You’ve worked hard to build your company, and along the way, you’ve probably been swamped, if not overwhelmed, with the sheer number of laws, regulations, rules, ordinances, terms, and conditions your company has to deal with daily. From elemental problems like how to structure your business, to more mundane questions such as how often your warehouse fire sprinkler system needs to be inspected, if you’re not careful you’ll find yourself spending most of your time struggling with legal issues and not enough time focusing on actually doing business.
A Corporate Lawyer Can Help
One way to approach getting help is to start with someone who has a broad understanding of companies and the legal conditions under which they operate. Very often, that person will be a corporate lawyer.
A good corporate lawyer will understand the environment in which your company operates. They will help you decide how best to structure your business for your industry, operations, and growth plans, keeping in mind the different types of corporate structures available in different states and the benefits of one state’s law of corporations over another’s. Suppose you’re at the very beginning stages of your business. In that case, you may need to decide whether to structure it using the traditional corporate form, whether a limited liability company (LLC) works better for you at this point, or if some other business structure is the best way to move forward. A corporate lawyer will help you make that decision.
Depending on your area of business, you may have to deal with particular registration requirements just to be able to operate; your corporate lawyer will be able to tell you what those are, and what you need to do to be able to satisfy them.
If your business needs to raise money, a corporate lawyer will ensure you do so in a way that meets the legal requirements for securing investments from outside parties. If you’re issuing shares to investors, your corporate lawyer will discuss with you the various ways to do so while retaining – or giving up – various levels of control, depending on what your goals are for your company and what your investors are expecting in return for their funds.
Once your company is up and running, a corporate lawyer will help ensure you meet the legal requirements for shareholder and board meetings, periodic report filings, and state registration requirements that may apply depending on your business structure and where you operate.
At AEGIS Law, our corporate attorneys can help you decide which corporate form works best for your company’s goals and to help you make sure your company thrives as you grow your business.
Corporate vs Business vs Commercial Law
While many people will use the “corporate law” definition to apply to any sort of business-related law, for others, there are different types of corporate law, as well as differences between corporate lawyers, business lawyers, and commercial lawyers. It’s worth understanding those corporate law meanings so that when reaching out for legal advice, you know why you might need to get advice from more than one type of lawyer.
Business Law Is a Very Broad Field
Business law covers a vast range of legal topics relating to a company’s operation. It can include all of what corporate law encompasses and more, such as contract law, intellectual property law, labor law, tax law, real estate law, and other areas that can vary depending on your particular line of business. One person is unlikely to have the depth of skills necessary to provide legal advice in all business law areas. At AEGIS Law, we understand that, and our attorneys are committed to working together to make sure our clients have the right person with the right set of skills for each type of legal issue that is important to our clients’ success.
Commercial Law Has a Narrower Focus
Commercial law, on the other hand, is typically considered a narrower area of the law. Its focus is primarily transactional, the law of commerce, if you will. Like Corporate law, Business law is often viewed as a subset of Commercial law.
Business law focuses on purchasing and selling goods and services and the various agreements, licenses, and rules and regulations that apply to these kinds of transactions. A commercial lawyer can help you ensure you get the materials you need to make your products, that your products make it to your customers, and that you get paid.
Different types of commercial lawyers will specialize in different areas. If you’re building a brand, creating content that you want to protect, or inventing things, you’ll need the services of an intellectual property attorney. If you’re involved in e-commerce, a commercial lawyer who focuses on that area will help you navigate the ever-changing web (so to speak) of privacy, transactional, and other regulations that apply to online businesses. As your business begins to hire employees, you’ll want to make sure you comply with local, state, and federal employment laws; a commercial attorney familiar with those requirements can advise you on what’s required for your business. If you are purchasing or leasing space, a commercial real estate lawyer will be able to help you make sure the transaction goes through smoothly and that you receive the kind of deal that works best for your company.
At AEGIS Law, we have attorneys who focus on various aspects of commercial law and are ready to help when our clients need advice in their particular areas of expertise.
It’s All About the Individual
At AEGIS Law, we want you to appreciate us as a law firm, but most of all, we want you to appreciate our lawyers. Because whether you have a corporate, business, or commercial legal question about your company, you will reach out to a live person for the answer. That’s why we make it our goal to work with lawyers who want to collaborate with their colleagues and who understand the value of focusing their efforts on areas of the law they enjoy . . . while making sure our clients get the answers they need from the right people in the firm.
So many lawyers today are tired and worn down by systems that reward the number of hours they bill instead of how well they help clients get the legal advice the clients need. At AEGIS Law, we look for talented people who want to work better, not harder. Who want to give their clients top-quality legal advice but who also want to have a life. Who won’t try to do it all when there are others in the firm who can do some of it better.
Our corporate lawyers understand that. This means that when your company brings its legal matters to AEGIS Law, you get the entire firm’s resources while still having personal contact with someone you can reach out to when you need help.
We Really, Really Mean This
Convincing people that AEGIS Law is different from the vast majority of other law firms is probably one of the biggest challenges we face. It’s easy to claim to have a “collaborative culture” that “encourages cross-disciplinary work.” It’s harder to actually make that work. At AEGIS, we make it work by attracting talented lawyers who believe in what we do: that clients and attorneys benefit when a law firm is made up of people who are all on the same page and whose focus is the client instead of the billable hour.
The lawyers we ask to join AEGIS Law are exceptional at what they do. In the corporate law area, that means they bring a combination of extensive legal knowledge and the kind of meticulous attention to detail that this type of law requires. We invite you to contact us at (314) 454-9100 or to schedule a no-charge initial consultation using our online form to learn more about how AEGIS Law can help your business grow.
