Business and Corporate Transactions Attorneys
The business and corporate transactions attorneys at Battaglia, Ross, Dicus & McQuaid, P.A. combined have over 100 years of experience practicing business and corporate law and assisting businesses in the operation of their businesses in the Tampa Bay, St. Petersburg, and Clearwater area. Howard Ross spent a decade as the “Dean” of the St. Petersburg Area Chamber of Commerce’s Entrepreneurial Academy. The academy, during his time, was an 11-week program given three times a year which taught entrepreneurs and want to be entrepreneurs about the many different activities that are needed to start and run a business as well as teaching those who have already started a business how to take their businesses to the next growth level. This provided a wealth of knowledge on what it takes to be a lawyer for businesses. Our business litigators also practice transactional law and our business transactional lawyers also practice business litigation, so they can apply the lessons learned in one area to the other area. It is valuable to know what happens in business litigation when preparing a business document or structuring a business relationship or transaction. Likewise, it is helpful in litigation to know about the formation and structure of the documents and transactions that are being litigated. The firm’s commercial attorneys represent businesses of all types and sizes from the very small (macro) business through micro, small and mid-sized up to companies with large revenues, providing services in a wide variety of business or endeavors, including:
- Technology
- Start up
- Retailing
- Wholesaling
- Distribution
- Financial services
- Insurance
- Manufacturing
- Franchising
- Services
- Import-Export
- Professions
- Real Estate
- Construction and design
- Development
- Other businesses
Our Business and Corporate Transactions Attorneys Can Help Your Business With Every Aspect of Business Law
The scope of our business and corporate law practice is broad, from the simple to the complex. Listing each and every area in which a Business lawyer provides services to a business would take up too much of your time to read. However, using the various stages of a business’ life, a healthy sample of the areas in which a business lawyer helps a business and its owners and employees include:
Business Transactions for Start-Ups
Battaglia, Ross, Dicus & McQuaid, P.A. is sensitive to the limited resources that some start-up businesses are facing and helps business owners in directing the use of their funds and which actions the business owner can take himself/herself and which require the help of an experienced business transactions attorney. There is more legal work to be done than a start-up can afford in the beginning and our firm helps directly in the practical and economical use of the legal budget.
Business can use lawyers at various times, from the time of the idea to start or buy a business, through the years of operation and growth of the business, to the sale of the business or passing the business on to the next generation. This known as “cradle to grave” in the business world.
Preventative Law for Your Business
Business Law provides opportunities to prevent problems in the future by structuring the business relationship in a way that eliminates, or at least minimizes, disputes in the future, or provide a framework for resolving disputes that can avoid the need for business litigation.
Buying or Selling an Existing Business
- Decision to buy assets or buy the company ownership
- Structure of the new business decisions (corporation, limited liability company, partnership, sole proprietorship, other.)
- Use of more than one entity; subsidiaries
- Asset protection
- Related estate planning
- Formation of the new business; restructure of the old business entity
- Issuing shares of stock/membership interests
- Shareholder/member agreements
- Articles/ bylaws/operating agreements
- Minutes/written actions
- Employee Identification Numbers (SS-4)
- Sale Tax ID (DR-1)
- Employees forms Form 941 or 944
- Subchapter S Elections Form 2553
- Business broker negotiations and agreements
- Franchise agreements
- Non-disclosure agreements (NDA)
- Due diligence
- Resolving due diligence issues
- Indemnification for prior debts
- Seller, bank or third party financing the purchase or sale
- Business and personal collateral for financing
- Refinancing
- Personal guarantees
- Letter of intent (LOI)
- Purchase and sale agreement, schedules, exhibits
- Business’ real estate purchase or leases
- Matters critical to the business
- Trade secrets
- Patents
- Contracts with key employees and suppliers
- Non-competition agreements
- Transfer licenses
- Negotiations with government agencies
- Coordinating with CPA’ s and business advisors
- Supporting documents required for the closing
- Closing the acquisition
- Exit strategy and business succession plans
Starting Up a New Business
- Structure of the new business (corporation, limited liability company, partnership, sole proprietorship, and other.)
- Asset protection
- Formation of the new business; restructure of an old business entity
- Shareholder/Member/Partnership agreements
- Bylaws/Operating agreements
- Direction on the steps needed to start a business and where to find help
- Business Plan
- Securing the location
- Home business requirements
- Fictitious names – Protecting the name
- Financing
- Contracts
- Non-disclosure agreements
- Non-competition agreements
- Assist with insurance and other matters
- Permits
- Zoning
Investing In an Existing Business
- Same buying and selling assistance from above
- Agreements for the investment
- Analyze existing control of the business structure
- Changes to the existing structure
- Representations and warranties
- Control issues
- Asset protection
Operating a Business
- Collections
- Breach of contracts
- Contracts drafting and review
- Employee issues
- Creditor disputes
- Resolution of disputes among owners
- Protecting owners
- Business litigation
- Negotiating disputes
- Regulatory issues
- Financing/refinancing
- Selling/buying assets
- Customer/supplier bankruptcy
- Agreements with other businesses and customers
- Annual meeting/written actions/reports
- Responding to claims against the business
- Making claims by the business before litigation
Merging With Another Business
- Same buying and selling assistance as above
- Merger agreement
- Existing control structure of the business
- Changes to the existing structure
- Representations and warranties
- New control issues
- Asset Protection
Real Estate Businesses
- Structure of the business decisions (corporation, limited liability company, partnership, sole proprietorship, etc)
- Use of multiple entities
- Asset protection
- Financing/refinancing
- Deeds
- Mortgages
- Leases
- Tenant disputes before litigation
- Landlord and Tenant Litigation
- Purchase/sales
- Clearing title defects
- Title insurance
- Foreclosures
- Environmental issues
- Zoning
- Governmental regulation
- Condominium documents and issues
- Closing of sales and purchases
- Boundary issues
- Partition – splitting jointly owned property
Going Out of Business
- Close the door decisions
- More formal going out of business
- Negotiations with creditors
- Bankruptcy
- Dissolution
- Liquidation
- Statutory requirements
Hire an Experienced Business and Corporate Transactions Attorney so You Can Focus on Running Your Business
Business’ clients deserve and expect to be represented by Business and corporate transactions attorneys with high-quality legal skills. They also need lawyers that are sensitive to the demands and abilities of the client’s business. Battaglia, Ross, Dicus & McQuaid, P.A. makes it our mission to understand the client’s goals and to tailor our representation to a realistic and economical resolution. Business transaction lawyers should resolve, not create problems, and should not make it their role to kill the deal. Our client’s business’ wants and needs will drive the legal strategy.
