BUSINESS LAW ATTORNEYS IN CALIFORNIA: ENTITY FORMATION, CONTRACT REVIEW AND NEGOTIATIONS, BUSINESS TAXATION, LEASING, SUCCESSION, AND MORE
Need legal expertise for business? We offer legal help structuring a new business, reviewing existing business structures, and planning business succession. Our California business law attorneys are experts in negotiating business mergers, sales, and acquisitions, and reducing taxes. Contact our attorneys for business contracts, real estate transactions, and business leases.
By James L. Cunningham Jr., Esq.
Too often, business law attorneys focus only on narrow issues without considering the bigger picture: optimizing results for the company, the owner, and their family. Have the tax implications of entity selection been properly considered? How will control be handed down? Are executive compensation contracts structured to promote and handle growth? Is there a succession plan that makes sense?
CunninghamLegal attorneys offer a holistic approach designed to ensure that family and business legacies thrive well into the future by building both businesses and multi-generational wealth. We offer comprehensive legal services in business formation and structuring, including corporations, LLCs, and partnerships. Our business real estate services range from property transactions and lease agreements to financing, title review, and construction law. Our experience extends to many other areas, including tax planning, corporate governance, intellectual property, acquisitions, and more.
We combine our business savvy with deep expertise in Estate Planning & Trusts to provide a 360-degree perspective to business owners and their families. For clients with bicoastal concerns, we also have attorneys licensed in New York and the District of Columbia.
Below you’ll find a quick overview of our business law practice areas. We invite you to contact us regarding any of these issues. Just call (866) 988-3956 or book an appointment online.
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How Do I Form a New Business Entity? What Should Be My Business Structure?
Creating the right legal entity for a new business is not just about protection; it’s about opportunity.
Take Sarah, for example. When she was launching her tech startup, Sarah hastily chose to form an S-corp, believing it offered the best tax benefits—but she did not fully understand the long-term implications, or how her choice might limit growth later on. The issues didn’t show up until a few years later, when her S-corp status imposed restrictions on the number and type of shareholders she could attract. Other problems around taxes and liability emerged only after she began to buy and lease offices. When Sarah finally sold her company, the S-Corp status prevented her from taking advantage of the federal benefits of Qualified Small Business Stock under Internal Revenue Code section 1202. This forced Sarah to pay federal tax that could have been entirely avoided.
Entity selection as well as tax status — corporation, partnership, or disregarded entity — is a strategic decision that sets the stage for your business’s long-term success, with significant implications for asset protection and growth. The issues are many and require deep experience, as well as an up-to-date understanding of the ever-shifting legal and tax landscape.
From Limited Partnerships to LLCs to the right kind of corporation, choosing a business structure that shields you from liability, minimizes and rationalizes taxes, and streamlines operations is vital. And no, one size does not fit all.
I urge you to choose a good team to help from day one. Here at CunninghamLegal, our California business attorneys will help you choose and structure the most appropriate entity as you build your business; and review your business structures as you grow. We advise, draft the documents, handle filings, plan restructurings if needed, and much more to help ensure you get it right for yourself and the generations to come.
How Can I Get Legal Help With Contract Negotiations and Drafting?
Do you know what’s most often missing from a business contract? Sound advice—followed by negotiation help and document drafting from a savvy business lawyer. Whether it’s foundational agreements for complex joint ventures, employment agreements, nondisclosure agreements (NDAs), service agreements, or any of the myriad of other contracts that make businesses tick, good advice helps protect you when the going gets rough—which may not happen until many years in the future. Too often, improperly phrased clauses, unintended ambiguities, gaps, and hidden traps only become evident at the worst possible moment.
Your team should include a business contracts lawyer who will not only represent your best interests in the near term and excel in the art of negotiation, but who will build contracts and agreements designed to prevent headaches far into the future. A lawyer with business acumen and the necessary knowledge of corporate law can ensure every contract meets the necessary legal requirements, providing small business owners with security as the business grows.
The CunninghamLegal team of business lawyers brings a wealth of experience and skills to help you navigate the most complex contract negotiations. Contact us today.
How Do I Get Legal Help with Corporate Governance?
As businesses and corporate entities grow, their need for legal advice on compliance with corporate laws and regulations grows along with them. Often, that means moving to a more sophisticated legal team. Specially experienced business attorneys have the skills to untangle every new thicket of governmental regulations, draft shareholder agreements, work through shareholder disputes, and ensure that board actions, corporate filings, and policies are handled properly.
Many of these actions can be coordinated by full-service law firms with the right staff and resources. The result of bringing in the right team? Lowered liability, fewer disputes, and far fewer bumps along the road to corporate expansion and success.
How Can I Get Legal Advice for Buying, Selling, Closing or Merging Businesses?
Whether you’re contemplating selling your business, acquiring another business, or negotiating the merger of two entities, the transactions will be pivotal to your success—but they will also be fraught with legal (and tax!) pitfalls.
Don’t wait until it’s too late to get expert legal help. We too often see downstream issues that could easily have been avoided by the right decisions early in the process.
The right business law attorney should be at your side well before key deal points are fully decided, but throughout the process, timing will be critical, and each step must be structured to minimize risk and maximize benefit. Our expert business attorneys handle due diligence, purchase and sale agreements, and stand with you through the complexities of buy/sell negotiations to help ensure the best possible outcomes. Consider contacting CunninghamLegal at the very outset of your conversations with another party.
How Do I Get Legal Help with Copyright, Trademarks, and Patents?
Intellectual property is the lifeblood of many modern enterprises. Protecting, licensing, and properly leveraging trademarked, copyrighted, and patented material requires specialized legal expertise from patent attorneys, trademark attorneys, and copyright legal experts in dealing with both the government and third-party companies. An intellectual property lawyer from CunninghamLegal can handle the registration and protection of trademarks, copyrights, and patents—along with negotiating licensing agreements within a wide range of industries.
Do I Need Business Lawyer to Negotiate an Executive Compensation Agreement?
Compensation agreements for the key executives and officers of a corporation, LLC, or partnership may be complex contracts spanning many years or even decades. The arc of company success must be properly tied to the personal success of key personnel, and the negotiations must be handled with delicate expertise. Our California business lawyers offer deep experience in such negotiations and will work to ensure a win-win for a company’s most important human assets.
How Can I Reduce My Business Taxes? How Can I Save Taxes Through My Business? How Can I Ensure Business Tax Compliance?
It’s not what you make, it’s what you keep—in business as well as personal finance. One important reason to maintain ownership in a company is to control your personal taxes, but the complexities of long-term planning require sophisticated approaches that few CPAs can provide on their own.
CunnighamLegal attorneys offer comprehensive tax planning to businesses and high-net-worth owners, spanning multiple generations. These tax strategies may include tax credits and incentives, bonus depreciation, holding companies, family LLCs, dynasty trusts, and ongoing tax optimization of business structures. Importantly, we also handle tax compliance issues and tax structuring for transactions.
In our business tax planning work, we coordinate closely with other professionals, including your CFO, investment advisors, and personal accountants. High-net-worth families with business interests should also visit our page about advanced tax planning.
What Is the Best Way to Do Business Succession Planning?
What happens to your business after you retire or unforeseen circumstances arise? What if a key person in your business dies suddenly? Without a clear succession plan and vital elements like buy/sell agreements and partner insurance, your life’s work could be jeopardized. Our business attorneys specialize in crafting succession plans that preserve your legacy, minimize estate taxes, maximize retirement income, and help ensure a smooth transition. These succession planning services are tailored to the needs of both active and passive owners. Consult with a small business lawyer who can help you navigate state laws, avoid costly litigation, and protect your business entities through sales, retirement, or transfer to the next generation.
How Can I Avoid Personal Liability for My Business, and How Can My Business Protect Itself from Owner Liabilities?
Regardless of the care you take to avoid legal issues in your business, you cannot escape the unexpected. Perhaps a manager in your business violates the rights of a protected class. Perhaps an unnoticed hazard on your property leads to the injury or death of a customer. Perhaps one of your company’s owners is sued for something entirely within their personal life, but the litigant goes after the company’s assets.
Such dangers require more than insurance; they require legal shields and asset protection.
Here at CunninghamLegal, we know that “piercing the corporate veil” is far too common, especially in California. But we also know that with proper legal planning, it can often be avoided. Much depends on how your business is constructed, and whether you properly maintain a legal and accounting separation between yourself and the company. Savvy legal help is vital to protect you and your business, and we offer deep expertise in a wide range of protective strategies.
Do I Need Legal Help With Corporate Compliance, Including the CTA?
The recent Corporate Transparency Act and other regulatory frameworks demand meticulous attention to detail, proper reporting, and accurate record-keeping. Our team helps ensure that your business not only complies with corporate reporting laws, but thrives under them. We analyze your governing documents, assist with the documentation of corporate actions, and help manage filings—while ensuring a forward-thinking approach. That means not just updating your crucial legal documents, but reviewing your business structures as laws evolve.
Lawyers With Business Real Estate, Construction Contracts, and Leasing Expertise
CunninghamLegal offers robust expertise and well-known attorneys in the full range of issues related to business real estate. Our work includes property transactions, lease agreements, financing agreements, title review and insurance, construction law, legal entity formation, and property management agreements. Please visit our Real Estate practice area page to learn more.
How Do I Get a Legal Consultation for My Business?
Contact us today to schedule a consultation and discover how we can help you protect your business and personal assets while reducing your overall tax liabilities.
Call us at (866) 988-3956 or book an appointment online to discuss your business legal needs.
You may also wish to join or replay one of our many legal webinars for business owners and high-net-worth families. We look forward to partnering with you to plan, protect, and propel your business to new heights.
Best, Jim
James L. Cunningham Jr., Esq.
Founder, CunninghamLegal
We guide savvy, caring families and business owners in the protection and transfer of multi-generational wealth.
