Entity Formation and General Corporate
Do you need an LLC, S Corp, or C Corp? Or will a sole proprietorship or partnership work for you? Will a joint venture allow you to maximize new opportunities? Are you a social enterprise? Are you considering becoming a B Corp or a non-profit? We can help you select the best business form for your small business. Are you in compliance with your contractual obligations and governmental regulations? When you apply for a loan, will your corporate books be in order? Do you have a buy-sell agreement in place? As your counsel and strategic advisor, we can guide you through the growth stages of your company.
Read a Testimonial from Susan Labandabar
Business Contracts and Relations
Where did you get your contracts? Do they protect your interests? Have they been tailored to your business needs and your current operations? Do you have collection issues? We will draft and review your contracts to assure that your interests are protected. When you work with us, you will learn the basic requirements of contract performance, good contracting practices, and how to avoid contract disputes, with special emphasis on contracts that most small businesses need, such as customer, vendor, employment, and partnership contracts. If you collaborate with other professionals, we can make sure your joint ventures are protected as you expand your business and contract opportunities.
Read a Testimonial from Tomasz Wawrzyniak
Employment and Discrimination
It has never been harder to run a legally compliant and safe workplace, free from discrimination, harassment and unlawful compensation models. We can help you navigate the challenges that can arise from discriminatory hiring and disciplinary practices, misclassification of workers (unpaid interns, volunteers, independent contractors, and who is exempt from overtime), shortcutting the hiring process, skipping mandatory new hire legal requirements, and the consequences of not establishing your brand of corporate culture. And while you're building your company and your brand, we can help you protect your assets. Through the use of Non-solicitation, Non-disclosure and Non-competition Agreements, we can minimize or prevent the poaching of your employees, customers and vendors, and dissuade your employees from disclosing your secrets and setting up a competing businesses.
Read a Testimonial from Jamie Winter
Construction, Real Estate, and Land Use
We work with developers and owners through all stages of real estate transactions. With over 40 years of legal experience in the construction space, we can provide qualified counsel through each stage of acquisition and development, including RFPs and bidding, Mechanics Liens, contracts, leasing, land use, permitting, lender relations, and more.
Read Testimonials from Bill Crawford and Paul Cormier
Startups, Emerging Companies & Venture Capital
Are you a startup getting your first term sheet, buying out a co-founder, or taking on an investor? Will your deal include debt, equity, convertible notes, preferred stock or warrants, or employee stock incentives? You need experienced counsel who can guide you from inception through funding to exit. As your counsel and trusted advisor, we get the job done.
Read Testimonials from Adam Korngold and Jacqueline Rose Dube
It often has been said that "Litigation is a sport of kings, where only the kings can afford to play." Disputes are inevitable in business. But only in the rarest of situations is a lawsuit totally unavoidable. Before you sign that contract, make sure you understand the difference between leveraged negotiations, mediation, arbitration, and litigation (court). When a dispute arises, let us help you achieve a cost-effective resolution that allows you to stop managing a lawsuit and get back to running your business. If you feel lost in your current litigation, we can provide a fresh view through our claims analysis and resolution strategies.
Dispute Resolution and Litigation
Do you have a non-profit that you need to convert to for-profit to comply with the emerging regulations? Have you procured rights to develop a Massachusetts dispensary, cultivation facility or manufacturing facility? Do you want to expand your ownership base to include family and friends, angels or other capital investors/lenders? Are you an in-state or out-of-state investor seeking to make an investment in a Massachusetts cannabis facility? Our experienced counsel can protect your interests and guide you through the licensing and investment process.
Cannabis
We can conduct or show you how to conduct a mini legal self-audit of your business operations to minimize risk, to teach you when to call – and when not to call - a lawyer, and provide you with practical tips so you can use immediately to reduce your legal spend.
Legal Audit
Whether you are the Executive Director of a mature organization or a mission-based entrepreneur looking to create a non-profit for your passion project, you have limited resources but must run a legally compliant operation. Like your for-profit counterparts, you face the same challenges in finding cost-effective and efficient solutions for your basic legal needs. These include entity formation, the creation of appropriate by-laws, forming successful affiliate relationships and joint ventures, understanding real estate leases, contracts and insurance requirements, establishing lawful and non-discriminatory employment practices, and fulfilling confidentiality mandates, among others. You need a pragmatic and strategic legal advisor to help you navigate the business side of your mission. We can help.