Portland Business & Commercial Law Blog

There are various tools available that can allow Oregon companies to protect their legal and financial interests. This includes various types of business contracts, from agreements with employees to contracts with suppliers. There are steps that a business owner or any party about to enter this type of contract can take to minimize conflict and the potential for litigation in the future. 

One smart goal for any party in the process of drafting a business contract is to consider the end goal at the very beginning. Keeping the focus on that will lead to stronger, more clear contracts that leave little room for confusion or misinterpretation. It is crucial for the terms of the contract to be clear, including specific terms regarding the obligations and responsibilities of each party.

Small business owners in Oregon are smart to take steps to protect their legal and financial interests as much as possible. One way to do this is by drafting strong contracts with employees. For some types of companies, it can be beneficial to include nondisclosure terms or have separate NDAs for workers. Business owners may want to speak with an attorney experienced in business and commercial law regarding these important matters.

The purpose of NDAs is to keep private company information where it belongs. Through these types of agreements, businesses can ensure that employees do not take proprietary with them when they leave the company. Despite what many business owners may assume, NDAs can be beneficial for all types of businesses for various types of situations.

When an Oregon entrepreneur starts a business, he or she is usually only focused on immediate or short-term success. It takes a lot of effort to start and maintain a business, and true success is even harder to accomplish. For this reason, most people going through this process are not thinking about how they will eventually leave or sell their company. However, it can be prudent to go through the business formation process with the end in mind.

At the end of a career or at a time when a business owner is ready to move on, he or she may want to sell the company. Buyers are savvy, and they will do extensive digging into the financial history of the company, even looking at details from the earliest stages. This is one of the many reasons why business owners should be careful to follow tax laws and strive to be honest in every aspect of their operations.

Oregon business owners can do certain things to protect the interests of their business. One of these things includes carefully outlining employee responsibilities and rights, as well as the role of the employer, in carefully drafted employment contracts. These agreements can not only make the employee-employer relationship better, they can help avoid future disputes. However, it's crucial to be intentional about the details of these agreements. 

Many employers find it necessary to include non-compete clauses in their contracts. When considering the details of these contracts, it's prudent to be as clear as possible about the terms of employment, such as how the employee will be compensated and how much access he or she will have to proprietary information. It's also smart to be very clear about the duration of the non-compete clause and how long a former employee will be restricted by it.