Category: Legal Advice for Freelancers

When setting up a new business or entering into a joint venture, legal documentation might not be high on your priority list – but it could prove to be a vital safeguard in the long term.

A raft of wide-ranging reforms to employment tribunals introduced this week include the unprecedented development of claimants having to pay fees of either £160 or £230 to bring an employment tribunal claim.

Jane Crosby at law firm Hart Brown looks at the potential impact of the new system of fees, for claims in the Employment Tribunal

There are changes coming into play this summer within the UK employment tribunal system.Chris Bryden, a myBarrister employment specialist explains what they are and how they might affect your business.

“Unless the wording is changed, the Intellectual Property Bill could result in people being charged with criminal offences and locked up for up to 10 years, just for producing a design that looks ’substantially’ like an existing design,” says Roger Burt, President of the Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys (CIPA).

Recent research from the Legal Services Board has revealed that more than half of UK SMEs are choosing to handle their own legal issues.

There are approximately five million work days lost each year due to accidents in the workplace. and when you run a small business, you want to make sure you don’t have any unnecessary expenses and that your workforce is not only as safe, but also as happy as they can be in their working environment.

The success of private companies depends on there being a functioning relationship between the key stakeholders, in particular the shareholders and directors. Here we consider the measures that can be taken at the outset of a business relationship to minimise the likelihood of disagreements and also the avenues available to obtain redress where an investor’s rights are infringed.

We have previously reported on deterrence strategies available to firms to combat fraud, and in particular insider fraud. But what should firms think about if they are unfortunate enough to fall victim to fraud?

Businesses have been urged by an intellectual property expert to follow the lead of Spurs star Gareth Bale and think about the potential benefits of protecting logos and other branding aspects which are core to their commercial power.

3 ways to avoid scam emails, spoof websites and identity theft…By Norman Begg of online security company my1login.

Research released by Ofcom has revealed that around half of copyright infringers download content illegally because it is quick, free and easy.

The need to reduce business risk has taken centre stage over the past few years. From financial losses to damaged reputation and corporate failure, there is a growing awareness that unforeseen market forces represent an escalating threat to business. Few organisations, however, recognise the financial implications of litigation until a court case – or threat of a case – arises.

Just under a fifth of SMEs in the UK do not understand what a trade mark is for, according to a recent study.