Joe Riba from Riba Business Law

We spend five minutes with Joe Riba, local business lawyer from Riba Business Law in Maroochydore.

Joe - tell us a little about your background. 

I first worked for a law firm known as Power & Power in Brisbane after finishing my law degree in 1991.  With the economic climate better on the Sunshine Coast than in Brisbane, I decided it was time to try out life in a smaller firm. Following my admission I commenced work for Geoff Lyons in Caloundra, working mainly in leasing and commercial litigation.

I founded the firm Riba Business Lawyers in 1998 which, until recently, was known as J J Riba & Company Commercial Lawyers. This was the name that my late father had used before he passed away during my first year at university.

What areas do you specialise in?
Soon after commencing practice in 1998 a client came to me with the idea of buying a run-down franchising system known as Bright Eyes. I took on that work and for more than 10 years Riba Business Lawyers prepared all the franchise documentation for that business in every state of Australia.  Eventually we were employed to negotiate and prepare the documentation for the sale of that business for tens of millions of dollars. We then continued to work for Oakley Corporation following the purchase of the company. So our specialty has always been franchising and we also have a large leasing, business sales and acquisitions practice.

Since January 2005 we have helped our clients buy and sell business totalling more than $52 million dollars.

You just started the new and quite innovative live online chat. Explain how that came about and how it works.

My aim is to make legal information more easily available. When clients want general advice on a topic I tend to post the information on my website and then refer them to the site rather than send an email. Obviously we don’t mention names. I know that people find it difficult to get quick answers from lawyers and often worry about the cost. We have started the live chat function on our website to address that issue. We find that we are often able to give a quick answer which can at least set the client on the right path. Obviously a chat window is not the way to get full legal advice but it is a great place to make a start. Buzzers and bells go off when someone types a question and we make sure that we are there to provide an instant service.

This issue of the magazine is all about business start-up and business must-haves. From a legal perspective, what would be the top three things you would recommend that all businesses have in place?

1. Get the entities that will operate the business right. It is essential that the entity that operates your business does not own other assets. The most common and expensive mistake we see people make is trying to save money by not preparing a partnership agreement. A partnership agreement is like a will. One day your partnership will break up. You must record what will happen while the parties are still friends, a dispute later will cost tens of thousands of dollars.
2. All businesses need to have their intellectual property in place before they start. It is an expensive mistake to order any material before the business name is secured.
3. Get advice in relation to asset protection before you start. Once the business is commenced some of these options dry up. For example, where an individual is providing funds for the start up, it may be appropriate for these funds to be lent to the entity that will operate the business. Security can then be taken so that these funds can be recovered if at any time in the future something goes wrong.