Litigation is often the most feared word in corporate life, that is until you’re of such a size and have such resources to employ your own legal services on retainer. For some companies, such as Nintendo and Disney, a reputation is built around aggressive IP protection with a mind to shutting down any community creative measures that could reflect poorly on their brands.

However, as a small business, you don’t have this power. Each legal issue you have to navigate is usually either one you have to defend or spend a great deal of money on after being wronged, and in both cases, the process can be tiresome. Not only can it be expensive but it also takes a fair amount of time you could have spent on operating and growing your business.

So, any legal professional with business expertise will tell you, it’s best to avoid legal trouble as much as you can through great practice and mindful planning. In this post, we’ll discuss three principles to help you stick as close to that as possible:

Standardize Contracts & Agreements

You should make sure every agreement your business enters into is documented using a standard, well-vetted contract, which means having templates prepared for suppliers, clients, and employees that easily outline the process, payment terms, and confidentiality rules you both have to deal with.

It’s tempting to rely on verbal agreements or emails whe nyou’re a small business and only have so much time, but it’s much harder to enforce your rights or defend yourself a dispute takes place and you don’t have the strict writing in place.. We’d suggest getting some basic small business legal advice to set up these documents early on, as it saves a huge possible headache and makes you look professional, too.

Document All Key Communications

You should develop the habit of keeping a paper trail for all business interactions, especially disagreements. This  also includes internal communications with employees or partners and external messages with customers or vendors you deal with, even if it’s just once.

The important practice is to keep it all professional and stick to the facts in writing, knowing that those messages might be reviewed later. Never let an emotional email be the final word, because when a legal issue comes up, having clear, dated records of conversations and decisions is your best defense. It’s extremely hard for someone to argue against an email thread that shows exactly what was agreed upon.

Set Clear Boundaries With Competitors

Remember that it’s necessary to think through how you interact with your competition, and especially regarding intellectual property and marketing. You should never copy or even be too strongly inspired by their product designs, branding, or marketing language, even if you think their idea is great.

You also need to make sure your employees understand that sharing or using a competitor’s copyrighted information is a serious legal violation that can get you in hot water, even if they didn’t think it was a big issue.

With this advice, we hope you can continue to operate and avoid legal trouble as a smaller, humble business.

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