Growing your business: Is growth on your agenda?

Business leaders that have a plan for growth tend to be more optimistic about achieving their goals.

Growth can take time and can come in many forms. It could involve:

• organic growth, expanding and developing your staff to help you grow
• expanding your horizons by selling your product or service to a foreign market or acquiring your parts or products from overseas
• targeting and winning larger contracts
• restructuring to protect assets or to enable part of the business to be de-regulated or to sell off parts of the business that are no longer aligned with your future vision
• joint ventures with other businesses to share intellectual property, tools or customers for synergistic growth
• acquisition of other businesses similar to yours or with a customer base or talent aligned to your offering
• incentivising your team to drive your business forward

How legal advice aids your growth?

However you plan to achieve growth, you will always come across issues, structures or possibilities where you would benefit from legal advice. Taking legal advice on your plans can help in so many ways:

• ensuring a target business is worth the price paid
• ensuring intellectual property is protected and belongs to you
• ensuring incentive schemes or share rights are properly implemented
• ensuring you don’t enter into long term contracts without fully understanding the implications, whether related to property leases, new shareholder or director arrangements, or long term service agreements
• ensuring your business or company is in good legal shape to be considered for joint ventures, bank lending, partial sale and ultimately sale or succession
• ensuring you fully understand the benefits and risks of the various types of contracts you might consider whether they be franchises, distributorship, agency or direct contracts
• ensuring you understand the implications of bringing others into your business and protecting your interests as intended
• preventing you from costly, both in money and time, mistakes that could have been avoided

What should you look for in your legal adviser?

• trust - get a feel for how a lawyer works from their client testimonials
• expertise - knowledge in the particular field
• responsiveness - timely in their communication and work, while managing your expectations
• offers solutions - not obstacles and assists you in evaluating risks
• assistance with the difficult decisions - enabling you to reach your own conclusion
• part of an effective team - so their absence does not delay you
• collaborative working - with your other professional advisers
• balance - matches legal advice to risk level and your requirements, giving you options

Why other businesses chose Birkett Long

Navigator Terminals

Birkett Long was chosen to provide ongoing legal services to a major UK-wide fuel and chemical storage provider.

The partnership involves lawyers across Birkett Long’s commercial department.

What our client thought:

We chose Birkett Long because of the depth and breadth of coverage they offered us across employment, contract issues and land matters, and their level of experience in each field. 

-Dennis Cheek, Business Planning Manager for Navigator Terminals

Birkett Long offered accessibility and availability, combined with real strength in depth in their key business areas.

Tim Hortons UK & Ireland

Tim Hortons is the largest coffee shop chain in Canada and Birkett Long’s client became the UK and Ireland master franchisee in 2016. The chain has grown rapidly since then, now operating more than 20 stores in the UK, with a number of new stores in the pipeline.

We have advised on franchise, financial and commercial legal issues from the outset.

What our client thought:

Birkett Long provides us with clear and pragmatic advice, helping us to grow our business. 

- Surinder Kandola, Chairman, Tim Hortons UK & Ireland

Birkett Long was originally instructed due to a prior relationship in respect of a different franchise business, and therefore the franchisee chose us because of their prior experience of our service levels.

How Birkett Long can help

Our commercial lawyers focus on empowering you, no matter your level of experience. We achieve this through clear and timely communication, trusted guidance applied in a pragmatic and balanced way, accessibility and client-focused resources. This helps to manage your expectations and ensures you receive maximum value.

With a solution-finding approach, Birkett Long’s lawyers act as facilitators, committed to helping you record the transactions and business relationships you enter into in the best way possible.

Whether you need a one-off consultation on a specific issue or are looking to appoint solicitors to provide legal services on an ongoing basis, we are here to help your business grow. One of our key strengths is our ability to tailor the process to the matter size – ensuring value for money and a commercial approach.