Reference no: EM133844297

Assignment:

You have just attended a new client meeting. A short set of notes were made (see below).

Please draft a briefing note to help your senior partner provide client advice. (word limit : 1800 words)

• Identify, critically analyse and evaluate key legal issues;
• Cite relevant case law, legislation and further sources of relevant information;
• Identify areas that may require further information;
• Apply your research findings to provide succinct conclusions to the legal issues identified.

Whilst at 6th form studying for her A-levels, Jules McDonald started to make concrete garden ornaments in a garage at the back of her parent's home, using her own moulds, crafted from her own original sculptures. Jules continued this sideline whilst at university to make a modest few hundred pounds a year to supplement her student loan funds.

Now that Jules has completed her degree, she has been looking for a training contract to become a Chartered Accountant but the amount of positions close to her home town are very limited so Jules has decided to scale up her concrete garden ornament enterprise to bring money in as a stop-gap before she gets a training contract. However, she is being realistic about her chances of a training contract so may want to make her manufacturing business a full-time, long term prospect with the opportunity to sell it as a going concern sometime in the future.

Jules has £10,000 to invest in her business with a further £5,000 from her parents. An uncle says he is interested in investing into the business as a 'secret partner' as he does not want his wife to know about the investment. Jules' uncle has £10,000 in cash to invest and wants the money out of his house as quickly as possible. Jules has asked if this can be paid into our firm's Client Account in advance to ensure that legal fees and expenses are covered up front.

Cash flow and the potential to borrow in order to purchase raw materials and allow for standard terms of customer payment to be provided for is an important factor. Especially if the business expands.

Whilst being commercially cautious, Jules want to start manufacturing at a reasonable scale. For this she will need modest commercial premises and a good cash flow wages, bills, research & development, and holding raw materials to produce stock. Jules is unsure of the best way to formalise the relationship between her potential investors and mentors. Please advise on matters of potentially appropriate business structures, formalities and what she needs to consider regarding a trading/business name for her enterprise. Please also advise on foreseeable tax liabilities.

Jules is cautious about business expansion and wants to expand her business slowly with clear targets to increase production and sales. She initially wants to sell her ornaments via market websites such as Ebay, Etsy and Amazon but will also consider supplying local shops with her products on a sale-or-return basis. Please advise on basic matters of contract and consumer rights law. This is to include any potential liabilities from selling and delivering the items and foreseeable risks that customers may experience when using the products. Please also advise on ways to mitigate these and other potential risks to her business.

Are there any technical specifications or industry standard that are relevant to Jules when making her garden ornaments? Jules also stated she wanted her business to appear "green and sustainable" to the public, so please advise what this may mean in terms of legalities or practice.

As for employing staff, Jules is unsure how to make provision and arrangements for this. She is not sure how much help she will need in producing the garden ornaments and delivering them to her customers. A careful sales forecast projection suggests that an additional full-time person is required initially but this may rise quite quickly if orders start to grow. Please advise on the most appropriate steps for Jules to staff her business whilst remaining flexible regarding payroll costs and medium-term staffing commitments. Please bear in mind any proposed changes to employment legislation. Also, Jules says she wants to have an all-woman workforce as she believes women are underrepresented in this type of manufacturing business. Please advise.

Jules believes there is a good scope for expansion with an opportunity for her to make new garden ornaments by designing recognisable characters from films such as Star Wars and Harry Potter. Jules intends to create original sculptures in order to then make moulds for the concrete ornaments. Please advise on any ways that Jules could promote her brand and increase her business sales by producing moulds to sell to other businesses for them to use and make their own concrete ornaments to sell on to end-users. What ways could this be formalised for supply to regions within the UK or even overseas?

In terms of commercial premises, Jules needs advice on what type of letting arrangement is suitable for a small business wanting to be careful about long-term commitments, risks and liabilities. A small commercial premises (former bowling alley, previously a video hire shop) in an industrial estate near to the motorway. It is currently a vacant and in need of some repair and modification to house the office area, production machinery and materials storage. The industrial estate had a problem with crime and anti-social behaviour. Jules wants to put razor wire up behind bushes by the perimeter fence but is concerns about the 'compensation culture' rumours in the local press of burglars suing businesses if injured breaking into properties. Please advise on the types of legal liabilities the business would be subject to regarding staff and visitors to factory premises.

Please also advise Jules on the main legalities and permissions required to operate a manufacturing unit in the industrial estate. For instance, does she need planning permission to make alterations to the interior layout of the unit? Also, the factory machinery may create some noise and dust, as is usual in this type of manufacturing plant. Are there any issues to consider regarding neighbours to the business premises and members of the public?

Please draft your report for review before to goes to the client, footnoting and referencing full references for any cases, statutes or published sources you rely upon to draft this.