Business Law: A Guide for Entrepreneurs (1st edition)

Citation

Shehzad, N. (2009), "Business Law: A Guide for Entrepreneurs (1st edition)", International Journal of Law and Management, Vol. 51 No. 1, pp. 53-54. https://doi.org/10.1108/17542430910936691

Business Law – A Guide for Entrepreneurs is written by a team of solicitors from Bates Wells and Braithwaite Law firm. It is designed to give an overview of the common legal issues affecting a business. The book does covers numerous areas of law ranging from company law, employment law, commercial property, intellectual property, competition law and contract law.

The content of the book is geared towards the non‐lawyer. There is a wide coverage of company law principles starting with the basics of sole traders, partnerships and limited liability companies and moving onto more complex areas such as insolvency and share capital. The content is not very extensive. The information provided on each topic is ideal for someone who needs an overview of the relevant law. It is not well suited for teaching or learning purposes. There is very little reference to case law, statute law and there are no academic references. For example, in Chapter 7, there is a breakdown of the types of copyright works at 7.66; however, there is no reference to what section of the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1998 it is from. Also the Book has been published before the Companies Act 2006 has come into full force. Whilst the information has covered the existing law and some key changes under the new Act the law content is up to date as of 30 November 2006. Therefore, anyone who is serious about Company Law implications on Business Law will not really benefit from purchasing this book. It will suit the student who wants to use the book as a study aid if first approaching business law or even Company Law. This is because the book does provide a short explanation for every point.

The most relevant section of the book for a law student is the Employment Law section. The book covers important employment law principles and will not only benefit the employment lawyer but also give the reader knowledge of employment law which might benefit him in employment. The style of writing is not complex and is easily understandable. The book will also suit the postgraduate who has a background in Law and who simply needs a quick refresher of the main topics.

The book is an ideal guide for the Entrepreneur who does not have a legal background. It simplifies the law to provide the non lawyer with a basic knowledge of how different areas of law can affect a business. The book also has chapters on taxation and dispute resolution. The taxation section is particularly good as it gives a comparison of tax costs between a sole trader and a limited company on p. 220. It also provides up to date tax boundaries that can be used for working out what amount of tax and national insurance contributions are due.

The book does fill a gap in the market as the nearest competitors are Pearson Education with Business Tax and Law Handbook by David Bertram and Cavendish with Business Law by David Kelly. Both books are quite different to the Bohm edition. This book is the most up to date and falls somewhere in the middle between the two. The Cavendish edition is a law student's book. It has in depth coverage of all legal principles backed up with case and statute law. The Pearson Edition is very specific to taxation and misses out the wider legal overview provided in Business Law – A Guide for Entrepreneurs.

In summary, this book does what it sets out to do. Its aim is to provide the non‐lawyer with a helpful guide and breakdown of the areas of law that are relevant to business. It is informative and to the point. It is well suited to managers mainly for its Employment law section. It is a good guide for entrepreneurs both present and future to gain a basic level understanding of how law impacts on business practices. It will not give you the knowledge needed to tackle legal problems and this is why the book is not recommended for serious law students or legal practitioners. The book can be recommended as a study aid to lawyers approaching business law or any of the other law sections covered for the first time as the book provides the starting pieces of the puzzle on which knowledge can be built.