Legal Audit and Review

A legal audit is a review of the internal legal and administrative structure of your business, how this operates and inter-connects with the external environment surrounding the company or firm.

A review of the business as a whole will assess any potential risk base and highlight and evaluate areas requiring attention to ensure compliance and minimise risk.

After its incorporation, there are a wide variety of obligations that a company must observe as it carries out its day-to-day business, not least towards its stakeholders, employees and creditors, etc. Some of these obligations are triggered as a result of change, such as, the appointment or retirement of Directors, transfers and issues of shares, changes to the company’s constitution. Rather than being triggered by a change of some sort, other obligations are on-going and relate to transparency and legal and professional compliance. Such obligations include, for example, the requirements for companies to make trading disclosures about itself and its business and to keep registers of information.

In order to maintain good management efficiencies, minimise risk and retain consistency of approach there should be regular reviews and updating of ‘the business essentials’ whether in relation to policies, procedures and general governance or otherwise, for instance we can review with you:

• the company’s constitution and articles of association relative to shareholders and other stakeholders
• directors duties and responsibilities
• service contracts for directors and senior stakeholders and employment contracts for administrative staff
• company staff handbooks, policies and procedures and statutory requirements
• health and safety law generally and specifically to company premises and operating plants
• contractual documentation relative to stakeholder involvement and existing and new business development projects
• terms of business, warranties and indemnities
• new and existing Intellectual Property and provision or status of protection
• Information Technology, the internet and e-commerce.

In assisting you we would ask you to tell us all about your business. We would wish to understand your business and your commercial vision. In understanding your commercial strategy, we would be able to assist you in the associated legal strategy, whether maintaining the status quo or building and expanding. We may ask you to complete a checklist as part of the review.

We might ask you questions such as:

• Do you have a shareholder’s agreement?
• What are your company policies and do you follow them in relation to current employment rules and regulations?
• How do you keep in touch with new legislation affecting your business?
• As a director do you know what your powers, duties and liabilities are?