New Year – Old Advice

New Year is traditionally the time when people take stock of their lives, both personal and professional, and consider making changes. There’s all the usual ones, like living more healthily (usually due to too much over eating at Christmas!) and taking up a new hobby (usually due to spending too much time with family over the holidays!)

Obviously, being as perfect as I am, I’m planning to continue being the little ray of sunshine that I’ve always been, and I hope you’ll all stay as wonderful as you are. However, if you did want any suggestions about things to do differently or better over the next 12 months, here are some ideas. If you’ve read my blogs before, some of them are likely to be familiar, but hopefully there are some good reminders, and some new tips for you too.

1.  Law is a living breathing animal – much more so than me after a heavy day of networking. Your contracts, terms and conditions and consultancy agreements are not something to just be put in a draw and forgotten about. Things change. Your business changes. Laws change. Check them over every now and then, and make sure they are still fit for purpose.

2.  I’m sure you’re all familiar with the scams that people use to try and get access to your computers and bank accounts, but do all your staff know – has anyone joined you recently that might not be trained. Could your staff use a refresher course. Do they know what all the latest ones are? I’ve already heard about people writing dates for next year as 1/1/20 (instead of 1/1/2020) leaving it open for someone else to falsify the date by adding digits to the end so that it suddenly reads 1/1/2017 when that wasn’t want you meant.

3.  Do not believe everything you read. People who threaten to send the bailiffs round cannot do so unless they have a judgement against you. Opponents who say they are going to get costs against you are wrong unless the claim is over £10k. Colleagues who say you don’t need a contract or shareholders agreement between you are wrong unless they can guarantee that nothing unexpected will happen, such as one of you dying or going bankrupt. Oh, and those who say “I’ll just stay for one” usually can’t count.

4.  There is such a thing as a free lunch, or at least a free coffee or glass of wine. If you’re in need of help with a legal or business issue, and aren’t sure where to start, or if you just fancy getting together and talking about New Years resolutions, drop me a line as I’d love to hear from you.

Kleyman & Co Solicitors. The full service law firm. Resolving to help you with your legal problems all year round.