Who We Serve

Small Business

We have experience advising and advocating for small businesses and their owners. Our small business practice focuses on all forms of business ownership in a broad spectrum of markets and industries, including sole proprietors, partnerships, joint ventures, limited liability companies and corporations. Small businesses of all types and sizes, from new companies to thriving enterprises, across many trades can depend on us to help them recognize and seize opportunities, avoid stifling mistakes, operate smoothly and generate increased revenues.

Our experience and insight covers a full range of disciplines that are critical to the success of any small business, including, but not limited to:

  •  Business structure and financing;
  •  Asset protection planning, creditor-debtor negotiations, receivables collections;
  •  Labor, employment and executive compensation issues;
  •  Contract drafting and review;
  •  Crisis response and management;
  •  Asset acquisition and negotiation;
  •  Intellectual property matters;
  •  Sale and purchase of businesses;
  •  Business disputes.

We provide solutions to small businesses through responsive and focused general counsel advisement and by proactively assisting small business clients to prevent issues before they develop. We combine legal expertise, multi-disciplinary skill sets and practical business sense to produce results on a budget. We take the time necessary to understand each of our client’s businesses and business needs as well as legal issues. Our commitment to seeing our clients grow is as strong as our commitment to our own personal growth.

Corporate Counsel

We assist corporate counsel to achieve their corporate goals, resolve conflicts, and serve as the risk mitigation fireman. Sometimes our engagements extend to counseling from a role of the “moral compass” of the legal and business community.

We bring expertise, real world business experience and an appreciation of cost and value to the legal services we provide for our corporate clients. Our practice is intended to bridge the gap between outside and inside counsel by making our firm a mere extension of corporate legal departments. We are also well versed in establishing alternative billing arrangements which align our interests as a law firm with those of our corporate clients.

Our corporate counsel services practice areas include corporate transactions, commercial finance, intellectual property law, employment law, franchise law, commercial real estate, asset protection, creditors rights, and insolvency.

In addition to our practice area knowledge, there are many ways that our firm can add value to your in-house legal department, including:

  •  Assisting corporate counsel in effectively managing day-to-day responsibilities as well as complex legal and strategic issues;
  •  Serving as a sounding board and trusted advisor when privileged issues may be involved;
  •  Broad-based consultation with big picture perspective aimed at creating efficiency;
  •  Project management of outsourced legal services for companies that do not employ a full-time in-house counsel.

Manufacturing and Distribution

In today’s intensely competitive environment, manufacturers and distributors face many challenges: responding to oversees competition, implementing technological advancements in production, protecting their designs, trademark, inventions and innovations from piracy, and building and maintaining a skilled workforce. With such demands, manufacturers and distributors need prompt and efficient attention to the legal matters related to their businesses from trusted and knowledgeable advisers.

We understand the issues affecting manufacturers, enabling us to assist in matters involving corporate, labor, intellectual property and environmental concerns. We also represent transportation and logistics companies in corporate restructuring, drafting of owner-operator agreements, non-compete actions, and general business matters.

We serve the manufacturing/distribution sector by:

  •  Drafting and reviewing contracts and supply and distribution agreements;
  •  Providing protection to manufacturers’ designs, innovations, trade secrets and brand through copyright and trademark;
  •  Assuring compliance with real estate and environmental issues relating to manufacturing facilities;
  •  Assisting in negotiating and implementing acquisitions or divestitures and other corporate transactions;
  •  Negotiating financing and capital formation transactions;
  •  Dealing with corporate governance, equity ownership and executive compensation issues.

Our focus is on identifying potential issues and addressing them before they mature to become serious business problems. We seek to know your business inside and out so that we can help you to create business systems that minimize conflict and help you to efficiently get your products to market. It is an approach to help our clients minimize risks and to effectively take advantage of opportunities to grow and protect their businesses.

Commercial Real Estate

We represent building owners, investors, property managers, and tenants in connection with the negotiation and documentation of office, industrial and retail leases (including letters of intent, construction work letters and related development agreements), lease amendments, sublease and assignment agreements, lease restructurings and workouts, telecommunication agreements, guarantees, letters of credit, brokerage and property management agreements and other property related documents.

Franchising

We know franchise laws and how to utilize those laws to assist our clients in creating a method to best distribute their products or services and achieve their business goals. We provide franchisors and franchisees with legal counsel to address the full spectrum of franchise-related issues, including:

  •  Purchase and Sale/Operational issues;
  •  Full service franchise contracting – unit agreements, area development agreements, master license agreements, special stipulations, ancillary support forms, lender estoppel and attornment agreements;
  •  Franchise disclosure and registration documentation;
  •  Franchise offering circulars and recruitment advertising;
  •  Corporate structure;
  •  Obtaining federal and state registration for trademarks, service marks, trade secrets and copyrights;
  •  Land acquisition and dispositions;
  •  Commercial real estate leasing;
  •  Labor and employment law;
  •  Drafting employment policies and employee handbooks, assisting in labor negotiations and defending employment claims and disputes;
  •  Franchise agreement consultation and interpretation;
  •  Full agreement enforcement and franchise termination;
  •  Cease and desist demands.

Whether you are a franchisor seeking to do business in California or nationwide, or an individual seeking a franchise business opportunity, we will handle your legal matter with a commitment to detail and the goal of providing the best environment for business success.