Business Capital and Finance
You have a great business plan. You have physical space lined up, and potential employees ready to help run your company. What you need most, but likely have the most difficulty getting, is money to get the business up and running and to sustain itself until your products and services generate self-sustaining cash flow. Without funds, you are stuck in neutral and not getting anywhere.
Access to capital is essential to businesses at every stage of growth and development. In fact, over 50% of small businesses fail, almost always due to insufficient capital to sustain the business.
Griffin Legal has experience in all aspects of business financing, including raising capital through the private placement of debt and equity securities and traditional bank loans. We can help you navigate the complex world of angel investors, growth investors and lenders, to get the right solutions to your financial needs.
Business Structures and Strategies
Selecting the right form of business entity from which to run your company can be confusing and present complex considerations. Sole proprietorship? LLC? S Corp? C Corp? B Corp? Partnership? For-profit? Non-profit?
Should you be worried about protecting your personal assets from litigation claims? What are the tax issues involved in choosing one form of organization over another? What are the cost differences between entities? What about ongoing governance requirements? What kind of entity do investors want to see? Do you want to preserve the company's unique culture or social mission as the company grows and/or is eventually sold?
Griffin Legal will thoroughly analyze your goals, explain the advantages and disadvantages of each form of business organization, and help you tailor the right legal structure for your business.
Contracts, Operations and HR
A business is in many respects a living, breathing organism, with essential processes that must run correctly and efficiently for the company to prosper. Contracts must be efficiently negotiated and critical terms properly documented. Employees must be hired; independent contractors and consultants engaged. Payroll must be correctly calculated. Essential records must be maintained.
- Does the contract you are reviewing contain terms that could put your company into bankruptcy if something bad happens? Have you unknowingly assumed liabilities significantly greater than the contract revenue?
- What happens if the company improperly classifies an employee as exempt from overtime?
- Are the company's independent contractors really "independent contractors?" What happens if they are not?
- Does my company really need an employee handbook? An ethics policy? A privacy policy?
We live in an unforgiving legal environment. Governmental regulation of business has never been more pervasive., and the lawsuit industry more active. The failure to comply with legal requirements can have serious, even fatal, effects on your company.
Griffin Legal will assist your business in establishing and documenting a wide range of contracts and operational policies and procedures to keep your business running efficiently and in compliance with the law.
General Counseling Services
Griffin Legal can provide your business with the benefit of an in-house lawyer without the obligation of a full-time legal staff. We offer both general and specialized legal representation with a flexible fee schedule tailored to meet the specific needs of your business. Specifically, Griffin Legal provides services in the following areas:
- Corporate entity selection and formation
- Review of your customer, employee and vendor contracts
- Intellectual property protection, trademarks and trademark licensing
- Employment matters
- Legal compliance and regulatory issues
- Corporate governance and policy
- Placement of debt and equity securities
- Sale (and purchase) of a business
- Corporate policy development and documentation
- Litigation management
Griffin Legal offers extremely competitive hourly rates, and flat and fixed fee arrangements , to fit your needs and budget.
If your company already has a legal department, Griffin Legal can supplement your existing staff during critical periods of high activity; again, at very competitive rates.
Business Acquisition and Sale
A business can grow in only two ways: organically, by increasing its internal sales and operations, or by acquiring other companies, either by merger, acquisition or asset purchase. Typically, it takes much longer to grow your business by trying to increase internal sales, so acquiring additional customers through M&A activity or buying select assets can be an attractive option.
On the other hand, perhaps you are approaching retirement, or otherwise ready to sell your business. You have undoubtedly invested a lot of time, money and effort--perhaps your entire adult life--in building your company, and deserve to maximize the return on your investment. Or, perhaps your business has an embedded social mission that you want to see continue after it is sold, but aren't sure if the buyer will maintain it.
Under any of these scenarios, we can help. Griffin Legal is experienced in all aspects of roll-up, asset purchase (and sale), and merger & acquisition/disposition transactions and can help you navigate a a complex transaction without sacrificing your business objectives or social mission.
Real Estate Transactions
Practically every business - even a small business - needs a physical home. Is it OK to work out of your house? What about a virtual office? Executive suite? These can be great solutions but also offer downsides that should be carefully considered.
Leasing space is a common alternative, but the terms of commercial leases are complex and contain many hazards for unsuspecting tenants. Many tenants unwittingly take on much more liability than they bargained for if the lease is not carefully negotiated.
Griffin Legal has significant experience in negotiating and documenting commercial leases to achieve the best possible outcome. If you are buying or selling Real Estate, Griffin Legal structures and documents those transactions as well.