Startups are full of energy and subtle self-confidence to reinvent the wheel. You will try and do everything possible, in-house. While this looks ideal at first look, things don’t quite turn out well always. Especially if you are a startup dealing in food, IT, or logistics and try to get the legal stuff done under a single roof. Right from registering your company to managing books of accounts, they’re a plethora of things to be taken care of in business to stay compliant.
Therefore, choosing a legal partner means you free yourself from all the worries that you are not familiar with.
Here are the top five things you should look for while choosing a legal service provider as a partner.
1. Comprehensive Range of Services
Choosing a legal partner for your business means they offer almost everything that corporate law envelopes. There are many things that your startup will require once it incorporates into a company. If you have chosen to register a private limited company then you will also need a set of other services to keep things pumping.
This includes getting the licenses required to run the business which means FSSAI for starting a food license in India, trademark registration to protect the brand, or even getting GST registration for your business to abide by the tax compliance. The professional business services to keep your business within the boundaries of law mean an all-around, holistic partner who is no less than a guardian angel.
2. Tailored Packages
As mentioned above, there is a bundle of services that you’d need to stay compliant with. It is best if your legal service provider can custom package those services at discounted rates. This not only saves money but also your time and resources that are otherwise invested to keep a check on compliance. With customized compliance packages, you can get what precisely what you are looking for and that covers what your business requires.
A typical package to register a private limited company in India would look like this:
3. Industry Experience and Customer Reviews
You don’t want to hand over your crucial business responsibilities to a novice. Always trust the professionals having rave customer reviews and especially trust the one who has a satisfaction guarantee policy at the place. This ensures two things – quality service and safety.
Industry experience is a must. Look for the number of clients your prospective legal partner has served and years since active in the business. What they do the best is best found in their blogs as it reflects that understanding of their business. Also, many of these service providers keep unfiltered rankings to stay transparent which is a good sign indicating their business conduct.
Since most of the legal services involve working your way out through bureaucracy, choose the one who assures the fastest yet believable turnaround time. You cannot trust the ones who promise to get your business registration done in 5 days as a process from the government’s end itself takes longer. And then you can avoid those who present a long time frame like a month just to keep the buffer time and keep you in darkness. This is something that reflects their expertise in the industry they are dealing in and also a yardstick on which their clients judge them.
4. Expert Guidance
You don’t need a salesperson when talking about legal services. Because it involves complex procedures, precise information, and addressing your concerns honestly. Choose the service provider who has a team of lawyers, Charted Accountants, and Company Secretaries for they are the right person to talk to and raise your compliance-related concerns. Many of these professional service providers in the legal space run a website that helps you place an order and make payment online.
A hallmark of a successful business is its compliance. And to be so, your startup needs business professionals to be successful. These are LegalTech startups that offer such services online. It is best to get on a call and speak to their representative and ask for their designation. If you find a company routing your query with legalities involved through a call center then ask them to put you up to business professionals like lawyers, etc. Some of your concerns may need expert guidance and it is highly recommended to choose your legal partner wisely.
5. Continuous and Reliable
The key factor in any service is the vendor’s ability to continue within the predetermined time-space while being accountable for the same. Legal partners are the ones who put your compliance on auto-mode as you don’t have to remember the tax filing dates or any other dates required to carry out a procedure for statutory compliance.
While it is one thing to trust them, they too should be taking some responsibility. This means to keep you informed when anything is done and there is constant communication of any official government updates via email and phone calls. If there is an increase in government fees or a cut in tax rates, then it is their responsibility to loop you in. Another thing is signing an NDA contract as your legal partner is your business vendor too.
This means they may also provide similar services to competitors. Getting an NDA contract does not mean questioning their integrity but also a relief that you bring it to yourself. And since you are sharing confidential business information with legal service professionals, it is best to get this done for the security of both the parties involved.
Conclusion
Business professional services are fundamental for you to keep your focus on performing core business activities. Hire legal consultants online to enjoy doing your business while you keep all the legal worries at bay. Define your requirements and if you are confused, speak to legal experts to better understand the compliance need for your startup.