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Why Does Your Small Business Need a Business Attorney in Court?

Posted by Jonathan Krems | Dec 24, 2021 | 0 Comments

In today's Freedom Friday blog and email newsletter, I want to answer an often unasked, but important question.  I have been getting a lot of business litigation inquiries lately.  Most of them involve a prospective client whose business is owed money by a customer or other entity which has breached a contract or not paid their bill.  Unfortunately in some of these situations, some business owners want to try to represent their business in court, and to their detriment.  This is why I'm answering the question, “Why does your small business need a business attorney in Court?” as part of today's Freedom Friday blog and email newsletter.

Time and time again, I've seen business owners and other not get what they need by representing their small businesses in Court.  In today's Freedom Friday blog and email newsletter I want to share three (3) reasons why your small business needs a business attorney in Court.

1.  Wrong Approach

The first reason why your small business needs a business attorney in Court is that if you try to represent your business as the business owner, you often take the wrong approach.  Many business owners, especially of the independent or DIY types, think they know the law.  They think they can represent their small business in a small claims lawsuit or even a foreign judgment proceeding.  Unfortunately, when this happens, they often take the wrong approach.  This results in not filing the proper pleadings, not making the necessary arguments, and, as you can guess, not getting good results…

2.  Bad Results

The second reason why your small business needs a business attorney in Court is that if you try to represent your business as the business owner, you often get bad results.  I've represented multiple clients who have previously tried to represent their businesses in Court, and before I got involved in their case, they were receiving bad results.  This was often tied to the business owner filing the wrong pleadings, or not making necessary arguments, or otherwise facing similar issues.  Many times the reason why they tried to represent their business in Court was to save the costs of hiring an attorney.  However, they ended up losing time and money in the long run because they couldn't get the right results they were looking for by representing their own business.

3.  The Law Requires It

The third reason why your small business needs a business attorney in Court, and this is the most important reason, is that the law actually requires it.  If your small business gets sued by a creditor, and you file a response to the lawsuit “pro se,” that creditor can actually move the Court to strike your response and render default judgment against your small business.  This is because in Oklahoma, the law requires that if your small business is formed as a business entity, be it an LLC or a corporation or any other entity, then that entity can only be represented by an attorney.  All the way back in 1989, there was an important decision by the Oklahoma Court of Civil Appeals, in the case of Massongill v. McDevitt, in which the Court stated, “although a party to an action may appear pro se, he is not entitled to appear for or on behalf of a corporation, regardless of his interest in or any authorization he may have from the corporation.”  This means that unless you're an attorney, you can't represent your small business in Court.  This is why you need to have a business attorney represent your small business in Court.  I've seen how judges handle this situation and appeared on dockets where a corporate officer, even a company president, attempts to appear on behalf of a corporation which is a party to the case.  Time and time again the Court dismissed the case because the plaintiff corporation was not represented by an attorney or threatened an LLC defendant with default judgment because the LLC was not represented by an attorney.  This is the most important reason why your small business needs an attorney in Court, because the law requires it so that you can get the results you're looking for.

If your small business needs to file a lawsuit to recover monies owed, or for other reasons, OR if your small business has been sued and needs a solid defense, our experienced business litigation attorney Jonathan Krems is here to help.  Contact Liberty Legal Solutions, LLC, via telephone at (405) 509-9096 or email Jonathan Krems directly at [email protected] to schedule your FREE consultation regarding your business litigation issue today.

For more information about Liberty Legal Solutions, LLC, please visit our website at http://www.libertylegalok.com/

About the Author

Jonathan Krems

Jonathan is the Founder and Managing Attorney of Liberty Legal Solutions, LLC, a law firm dedicated to building, protecting, and defending the business and personal interests of our clients in Oklahoma.  Jonathan's primary practice areas are business law, contracts and agreements, business liti...

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