Business Law
The business law practice of the Law Offices of Vance R. Koven offers a variety of services to business owners and managers, treating every phase of a business’s life cycle and operations. We strive to provide sensitive and wise counseling, drawing on over four decades of experience with firms of all sizes.
Business Organization and Governance
Choosing the right form of business organization and ensuring that it is properly maintained is one of the keys to building a successful business. We can help you decide what is the right form for you: corporation (C or S), limited liability company (LLC), general or limited partnership, real estate investment trust, nonprofit organization, or something else.
Once a company is formed, it is essential that it be properly maintained by necessary filings and documenting important decisions, and that it be governed according to procedures that minimize risk of liability for self-dealing and other avoidable errors.
Companies should be capitalized in accordance with their particular structures and needs—equity in various forms, and by judicious debt instruments, which we can aid in negotiating.
We can aid in finding funding sources such as private placements, and properly documenting the funding process through offering memoranda and loan agreements.
Transactions
Business transactions are the lifeblood of every enterprise. Our vast store of experience and expertise can assist your business with a wide array of transactions, from sales and procurement agreements to licenses, nondisclosure and non-competition agreements, services agreements like web development, telecom and marketing (and much more), employment agreements, commercial office leasing, equipment leasing, architects’ agreements. You name it and we’ve probably done it.
We also do not stop at the water’s edge: we have long experience in international trade and investment, joint venture agreements, project finance and global supply chains.
Because our experience has spanned so many industries and has reflected both outside counseling and in-house practice, we are sensitive to how businesses work and can counsel effectively at every level of an enterprise.
We have built a reputation for fast turnaround: when a project needs to be done yesterday, we
are not thrown off stride; but we also know the advantages of early involvement to solve major risk issues before they become problems.
Acquisitions and Divestitures
Businesses grow not only organically, but through acquisitions, and evolve through selling businesses that no longer satisfy the owners’ objectives. When business owners reach a stage where they must plan for succession to their businesses, sales within ownership groups and to outsiders play an important role in winding down the owners’ involvement.
We can counsel entrepreneurs and existing business owners on how to buy and sell businesses, and
help negotiate and document the transactions. Our experience covers transactions ranging from the thousands to the multi-millions, and has involved conducting due diligence reviews, antitrust review and filings, securities analysis and filings, finance, transfers of business licenses, and structuring of business ownership in multi-line enterprises.
Intellectual Property
While intellectual property—patents, copyrights and trademarks, along with trade secrets, publicity rights and more exotic forms—constitutes the heart of many types of business, such as technology companies, publishing, entertainment and franchising, many business owners in other industries do not realize or appreciate the value intellectual property adds to their companies, and do not take adequate steps to acquire, protect, and use it.
Patent law requires technical specialization that this firm does not directly offer (though we maintain working relationships with those who do). However, we possess a broad understanding of how to develop and maintain an IP portfolio, and we are alert to the ways in which companies can enhance their IP positions. In matters of copyright and trademark we can offer direct services in registering, counseling and protecting them on a transactional basis, and can negotiate and structure licensing programs both on the sales and procurement sides of a business.
« Back to Top
