Legal services for startups

Professional legal services

Legal services for startups are our main specialisation. We have been operatingin the market for 11 years now, that is, since the beginning of theexistence of the VC market in Poland. We advise Founders atall stages of business — from founding a startup to the investment exitprocess.

At Lawmore, we work with budding entrepreneurs as wellas structured businesses.

 Why Lawmore?

Startup Lawyer

Our lawyers have many years of experience in thenegotiation of investment and shareholders’ agreements, with Polishas well as foreign investors. We have extensive experience incross-border venture capital  transactions  andpreparing exit strategies.

What makes us unique in the legal services market is our businessapproach to every case we engage in. We are actively involved in thedevelopment of the Polish startup ecosystem — we advise many Polishaccelerators and incubators, such as foodtech.ac, Orlen SkylightAcelerator, APX by Axel Springer & Porsche and Krakow Science andTechnology Park. As part of cooperation with the Polish Development Fund,we have prepared training courses related to investment agreement andnegotiations with investors, and we have also created model documents for theinvestment process (termsheet and investment agreement).

Legal services for startups

Our legal service offer for startups include, first of all supportin the investment process. We prepare and analyse transaction documentationsuch as termsheet, investment agreement or founding agreement. We supportfounders in the process of negotiations with investors. Before the investment,we prepare the business for legal due diligence, which allows us to significantlyspeed up the whole process.

Our offer for startups include also consulting on the organisation ofbusiness, which we understand, in the first place, as assistance in choosing the best form to pursue business activity and registrationof company, including Simple Joint Stock Companies. We providecomprehensive legal support in the processes of transformation, merger anddivision of companies.

As part of our legal services, we also offer support in the developmentof incentive programs (ESOP), which is currently one of the basic regulationsthat investors expect when entering a company. We have developed severaldifferent models, including for limited liability companies. We also providetraining for employees covered by the option program so that they gain best understandingof the essence of its objectives.

Legal advice — startup

In our law firm in Warsaw, legal service for startups meanscomprehensive support, which covers also the issues of labour law and contractswith associates. Our team of experts helps startups create and negotiateemployment contracts, B2B contracts and NDAs. We advise on labour law to ensurecompliance with applicable regulations and protect the interests of yourstartup. We also provide support in resolving labour disputes. With ourexperience, you can focus on business development with confidence that employeeissues are in good hands.

Startup lawyer

We are lawyers for startups. We started when the VC market in Polandpractically did not exist yet, we introduced in Poland anew type of ‘founders agreement’ (at that time, it was only popular inthe US), which is now the first agreement signed by most founders of anystartup. For more than 11 years we have been actively participating in thedevelopment of the Polish startup ecosystem — we have advised more than 800startups, with many of them we have gone through the full path of legalservices — from founding the company, through negotiations with the firstinvestors, to the exit, as was the case with, for instance, the founders ofdaily.pl, who were eventually acquired by a Finnish company, WOLT (https://lawmore.pl/lawmore-doradca-daily-w-transakcji-przejecia-przez-finska-spolke-wolt/)

Multiple times, we have also provided support and legal services for business as part of  such programs and grants as StartupPlatforms and Legal Support Program for Startups by the PolishAgency for Enterprise Development (PARP).

What is more, our legal support for startups comprises support in thefield of intellectual property — we register trademarks, industrial designs andpatents. We help in the cases of the registration of domains in bad faith. Weadvise on combating unfair competition. We also handle the process of sellingthe company's assets, also in terms of contributions involving intellectualproperty rights.

Legal assistance for startups

As part of our legal assistance for startups, we also prepare terms andconditions and privacy policies for websites and mobile applications. Weexamine the legality of new-tech solutions and conduct legal audits of cloudcomputing services and mobile applications. We design and analyse contracts forthe provision and implementation of IT systems, outsourcing contracts andservice level agreements.

The legal assistance we provide on a daily basis involves also regularlegal services for startups, that is, preparing necessary documents in thecurrent operations of companies and their bodies (management board, supervisoryboard, shareholders' meetings and general meetings). We also represent our Clients in pre-trial and court proceedings.