When you’re just starting your business, every penny and minute you spend matter. You’re busy creating SOPs, signing your next customer and improving your offering. Online legal representation might sound like a quick and cheap way to incorporate your company. However, before you type in your Tax ID number on any registration forms, there are a few items to consider about online legal services.
Starting a company involves much more than picking out a name and hanging up a sign. Each business has individual needs and unique circumstances that can’t be determined through a simple online questionnaire. For example, every state has different requirements for setting up an LLC. An online-based company in California is probably not going to have intimate knowledge of the articles needed to form a Missouri business.
There are two very important benefits to choosing an attorney instead of an online legal site when establishing your LLC. The first benefit is that an attorney will help ensure that you are picking the right type of business for your unique situation. For someone who does not have experience setting up a legal framework for a business, it can be easy to choose the wrong type of business structure to form. Is an LLC the best option for your type of business? Why wouldn’t a corporation be better? A skilled business attorney will be able to weigh all available options and explain the reasoning behind their advice. When left to answering “yes” and “no” on an online form, you could easily wind up setting up the wrong type of company simply because you didn’t completely understand the question or consider all the possibilities.
The second benefit is that the attorney should be able to explain the documents that are being created to get your company off to the right start. There are a variety of documents that must be prepared at the state, federal, and sometimes city level. You are responsible for knowing what is in your bylaws and operating agreements. A good business attorney will ensure that all the documents are completed and that you understand exactly what is in each document. If documents are generated electronically through an online program, you may have to take additional steps to determine what is presented in the documents, and might end up hiring an attorney to go over them anyway, causing an unnecessary duplication in services and fees.
An additional benefit is that a hired attorney will be able to assist you long after the original documents are completed. You are creating a sustainable organization that has the flexibility to grow and change, and you will need a variety of legal services with different transitions. By hiring an attorney, you can grow in confidence knowing you have secured the proper legal foundation and established a professional relationship that can grow with your business. Instead of typing in the answers to a few generic questions with an online service, you are forming a partnership to establish a firm legal foundation for your company. And that is true peace of mind.
Interested in establishing your small business, using a real attorney, for a fraction of typical hourly costs? Call the team at LexLaunch.com at (816) 434-6610 or click here for more information.