Legal Forms for Starting & Running a Small Business [Paperback]

Fred S. Steingold J.D. (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 23, 2010

The legal documents your business needs to succeed!Like most small business owners, you probably can't afford to hire a lawyer to draft the legal documents you need in the course of your day-to-day business. Now there's an affordable solution. Legal Forms for Starting & Running a Small Business provides you with over 60 legal forms and documents and all the step by step instructions you need to use them. This collection of essential legal and business documents helps you: create contracts to buy, sell, rent, or store goods; hire employees and consultants; protect your trade secrets; create noncompete agreements; prepare an LLC operating agreement; borrow and lend money; buy a business; lease commercial space; prepare corporate bylaws; record minutes of meetings; buy real estate; and much more. This edition is updated with the latest legal documents, contracts, and other forms you need to run your business smoothly, along with up-to-date best practices for business owners and managers. Plus, Legal Forms for Starting & Running a Small Business includes all the information and instructions you need to complete and use your forms effectively.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Two things make this work exceptionally valuable. First, the forms and contracts are written in straightforward language.... And, secondly, all of the forms can be found on a CD-ROM that comes with the book. (American Reference Books Annual 20090205)

"Balances its wealth of reproducible documents with straightforward 'how-to' instructions and advice..." (The Bookwatch )

"Provides instructions for completing the contracts required when forming a corporation, borrowing money, buying a business, leasing an office, hiring employees and selling goods." (Reference & Research Book News )

About the Author

Attorney Fred S. Steingold practices law in Ann Arbor, Michigan. An expert on small business law, he represents and advises many small businesses. He is the author of Legal Guide for Starting & Running a Small Business and The Employer's Legal Handbook. His monthly column, "The Legal Advisor," is carried by trade publications across the country.

Product Details

• Paperback: 482 pages
• Publisher: Nolo; Sixth Edition edition (February 23, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1413310982
• ISBN-13: 978-1413310986
• Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 8.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (29 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #306,280 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Attorney Fred S. Steingold practices law in Ann Arbor, Michigan. An expert on small business law, he represents and advises many small businesses. He is the author of Legal Guide for Starting & Running a Small Business and The Employer's Legal Handbook. His monthly column, "The Legal Advisor," is carried by trade publications across the country.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is worth a super rave. Let me explain, April 22, 2010

By 

Bob Feeser "MillCrafters.com" (Springfield, PA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Legal Forms for Starting & Running a Small Business (Paperback)

(What's this?)

Every once in awhile you run across something that is surprisingly well designed and superbly organized. I thought this was just going to be another book. With over 60 of the most popular legal forms/contracts it is well worth the price.

Get a load of the way it is organized. The second half of the book is the standardized forms in a tear out format. So if you want to copy them on a copier, you just tear them out and go. Additionally, included in the back of the book is a CD Rom. On it are all the forms, but get this, they are in RTF format, and others in PDF format. So you can open any form you like, keeping all stored on your computer in the program called "Small Business Legal Forms" that autoloads when you insert the CDROM. So it shows up as a single program on your start>Programs menu, but as you click on each submenu it expands into the individual forms. So you don't have to pull the book off of the shelf unless you need further guidance. Now these forms in RTF (rich text format) are compatible with your word processor so you can edit them. So you open the file, and fill in the information according to the instructions and sample agreements in the book.

That takes me to the next feature and that is the book does a lot more than just list forms. For example creating a "non-compete" agreement has several pages of explanations, legal advice as to how to create one. What types of agreements hold up in court, and which ones don't; complete with examples. So you are getting way more than a simple book of forms, but rather a treatise on the legal and functional ramifications of using that law.

On the CD are also lots of forms in the PDF format. You can download the free reader from Adobe, and be able to edit these forms, as in fill in the blanks, but with the free reader version you can't save the files, but that is not a problem since you can always print them out already filled in for a professional look. That way the original file remains unchanged for future use.

So with this book you can create and customize your own forms. You may still want to seek the advice of qualified counsel if what you are trying to accomplish is one that has larger financial or ethical consequences. An alternative to the expense of full counsel is to use, and I have to avoid putting a dot com address in here, but you can access professional help by getting "just answers" in relation to regular pricing. That's worth raving about as well, but not relevant to the book review.

I have several of the NOLO books, and found them to be very useful. I was immediately impressed with this one though, due in part to its size. It is a full 8 1/2" by 11" book with almost 500 pages. A great buy and highly recommended reading if you are in business or generally have a need for legal forms.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Just What it Says it is- The Legal Forms for Starting a Business, March 23, 2010

By 

Terri J. Rice "ricepaper" (WA United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Legal Forms for Starting & Running a Small Business (Paperback)

(What's this?)

Buy this book for the hard copy forms in the book and the CD (compatible with Windows and MAC) that you can also use to print your business forms.

This is NOT a how to start your own business book, these are the forms- with a lot of helpful information too. Much of this lawyering stuff can be done on your own with this book's forms, but thankfully, this book also tells you when you should hire a lawyer because of technical intricacies. For example. In dealing with real estate titles, "it's best to have an expert draft the mortgage or deed of trust that will secure the loan."

Legal jargon can change from state to state and this book clarifies that. For example, most states use the term 'articles of incorporation' but some (CT, DE, NY, OK) use the term 'certificate of incorporation,' Washington calls it 'document of certificate of formation,' and Tennessee refers to it simply as a 'charter.'

The book begins by explaining contract basics and then providing forms with step by step guidance for filling out the forms.

Forms included are for:
Forming Your Business
Running Your Corporation
Borrowing Money
Buying a Business
Leasing Space
Purchasing Real Estate
Buying, Selling, Manufacturing, Renting and Storing Goods
Hiring Employees and Independent Contractors
Extending Credit and Getting Paid

At 482 pages, you get a lot of information and forms and also included is the CD for computer printing all the forms.

15 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An easy-to-use "must-have" for small business owners and managers everywhere, March 2, 2006

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Legal Forms for Starting & Running a Small Business (Paperback)

Now in a newly updated and expanded third edition, Legal Forms For Starting & Running A Small Business is a comprehensive resource packed with forms for getting a business off the ground, borrowing money, hiring employees, creating contracts, buying or leasing space, and much more. Legal Forms For Starting & Running A Small Business balances its wealth of reproducible documents with straightforward "how-to" instructions and advice, a new checklist to help first-timers, and an accompanying Windows and Mac compatible CD-ROM makes printing out the forms a breeze. An easy-to-use "must-have" for small business owners and managers everywhere.