STARTUP LAWYERS
For Founders & Early-Stage Businesses
Strategic legal guidance for new businesses across Brisbane and the Gold Coast. Structures, founder agreements, contracts, IP and capital raising, set up properly from day one so your startup can scale.
STARTUP LAWYERS FOR BRISBANE AND GOLD COAST FOUNDERS
Every startup begins with a handful of decisions that are hard to unwind later: what structure to trade through, how the founders split equity, who owns the intellectual property, and what your first customer contract says. Get them right and the business can raise, hire and sell cleanly. Get them wrong and each one becomes a negotiation with an investor or a buyer.
We support start-ups with legal structuring, compliance and grant application strategies to set your business on the right foundation from day one. Our commercial team advises on intellectual property, corporate structuring, governance and commercial transactions, and builds tax efficiency into deal structures from the outset rather than treating it as an afterthought.
New Wave Law works with founders across Brisbane and the Gold Coast on fixed fees wherever possible, with plain-English advice that treats the legal work as part of the business plan rather than a hurdle in front of it.
WHO WE WORK WITH
From a first-time founder validating an idea to a team preparing for its first funding round, we meet you where the business actually is.
Software and platform businesses whose value sits in code, data and brand. We document IP ownership from day one, put customer terms and privacy policies in place, and structure the company so investors recognise what they are looking at. Privacy policies and customer terms are drafted for the product you are actually shipping.
Product businesses launching online. Trade marks, supplier agreements and website terms come first, and a shareholder agreement follows as soon as there is more than one owner. Supplier and manufacturer terms are made enforceable before the first purchase order.
Consultancies, agencies and trades moving from founder-led work to a team. Services agreements, employment and contractor agreements, and a structure that separates the founders from the operating risk. We also help founders formalise the first hires as the team grows.
Businesses heading into an angel or seed round. Well-drafted, investor-ready agreements and an optimised equity structure attract investors while protecting your interests, and gaps in either can create hesitation and delay the funding process. We prepare the documents an investor will ask for before they ask.
LEGAL CHALLENGES FOR STARTUPS
The problems below are cheap to prevent and expensive to fix, which is why they belong in the first conversation rather than the last.
Sole-trader or partnership beginnings are simple until a co-founder, an investor or a share plan arrives. Selecting the right business structure affects your legal responsibilities, tax obligations, ability to attract investors and how well your personal assets are protected. Restructuring later is possible, but it is slower and more expensive than starting right.
Who owns what, what happens if a founder leaves early, and how shares are valued on the way out. Shareholder disputes are among the most expensive and disruptive legal battles a business can face, and a well-drafted agreement is what prevents them.
Code written before incorporation, a logo designed by a friend, a brand relied on without registration. Registering a trade mark in Australia provides substantially stronger, clearer and far more enforceable rights than relying on unregistered use. Assigning that IP to the company early is a small task with a large payoff.
Early team members engaged as contractors when the law would treat them as employees, or brought on without a written contract at all. Classification affects payroll, taxation and superannuation, and the consequences tend to surface once the business has something to lose.
Investors look for clear structures and solid documentation. Missing agreements, an unclear ownership table or unregistered intellectual property are the gaps that stall a round or cut the valuation. Clean documentation is what turns interest into a term sheet.
HOW WE HELP STARTUPS AND FOUNDERS
Legal structuring, compliance and growth support that scales with the business instead of holding it back.
Company, trust or a combination: choosing and setting up the structure that fits your funding plans and protects the founders personally, with tax efficiency built in from the start.
Decision-making procedures, share transfer restrictions, pre-emptive rights, anti-dilution provisions and exit mechanisms, agreed while everyone is still on good terms.
Services agreements, website terms and confidentiality agreements that protect your commercial income and manage operational risk from the first deal.
Employment contracts and independent contractor agreements for your first hires, with the classification and intellectual property clauses a startup needs.
Investor agreements with clear terms for voting rights, exit strategies and profit-sharing, optimised share structures and ASIC compliance through your funding round.
Trade mark registration and IP ownership advice through our commercial team, so the company owns the brand and the code it is built on.
Book a free 15-minute consultation and tell us what you are building, where you are up to and what is keeping you up at night.
COMPLIANCE FOR NEW COMPANIES
Registering a company creates obligations that begin on day one. These are the ones founders most often meet first.
Every company must have rules for how it will be internally managed, and officeholders must keep company details up to date, maintain company records and the share register, and pay the annual review fee. Directors must act in the company’s best interests, in good faith and for a proper purpose, and prevent insolvent trading.
A registered trade mark protects your unique brand, products or services, and registration is with IP Australia. For a startup, registering early is what turns a name you happen to use into an asset the company owns and an investor can value.
If your product collects personal information, the 13 Australian Privacy Principles in the Privacy Act 1988 govern how it is collected, used, disclosed and secured. The principles are technology neutral, written to adapt to new products and services.
Funding activities must meet legal and industry requirements, including compliance with Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) regulations. Investor agreements, share structures and disclosure need to be in order before the money arrives, not after.
WHY FOUNDERS CHOOSE NEW WAVE LAW
We’re not your traditional, outdated law firm. Here’s what that means for a startup.
Clear proposals upfront with no hidden surprises, and fixed fees wherever possible, so legal costs are a line in the budget rather than an unknown.
Our senior associate specialising in tax works alongside the commercial team, so tax efficiency is built into deal structures from the outset rather than considered as an afterthought.
Our commercial team brings a passion for entrepreneurship, firsthand experience supporting early-stage businesses and years of advising high-growth startups.
Practical legal advice focused on achieving results, delivered in plain English with recommendations you can act on straight away. You will always know the next step.
Accounting, financial planning, insurance and marketing sit under the same group as the legal team, which is close to the full set of advisers a founder actually needs.
What Our Clients Say About Us
FAQs About Startup Legal Services
When should a startup engage a lawyer?
Before the decisions that are hard to unwind: choosing a structure, splitting founder equity, signing your first significant customer or supplier contract, and hiring your first employee. Early-stage businesses arguably benefit most from getting these right, because every later step builds on them. A short conversation at the start is usually enough to map what you need now and what can wait.
Which business structure is best for a startup?
It depends on your funding plans, who owns the business and how much personal asset protection you need. Companies, trusts and sole traders each have pros and cons, and the choice affects your legal responsibilities, tax obligations and ability to attract investors. We work through the options with you and set up the structure that aligns with where the business is going. A structure can be changed later, but it is far simpler to choose well at the start.
Do co-founders really need a shareholder agreement?
Yes. It establishes decision-making procedures, dispute resolution processes and exit mechanisms, so conflicts can be resolved without destroying the business or the relationship. It also sets out how shares are valued for any buy-out and protects each founder’s stake through transfer restrictions and pre-emptive rights. The legal fees from a single unresolved shareholder dispute can far exceed the cost of a properly prepared agreement.
Can you help us prepare for a capital raise?
Yes. We help you secure funding while protecting your business’s interests, from the first discovery session through to post-funding guidance. That means drafting and reviewing investor agreements that define terms, roles and exit strategies, optimising your share structure, and preparing the business for investor scrutiny with thorough documentation and legal review.
Do you help with grant applications?
We support start-ups with grant application strategies alongside legal structuring and compliance. In practice that means making sure the structure, governance arrangements and intellectual property position a grant program expects are actually in place before you apply, so the application is not undone by a missing document. It also means keeping the company’s ASIC details and records current, which is an ongoing obligation in any case.
How much does a startup lawyer cost?
We provide clear proposals upfront with no hidden surprises, and fixed fees wherever possible. A company set-up, a shareholder agreement or a set of customer terms is quoted as a defined piece of work, and a capital raise is scoped and quoted before we begin. The best starting point is our free 15-minute consultation.
Related Resources
Guides from our team for founders and new business owners.
Company vs trust vs sole trader: the pros and cons of each structure for Australian SMEs.
The legal obligations and personal liability that come with accepting a directorship.
Lessons from an Australian case on why registered brand rights beat relying on common law.
SET YOUR STARTUP UP TO SCALE
From startup to scale, legal protection that grows with you. Book a free initial consultation and tell us what you are building.