Start & run your business.

Business law operates on two layers: federal rules (IRS reporting, FLSA wage-and-hour, federal IP) and state rules (entity formation, contract enforcement, employment classification, foreign qualification). The documents you sign in the first year set the tax posture, the liability shield, and the IP ownership for every dollar you make later.

Formation comes first. An Operating Agreement or Partnership Agreement defines who owns what percentage, who decides what, how profits and losses allocate, and what happens when a member exits. Without one, state default rules (the Uniform Partnership Act in 38 states, the Revised Uniform LLC Act in 22 states) apply and rarely match what the founders actually intended.

Operations follows. Every contractor needs a signed NDA before disclosure to preserve trade-secret protection under the Defend Trade Secrets Act. Every hire needs a written Employment Contract or independent contractor agreement that matches the actual working relationship: misclassification penalties under IRC Section 3509 plus state-level penalties (California Labor Code Section 226.8 reaches $15,000 per willful misclassification) are among the most common assessments in IRS and DOL audits. Pick your state in the wizard; every template adjusts to your jurisdiction.