So much has been written and said about partnerships. Who can forget these one-liners?
“In business, if two partners always agree, there is one partner too many.”
(Or words to that effect.)
And:
“In all of love, one kisses and the other presents the cheek.”
(Generally speaking, of course.)
Both of these snatches of wisdom mean the same: when two or more people get together for anything, one of them ends up calling the shots, sooner or later.
Providing love advice falls outside the job description of the writers for these reports. (Not that we might not try our hand at it anyway when the mood overcomes us.) The point is that, in business, key roles and responsibilities need to be divided among venturers.
Business law is best practiced when the lines of communication between counsel and client are open and readily accessed. However partners may choose to organize themselves (whether as a general partnership, as a corporation, as a limited liability company, or as a non-entity or entity joint venture, to name several popular options), someone should become the prime liaison with outside counsel. If there is a legal department, that is easy: it will be one or more in-house lawyers. But in all other cases, howsoever the business is put together and operates, your lawyers need to be involved, and you will need someone to own the responsibility to communicate regularly (and proactively!) with your lawyers—even if that lucky someone happens to be you.
We are not suggesting that only one person speaks with lawyers. Business is rarely that simple. But we do note that the relationship tends to function smoothest when a skilled person within the organization who is sensitive to the legal issues that arise in the fashion business serves as the primary point of contact with counsel. So—should you be that person, and if not, who should? Ask yourself if you tell your marketers that, worst case, the lawyers can be brought in about potential problems with trademark rights for a new brand a day or two before its nationwide launch. Or consider if you occasionally suggest something such as “The contract looks fine—just sign it.” If so, you are obviously decisive and focused, but your future as legal liaison is not looking very promising—because you are potentially causing the business to run at an unacceptably high level of legal risk, and you are already announcing that you are not yet prepared to make adjustments to prevent that from happening in the future.
When people commit to do business together, they typically bring different talents and strengths into play. The most obvious example in fashion is the designer who pairs up with the business person (or as so many in my family were known, the garmento) who gets the product out the door and brings in the money. The person who is the liaison with the lawyers should be the one who understands that the legal ounce of prevention is worth the proverbial pound of cure and who can also most effectively communicate company needs to counsel and interpret and implement what comes back in response—from comments on contracts to regulatory compliance, and to litigation strategy and beyond.
It has been said that it is more fun to do business as a team than alone and that partners when truly complimentary can create and run businesses of exceptional strength. Just make sure that one of you raises his or her right hand and volunteers to stay in regular contact with counsel. Your partners will thank you for it.
With that simple but important consideration now chiseled in pixels, in our next series of posts we will offer reflections on what the law says about your rights when you team up with others.
Credit: Alan Behr
