New Year's Nuts and Bolts

Nuts and Bolts: Year End and First Quarter

Each year bring new challenges and new law changes. However, the everyday “nuts and bolts” of running a business remain the same. Here’s a quick checklist of legal issues and opportunities our clients experience in the first quarter. Perhaps you will recognize some of these from your own experience.

1. Employee Comings and Goings. Annually, the end of year through the first quarter of every year is “bonus season” and “job change” season. It just is. During the first quarter, we are often asked to assist our business clients with resolving issues with employee departures such as bonus disputes, severance agreements and protecting trade secrets.

2. Company Handbooks. If you have not already, the new year is the perfect time to update your Company handbook. We believe a good Company handbook is a smart and valuable tool for any business enterprise — for policies, for culture and for minimizing risk of employee related litigation.

3. LLC and Corporation Formations. As one year ends and the next begins, we also see a lot of new entity formation, either with the goal of forming before year end or starting the year off with a new entity. We regularly help existing clients and new entrepreneurs with their entity formations. The LLC remains extremely popular. As noted above, entity formations will be impacted with the arrival of the CTA.

Here are just some of the reasons that businesses or entrepreneurs form entities:

Start a new business — professional services, podcast, e-commerce or any other lawful business
Create a subsidiary through which to conduct a new business
A project has started to grow from a hobby or curiosity into a business
To segregate projects for financings or investments
To raise money
To hold real estate
Of course, there is also the promise of limited liability with an entity

4. General Counsel Services. Our client roster has included well-over 150 entity clients spanning a range of industries. Many of these are thriving, ongoing entities that are leaders in their respective marketplaces. The size of these businesses ranges from a single person start up to entities generating over $100 million in annual revenue, with much higher valuations. We’re grateful for their trust and confidence, and the privilege of being able to be part of their success. If your business is facing a legal challenge or opportunity (e.g. lease, purchase, sale, employee, contract negotiation or something else), or if you are simply ready to add a law firm relationship to your team, we’re happy to meet with you to learn how our experience and expertise may be able to help your company and to see if there is a good fit.

and the last one on our list to start the year….

5. Dispute Resolution and Litigation Management. Conflict is part of life and business. The end of the year does not always mean the end of litigation or threatened litigation. Where litigation or threatened litigation has become a distraction to business operations, our clients retain us to help manage, understand and explain the litigation as it progresses to conclusion. In legal terms, our clients will retain us as their “general counsel” to help oversee the conduct of the litigation by their chosen or assigned litigation counsel of record who is representing them in Court or Arbitration. In non-legal terms, we are retained as a specialized “Project Manager” to oversee the lifecycle of the “litigation project” being handled by the counsel of record. As we have often said, a business owner’s job is not to be mired in litigation, it is to grow the positive cash flow of the business.

ABOUT ADISHIAN LAW GROUP, P.C.

Adishian Law Group is a California law firm with a statewide M&A practice led by Chris Adishian, recipient of Martindale-Hubble’s “AV-Preeminent” rating. To see past transactions, please view our Case Studies.

For more information about this article, or if you need help with your sale or acquisition, please contact Chris Adishian:

New Year’s Nuts and Bolts