“A good legal understanding will allow entrepreneurs to identify business opportunities in certain unoccupied markets.” (Photo: 123RF)
GUEST EXPERT. It is a great pleasure and privilege to join Deals as an invited expert. Being an entrepreneur myself, but a musician in another life, the passage of the years shows me more and more the great similarity between the life of a musician and that of an entrepreneur.
Just like the entrepreneur, the musician takes risks, works like a madman, always with the aim of offering the best to his audience and improving his lot in accordance with his personal vision of things. He has a creative mind.
After many years of in-depth studies in music, nothing destined me for law. However, I wanted to get out of my environment, to know the world around me better and to understand the mysterious world of business. So, after having “defrocked” the artistic world and obtained my law degree, I quickly founded my own law firm which today mainly represents the interests of entrepreneurs who are founders of their own companies. Today I find great creativity in the world of entrepreneurship, which is for me a source of motivation in my work.
Being close to entrepreneurs and their challenges has made me understand over time the impact of the legal world on certain commercial dynamics. I have also noticed the reluctance of many people to call on lawyers. Some people cope with them quite well, but many avoid them.
The negative perception of law in business
The aversion to the legal world on the part of entrepreneurs does not surprise me, I understand it perfectly.
Why do lawyers make everything complicated? Why does everything become so complicated after their intervention? Are they doing it on purpose? These comments come up regularly and seem legitimate to me when the person concerned by the legal question lacks the knowledge to understand all of the issues.
For many, the legal aspect can undermine the creativity of a business project. For the entrepreneur, the lawyer is often the one who destroys the enthusiasm in a team when the planned project does not comply with the law. Plus, disappointment comes with a cost: the lawyer’s bill.
So, for many entrepreneurs, the law rhymes with “you have to deal with it”. However, rather than seeing it as a “stopper,” why not see it as a favorable opportunity? Often, a good legal understanding will allow entrepreneurs to identify business opportunities in certain unoccupied markets. Some of them understand this well: a good legal team allows them to move faster and more smoothly in the development of their projects.
Law as a vector of stability
The function of law is to provide a system of effective communication between litigants so that peaceful solutions to their problems can be found. The justice system is obviously not perfect, but it exists and will continue to exist.
Law is a logical mechanism developed over thousands of years. Even today, some of the law that affects business dates back to ancient Roman law!
The benefit of law in business and economics is not only seen from an individual point of view. A strong rule of law provides protection for people’s property as well as stability in transactions and predictability of the applicable rules. Imagine if all business rules were always changing overnight at the whim of the politicians in power. This would seriously harm investment.
So what does the law bring to the entrepreneur?
Promoting the legal aspect in business processes and the support of a lawyer in the entrepreneurial journey often make the difference between a successful business and one that encounters difficulties.
Valorization and good supervision of the legal aspect of business can certainly represent an advantage for the entrepreneur. Here are a few.
1. Pragmatism and reason through conflicts
It is not my intention to say that entrepreneurs do not demonstrate pragmatism, on the contrary! However, in the context of conflicts, it is completely normal that emotional problems can alter good decision-making. A good lawyer will take a healthy distance from a conflict and advise his client with solutions that will not unnecessarily amplify the problem. It is an excellent tool for allocating resources to the right places in the company.
2. Risk management and conflict prevention
Before conflicts arise, the lawyer seeks to prevent risks for the entrepreneur. He will advise the latter regarding the legal risks incurred and the entrepreneur will be able to make an informed decision for the future. Often, it is at this stage that the entrepreneur will find the lawyer’s comments exaggerated, but this is normal: the lawyer is often the one who foresees the worst scenario, with the aim of avoiding it.
3. A trusted interlocutor
The professional secrecy and confidentiality obligations to which lawyers are bound allow an open dialogue where important and delicate issues can be addressed.
These last points represent some advantages of the law as a tool for positive development instead of perceiving it as an obstacle.
As is often recommended, an entrepreneur must have a good understanding of his business’s accounting. In my opinion, a good entrepreneur also benefits from having good basic knowledge of law. This will allow him to understand the legal issues of his company and to properly select his legal team.
How to popularize the law and make it interesting? This is one of the missions of this section. I will present the law to you from a practical angle, striving to explain the reasons underlying the rules in force.
I would like to share with you my passion for business law, and look forward to seeing you in future texts.
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2024-02-08 00:57:33
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