January 22, 2026
Category:
Articles
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Small and medium‑sized enterprises (SMEs) are the backbone of New Zealand’s economy. From rural contractors and agri‑services to trades, hospitality, and family‑owned retailers, these businesses juggle operations, staffing, compliance, and cashflow every day. Legal risk management often sits low on the list, but small oversights can snowball into expensive problems: disputes, penalties, tax issues, personal liability, and lost revenue.
Good legal risk management isn’t about complexity. It’s about simple, practical steps that minimise exposure and protect your future.
Poor or outdated contracts are the number one cause of preventable disputes. Handshake deals or old templates often leave gaps around payment terms, delivery obligations, liability, and key protections such as intellectual property ownership, confidentiality, and dispute resolution.
Our Advice: Update contracts annually, ensure core clauses cover liability, payment, warranties, IP ownership, and dispute resolution, and use signed agreements for suppliers, contractors, and clients.
The wrong structure can expose personal assets to business debts, create tax inefficiencies through higher personal rates or missed deductions, and complicate succession planning by leaving family ownership or shareholder rights unclear.
Our Advice: Review your structure every 2–3 years. Consider whether a company, trust, or partnership best reflects current operations, and document relationships between entities with leases or service agreements.
Employment law mistakes are common in SMEs, especially around casual or seasonal staff. As of April 2025, the adult minimum wage is $23.50/hour, and all employees must have written agreements. Employers must also keep accurate wage, time and holiday records, and meet health & safety obligations across all roles.
Our Advice: Use modern, compliant agreements, update job descriptions annually, conduct a basic health & safety audit, and keep digital wage, time, and holiday records.
Your name, logo, and content are valuable assets. Without protection, others can use them.
Our Advice: Register trademarks, include IP clauses in contractor and employee agreements, and keep clear records of ownership for logos, websites, and written material.
Consumer law and the Privacy Act 2020 apply to SMEs just as much as large corporates, meaning businesses must ensure marketing claims are accurate, customer rights are upheld, and personal data is collected, stored, and disclosed in line with legal requirements
Our Advice: Refresh your Terms of Use, Privacy Policy, and Website Terms. Ensure marketing claims are accurate and substantiated, and check how customer data is collected and stored.
Standard policies often leave gaps. Cyber risks, subcontractors, or seasonal workers may not be covered.
Our Advice: Review insurance annually, match cover to actual activities, check exclusions, and consider cyber insurance if you hold customer data.
Even small businesses need governance. Poor oversight can lead to avoidable mistakes.
Our Advice: Keep a simple decision log or board minutes file, understand director duties under the Companies Act 1993, and maintain up‑to‑date share registers and company records.
Legal problems are cheaper to prevent than to fix.
Our Advice: Seek advice early if you face customer disputes, staff complaints, verbal agreements for big jobs, or business expansion.
Legal risk management doesn’t need to be complicated. A few simple steps: contracts, structure, compliance, insurance, and governance; can save thousands later.
Here at Treadwell Gordon, we understand the realities of running a small enterprise and can help you protect your business, your assets, and your future.
A proactive review now can save costly problems later - our team is here to help.
