An article by Dr. Andreas B. Schrettl
When starting a business, there are countless things to consider. Naturally, the focus is on those that directly contribute to bringing the business idea to life. To this end, it’s almost second nature to seek advice from business or startup consultants, coaches, and the like, and to exchange ideas with other experienced entrepreneurs. During this creative startup phase, one (usually) feels far removed from legal “problems” or even conflicts; rather, the goal is to prevent such issues from arising in the first place or, if disputes do arise, to find solutions through business-oriented means whenever possible.
However, in order to establish and maintain this freedom to conduct business (from a legal standpoint), it is important to set up the company in a legally “sound” manner across all its divisions from the very beginning and to lay a solid legal foundation.
Starting a business is simply unthinkable without making decisions that are inevitably legally relevant and fundamental. For example, whether you’re starting a new business or taking the next step, you’ll need to choose the appropriate legal structure (and thus the corresponding liability regime), secure trademark and other intellectual property rights, rent office space, hire staff, enter into contracts with suppliers and service providers, and much more.
So while you’re working with great dedication and enthusiasm to turn your business idea into a reality, you’re—consciously or unconsciously—setting the course for your future legal starting point and negotiating position in a wide variety of areas, such as corporate, labor, commercial, trademark, copyright, patent, distribution, and contract law, as well as in the context of public law—for example, when permits, approvals, registrations, or similar must be initiated or obtained.
To lay this legal foundation for your company in a way that is “robust” and tailored to your specific operational needs, it is strongly recommended that you seek legal advice—completely independent of any potential conflicts or “trouble”— —to seek legal advice. This is the only way to ensure that you establish key legal positions for the future development of your business or secure existing rights (e.g., when drafting contracts with lenders, landlords, employees, suppliers, service providers, customers, etc., or when filing trademark and other registrations).
Of course, you can also “just go ahead and do it” and only seek legal assistance once legal difficulties have actually arisen. But often, the lawyer can then only try—figuratively speaking—to pump out the water that has already seeped in and seal the exterior walls; a technically sound and reliable foundation, on the other hand, can usually only be “laid” retroactively with significantly greater effort.
