Your business has been built on countless hours of hard work, late nights and sweat equity. So has ours. You watch every dollar you spend because you need those dollars to grow your business. So do we. You place a premium on talented, experienced people who can adapt, work flexibly and focus on the objectives. We do too. You no longer see the value in the traditional law firms. We’re here for you.
We provide the following business services:
Entity Selection/Formation/Organization/Structuring
One of the first decisions an entrepreneur must make is selecting a business structure.
What does it mean to incorporate?
Organizing your business such that it is recognized by the law as a separate and distinct legal entity from yourself.
Why should you incorporate your business?
- Liability concerns
- Taxes implications
- Lends itself well to the formation and maintenance of business partnerships
- Facilitates the raising of capital investment
At Moffatt & Moffatt, we can walk you through the decision-making process and then handle the formation and structuring of your business entity
Operating Agreements/Bylaws/Partnership Agreements
Once your business entity is formed, the next step (especially if your business has more than one owner) is to memorialize the internal governance of your business. Traditionally, this is done with:
- Operating agreements (for LLCs)
- Bylaws (for corporations)
- Partnership agreements (for partnerships)
Each of these documents allows the owners of the business to define their respective rights and responsibilities as owner, directors, officers or managers of the business. Generally, these instruments address matters such as the management structure, voting rights, capital contributions, distributions, buy-sell arrangements, tax issues, and restrictive covenants.
At Moffatt & Moffatt, we explain each of these internal governing documents and then handle the preparation of these instruments for your business entity.
Business/Asset Sales
Selling a business or transferring all or most of its assets is generally a complex transaction involving various agreements and other documents. If handled incorrectly, business owners can leave themselves open to liability issues that could result in complex disputes and costly litigation.
The commercial sale process generally commences with negotiation and preparation of an asset purchase agreement. The parties and their attorneys must take great care to ensure that they share a mutual understanding as to the terms of the agreement(s).
After the asset purchase agreement is signed, the buyer is commonly given time to perform due diligence and inspect the property and assets before closing the purchase.
Depending on the type of transaction, the closing may include an assignment of stock or ownership interest, assignment of intellectual property, consulting or employment agreements, bills of sale for personal property, and conveyances of real property.
At Moffatt & Moffatt, we have handled and consummated many commercial business sales and corporate asset transfers involving both real estate and personal property throughout North Carolina and Tennessee.
General Counsel Services
At Moffatt & Moffatt, we handle day-to-day legal matters for many small and medium sized businesses, allowing our clients to have the service and convenience of a full-time general counsel at a small fraction of the cost.
Our services include working with clients on:
- Employment agreements
- Independent contractor agreements
- Vendor agreements
- Licensing agreements
- Confidentiality/nondisclosure agreements
- Release agreements
- Assignment agreements
- Lease agreements (real estate and personal property)
- Option agreements
- Employee severance agreements
- Employee handbooks
- Managing corporate governance
- Attending board meetings and drafting minutes
- Preparing and managing stock option plans
- Risk management policies and procedures
- Mergers and acquisitions
Labor and Employment Services
At Moffatt & Moffatt, we constantly work with employers on many labor and employment issues, including:
- Employee benefits
- Trade secret protection
- Employment discrimination and harassment
- ADA accessibly compliance issues
- Employment disputes
- Professional development and training for supervisors on legal trends and compliance
- Classification of employees and independent contractors, and other wage-and-hour compliance
- Workplace safety programs
- Leaves of absence, reasonable accommodations, and workers’ compensation return-to-work issues
- Drug testing policies and disciplinary actions
- Performance improvement plans and employee evaluations
- Agreements by which employees assign intellectual property rights
- Non-disclosure
- Non-competition agreements
- Wrongful discharge, defamation, and intentional infliction of emotional distress
- Tortious interference with business relations
- Retaliatory discharge
- State unemployment compensation benefits claims
Business Succession Planning
The demands of running a family business or other closely held business can be all-consuming, but it’s critical that leaders of such businesses take time to assess their organization’s business succession planning. The consequence of failing to get ahead of leadership or ownership changes can be significant. The long-term survival of a business, and the preservation of the wealth that has been built, will likely depend on getting ahead of those changes through strategic succession planning.
Planning and executing a successful business continuity strategy encompasses many different components, including:
- Strategic planning
- Organizational structure design and role alignment
- Management succession
- Ownership succession
- Tax implications
- Estate and gift planning
- Retirement planning
- Business valuations
- Buy-sell agreements
At Moffatt & Moffatt, we constantly work with family and closely held businesses to plan for, implement and execute these strategies.