Business Law

Business law

We handle many aspects of business law including the drafting and negotiation of contracts, commercial leases, intellectual property, business formation, business restructuring, business sale or purchase, and dissolution.

Contracts

Drafting, Reviewing, and Negotiations

Contracts are legally enforceable agreements. Nobody wants to pay to enter an agreement, but a poorly written contract can be a lot more costly than having the contract reviewed in the first place.
In addition to the terms of the contract, there are many, many protections in a well-written contract, that will not be known to a person who is not well versed in contract law. A few critical items are who will pay for attorneys’ fees in a dispute, where a dispute can take place, what happens in circumstances beyond your control, limitations on liability, and the list goes on.
When entering into a business agreement where thousands or tens of thousands of dollars are on the line, the terms of the contract are extremely important when things go wrong. Signing a contract where one is not familiar with all the terms can allow for one party to unknowingly agree to some extremely unfavorable terms or one-sided terms. An attorney can spot these items and explain why they should not be agreed to.

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Commercial Leases

Commercial leases are much longer and have more terms than your traditional residential lease. A lot of legalese can be fit in a 30-page lease, and all of the terms have legal meaning. If you are leasing a business space, it is likely that the lease will have been written and will be negotiated by an attorney. If things go wrong, it can save a lot of headaches to make sure the lease provides you the most protections before signing it.

Intellectual Property

Trademarks and copyrights are a relatively inexpensive way to protect your brand or original works so that others are not able to profit off of them.

What is a Trademark?

Trademarks protect a word, phrase, design, or a combination that identifies your goods or services, distinguishes them from the goods or services of others, and indicates the source of your goods or services.

Getting your Trademark

For a flat fee, we will run a search of Federal and State Trademark databases, we will draft and file the trademark application, we will respond to office actions from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to resolve any problems or concerns they may have about your trademark, and we will send your trademark registration certificate to you when issued.

What is a Copyright?

Copyrights provide protection for artistic, literary, or intellectually created works, such as novels, music, movies, software code, photographs, and paintings that are original and exist in a tangible medium, such as paper, canvas, film, or digital format.

Getting your Copyright

For a flat fee, we will file your application with the US Copyright Office and advise on any other steps you should take to protect your original work.

Business Formation

There are many ways you can form your business, and we can help you choose the structure that is right for you. Whether you would like to form an LLC, Corporation, or Doing Business As (DBA), we can help.

Restructuring

Business Sale or Purchase

A Letter of Intent (LOI), non-disclosure agreement, and purchase agreement will all need to be drafted and negotiated.
Lender requirements will need to be met, requiring work from both the Buyer and Seller.
The real estate or land where the business is situated will be a factor whether the land is being sold as part of the transaction or whether the owner is a separate entity from the Seller of the business.
Accounting records, tax documents, inventory valuation, liabilities, assets, accounts receivable, and other documents will need to be provided to ensure the day-to-day operations of the business continue smoothly for the new owner.
Making sure that all the necessary steps take place on time leading up to the closing so that it is as free of last-minute surprises as possible.
Filing necessary tax documents with the IRS and Illinois Department of Revenue.

Dissolution

There are many reasons why the owners of a business may choose to dissolve their business, but whatever the reason, we can help.

Annual Reports

Corporations in Illinois must file an annual report with the Secretary of State’s Office. We can help you with this.