We understand that you have many other things to deal with besides legal issues. Therefore, to create value, we wanted to simplify legal problems and provide you with principles and frameworks that will help you to approach legal issues in a simpler way.

The C-RICH is our framework. It stands for Corporate, Regulatory, IP, Contracts and HR. You will see that this guide is structured according to this framework, so you can easily identify which topic is in which area of law.

We've been using the C-RICH framework internally since the beginning of LEXR, and it's time to share it with you.

The corporate area relates to the company's internal organization and could be summarized as "Power & Money":

Generally, corporate issues are internal to the company, including its investors.

The regulatory part of the C-RICH model refers to the relationship between government and business.

Regulations can make or break your business. In highly regulated fields (financial services, med-tech, public sector, etc.), non-compliance can mean the end of your business. It's up to each company to decide how much regulatory risk it wants to take.

Since 99% of regulations are industry-specific, it's important for you to know your industry. Once you understand your regulatory landscape, it may make sense to restructure your business model to avoid highly regulated areas that require costly compliance and licensing. One exception to industry-specific regulations is data privacy, which affects all businesses. Get the basics right from the start.

IP stands for intellectual property and this part of the C-RICH model relates to the protection of a company's IP. For many companies, especially in the tech sector, IP is a key issue because it is at the heart of your business model.

The law provides protection for ideas to incentivize R&D. In particular, it relates to the ownership of an idea, its patentability or its copyright protection, but also to trademarks and their relevance in the development of a brand.

The key element, especially in the beginning, is to make sure that all IP actually belongs to the company and not to the founders or their contractors.

Another element is knowing when and what to keep confidential. Protection does not always work, big players can be ruthless, and you need to implement the right safeguards to keep your IP confidential or protected.

Contracts are the fundamental tool for a company to communicate with the outside world, be it on a business level or for renting the company's office.

While most legal documents are contracts, this part of the C-RICH framework refers to the agreements that govern your business relationship. This includes terms and conditions, license agreements, partnerships, etc.

All contracts can be complex and must be approached on a risk/reward basis. Keep in mind that contracts need to address what happens when things go wrong and allow you to maintain strategic flexibility by not being locked in without the ability to terminate.

HR stands for Human Resources. The HR part of the C-RICH model refers to a company's with its employees, freelancers, or board members.

Essentially, it is your strategy for attracting and retaining talent, and includes the employment agreement, but also compensation through stock option plans and bonuses, as well as the ability for employees to work remotely.