Regardless of the size of your Virginia or Washington, DC, business, it is essential to conduct a periodic review of your Corporate Compliance and Risks. This is particularly important your business grows, which often implicates additional statutory and regulatory requirements, as well as jurisdictional requirements that may not have applied at the outset of your company.
For example, there are many state and federal personnel requirements that apply to companies as they pass size thresholds (50 employees, for example) that did not apply to the company when it only had 10 employees. And with the proliferation of cross-border commerce, there may be a number of other state and international legal frameworks that apply to your Company, even if you are not physically located there.
Like insurance, it is essential that you spend a prudent amount of time and money to review your operation and ensure that you are properly protecting your assets, employees, vendors, and various other entities with which your business interacts. Your business’s reputation and financial future may be at stake.
Corporate Compliance Categories for Review
Here are a few of the Corporate Compliance and Risk areas to periodically review with trusted Corporate Counsel:
- Entity type: Do you have the optimal Virginia business-entity type? Sometimes the business entity type that you initially formed–whether due to legal administrative ease, the suggestion of a friend, or otherwise–is not the best business entity type for your current business.
- Review your contracts: What do the contracts that you use on a daily basis actually say? Often closer review shows that your contracts do not say what you have always assumed that they do. This can be very costly when a dispute arises down the road. Our office often finds that our client’s pre-existing contracts are entirely unenforceable in court–get our ahead of this problem by consulting with our office.
- Non-compete agreements: Does your Virginia business employ non-compete agreements with its employees and contractors? Will the current non-compete agreement that you are using be enforceable? Virginia is a right to work state and many non-compete agreements–unless carefully drafted–are unenforceable. Protect your human capital through properly drafted provisions.
- Employee legal grievances and lawsuits: Are you protecting your employees and your business from an employment law complaint? Are you complying with state and federal law (FMLA, Title VII, etc.) Plan ahead; don’t merely react.
- Choosing an attorney: Are you working with an attorney and law firm that serves your business’s needs? Does the advice you are receiving respond to your needs and questions? Cost: Does the cost that you incur make sense?
- Insurance: Is your business properly insured?
- Data and Privacy Compliance: With the Virginia Consumer Data Protection Act and the risk of external threats, data security is no longer a secondary concern; rather, it is now a primary strength and vulnerability for any business, with increased costs.
Consult with Our Corporate Attorneys
These are just a few of the issues that you should continually review, rethink, and re-address as your Virginia business grows. Contact the office today if you would like to discuss your Virginia business’s corporate compliance needs with an experienced and knowledgeable law firm.
