Lawyers are central to the growth of every successful startup. From share allocation and formation documents to protecting intellectual property, startups rely on lawyers to keep everything running smoothly and bringing clarity to their agreements and partnerships.
It is widely acknowledged that many corporate lawyers secretly, or not so secretly, dream of a career in the startup world. Being a corporate lawyer can be rewarding, but it will never offer the same excitement, buy-in, and possibility (however remote) of making it big, and so many see career in law as a starting point for a possible future in the startup world.
So, what legal specialities are useful to startups?
Corporate law
Corporate lawyers are well versed in company formation and constitution creation, and can be incredibly helpful in the early stages of creating a startup to help make sure everyone knows where they stand and what is expected of them as the company grows. If founders don’t get their formation documents right at the start then this is a sure fire way to create problems down the line.
Moreover, as a company grows and looks at possible mergers and/or acquisitions to increase their market share, corporate lawyers are the ones that will help with the due diligence of the deals and will help with buying or selling shares and merging the two corporate structures.
Intellectual property (IP) law
Intellectual property law spans everything from patents to copyright and everything in between. The business model of many of today’s technology and digital startups is based around licensing technology or tools, and this is where intellectual property law comes in useful.
An patent solicitor will help a company apply for patents when they come up with novel, non-obvious, and useful, and also help them take action against any company that infringes on those patents. Meanwhile a copyright lawyer may help a startup find new ways to license their copyrighted materials, whether that is new sync deals for a music startup or other licensing options around the world.
Negligence law
Under tort law, if you or your company deliberately or negligently commits a harmful act against someone you may face civil liability. A professional negligence solicitor helps protect you from claims for issues such as a mistake in the code of your software or a defect in a product that injures a customer, or even one of your company’s delivery trucks hitting somebody crossing the road.
Compliance law
Depending on the sector in which your business operates, there will be a variety of laws and regulations with which your business will have to comply to operate legally. These laws could be anything from the strict financial regulations from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) that cover most financial startups, to food standards that cover restaurants or takeaway business, but compliance lawyers are the ones that can help make sure you are always the right side of the law and any governing body or regulator.