Legal Organizations
Tips & Advice to help you make your decision on Legal Organizations
Before you have even finished your law school education, chances are you will likely already belong to at least one or two legal organizations. Becoming a member of law associations and organizations can be a great way to enhance your resume while also gaining valuable opportunities to learn more about the legal field.
You already know about the American Bar Association (ABA); after all, this is the organization that provides law school accreditation. However, this is also the largest professional legal association. Membership in this organization can provide you with a great number of benefits, including job opportunities, discounts on professional services, networking events, and more.
Consider joining legal associations that are geared toward your specific practice area. For example, if you practice corporate law, you could join the Association of Corporate Council. You may also be eligible to join an organization for ethnic minorities, such as the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association or the National Conference of Black Lawyers. Legal associations for practice areas or for minorities tend to be smaller and, therefore, can often provide more advantages to their members.
Because legal organizations require membership dues and a time commitment, carefully research associations before deciding to become a member. It is better to be an active member of just a few associations rather than simply a dues-paying member of a dozen groups.
For more information regarding law associations, head to Business.com. The links on the left can help you find the right law organizations for you to join.
Do-it-Yourself Legal Help
Lawyers are vital, but expensive. Self-help options abound for everyday legal matters.By Daniel Kehrer, Founder & CEO BizBest Media Corp. Legal issues often present a dilemma for cost-conscious small businesses, and especially startups. You want the best information and advice to understand your options and make the right choices. But paying legal professionals for every little thing gets expensive. The range of legal issues facing entrepreneurs is immense. They include:
- Naming a business
- Obtaining licenses and permits
- Complying with tax laws
- Understanding wage and benefit laws
- Workplace safety
- Environmental compliance and dozens more
Get more free business tips at BizBest.
Get expert legal guidance online
A great free site is FindLaw for Small Business from Thomson Corporation. FindLaw offers plain-English legal info in six main areas: 1) Starting a business, 2) Incorporation and legal structures, 3) Employment and HR, 4) Intellectual property, 5) Finances and taxes, 6) Forms and contracts. In each section you'll find a breakdown of topics with helpful advice and legal FAQs.
Try: FindLaw for Small Business offers a wide range of help. In the FindLaw employment section you can quickly learn the legal requirements on family medical leave, jury duty, paternity leave and other matters. Forms and contracts is packed with real-life examples and templates that you can download free and adapt to your own business, including debt collection letters, employment forms and incorporation documents. FindLaw can also help you find a suitable lawyer by state and type of practice.
Legal help from the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB)
The NFIB Legal Foundation offers excellent legal help tools for small business, available free online.
Try: Helpful tools available at NFIBlegal.com include the Small Business Guide to Document Retention, Model Employee Handbook for Small Business, Small Business Guide to Handling OSHA Inspections and others.
Free legal advice and information from the SBA
The U.S. Small Business Administration Web site has helpful advice on business law, tax and many other legal topics. Business.gov - the official business link to the U.S. government - also helps small business owners identify and solve legal and regulatory questions.
Try: The SBA Web site on business law has helpful advice on dozens of legal topics. Also visit sba.gov and look in "Starting Your Business," "Financing Your Business" and "Managing Your Business."
Legal help for state, local and federal laws and regulations
Business.gov was designed by the federal government to be the "ultimate" portal for business to legal and regulatory issues stemming from government agencies. For a site run by the government, it is surprisingly well done.
Try: Business.gov covers all federal agencies and has handy sections for tapping info in your region or industry. Click Region and then your state for information on state and local tax and legal requirements such as sales taxes, permits and licenses.
Go to the legal self-help leader
Nolo is the leading publisher of do-it-yourself legal solutions for small business.
Try: Nolo's specialized legal books for small business have proven extremely popular and cover just about any topic you might need, from incorporation, to taxes to small claims court. Look in Business & Human Resources for a list of titles as well as business forms and featured articles on legal topics. There's a helpful glossary of terms under Tools & Resources.
Enlist free help for your business from a legal advocate
The National Ombudsman is available to help small business owners when they experience excessive enforcement actions, such as repetitive audits or investigations, excessive fines, penalties, threats, retaliation or other unfair enforcement action by a federal agency.
Try: Visit the National Ombudsman Web site for details.
- Not enough small businesses are aware of the SBA's National Ombudsman program. If you have a problem with excessive federal enforcement, get in touch and they'll help troubleshoot on your behalf.
- The self-help forms section at Findlaw.com also includes real-life examples of contracts that make interesting reading.
- Order Nolo legal self-help books at a discount from Amazon.com. Many of the books come with CDs that include helpful legal documents and templates that can save you money.
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