, those watching the destruction can learn lessons from it. Preparation for your home, your business, and your family is a must. To prepare your home, one can ensure you have canned food, bottled water, and heating and lighting supplies that don’t require electricity. To prepare your family, you can have exit plans, spare documentation, and emergency contact information. However, many people fail to plan for their business if they are self employed.
So how do you make plans for your business? First, you should make sure you business continuity insurance is sufficient. If you don’t have it, you should talk to your insurance agent about it. Business continuity insurance will cover destruction of your building, payroll if you cannot open your business, and in some cases even payments to the owner. Second, you should make sure you have backups of all your files offsite. If your files are digital, this may include offsite tape storage or a services such as Dropbox. If your files are not digital, it may include making digital copies of your files. Third, just like for your family, you need to have an emergency plan for your business. This includes having all pertinent contact information – for your employees, your landlord, your merchant account provider, your bank, your accountant, your Denver small business attorney and most important (yes, for a change, even more important that your business attorney’s number) your insurance agent’s number.
If you have any questions about a business continuity plan or any other business legal questions, please feel free to call me, your Colorado small business lawyer, at 720-258-6647 or email me today!
by eclewis | Jan 13, 2011 | Business News, Misc. Legal Tidbits
In the January edition of the Legal Solutions for Small Business newsletter, I mentioned that January is the best month to review your business to determine if any changes are necessary. One of the first things you should do is review your files to make sure you have copies of all your important business documents. This includes any loan documents, any credit card agreements, any vendor agreements, any lease agreements, any client agreements, and any employment agreements. In addition, depending on your business, you may have additional agreements.
Once you have ensured that you have copies of all these agreements, to ensure that you have a second copy in case anything happens to the original, you should either make a digital copy and maintain a backup in a secure location (i.e. a safety deposit box) that is not at your main place of business or make copies of these documents and store them offsite. You may look at options such as Dropbox if you make digital copies. The reason offsite storage is so critical is that in case there is a fire or theft at your main location, you will always have copies somewhere else and you never know when you will need to refer to them in the future.
After gathering all of your contracts, reviewing them is a great start to getting your legal, and financial bearings for the year. In some instances, you or your attorney may be able to negotiate a better agreement than you currently have. For instance, if your phone or internet bill is month-to-month, you may be able to ask for a lower rate. If your loan agreement has a balloon payment at the end of the term, now may be the time to refinance into a conventional loan.
If you have any questions about reviewing your legal agreements, please call or email me, your Denver business attorney!
by eclewis | Oct 16, 2010 | Business News, IP Law, Misc. Legal Tidbits, Online/Social Media Law
Today’s Legal Minute for Small Businesses: The last thing a small business owner needs is to be defending a lawsuit in a state that the small business owner doesn’t live in. Unfortunately, that is exactly what can happen if the small business owner doesn’t have a contract with the people and companies he or she works with that lays out what courts have jurisdiction over any disputes. A well written contract will state both where any lawsuits must take place (i.e. both parties agree to Denver County District Court having jurisdiction) and what state’s laws will govern any disputes (i.e. both parties agree that the laws of the State of Colorado will govern any disputes between them). By having both a jurisdiction clause and a choice of law clause, a small business owner can help ensure that he or she won’t be defending a suit in another state. ***Although, please note, that a jurisdiction clause and choice of law clause may not protect you from defending a suit in another state in all cases. Please check with your attorney to determine if these clauses are helpful for your specific contract!***
by eclewis | Oct 10, 2010 | Business News, Misc. Legal Tidbits, Random Thoughts
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!
by eclewis | Jul 27, 2010 | Business News, Misc. Legal Tidbits
A recent article in the Denver Post, the issues of leases in Cherry Creek Mall was discussed. The biggest thing in the article that was a surprise to this Denver small business attorney was that landlords in the area aren’t negotiating for lower leases although there is a lot of empty space. After further reflection though, this actually isn’t as big a surprise considering the area is a hot spot where people go to shop, eat, and be seen. Although the spaces may be empty right now, as soon as the economy picks up it will probably come back quite quickly and since leases are for longer terms than the economy will (hopefully) be down, not wanting to get stuck in a long lease as a landlord isn’t surprising.
So how do you as a small business owner find the best lease for you? First, location is everything. While landlords in Cherry Creek North may not want to negotiate, there is a huge chance that landlords in other areas do. You should ask your broker what areas are having tougher times getting tenants because landlords may be more likely to negotiate (although from the Denver Post article that isn’t true in Cherry Creek North). Second, having the right people working for you is great. Your broker should work only for you and not for both parties and should be able to negotiate terms for you. Third, have your contract reviewed by a Denver small business attorney such as myself. Your Denver Small Business lawyer will be able to find hidden issues such as renewal options, liability and insurance issues, and other clauses that may make the lease less desirable.
If you have any questions about a lease you are thinking of signing, call me Denver Small Business Attorney today for help at 720-258-6647.
by eclewis | Jan 27, 2010 | IP Law, Misc. Legal Tidbits
As promised on the Legal Solutions for Small Business Fanpage on Facebook yesterday, today we are talking about HB1192.
For companies and individuals whose income depends on software downloads or affiliate marketing, the talk recently has been on Colorado House Bill 1192 – a bill “concerning that state sales and use tax of standardized software.” This bill repeals a regulation of the Department of Revenue related to the type of software that is currently taxable. Currently, under Special Regulation 7, software must be in a tangible form to be taxed. SR-7 specifically states “Software is not delivered to the customer in a tangible medium if it is provided through an application service provider, delivered by electronic software delivery, or transferred by load and leave software delivery.” Due to this, in most cases if software is downloaded from the internet, the State of Colorado does not get any sales tax.
So what does this bill do? It adds the language that tangible personal property (aka property that is taxed) will included standardized software (aka software that is created for more than one person/company to use) that is downloaded from the internet or delivered to person by some non-physical means (aka some means where you don’t actually get a CD with the software on it). This means that every time someone in Colorado downloads something from the Internet, a tax should be levied on that purchase.
How does this affect Colorado businesses? Well, if you are based in Colorado, it makes it where the State has a much easier time collecting the tax from your company. Any company based in Colorado will be expected to account for, and pay, taxes on all software downloaded by Colorado residents. This creates an accounting nightmare for companies who, if this bill passes, will need to determine what state every person who downloads their software lives in and then remit sales tax on these purchases.
While I understand that Colorado is facing a budget deficit, it does not make sense to pass a bill that will make if more difficult for companies to move or startup here. When we as a state are supposedly trying to attract technology companies, any move to make doing business more difficult for them does not make sense. Companies bring with them much more than just the tax dollars they generate on their products. Companies bring tax dollars on the wages their employees eventually spend, tax dollars on the goods the company purchases, and foster an environment that makes more companies want to move to a state.
Later this week, I will post more on this bill and how it will affect affiliate marketers. In the meantime, I suggest all my readers investigate this bill further and post comments on what they think about the bill.
As always, if you are a small business with questions about whether you are doing business correctly, you can reach me at 720-258-6647 or elizabeth.lewis@eclewis.com.
