Business Law

We provide legal and consulting services to businesses of all kinds, including startups, established businesses and businesses that are being sold, merged or restructured.

Since many of the problems presented to us involve disciplines other than law, we maintain a long list of referral sources, including financial consultants, accountants, labor specialists, real estate professionals, insurance advisors and others to assist our business clients. Our goal is to provide the best solutions for our business clients and to marshal whatever resources are needed to meet their objectives.

Here is a sampling of the kinds of business questions we answer:

• Should the business be conducted through an entity (partnership, corporation, LLC) or just be a proprietorship? How does incorporating the business affect tax reporting? Licensing? Insurance coverage? Relationships with landlords and creditors?
• Is the name of the business adequately protected and, if not, what steps should be taken to safeguard its goodwill?
• What documentation should the business have for employees? Is having a staff manual a good idea?
• What steps should be taken to limit liability arising from business operations?
• How should the business document relationships with its customers? Vendors?
• What insurance should the business have (and what can it do without)?
• What steps can be taken to obtain and/or improve access to financing?
• If the owners want to sell, how should the business be sold and what legal form of transaction will best serve their business and tax objectives? Would a merger or stock sale be satisfactory or would an asset sale be better? If the transaction is other than all cash, how do we secure our client's right to be paid?

We also provide consulting and legal services on debt restructuring, sales/purchases/reorganizations of troubled businesses and other workout situations. As a rule we do not serve as litigation counsel in such cases but will associate or refer to other counsel for court representation where we determine that litigation of the client's claims is cost-effective.