Business law is a wide variety of legal issues that a business may encounter. Look at it as anything that the business or its owners may have to deal with that requires legal advice, review, preparation or representation. It can also be a contract, lease, handbook or other document that requires a lawyer to prepare, review or give advice on.

All businesses need a lawyer who has expertise in business law. Having an experienced business lawyer on hand helps you run your business smoothly without legal hassles sneaking up on you.

Yes and no, you do need an accountant, but not necessarily a CPA. We strongly suggest using a CPA, because they’ve been certified through a stringent examination. This certification gives extra assurance to lending institutions, and therefore, gives your financial documents more acceptance.

This is a difficult question to answer, because it’s different for every person. One entity type may be best for one type of business but not so for another. It also depends on what you plan to do, how many owners, if they are foreigners or not, will you have outside investors, will real estate be involved, will there be an initial public offering, etc. These and many more questions need to be answered before an answer is given.

Yes, you can. But the better question is should you? When forming an entity online you need to know what type of entity will be best for you (see question 4, above). What about bylaws, operating or partnership agreement? Will it be tailored to your business or will it be a generic template? What about federal employee ID (FEIN), who’s going to do that? Who’s going to make sure you get the right business and/or professional licenses? What about meeting minutes, resolutions, business plans, and a slew of other things to do?