The SME Leader’s Guide to the Top 5 Legal Risks

The SME Leader’s Guide to the Top 5 Legal Risks (and What To Do Next)

How to protect value, reduce stress, and turn legal from a brake into a growth enabler

Why This Matters Now

Independent research with 1,000 UK SMEs found that businesses lose over £13.6bn every year by failing to address legal issues early. On average, SMEs face eight legal challenges a year, each costing time, money and leadership focus.

That’s value leaving your business, the kind of value that could fund new hires, expansion or resilience.

This guide distils real-world experience from fractional GCs who work inside SMEs every day, showing you how to spot, prioritise and fix the five most common legal risks before they drain your time or margin.

Inside This Guide, You’ll Learn How To:

• Make employment risk visible and manageable – with contracts that protect your IP, pragmatic policies and DSAR playbooks that work.

• Speed up sales without losing protection – using guardrails that let your Sales team self-serve safely on 80–95% of deals.

• Stop supplier leaks and auto-renew surprises – with a simple, centralised contract register.

• Protect cashflow before and after invoices – by combining proactive contract terms and reactive collection ladders.

• Build light, real, repeatable governance – the kind investors respect, without the theatre.