Corporate Law Blog

A Veteran’s Guide to Launching a Business: From Op Order to Operating Agreement

SECTION I: SITUATION

1. CAUTION.

Veterans are trained to identify threats early, but in the civilian corporate world, those threats look different, appearing as free online templates, handshake deals, and casual legal advice akin to a barracks lawyer. At first glance, these shortcuts seem harmless. But under pressure, when money is on the line, partners are running to the exits or contract terms are challenged, these devices fail to stand up.  Too many first-time business owners step into the market without proper legal personal protective equipment. They rely on generic operating agreements, misfiled registrations, and misunderstood tax elections. The damage is rarely immediate, but picking up the pieces can be catastrophic to a junior entrepreneur. Ignoring early warning signs or skipping pre-mission checks can result in mission failure. In business, the enemy is anything that undermines your legal structure, credibility, or long-term survivability.  More >

I Have My LLC — Now What?

You’ve just formed your limited liability company (“LLC”) and you’re finally able to breathe a big sigh of relief. The paperwork is complete, and you can finally get started with your dream business, right? More >

Five Reasons to Consult an Attorney for Your Small Business

Starting a small business can be difficult. It requires a tremendous amount of passion and dedication, as well as some assistance from professionals such as accountants, insurance agents and others. While you may not need an attorney in the same measure, consulting one at the outset of the business and periodically throughout can get you off to a good start and keep you from falling into common legal traps. Here are five reasons you should consult with an attorney that will greatly benefit your small business. More >

Before selecting business form, what is important to consider? P.2

In our last post, we began discussing the importance of careful planning when selecting the legal form one’s business will take. As we noted, this decision can impact a number of aspects of the business and its owners. The first factor we mentioned which needs to be considered is liability protection. More >

Before selecting business form, what is important to consider? P.1

Building a successful business is not an easy matter, and a lot of planning and learning from mistakes go into it. Success is not always quick, either. Sometimes it can take years before a company is able to carve out a market and a brand for itself. To really make a business successful, a lot of things have to fall into place, and a lot of advice could be given about how to do this. More >

Updating estate plan ensures its accuracy, relevance, effectiveness

Most people are generally aware of the importance of getting an estate plan in place. Regardless of who you are, you can benefit from an estate plan, whether it be a simple or complex one. For family business owners, of course, having an estate plan is particularly important to ensure the success of the business. And, in fact, most family business owners do have estate plans. More >

Planning for the unexpected departure of a business owner

In the business world, the unexpected can happen. That is just a fact of life. There are many ways this principle can apply, but we’ll speak here specifically about the unexpected departure of a business owner or corporate official. This could come about because of an untimely passing, or because of an unexpected retirement. Whatever the case may be, whenever an important business leader passes on there is the potential for the business to experience a period of turbulence and destabilization. More >

Succession planning best when engaged early and reviewed regularly

Most business owners, if you ask them, probably have a basic idea of what succession planning is all about: deciding how ownership interests will be passed when they or their partners or co-owners leave the company. The problem for many business owners is taking the initiative to get an appropriate succession plan in place. Once the inertia to doing so is overcome, though, getting an effective plan in place doesn’t have to be that hard.   More >

Estate tax planning prevents heirs from having to liquidate estate

Readers may have heard that the Housing of Representatives passed a bill last month that would repeal the estate tax. The bill, which passed on a vote of 240 to 179, is largely backed by Republicans, with Democrats mostly voting against the measure. Although the proposal is unlikely to pass all the way through the legislative process, it is interesting to ponder how it would affect small businesses. More >

Publicly traded companies and the task of succession planning

As we’ve pointed out in previous posts on this blog, succession planning is an important task for every company to ensure its success during and after times of transition. A common theme in all effective succession planning is that it has to be started sooner rather than later and to remain and ongoing task. This is just as true for publicly traded companies as it is for closely-held companies. More >