Are you looking for business lawyers in Surrey, BC?

Starting a business in Surrey might seem daunting, but your timing and choice of location couldn’t be better. The numbers speak for themselves. According to the City of Surrey’s website, the sprawling municipality grew by more than 90,000 people between 2010 and 2020. 

The City of Surrey’s Planning and Development Department estimates that the city’s population will grow by more than 300,000 over the next three decades. Projections indicated that Surrey will be home to nearly a quarter of the Meto Vancouver region’s population by 2051. 

Newton’s Business Improvement Association

Surrey’s largest community in Newton is home to most of the city’s population and a third of its businesses. In 2016, Newton’s Business Improvement Association unveiled a 20-year plan for the community it calls “the heart of Surrey.”  

“Newton lacks the infrastructure and investment to show for its large population,” the Newton BIA noted. “Currently, the Newton Town Centre has many vacant storefronts, aging infrastructure, an increasing population, a lack of transportation, no density, a hurting brand, lack of gathering spaces, lack of events, and lack of beautification.

For the largest community in Surrey, this is unacceptable. The 20-year plan focuses on changing all these negatives into positives. By advocating for the City, developers, and other stakeholders, the BIA hopes to turn the Town Centre into a Cultural Entertainment Hub for the people of Newton and Surrey.” 

Business Improvement Associations in Surrey

Surrey has several Business Improvement Associations in addition to the Newton BIA, including the Downtown Surrey BIA, the Cloverdale BIA, and the Fleetwood BIA. Their contact and location information can be found below:  

Downtown Surrey BIA

#330 10362 King George Boulevard
Surrey, BC V3T 2W5
Phone: 604-580-2321
CEO: Elizabeth Model

Cloverdale BIA 

5748 176 Street,
Surrey, BC V3S 4C8
Phone: 604-576-3155
Executive Director: Paul Orazietti

Newton BIA

#200 – 7380 King George Boulevard
Surrey, BC V3W 5A5
Phone: 604-593-2294
Executive Director: Philip Aguirre

Fleetwood BIA

#203 – 15957 84th Avenue
Surrey, BC V4N 0W7
Phone: 778-564-1595
President: Sandeep Gill

Leading Business Lawyers in Surrey, BC

The City of Surrey touts the organization’s functions, funded by annual levies on commercial and industrial properties in the BIA’s territory. 

“A Business Improvement Association (BIA) represents a business area of the City that is specially funded to assist businesses and property owners in financing effective marketing, promotional and revitalization programs,” the city’s website states.

“A BIA provides both the organized structures and the source of funds to enable business areas to improve their commercial viability.

Each BIA is run by an association of property owners and business tenants who aim to promote and improve their business areas. A BIA provides the structure and resources to enhance local business areas’ commercial viability.”

But business improvement associations aren’t the only entities set up in Surrey to help your business thrive. The city’s Economic Development Division works with several other organizations and industry groups that “support, advocate, and provide networking opportunities for their members.” 

Surrey BC is home to several of these groups

• The Cloverdale District Chamber of Commerce
• Kwantlen Polytechnic University
• The Ocean Park Village Business Association
• The South Asian Business Association
• Simon Fraser University, Surrey
• The South Surrey and White Rock Chamber of Commerce
• The Surrey Board of Trade

With that 20-year plan touted by the Newton BIA now in full swing, other statistics also tell a story of a city on the move. More than 18,000 licensed businesses are in Surrey, with licensing data showing steady increases in the number of companies calling the city home since 2014. 

Exploring the Best Business Lawyers in Surrey, BC

Like most cities worldwide, Surrey was not immune to diminished economic activity during the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the Surrey Board of Trade’s latest labour market report, “Surrey’s economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic continues to be driven by a two-pronged strength: knowledge-based and resource industries.” 

The sectors that employ the most people in Surrey are wholesale and retail, followed by healthcare, transportation, manufacturing, construction, and professional, scientific, and technical industries.

While the construction and finance sectors haven’t fully recovered to pre-pandemic employment levels, the city’s growing population and business base are certain factors to consider optimistically looking toward the future.

Top-Rated Business Lawyers Serving Surrey, BC

No doubt or question owning a business is stressful, wherever you may open up shop. You must worry about cash flow, hiring the right people, getting rid of the wrong people, building a brand, and sometimes raising money from investors or getting loans from the bank.

While some businesses are meant to stay small, others are meant to innovate, change their respective industries, and grow beyond a city or country’s borders.

Free Consultation with an Affordable Lawyer

If you are building a brand in Surrey, British Columbia, you surely have your work cut out for you. The first thing you probably learned (or are still learning) is that it’s not easy and takes time, patience, dedication, and luck. 

In addition to trying to drum up word-of-mouth hype and social media followings, targeted marketing like Google Ads and SEO should complement both.

In a city with more than 580,000 people, targeted online marketing could mean that every person in town is exposed to your marketing message many times with a relatively small investment.

Expert Surrey BC’s Top Business Lawyers

With so many duties and responsibilities as a business owner, it may be a smart move to offload some of your stress onto us here at CleareWay Law. We can help get you in touch with a small business lawyer that works for you.

Telling your lawyer what stresses you out will allow them to cater a strategy to your specific needs, especially if you’re facing legal trouble. Though lawyers are notorious for not coming cheap, hiring a small business lawyer pays if you’re opening up a shop in Surrey, B.C.

If you want to speak to a lawyer in Surrey today, fill out the form on the side of this page. One of our affordable business lawyers will call you.

Hiring A Business Lawyer

There are many reasons to hire legal help if you plan to do business in Surrey.

One example that comes to mind at Clearway is an individual who signed a contract with a construction company to build a house for them. The day before construction began, the Surrey construction company asked for an additional $200,000 even after providing a cost estimate. 

Was the client responsible or the construction company responsible for this situation? They had been going back and forth for months, and construction of the home was delayed, perhaps needlessly.

When the client hired a business lawyer, they convinced the construction company to cover 75 percent of the extra costs, saving the client around $150,000. 

The business lawyer billed the client about $5000 and saved them $150,000 through their professional efforts. While this is just a small anecdote of a local example, it reveals how you shouldn’t be penny-wise and dollar-stupid when hiring a lawyer to handle any business dispute that may arise. 

Top-Rated Business Lawyers in Surrey, BC

Small business lawyers can also be used for small or mid-sized lawsuits in either provincial or Supreme Court in British Columbia. If someone has a broken contract with you, don’t assume you won’t win in court just because you’re not experienced in legal matters.

Yes, litigation costs can be very high, and yes, they can go on for years, but unless your business is in a highly technical industry or involved in some big-money deals, you won’t likely have to worry about years-long legal battles.

However, small business lawyers in Surrey can make the difference between collecting unpaid debts or writing them off and losing out. 

Again, if you spend $100,000 on a lawsuit and win a $500,000 judgment (and can collect on it, but that’s a different story), you are up to $400,000.

Surrey BC’s Premier Business Law Firms: Who Are the Best Lawyers?

It’s often said that you must spend money to make money, which rings true for small businesses that may have to take someone to court to get paid. That’s why, at the very least, you should contact ClearWay and book a free consultation with a small business lawyer in Surrey.

It’s also essential to make sure you have a decent small business lawyer and a good accountant on your team. Reaching out to ClearWay to get in touch with what could become a key team member certainly can’t hurt, and we urge you to call or fill out the form below.

Knowing you’re protected from any legal troubles that you may encounter while floating down the stream of commerce provides peace of mind, that’s hard to put a price on, without a doubt. 

A helpful list of business law definitions

To clear up any confusion you may have about what kind of legal issues you may encounter while doing business in Surrey, we’ve compiled a helpful list of definitions that a business lawyer in Surrey may bring up: 

• A lawsuit– A dispute between two or more parties brought before a court for a decision.

• Plaintiff– a person(s) or company that sues another person, company, or government.

• Defendant– the person that answers the lawsuit and defends themselves from the plaintiff’s or plaintiffs’ allegations.

• Settlement– resolve the dispute that is acceptable to both sides and bring the matter to an end.

• Litigation– a complex process to resolve a legal dispute in the court system. 

• Claim– the plaintiff’s legal assertion or demand; the defendant can respond to this claim and countersue in certain situations. 

• Appeal—When the losing party wants to fight a judgment, they can file an appeal to a higher court, which can overturn lower court decisions if legal or procedural errors are proven.  

Whatever your business needs may be in Surrey, B.C., ClearWay Law can help connect you with lawyers of all stripes because we know the city and the lawyers, but we don’t know your business yet. We hope to change that one client at a time. 

If you need a small Business Lawyer in Surrey BC, search for one on our homepage.