Once these have been set out, we conduct a legal overview on legal issues arising out of your company's objectives and concerns. Directors, managers and relevant employees should all be involved and they may well be asked to describe their jobs, functions, and problems - as they perceive them.

In the light of our practical experience of existing business practices, we find that the following are frequent areas of difficulty, but we can advise on many other areas as well:-

• E-Commerce
• Competition issues
• Conditions of trading
• Agreements with suppliers
• Employment
• Distribution and Agency Agreements
• Joint Venture Agreements
• Product liability
• Credit risk and control
• Opportunities under European Law
  

Early use of our Legal Audit can avoid potential problems and expense.

' Legal Audit does not just skim the surface - it operates in depth to find the answers which can improve your company's "legal health". Prevention is better than cure!

EUROPEAN LAW COMPLIANCE REVIEW

Wherever European law collides with English law, European law prevails. Any agreement or trading practice which contravenes European law may prove void and unenforceable and can attract swingeing fines, even though it may theoretically comply with English domestic law. This can be the case, even where the agreement or trading practice is between two English firms.

Businesses must be able to rely on a secure contractual framework to support and protect profitable trading. The complexities involved between European and English law mean that specialist help is essential to avoid unforeseen problems. provide this preventative help in the form of a European Law Compliance Review service, which sometimes follows on from an initial Legal Audit Report, though sometimes clients go direct to the European Law Compliance Review.

AUDITORS AND IN-HOUSE SOLICITORS

Where financial or tax matters are concerned, are more than happy to complement the specialist expertise of your company's auditors by contributing our analytical legal skills, and to work with them as part of your team of professional advisers, and, ultimately, as part of your decision-making process. If you have your own in-house solicitor, we believe he or she would welcome working with us. The combination of an inside and outside view is often the way to achieve the best solution, so we would prefer to work alongside your current team. But if required by you, we can work independently.

THE REPORT

We will prepare a first Report on the agreed subjects. We will then discuss it with management. We will make specific recommendations in the defined areas and (if required) other suggestions to nip difficulties "in the bud."

ADDITIONAL SERVICES

We hope that our contribution will not end with our first Report. Running a business today is increasingly complex. Do not forget, if you unwittingly step out of line, ignorance of the numerous and continual changes in both national and European law is no defence. We would welcome the chance to meet you and update our first Report on a regular basis. When in doubt, please ring us.

ABOUT OUR BUSINESS

The firm is based in Daventry. The firm has an enviable reputation for providing an added-value quality legal service. With our diversity of business services, and our range of expertise, combined with a true understanding of the needs of our clients' businesses, we achieve and exceed the high standards required by our clients across the Midlands region.

We understand the issues and problems experienced by business people and have the expertise to assist with a wide range of business matters. We believe the loyalty of our clients is a result of the excellence of our service, our commitment to good communication and our policy of providing value for money.

Euan Temple has developed considerable expertise and experience in advising clients of the impact of European law on their business. The firm is part of a network of English-speaking lawyers in major industrial centres within the European Union, Central Europe, and parts of the Mediterranean Basin, which adds the availability of local legal expertise in other Member States. With the accent on speed and flexibility, we can put together specialist cross-border teams to tackle specific aspects of our clients' affairs.

We attach great importance to understanding fully the nature of each client's objectives both in the short term and in the medium to long term. We encourage clients to present to us, as their legal team, their aims and objectives, mission and core values, which enables us to have a more rounded view of the operation and help make progress. This also helps us to understand the extent to which the client looks to us for advice on commercial, strategic and tactical questions arising on matters on which we are involved. We welcome the opportunity to provide this input, as and when required.

So, we try to prevent legal problems arising in the first place by being involved as part of the client's business process, wish to be seen by our clients as business advisers who are fully briefed in the client's distinct enterprise, and not just as primarily legal experts on specific issues, valuable though these legal skills are when set in the broader context.

For an informal discussion about ' Legal Audit, contact Euan Temple