Legal Guide for Starting & Running a Small Business, 5th Ed (Paperback)

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

While it cannot eliminate all need for a flesh-and-blood lawyer, attorney Fred Steingold's Legal Guide for Starting & Running a Small Business, Volume 1 does the next best thing by offering a clear and concise path around many of the legal pitfalls encountered regularly by today's entrepreneur. And in this newly updated third edition, Steingold's suggestions on basic matters such as fundraising, licensing, agreements, and insurance are enhanced by pertinent details on recent employment- and tax-law changes. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

Now in an updated third edition, Fred Steingold's Legal Guide For Starting & Running A Small Business continues to be a superb single-source "how-to" legal reference book for raising start-up money; choosing between a sole proprietorship, partnership or L. L. C. ; getting licenses or permits; buying or selling a business or franchise; negotiate a favorable lease; insuring your business; hiring independent contractors; understanding small business tax rules; picking and protecting a good company name; resolving legal disputes; adopting the best customer policies; entering into enforceable contracts; and coping with financial problems. Any entrepreneur seeking to run his or her business successfully, legally and profitably should begin by first reading every page of the Legal Guide For Starting & Running A Small Business. -- Midwest Book Review --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 432 pages
• Publisher: Nolo; 5th edition (November 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0873375270
• ISBN-13: 978-0873375276
• Product Dimensions: 11 x 8.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,962,713 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

32 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Complete Legal guide for STARTING a business., August 10, 2003

By	Harinath Thummalapalli (Austin, TX United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Legal Guide for Starting & Running a Small Business, Seventh Edition (Paperback)

There are several books in the market on how to incorporate your company based on the state. Even though there is an advantage to these books as you get state specific information for filing paperwork to incorporate, usually there isn't any other information in these books that you can use.

This Nolo guide on the other hand stays kind of generic in the sense that they don't spend too much time in how to fill out the incorporation forms and where to file. Instead, they give good information on every subject you would need to research when starting a small business.

The book starts off by explaining the different legal forms of corporate entities you can choose for your business and details each of these forms in the next three chapters. After this, there are more than 20 chapters devoted to almost any kind of situation you may encounter. For example - there is a chapter on Resolving Legal Disputes, a chapter on Small Business Contracts, a chapter on Home Based Business, etc. Some of the topics I had no prior knowledge of and gained tremendously from - Retail Pricing and Return Practices, Zoning Laws, Deducting Expenses for Business Use of Your Home, Workers' Compensation, Thirteen Common Sources of Money, and Strong and Weak Trademarks.

This is a good book to read when you are STARTING your own business. After that, you will probably need to research more into the topics that are relevant to your situation. Otherwise, there wouldn't be so many different legal guides that small businesses can use (from Nolo). Obviously, as your particular situation becomes more unique you need to refer to the specific books that have an advanced treatment of that topic. And finally, it is always better to seek a lawyer's help after being aware of the basics of the Law.

As usual, Nolo does a fantastic job of covering a broad range of topics in a very detailed fashion without losing the reader's attention. There are a lot of examples to explain the various topics and everything is in plain English. I especially like the references to the IRS forms and publications you need in various circumstances. When you go to the IRS website, it isn't clear which form is relevant to you. It's neat that Nolo makes sure to reference the right form when they are discussing a particular subject.

I hope your small business succeeds and that you find this book helpful in getting things started. Be sure to check out the other Nolo books when you are past the initial stages and definitely build a good working relationship with a trustworthy lawyer for times of need. Good luck!

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Just what the doctor ordered!, May 18, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Legal Guide for Starting & Running a Small Business, Seventh Edition (Paperback)

Nolo's Legal Guide to Starting and Running a Small Business was exactly what I needed to help start my company off on the right foot. I don't have a very strong legal backround and would have been way over my head if I'd tried to forge ahead totally alone but at the same time I didn't want to spend a fortune consulting a lawyer. If you're in a similar situation then Nolo's Legal Guide is the perfect solution. It is well written, well organized, thorough, and very easy to use. It's a great general start-up kit that would be helpful to any fledgling business that I can think of. If I had had to call a lawyer to answer every legal question that arose in the first couple of months (a huge number) then my company may easily have never gotten off the ground. I was so pleased with this product that I have since purchased two more Nolo books (Tax Savvy for Small Business and The Employer's Legal Handbook) that are more directed at business owners who have gotten through the initial start-up phase. Both of these books are also excellent and I would recommend them as follow ups to the Legal Guide to Starting and Running a Small Business.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book!, January 7, 2005

By	C. Green "online_buyer" - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Legal Guide for Starting & Running a Small Business, Seventh Edition (Paperback)

Full of the information you expect based upon the title of the book. The information is detailed so you have the guidance you sought.

This book is like an encyclopedia of small business. I'll definitely be returning to this book throughout the years.