Q&A

Navigating the legal landscape is an inherent part of doing business. Legal regulations are very extensive, and the consequences of non-compliance can be severe. An entrepreneur will initially face legal issues when concluding contracts and resolving the resulting disputes, as well as in hiring processes, tax settlements, when meeting the requirements for conducting business, and assessing the legality of their actions. As long as the business scale remains rather small, you can manage without professional support up to a certain point. However, as your business grows, it may eventually become impossible, and the consequences of your actions may affect your finances. Furthermore, the use of professional legal services can become your company’s competitive advantage and offer a guarantee of security to your business partners.

Contrary to the prevailing stereotype, legal services do not have to be expensive at all. Of course, it all depends on the extent of support provided. However, for small workloads, the cost of outsourced legal services can be much lower than hiring a full-time lawyer for this purpose. In addition, such cooperation will not entail all the formal and legal obligations associated with hiring a permanent lawyer.

It is impossible to do business today without knowing the law. Regulations applying to entrepreneurs are extremely extensive, and most often non-compliance results in sanctions, whether the entrepreneur was aware of the legal rules or not. The ramifications can be very severe and may range from financial liability to personal criminal liability. Ignorance of the law will generally never be an excuse, for an entrepreneur, as a professional, is required to know the context of the regulations under which they operate.

Contracts are the backbone of any business. Without them, there is no way to engage in any gainful activity. Contracts enable the entrepreneur to sell their products, but also to organise the manufacturing/delivery process. Certainly, as long as both parties are satisfied and act in concert, the reliability and precision of contracts are not critical. Problems arise in case of a dispute, and experience shows that this risk can never be ruled out. Drawing up a contract either on your own or based on an online template is extremely risky, and the consequences of signing a document that may not protect your rights can be disastrous. What is agreed between the parties is not inviolable. It may be that because of the wording of the contract, all or part of it will be held invalid.

Business relationships are usually built over years and are based on trust. Unfortunately, the reality of doing business often requires us to start cooperating with someone we have not worked with before. Oftentimes, cooperation will require you to invest your own resources in the expectation of a return. However, if your counterparty turns out to be disloyal, instead of making a profit, you may suffer a significant loss. Contractor defaults are a pitfall for entrepreneurs in Poland and abroad. Meanwhile, the existing regulations favour insolvent debtors by allowing them to get a discharge of their debts in case of insolvency to the detriment of creditors, which in a way penalises entering into contracts where the other party’s capability to meet its obligations is not checked. Therefore, obtaining proper security is essential for any major commitments. You need to verify the credibility of your counterparty, which can be done by an experienced lawyer, relying on various types of databases and registers.

The problem with any contract is whether the contracting party will be able to meet their obligations. There is no such thing as perfect security, but there are security arrangements that greatly increase the probability of the contract being performed. The role of an experienced lawyer is to find the balance between the cost and inconvenience of security measures, and optimum performance security.

Running a business in the form of a commercial company involves many more responsibilities than what is required of a sole proprietor. They relate to accounting, taxes, as well as the company’s internal operations or disclosure obligations to the National Court Register. As a general rule, the proper functioning of a large commercial company will require the assistance of a specialist who will help with, for instance, drafting internal documents, filing relevant information with the National Court Register, and attracting investors.

Processing of personal data has become a very popular topic after the introduction of the GDPR. While some far-reaching obligations had already existed in this regard, this milestone brought the management of personal data processing into the spotlight. This did not happen without reason – poor practices in this area are penalised by interventions of the regulatory authority (UODO – Personal Data Protection Authority), which can impose hefty fines, and may also involve the risk of an individual lawsuit. Therefore, proper personal data processing arrangements are essential. In practice, it is very difficult to adjust your business and implement adequate procedures without professional support.

Every entrepreneur who issues an invoice with deferred payment terms for services or goods deliveries expects it to be paid on time. The reality is, however, that it is not uncommon for the money to never come after the service has been performed and the due date has passed. Contractor attitudes may vary, from invoking financial difficulties and delaying payments to breaking off contact altogether. The situation becomes tense, because you have to pay public and legal dues on your invoices or bills, and you also suffer a loss in the form of lost profit and expenses incurred. There are a number of debt collection companies on the market that are often run even by people with no proper training. These businesses often restrict themselves to making phone calls for quite a high fee, and eventually fail to collect the money. The only method of enforcing payment from an unwilling debtor in the absence of any specific payment security is to go to court and then initiate debt enforcement proceedings. In this case, you should preferably cooperate with an experienced lawyer who has gone through such procedures more than once.