Legal & Compliance for Business
Almost every business dispute is an argument about something nobody wrote down
Small businesses run on verbal agreements until the first serious disagreement, when it turns out there is nothing to point at. This session covers the few written agreements that actually matter, what each needs to contain, and when a lawyer is worth the money.
The cheapest legal work is the paragraph written before the dispute.
Owners avoid written agreements because they feel unfriendly, expensive and slow. Then a customer refuses to pay for work they say they never approved, a supplier delivers late and denies the timeline, or a departing employee takes the customer list — and none of it is written down.
This is awareness, not legal advice. The purpose is to know which agreements matter, what belongs in them, and when to stop guessing and call a professional.
The agreements that matter
34 topics across 6 areas. Six of them.
Customer AgreementsWhat was agreed, before the argument.6
- Scope — what is included and what is not
- Price and what changes it
- Payment terms and late payment
- Timelines and what happens if they slip
- Who approves changes
- How it ends
Vendor and Supplier AgreementsThe other side of the same problem.6
- What is being supplied, specified
- Delivery timelines
- Quality standards and what happens on failure
- Payment terms
- What happens if they cannot supply
- Confidentiality
Employment DocumentationWhere informality causes the most expensive surprises.6
- A written offer with role, pay and terms
- Probation and notice
- Confidentiality
- Who owns work created during employment
- What happens on exit
- Statutory obligations for a small employer
Confidentiality and Non-DisclosureBefore you show somebody how it works.5
- What counts as confidential
- How long it lasts
- What they may not do with it
- What is excluded
- Whether it is mutual
Useful before sharing anything with a potential partner, contractor or large customer.
Founder and Partnership AgreementsThe conversation nobody wants to have early.6
Almost every partnership dispute is about something that could have been agreed in an afternoon at the start, when everybody was friendly.
- Who owns what share
- Who decides what
- What each person commits to
- What happens if somebody leaves
- What happens if somebody stops contributing
- How the business is valued
Terms of Service and Website PoliciesFor anybody selling online.5
- Terms of service
- Privacy policy
- Refund and cancellation
- Delivery terms
- What you collect and why
What every agreement should contain
- Who the parties are, precisely
- What is being provided
- What it costs and when it is paid
- What happens if either side fails
- How disputes are handled
- How it ends, and what survives ending
When to call a professional
- Anything involving equity or ownership
- Anything you would not survive losing
- Any agreement a larger company has drafted in their favour
- Employment terminations
- A legal notice received
- Anything you do not understand — which is the honest and most common reason
How the session runs
A lawyer or company secretary works through real agreements — with names removed — showing which clauses matter and which are boilerplate. Participants review one agreement they currently use, or the absence of one, and identify the three things their own business should get in writing first.
What your students leave with
- Knowledge of which agreements a small business actually needs
- What each one must contain to be useful
- The three things their own business should get in writing first
- An understanding of what a founder agreement prevents
- A clearer sense of when a lawyer is proportionate
- The vocabulary to be a better client of their own professional
Scheduled sessions
Nothing scheduled yet
Sessions are arranged with a college once a date is agreed. Ask us and we will find the right person for it.
A student rather than a college? See what is coming up, or ask your placement team to host this.
The cheapest legal work is the paragraph written before the dispute.
Tell us who your students are and what stage they are at. Sessions are free for participants.