Owning a business carries as many risks as it does rewards.

While we all hope for a smooth and successful ride through our business life, the fact is that there are many challenges which your business will face throughout its life cycle:

• The business can encounter financial troubles, often through no fault of their own (witness the difficulties of key trade suppliers to some collapsed building companies recently);
• Important staff can leave for greener pastures, taking with them valuable intelligence into your business' clients and practices;
• Business partnerships can sour or a co-owner can experience significant health problems (or worse);
• Lenders to the business can change their attitude to the loan overnight.

The consequences of these sort of events can be catastrophic for your business and for you and your family's assets.

Happily, with good legal protection in place, these consequences can be either minimised or fully mitigated.  For example:

• The right legal structure can ensure the protection of your hard-earned personal assets such as your family home, regardless of the fate of your business;
• Proper employment contracts can prevent departing employees from maliciously stealing your client base, intellectual property or trade secrets;
• Partnership agreements can specify a mutually beneficial set of arrangements in the event of retirement, incapacity or death of a partner, or if the partnership breaks down.

Good legal protection should be seen as a key part of your insurance portfolio. 

T A Murphy & Co's expert business and commercial lawyers will ensure that you and your business have adequate legal "insurance" against these elements of fate which are out of your hands.

Specific issues we can help you with include:

• Purchase and sale of business
• Drafting commercial agreements (joint ventures and partnerships), guarantees and security documents
• Advice for company administrators
• Advice on legislative requirements, including corporate structure, governance and compliance
• Corporate and commercial litigation in Court
• Advice on the protection of commercial assets 
• Advice for non-profit organisations and charities
• The Corporations Act
• Mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures & sales
• Venture capital
• Lending agreements
• Employee share & option schemes
• Corporate governance

Please contact us to arrange a consultation with an experienced commercial solicitor.