Commercial and

Business Transactions

Why Choose Us?

Ensuring that you have access to proven pragmatic and experienced commercial legal advisors who can engage with your people and advisers is essential to not only managing risk but to ensure that opportunity to transact is not lost due to delay or impractical advice.

We understand the risks associated with facilitating expedient commercial transactions and can keep up with client demands through streamlined processes achieved only by our commitment to innovation.

Our team works tirelessly to achieve your desired outcomes and we remove the burden of client comprehension of complex legal documents by providing practical explanation and guidance in facilitating your required outcomes.
We adopt a business minded approach to addressing your legal matters to ensure that we achieve the right outcome.

Our clients benefit from a valuable combination of having worked with many business clients across many industries and having built valuable working relationships with other advisers and legal practitioners.

We build long term relationships with our clients and because of that we take the time to understand your business and needs before taking on an engagement.

What are Commercial and Business Transactions?

How We Can Help

Sale and Purchase of a Business

Business sales and purchases are all about being practical and properly understanding risk. Business transactions move quickly, and it is important to have a legal team that has the resources and experience required to make sure the transaction happens on terms acceptable to you.

From the start of the sale or purchase process to its conclusion, Beck Legal’s transactional team are committed to delivering outcomes that meet and exceed your expectations.

Sale and Purchase of Shares

Share sales and purchases are all about being practical, commercial and forward thinking.

From the start of the sale or purchase process to its conclusion, our experienced team are committed to understanding what you are looking to achieve and delivering outcomes that meet and exceed your expectations.

Employment Law

Employment law is more than just preparing an employment contract. Beck Legal’s employment law team understands how businesses operate, how staff in various industries are engaged and what structures you can put in place to minimise the compliance burden. We adopt a pragmatic and strategic approach to dealing with difficult and often stressful situations in order to get the best outcomes for you in the most efficient way possible so that you can get back to running your business and minimise distractions.

Terms and Conditions

Our approach to terms and conditions is unique and personalised. We understand that your business has its own way of operating, and we do not adopt a cookie cutter approach. We stay on the front foot of advancements in business law, including changes to the Australian Consumer Law (ACL) (which can apply to B2B transactions) and understand how terms need to be worded in order to reduce your exposure.

Self-Managed Super Fund

Advising on superannuation, including self-managed super funds (SMSFs), is an integral part of wealth management and succession planning. The superannuation laws in Australia are compliance driven, and significant penalties and negative tax and other consequences can arise if you fail to follow the rules. Beck Legal adopts a holistic approach to superannuation law, which involves our superannuation lawyers liaising with our estates, lawyers and your professional advisers to ensure we achieve practical outcomes for you, without any unintended consequences.

Mergers, Acquisitions and Restructuring

Successful mergers and acquisitions require experience and a dedicated team. At Beck Legal, our corporate team will become a part of your team from the get go and you will have the opportunity to meet every lawyer working on the matter. Mergers and acquisitions move quickly, and it is important to have a legal team that has the resources and experience required to make it happen.
To us, a merger, acquisition or restructure is not just a deal value or number. We want to understand the drivers behind it and what your business wants to achieve, so that we can deliver on the outcomes you are looking for.

Intellectual Property (IP)

Every business has intellectual property in some shape or form. Intellectual property is more than simply a business name, and can extend to a colour (think Cadbury’s trade-marked purple packaging) or even a sound (the MGM lion’s hearty roar).

Whether your business has a unique name, tagline, manufacturing process, formula or secret herbs and spices that you want to protect, Beck Legal’s intellectual property team can advise you on the best way to protect your intellectual property and then put the advice into practice.

Commercial Contracts and Advice

Our approach to commercial contracts is unique and personalised. To ensure the contracts we prepare and the advices we give are practical, we take the time to understand how the deal works before we reduce the terms to writing. We understand that every arrangement has its own nuances and needs to be tailored, and we do not adopt a template or cookie cutter approach.

Due Diligence and Pre-Acquisition Advice

There is more to due diligence than completing a checklist and checking documents in a data room. At Beck Legal, our corporate team adopts a holistic approach to due diligence, which starts with getting an understanding of the key drivers behind a transaction. For example, are you making the acquisition to get access to a new market, to acquire specific intellectual property or assets, or get a key customer or supplier contract? Once we understand the drivers, we can tailor our due diligence report and advice to focus on what really matters to you.

Franchising

Some of Australia’s most well-known businesses are franchises, and Beck Legal has had the opportunity to advise a significant number of successful franchises across Australia. Franchising is a complex and compliance focussed area of the law. There are serious consequences for franchisors who get it wrong, including franchisees being entitled to terminate their agreements and being entitled to refunds of all fees paid.

Options for terminating an Employee

Terminating an employee can be a stressful and a confusing experience. If you have to terminate an employee, you need to ensure that you comply with the terms of the relevant employment contract, the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) (FWA) and any applicable Award.

Court Case – Cases reinforce the importance of doing your diligence

Businesses and properties are generally sold “as is, where is” or with limited warranties. It is up to the buyer to make their own investigations and satisfy themselves as to the condition and value of what they are buying.

Court Decision – Licence Agreement constitutes a Franchise

There are serious implications for licensors whose licence arrangements are captured by the definition of “franchise” under the Franchising Code of Conduct (Code). The licensor may be required to refund all amounts paid by the licensee under the licence arrangement, and may also be subject to penalties.

Free Commercial and Business Transactions Resources

Contract Review: Six Tips and Traps

Five steps to getting your Business Sale Ready

Share Sale v. Asset Sale

Selling a Business – Checklist

Purchasing a Business – Checklist

Guide to Fast Track your Trade Mark Application

Guide to choosing the Right Award

Guide to Franchise vs. Licence

Guide to Common Business Structures

Articles About Commercial and Business Transactions

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