Commercial lawyer, Melbourne

The cheap version of this is the version you do first

Almost every commercial dispute Jasmin sees started as a document nobody read closely enough. A lease with a make good clause that was skimmed. A supply agreement with a limitation of liability the other side drafted. A handshake between people who trusted each other at the time and now do not.

Having a lawyer read it before you sign costs a fraction of having one argue about it afterwards. That is not a sales line, it is arithmetic.

What Jasmin acts in

Contracts and agreements

Drafting, reviewing and negotiating commercial contracts: supply, services, distribution, shareholder and partnership agreements, and terms and conditions that actually protect you rather than sounding like they might. Written in English, with the risky clauses flagged and explained rather than buried.

Business structures

Sole trader, partnership, company or trust. The right answer depends on your liability exposure, how you intend to bring people in, and what you want to happen when you eventually sell. Getting it wrong at the start is fixable, but it is expensive and it is avoidable.

Commercial disputes

Contractual disputes, partnership breakdowns, and disputes with suppliers or customers. The first question is always commercial rather than legal: what does winning actually get you, net of what it costs to get there. Sometimes the answer is that a negotiated exit beats a judgment, and Jasmin will say so.

Commercial leases

Reviewing and negotiating retail and commercial leases, options, rent review mechanisms, assignment, and make good obligations. Make good is where tenants get hurt, consistently, and it is where the attention belongs.

Buying or selling a business

Sale agreements, due diligence, restraint of trade clauses, and the transition of employees, leases and contracts. The value is in what the agreement covers, and more often in what it quietly does not.

Debt recovery

Letters of demand through to proceedings, with an honest assessment first about whether the debtor can actually pay. Chasing a debt from an empty shell is throwing good money after bad, and you should hear that before you spend anything.

How Jasmin works with businesses

• Fixed fees where the scope allows it. Contract reviews and drafting are quoted up front.
• Plain English. Advice you can act on without a translator.
• Commercial first. The legally correct answer and the right answer for the business are not always the same, and you will hear about it when they diverge.
• Direct access. You ring Jasmin, not a switchboard.

General information about Victorian law, current at the time of writing. It is not legal advice and every matter turns on its own facts. Speak to Jasmin about your circumstances before you make any decision.