Commercial law generally refers to the laws governing a company’s dealings, interactions and relationships with parties such as its employees, customers, suppliers, sales and distribution channels, service providers, business partners, and other companies or businesses.
No company stands alone. Rather, a company is often defined by and is dependent on the strength and success of its relationships. However, commercial relations can be complex and may be subject to inherent risks with legal implications that may only become apparent when issues start to arise.
We can help you safeguard your company’s interests as you enter into commercial relationships with other parties. We strive to identify areas of concern before they arise, pre-empt potential problems, document your commercial expectations clearly and accurately to avoid misunderstandings and build in contractual safeguards in the event of non-compliance or non-performance. We believe that involving lawyers at the start of your transaction helps reduce time and costs spent fixing things further down the line.
We have assisted clients on a diverse range of commercial transactions, from sale and purchase agreements for goods and services, channel management, franchising and procurement, to leases, contract manufacture, advertising, marketing and sponsorship and joint collaborations.
Standard Company Contracts
We can help you prepare a consistent set of standard terms and conditions and contract templates that are tailored to your specific business requirements and geared to your risk profile. This will help streamline your company’s contracts and help to ensure consistency and predictability in your company’s dealings with external third parties. Examples of standard contracts that a typical company might need on a regular basis include the following:
- Standard terms and conditions of sale
- Standard service terms and conditions
- Standard terms of service engagement
- Non-disclosure agreements
- Standard distribution agreements
- Standard procurement agreements
- Website terms and conditions
- Website privacy policy
- Employment contracts
Legal support for your Startup or SME
A strong legal foundation is key to a start-up or an SME’s success. By conducting business without the right share structure, without securing intellectual property, and without contracts with its vendors, customers and staff, start-ups and SMEs assume huge risks that cost far more to fix later, assuming those oversights do not overwhelm the business. Even if entrepreneurs appreciate good legal advice, they may delay in acting, due to their limited starting budgets, over-focusing on operations, and the perceived uncertainty and high costs of legal fees, even if this harms business growth and valuations. Many good businesses fail, not from bad products, cost control, marketing or pricing, but improperly-handled issues.
Startups
As lawyers who support innovation and entrepreneurship, we aim to help start-ups grow from inception to exit – whether by an acquisition or IPO. We offer a range of start-up-focused toolkits with fixed fees. As each start-up is unique, we recommend only what is needed, based on its lifecycle stage, type of business and organizational requirements.
We also recognise that there are different types of start-ups with differing needs. We have developed our toolkits with this in mind, offering different tiers of service and resources for different requirements and resources. Each Start-up Toolkit comes with a bundle of customised contracts, and includes specific training modules and contact time with us for you to learn how the contracts work and how they should be deployed, as well as time to consult us on legal issues that you may encounter. Contact us for more details on the Startup Toolkits.
Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs)
SMEs are a crucial part of the economy, forming 97% of all businesses in the Asia Pacific alone. As an SME ourselves, we understand your focus on revenue growth, cost control, overseas expansion and branding. We know lawyers are often seen as costly, last-resort options, and most people prefer free legal advice from the internet, friends or family, only seeking help when things are so serious that they have little choice. We want to help SMEs early, so as to give them cost savings, more legal options, time to strategise and advice that helps them grow and not just avert crises.
We offer a range of SME-focused Toolkits for fixed fees. As each SME is unique, and has specific needs, we offer a free consultation, before recommending a specific SME Toolkit. Each SME Toolkit comes with a bundle of customised contracts and training from us for you and your managers to learn how to use the contracts and to consult us on legal matters.
Legal support that’s like having your own In-House Counsel
If you are the owner of a fast-growing start-up or SME, or the head of an overworked and under-resourced in-house legal team, you may have considered hiring an in-house lawyer or engaging a law firm to support your company’s growing needs. Perhaps you have been put off by the cost and time it will take to train and retrain a new hire in light of today’s high turnover rates. Or, you may already have an existing relationship with a law firm, but find them too expensive or not responsive enough for your day-to-day legal work.
As former in-house lawyers ourselves, we know exactly what you need, and have done the type of work you are doing. We understand your need for legal advice that is aligned with your business’s operational, commercial and strategic objectives. You need quick, ready access to legal advice from experienced business lawyers, but with predictable and transparent legal costs.
For a monthly fixed retainer – we can deploy one of our experienced and highly-qualified business lawyers to take care of all your day-to-day legal matters. You can pull him or her into a last-minute meeting, or have him or her review how you enter into contracts, train your managers to comply with regional data privacy, competition or anti-corruption laws, or simply clear your backlog of legal work.
We take the effort to understand your company’s values, business and philosophy, absorbing your culture and environment through regular contact time with your company’s key personnel. Using this knowledge, we aim to provide legal services through the lens and context of an employee within your company. This ensures that the work we deliver is consonant with the ethos and approach taken by your company and is consistent with the company’s values, vision and direction.
Best of all, you do not have to worry about headcount issues like provident funds, salary increments, year-end bonuses, or staff retention. And you still have access to our firm’s full range of experienced business lawyers whose expertise cuts across various specialities through the one lawyer deployed to handle your work.
