Buying a business: the documents to prepare before a deal
A practical document checklist for business buyers: organise confidentiality, the offer, heads of terms, due diligence and your adviser brief.
Read the articleLEARNING CENTREUnderstand the move.
Understand the move.
Then make it.
Practical reading for investors, entrepreneurs and business owners.
Acquisition heads of terms: a checklist for business buyers
What should heads of terms cover when buying a business? Work through price, structure, conditions, exclusivity and the points that need legal advice.
Read the article
Company records checklist: what to keep after the Companies House changes
A 2026 company records checklist covering the register of members, decisions, filings and identity-verification tasks for private companies.
Read the article
Shareholders agreement vs articles of association: what founders should decide
Understand the different roles of a shareholders agreement and articles, then prepare the ownership and decision questions your advisers need.
Read the article
Intercompany loan agreements: a practical checklist for group companies
Prepare an intercompany loan agreement by identifying the lender, borrower, purpose, repayment terms, approvals and tax questions.
Read the article
Buying an investment property together: ownership, loans and exit terms
Plan a shared property investment by separating ownership, funding, management and exit arrangements before choosing documents.
Read the article
IP assignment or licence? A checklist for business owners
Check ownership, permissions and handover before transferring copyright, a website, software, a logo, a trade mark or a domain name.
Read the article
Loan agreement, guarantee, debenture or legal charge: what is the difference?
Separate the repayment terms, personal or corporate guarantees and asset security when planning business or property finance.
Read the article
What is a Partnership?
A partnership is an arrangement where individuals (or other entities such as companies) agree to work together for the purposes of making a profit and advancing their common interests. As…
Read the article
What is a Trademark?
Understand what a trade mark protects and how it differs from a company name, domain name or copyright.
Read the article
Websites
A website consists of content accessible through the internet. The website of a local seafood restaurant could be as simple as a single homepage displaying the business name and logo, a…
Read the article
Website Design and Development
Your website is the first impression that many potential customers will have of your business. For that reason, it is crucial that the site be visually appealing, easy to navigate, and…
Read the article
Protection of Confidential Information
It is critical to understand that once the information you wish to protect has been disclosed to the public, nothing can put the genie back in the bottle and make it confidential again. At…
Read the article
Registering a Patent
Unlike other forms of intellectual property such as trade marks and copyrights, inventions that are available to the public cannot be protected without registration and government approval.
Read the article
Selecting a Business Structure
The first organisational issue to consider when starting a new business is what legal structure to use. There are three basic options to choose from:
Read the article
Selecting and Registering a Domain Name
Unlike trade marks, domain names are not technically owned by the user. Domain names must be registered in the domain name system (DNS) database, upon which the registrant is granted the…
Read the article
Share Capital
Irish companies generally have two different types of share capital – authorised share capital and issued share capital. Authorised share capital is simply the maximum amount of share…
Read the article
Taxation of Partnerships
As a partnership is not a separate legal entity, its partners share the profits and losses of the partnership business directly. As a result, they are directly assessed for income tax on…
Read the article
Trade Mark Licensing
Creative trade mark licensing can greatly increase a company’s revenues, as well as expand its brand identification and sales reach into territories that otherwise would fall outside of its…
Read the article
Overview of Confidentiality and Non-disclosure
The success or failure of a business depends on its ability to maintain a competitive advantage, and a company’s competitive advantage often depends on its ability to maintain the…
Read the article
Overview of Patents
A patent is the legal right to preclude another person from making, selling, offering to sell, using or importing any product or process that is covered by the patent. So if you have…
Read the article
Passing Off
Although it is much easier to enforce a trade mark if it is registered, it is also possible to seek damages for the common law tort of “passing off”, regardless of whether the trade mark…
Read the article
Patent Maintenance and Enforcement
Once a patent has issued on your invention, you will be able to preclude anybody else from using it in the designated countries for the term of the patent. However, you need to maintain the…
Read the article
Perfection of a Charge or Mortgage
Both charges and mortgages must be “perfected” in order to be valid against the borrower and its other creditors. To be perfected in Ireland, details of the charge or mortgage must be…
Read the article
Marketing and Selling your Product
Many great business ideas die on the vine because not enough thought and effort goes into promoting the business and getting customers in the door. Even if you have an innovative product or…
Read the article
Maximizing Value: How to Sell or License a Patent
After spending a large amount of time and money obtaining, maintaining and enforcing a patent, it makes sense to get as much value out of that asset as possible. The most obvious way to do…
Read the article
Maximizing Value: Sale or License of a Trade Mark
Compare selling a trade mark with licensing it, and identify the commercial terms and ownership checks each route needs.
Read the article
Licensing a Patent
Licensing a patent is much more complicated than a simple assignment. In fact, a Patent License Agreement could be one of the most complex agreements any company has to negotiate. But a…
Read the article
Introduction to Intellectual Property
Intellectual property rights allow you to legally protect the inventions, brands, logos, written material, software, designs and the like that you create for your business. The legal…
Read the article
How to Register a Trade Mark
The first step in protecting a trade mark used in your business is to identify the names, brands, logos, etc. that you want to register. However, there is more to this than initially meets…
Read the article
How to Set Up a Joint Venture
If two companies or individuals believe that there are advantages to working together on a targeted business project, they may decide to form a joint venture. For example, if you have a…
Read the article
Incorporating a Company
In order to be officially incorporated and begin operating as an Irish company, you must register with the Companies Registration Office (CRO) by filing Form A1 along with your company’s…
Read the article
How to Start a Business
Starting a new business is an exciting process. It begins with an inspiration—an idea about a product or service that you would like to offer. Then you visualise and plan how to bring your…
Read the article
How to Transfer a Share
Follow the ownership, approval, Stamp Duty and company-record steps for a private company share transfer.
Read the article
How to Make a Loan to a Company
Almost every company will borrow money at some point to finance its operations. In many cases, the loan will come from a bank. But there may also be times when an individual, such as one of…
Read the article
How to Make a Residential Tenancy Agreement
It is not unusual for the owner of a business to lease residential property and offer key employees accommodation as part of their benefits package. While renting a dwelling may seem like a…
Read the article
How to Purchase Real Property with Someone Else
If you are a business owner with the intention of purchasing real property, there may be cases when you need to do so with another person. For example, if you are in partnership with…
Read the article
How to Make a Secured Loan
A secured loan, if properly put in place, is backed by the assets of the borrower. This means that if the borrower does not make a payment on the loan or otherwise defaults, the lender can…
Read the article
How to Purchase Real Property
While many businesses choose to lease commercial property in order to retain flexibility and minimize large outlays of cash, there are still times when it makes sense for a company to…
Read the article
How to Carry Out a Due Diligence Investigation
Turn a due diligence request list into evidence, a clear issue tracker and an informed acquisition decision.
Read the article
How to Create a Charge or Mortgage
In the UK, lenders secure their loans through two principal forms of security interest in the borrower’s assets: a charge and a mortgage. The primary difference between the two is that the…
Read the article
How to Create a Guarantee
The shareholders and directors of a limited liability company are normally not responsible for the company’s obligations. This means that a creditor can only look to the assets of the…
Read the article
How to Make a Commercial Property Lease
According to the famous axiom, the three most important rules in business are location, location and location. This holds true whether you are in the retail, restaurant, manufacturing, or…
Read the article
How to Buy the Assets of a Company or Business
Define the assets, contracts, people and practical handover needed for a business asset purchase.
Read the article
How to Buy a Company’s Shares
Understand the ownership, liabilities and completion arrangements to investigate when buying shares in a private company.
Read the article
How do I Register a New Company for Tax?
If you are setting up a new company, one of the first things that you will need to do is notify the Revenue Commissioners. You will need to do this after the incorporation of your company…
Read the article
Hiring Self-Employed Service Providers
Every business has certain tasks that need to be performed where it does not make sense to hire an employee to do the work, both because specific skills will be required for a limited…
Read the article
Hiring Employees and Independent Contractors
Assess the real working relationship before choosing an employment contract or consultancy agreement.
Read the article
Hiring an Employee
Bringing a new employee into your business may seem like a very simple proposition. For example, if your restaurant needs a chef, you simply interview candidates and give the best one the…
Read the article
Hiring a Consultant
Regardless of whether a business is run by an experienced management team or a sole proprietor just getting his feet wet in the commercial world, it may be necessary at times to hire a…
Read the article
Establishing a Website
Websites have become an integral part of running almost any line of business in today’s technology-driven economy. Although it may still be possible to do business the old fashioned way…
Read the article
Enforcement of Trade Marks
Once you have registered your trade mark in Ireland or another country, no one may use the same or a similar mark in relation to the same class of goods or services without your permission.…
Read the article
Overview – Employees, Service Providers and Consultants
Prepare a clear brief for the people and external providers your business needs, including scope, ownership and handover.
Read the article
Domain Names and Trade Marks
The intersection of domain names and trade marks has become a complicated area of the law that you should have some familiarity with when selecting and registering, or buying, a domain…
Read the article
Domain Names
A domain name is the key portion of a website’s internet address. Examples include microsoft.com, wikipedia.org, and subway.ie. As with trade marks, a good domain name will be memorable and…
Read the article
Dealing with Lost Share Certificates
Organise the evidence, company approval and replacement record when a share certificate is lost or damaged.
Read the article
Suppliers and Supply Agreements
Nearly every business needs suppliers. If you manufacture products, you need raw materials and components. If you run a restaurant, you need food and beverages. If you own a retail store,…
Read the article
Confidentiality and Non-Disclosure Agreements
To remove as much doubt as possible from any situation requiring the disclosure of sensitive commercial and technical information, a Confidentiality and Non-disclosure Agreement should be…
Read the article
Buying and Selling a Patent
In general, buying and selling a patent is much the same as buying and selling a tangible asset. The buyer should perform its own due diligence on the asset to make sure it is buying what…
Read the article
Buying and Selling a Domain Name
Because there are hundreds of millions of domain names that have already been registered, you may have difficulty finding one that you are satisfied with for your business. And even if you…
Read the article
Buying a Company or Business
Start with the acquisition structure, funding and evidence you need before committing to buy a private business.
Read the article
Benefits of a Partnership Agreement
Partnership agreements are used to regulate the manner in which the business of a partnership will be carried on and to regulate the relationship of the partners as owners of that business.…
Read the article
Confirmation Statements
Prepare a Companies House confirmation statement using the correct company records, filing date and identity requirements.
Read the article
Annual General Meetings
Check whether an AGM is required and prepare a meeting that fits the company’s articles, members and proposed decisions.
Read the article
An Introduction to Trademarks
Plan the ownership, clearance and protection of a new business brand before investing in its launch.
Read the article
Advantages and Disadvantages of Partnerships
There are a number of advantages to having a partnership. Some of these include:
Read the article
What is a Charge?
A charge is an equitable interest in an asset to secure a loan. It does not transfer ownership of the asset to the lender or require possession of the asset by the lender. If the loan is…
Read the article
What is a Mortgage?
A mortgage is the most powerful form of security interest because it actually transfers title of the asset to the lender as security for the loan, subject to an agreement to transfer…
Read the article
What Happens to an Estate if there is No Will?
When a person dies without making a will or if their will cannot be located, is deemed false or invalid (for not meeting the statutory requirements), it’s called dying intestate. The…
Read the article
Powers of Attorney
A power of attorney is a legal document by which you can appoint and authorize another person (usually a trusted friend, family member, colleague or adviser) to act on your behalf and to…
Read the article
Overview – Manufacture, Distribution and Sale of Goods
No business is an island unto itself—each relies on relationships with third parties to operate efficiently and profitably. In every such relationship, the primary business deal as well as…
Read the article
Limited Power of Attorney
A ‘limited power of attorney’ is very similar to a general power of attorney except that it imposes specific and sometimes substantial limits upon the authorisation granted to your…
Read the article
Manufacturing and Supply
If you intend to manufacture your own goods, your production operations alone will involve many aspects of starting a new business. You will have to hire employees or independent…
Read the article
General Power of Attorney
A ‘general power of attorney’ is virtually unlimited in scope. It allows your attorney to act as your authorized legal representative in relation to the whole cross-section of your legal…
Read the article
Distributors and Distribution Agreements
Product development and sales may get the glory, but it is distribution that is the unsung hero of any business. You can have the best product in the world and thousands of eager buyers,…
Read the article
Forms for Last Will and Testament
When it comes to selecting forms for last will and testament, you need to be careful. Don’t just choose the first website or legal documents you find online. Do your research. Check out the…
Read the article
How to Make a Will Online
The Internet is responsible for many things such as providing information quickly and allowing you to make money from your website. It also allows you to create documents online or to have…
Read the article
How to Create a Will Online
We all know of the importance of estate planning and, in particular, making a last will and testament. However, despite this over 65% of Americans pass away without ever making a last will.…
Read the article
Why It’s Important to Make a Will
Many people believe it’s not necessary to make a will while they’re young, before they have children, or if they’re not married. There might be some truth to this but you should forego…
Read the article
When is a Will Needed?
When considering an estate planning strategy, planners often fall into assumption that a will is always required. The logic behind this assumption may apply in some cases; however, a number…
Read the article
Should You Be an Executor of a Last Will?
While it’s an onerous obligation, the task of being an Executor for a family member or a close friend can be viewed as a final act of friendship. It’s often humbling that someone trusts you…
Read the article
What is an Executor of a Will?
Though we’ve all heard the term, most of us have probably never appointed an Executor or been an Executor for somebody else. Therefore, you may be wondering “What is an Executor ”, “What…
Read the article
What is a Last Will and Testament
A will, more formally known as a last will and testament, is a legal document setting out your desires and intentions regarding the distribution of your real and personal property after…
Read the article
Why Make a Last Will and Testament?
While you are not required to make a last will & testament it is most certainly something that you should do. It allows you to have a say in what happens to your assets and, in some cases,…
Read the article
Responsibilities of Executors – The Key Things An Executor Must Do
The duties and responsibilities of executors can be vast. In general, an executor is responsible for managing the estate of a deceased person in accordance with the probate rules and…
Read the article
How to Make a Valid Last Will & Testament
While most state laws don’t have a specific form of last will & testament, all of them have laws which set out the minimum elements required for a last will and testament to be deemed a…
Read the article
Mirror Wills and Joint Wills
When it comes to making their last wills, many couples (both married and unmarried) tend to share a common or joint objective in terms of how they would like to see their property…
Read the article
Executing a Last Will and Testament
State laws set out the specific requirements for executing a last will and testament. These laws are very similar and don’t vary too widely from state to state. A best practice approach to…
Read the article
Revoking a Will
There are two specific methods you can follow when revoking a will. You can either:
Read the article
Intestacy and What Happens If You Don’t Make a Will?
If you fail to make a last will and testament or if you draft an invalid one, you will be declared intestate after you die. If this happens, the intestacy laws of your state of residence…
Read the article
Who Should I Choose as My Personal Representative of My Last Will?
Choosing a personal representative is one of the most fundamental elements of any last will. The main characteristics of a good personal representative are good common sense, excellent…
Read the article
Estate Planning Essentials: A Checklist of What You Need Most…
When it comes to estate planning, you might put it off because you think you’re too young or because you don’t have expensive property. Maybe you just haven’t gotten around to it. The…
Read the article