Business Legal Services
Help from Startup Lawyers
Access experienced start-up lawyers who will provide you with commercially driven advice, helping you navigate challenges and overcome barriers to growth.
From the moment you create your MVP right through to your first funding round, few things will be more important to you than a knowledgeable and supportive start-up lawyer. Build a successful business by getting the right legal advice for your start-up in place as soon as possible.
Legal services for start-ups that support scalability
To give you the best opportunity to succeed you’ll need specific legal services for start-ups on:
Structuring ownership of your business
We’ll provide guidance on when (or whether) to incorporate, what kind of ownership structure suits you best, and who to put onto your board of directors. We can help you by incorporating your company or registering your limited liability partnership at Companies House, drafting a tailor-made Articles of Association or partnership agreement, and preparing other necessary documents such as shareholders’ agreements.
Organising your company’s equity
We’ll help you clarify the relationship between co-founders and put things into formal documents so that day-to-day decision making is problem-free, and the business is an attractive investment proposition. Our start-up lawyers can help you understand how shareholdings work, the difference between your preference and your non-voting shares, and help you unpick the mysteries of complex issues like vesting schedules and classes of shares.
Uncover funding and investment opportunities
We can greatly improve your access to capital by making sure your company is eligible for these investment opportunities, such as schemes like the Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) and Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS). Our start-up lawyers can restructure your company, so it pre-qualifies for the schemes and lands appropriate investments, thanks to tax reliefs available to investors to help you scale and grow.
Your intellectual property strategy
We can help you understand who owns your business’s property and IP, so you avoid issues in funding and distracting squabbles. Fundamental to the success of your business will be organising who owns what in terms of your company’s business property and IPR. Think about that piece of software that was developed by a freelancer, the pop-up gallery you hold on a short lease, or the customer list you brought along from your last job. Complications or disputes around IPR in things like software, trademarks or data can be damaging and disruptive, but using our specialist intellectual property lawyers can help you sort this out cleanly before it becomes an issue.
Supporting your growing team
Put your relationship with staff on a proper footing and make sure they feel valuable by putting incentive schemes in place that work for you and them. Our employment solicitors can draft standard policies for you, as well as contracts of employment and service contracts for directors. We can also provide advice on pensions, minimum wage and leave entitlements, incentive arrangements and employee share option schemes.
Data protection and GDPR compliance
We can advise on website issues and handle tricky questions arising from data protection and GDPR. By taking the mystery out of data protection and making sure your internet platforms and customer interface are legally compliant, your users will feel safe dealing with you. This can include our specialist data protection solicitors trouble-shooting your website and, if you don’t already have them, putting together privacy policies, website use and GDPR policies, making sure your customer email lists are bullet-proof.
Funding rounds and venture capital
Our highly-experienced corporate lawyers can advise you on seed funding, angel investment, private equity, venture capital and how funding rounds work. We can help you understand the difference between seed and venture funding, detangle the intricacies of private and venture capital, and get you up to speed on the alphabet of funding rounds from A to B and beyond.
Exit Strategies
We can help you plan potential exit strategies. We’ll advise on structuring your business with an endgame in mind and advising you on earn-outs and tax-efficient schemes like Employee Ownership Trusts. If your start-up is eyeing the potential for a floatation, our start-up solicitors can also advise on IPOs including Main Market listings and the AIM.
How we help start ups
Resolving legal issues for start-ups with a start-up lawyer
Legal issues for start-ups as you launch, develop and grow are numerous and complex. Deciding to take your business to the next step by incorporating, taking on new partners or employees, or seeking further investment are key pinch-points in your founder journey.
Starting and growing a business needs careful planning to ensure that the platform of legal documents on which a company is built is solid. Our expert start-up lawyers can be your guides and mentors through the jungle of regulations that apply to business today, as well as the demands of investors as your business scales.
Who we help: From ambitious entrepreneurs to EIS investors
We have a proven track record supporting start-up businesses, but our expertise doesn’t end there. Due to our active involvement in the support networks available for start-ups, we have acted for: start-up companies, entrepreneurs, founders, boards and individual directors of early-stage companies, financial institutions, and investors considering investment under the EIS and SEIS schemes.
Testimonials
What our clients say
Why choose our start-up solicitors?
Harper James Solicitors are business and finance law specialists, with expertise in start-ups. Our start-up solicitors have the legal skills and experience to help founders who want to get things right from day one.
Plus, we’re a modern law firm with a difference. Our innovative remote operating model means that you can access expert City-grade legal advice from partner-level solicitors at a fraction of the cost of traditional law firms. Our senior solicitors have all been recruited from top 100 UK law firms or large international businesses. Find out more about our start-up lawyers here:
Top ranked SME focused firm
"Harper James is a one-stop shop for anything legal. It has excellent breadth, with experience on a large number of deals and multiple departments for different legal areas."
Chambers and Partners 2026
Pricing and service plans
Legal support designed
to fit your business needs
Our three transparent service plans are designed to give you the widest possible access to high-quality legal advice, whatever the size and nature of your business:
Engage
Flexible access to senior solicitors at highly competitive rates
An alternative to our subscription plans, offering access to full service legal expertise on a project-by-project basis.
Enable
Purpose built legal support for start-ups and smaller businesses
Monthly subscription plan for £239 per month, with £159 monthly credit and access to all legal services at 50% discount on our Standard Rates.
Extend
Comprehensive legal partnership for established businesses
Fully account managed and scalable annual subscription plan with support from a curated team of partners and senior solicitors, with up to 33% discount on our Standard Rates.
