The Big Picture in Business Formation
Tax Planning Advice and other Start-Up Considerations
Sound legal planning establishes the proper foundation for a small business to grow, and minimizes the risks of future litigation from internal disputes or external threats. The Law Offices of Lawrence Brown provides astute counsel for new business enterprises in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area and surrounding counties of north Texas.
Lawrence Brown has extensive experience in tax counsel and tax litigation, and as a professional practice owner and entrepreneur himself understands the challenges of running a business. Call 888.870.0025 for a comprehensive approach to business formation, as well as ongoing business counsel relating to contracts, transactions and venture capital.
Entity Selection
The choice of the structure for a closely-held business can have far-reaching tax and legal implications. Mr. Brown is skilled at recognizing and explaining the advantages and disadvantages of different business entities, including:
- Limited liability company (LLC)
- General and limited partnerships
- S corporation or C corporation
- Limited liability partnership (LLP)
- Non-entity ownership (sole proprietorship)
- Family limited partnership (family business)
Through diligent exploration of the client’s needs and goals, Mr. Brown helps produce an entity custom-made for each unique situation. He explores all start-up considerations, including taxation, personal liability and asset protection, ease of operation, transferability of ownership interest and exit strategies.
The Law Offices of Lawrence Brown serves clients in all industries, with significant experience in the special concerns of energy companies (oil and gas drilling and exploration) and technology companies (intellectual property issues).
Operating Agreements/Agreements Among Owners
Structuring and documenting the arrangement among the owners of a business is extremely important. Disagreements among owners frequently lead to costly litigation, the destruction of longstanding personal relationships, and ultimately the death of the business itself. Too often these disagreements arise because financial and legal relationships were not given careful attention at the outset and carefully documented.
We can prepare operating agreements, shareholder agreements, partnership agreements, joint venture agreements and variations thereof. From structuring many such relationships we have a keen understanding of the issues likely to cause friction. By dealing sensibly and fairly with these issues at the time of a l business formation, we can help to remove a common stumbling block to success.
Where a business is owned by more than one person, it is imperative that the partners reach agreement on fundamental issues such as ownership percentages, contributions, compensation, areas of management responsibility, decision-making control, time commitment, buy-in tax structure, and buy-sell matters — and understand the implications of their decisions. Mr. Brown has structured many closely-held business arrangements, from the simplest to the most complex. He has a broad and deep understanding of the issues involved and can suggest time-tested structures as well as innovative solutions to special situations.
Contact an insightful lawyer who sees "the big picture" in small business formation.
