Most business owners don't run into legal trouble because they are careless.
They run into trouble because they move fast, trust assumptions, and skip steps that feel unnecessary in the moment.
Don't Skip the Legal is written for entrepreneurs and business owners who want to understand how legal risk actually forms inside a business, before it becomes expensive, disruptive, or irreversible.
Written by business attorney Andrew J. Contiguglia, this book breaks down the legal decisions that quietly shape the future of a company. From entity formation and founder agreements to fiduciary duties, contracts, hiring, insurance, and risk management, the focus is always the same: helping business owners understand what they are committing to and why it matters later.
This is not a legal textbook, and it is not a checklist of rules. It is a practical guide to thinking clearly about exposure, responsibility, and control at every stage of building and running a business.
The 2026 revised edition includes expanded discussion of modern business risks, including a capstone chapter on artificial intelligence in business. That chapter explores how AI changes contracts, ownership, and hiring decisions, and why speed without understanding makes businesses more fragile, not more efficient.
Written in plain language and organized for real-world use, Don't Skip the Legal is designed to be read cover to cover or returned to as new issues arise. It is for founders who want to build something durable, protect what they are creating, and avoid learning hard lessons the expensive way.
If you are building a business that matters to you, this is a book you should read before problems force you to.
Who This Book Is For This book is written for entrepreneurs and business owners who understand that legal issues don't usually start with lawsuits. They start with decisions that felt reasonable at the time.
It is for founders who are signing contracts they don't fully understand, hiring employees without clear systems, working with partners based on trust instead of structure, or adopting new tools-like artificial intelligence-without stopping to think about how those tools change responsibility.
This book is not for readers looking for shortcuts, templates, or guarantees. It is for those who want to understand how businesses quietly become exposed and how to slow that process down before it costs more than it should.
Whether you are launching your first company or running an established business, the goal is the same: to help you make decisions you won't regret later.
