Disclaimer: The information written here does not replace any legal advice you can get from the professionals. This article is aimed to give you an idea on the subject matter. If you would want to attain in-depth knowledge about it, you should always seek the help of an attorney who is specializing in business litigation cases.
When you’re an entrepreneur, you want to focus on your business – on how to keep it running and how it can be on top of the competition. You want to be able to keep up with the times while ensuring that your employees and customers are happy with the service you’re giving to them. Since you have a lot on your plate, you don’t have the time (and the energy) to go through business litigation. You can’t afford to lose focus on your business operations because you know what’s needed from you right now.
Indeed, business litigation is a tedious process, and no entrepreneur wants to be placed in that situation – and for sure, you’re one of them. But you don’t have to fret because there are a lot of ways you can prevent business litigation. You can start by implementing these to your business:
Key Tips On How To Prevent Business Litigation
1. Work with an attorney as your legal consultant: No, attorneys are not only helpful when actual lawsuits happen. On the contrary, they can help you and your business from being involved in lawsuits. When you’re in doubt with what to do with your business, they’re also the best person to ask pieces of advice without violating anyone’s right in the process.
- If you just started your business and you don’t have the know-how to run it, the help of a legal consultant might come in handy for you. They can give you the assist you need anytime.
- You don’t have to worry about your business not following any state laws because the attorney can take care of that on your behalf. You’ll have more time to think how your business could improve and manage your staff.
- You also need the attorney’s help in drafting important documents such as contracts and termination notices.
2. All of your business relationships should be covered by written contracts: The things you see on film where a mere handshake is enough to indicate that someone accepts a job offer never works in real life. Business is a complicated endeavor to get yourself into, but you can make it easier with the help of contracts.
- Contracts are necessary to inform your employees what you’re expecting from them the moment they work with you, and once they sign these documents, it’s equivalent to them saying that they can meet all of your business’ requirement and you have the right to seek legal actions if they fail to do so.
- When disputes arise, contracts are legal documents which you could use as a reference to determine which party is at fault, especially when it involves termination of employment.
- Aside from your employees, contracts are useful when you’re working with different businesses as your partners. Contracts serve as binding documents on what to expect from each other, how can two (or more) parties benefit from the business, and what could one party do whenever one didn’t meet the requirements.
- Aside from a company’s manual, contracts are documents which help the business determine what should and shouldn’t be done when certain issue arise.
3. Take the time to train your employees: One of the reasons why business litigations happen is because of unsatisfied customers. There are some who tend to make a big issue out of a mistake made by an employee, for example, that it became reason enough for them to file a lawsuit. Since this is an issue which begins internally in your business, there are a lot of ways you can do to prevent it from happening.
- Your employees are the front-liners of your business. They are the ones who handle the customers and give them that unique experience. Whatever they’re doing while working can make or break your business image, that’s why training them is essential.
- Before your employees are deployed, they should be trained in your business processes. They should have in-depth knowledge of what you’re expecting from them and how they can fulfill the needs of the customers. The key here is to train them before they handle customers, and not when they’re already dealing with one.
- You have to make sure that your employees are always giving excellent customer service all the time. The same goes if your business is operating in different locations. There should be consistency in your offerings to ensure that your customers are always satisfied.
4. Learn how to manage disputes effectively: Your workforce is made up of different people with different viewpoints on a lot of issues. Even though they’re working in achieving the same business goal, it’s impossible that everyone will get along effortlessly. The reality of the status quo tells you that there will always be disputes in business.
- As a business owner, no matter how busy you are, you should have the time to talk to your employees whenever there are disputes. You should be their mediator and help solve issues rather than taking sides.
- Disputes, when not settled immediately, can become lawsuits over time. No matter how much you care for your employees, if they feel that they’ve been aggravated in the situation, there’s always a possibility that they’ll take legal actions against your business.
Key Takeaway Points
Come to think of it: business litigation will not only require your time and resources, but it can also be the reason why your business could potentially fail. The tips presented in the article will help you stay away from that direction. Although the tips here require a lot of work from you as a business owner, you still have to carefully adapt to all of them because in time, you can benefit from your efforts – and that’s by saving your business from being involved in business litigation.
Irene Wall
Irene Wall has been writing about law for more than a decade. She writes pieces on various law topics that she hopes could help the common reader with their concerns. She enjoys playing basketball with her sons during her free time