Legal Services

A team of an experienced legal professional built for Startups
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We offer legal advice and guidance to new startups, growing companies and successful entrepreneurs that may need help planning the next steps for their business. The requirements and challenges faced by companies vary in different stages. We support small to medium-sized businesses with a variety of services, offering different levels of assistance and different products depending on where you are in your business lifecycle.

When you decide to start your own business, one of the primary decisions you will face is which legal business entity to form. As a startup, you have many different options, and each has its own legal requirements and implications. You should carefully consider how a particular entity will affect formation, maintenance efforts, taxes, and more, and an experienced Silicon Valley startup attorney can help you evaluate your array of options so that you can choose the right entity for your venture. At Startup Company Counsel, we assist startups of every kind—from sole proprietors to corporations. We can help you select the most effective legal entity for your business, so please call to learn more today.

Provide The Highest Quality Legal Services

The experienced startup attorneys at have over 15 years of experience helping Silicon Valley entrepreneurs and business owners start, grow, and manage their companies. From the drafting of employment contracts. entity formation, help with fundraising, and personalized legal solutions, we can help you manage liability and poise your company for growth and success.

01Liability Protection

One of the most important reasons businesses elect a certain type of business entity is to protect owners and investors from personal liability. Limited liability companies, or LLCs, are one of the various types of business entities from which you can choose when forming a company. The laws governing LLCs are set at the state level and vary somewhat from state to state. It may be the case that an LLC is not the best entity choice for the new business. It may be the case that the LLC should be set up in one state over another. By consulting with an attorney, entrepreneurs can determine if an LLC is the best entity for their business and ensure that it is formed in the preferred state. Yet, while limited liability protections exist for corporations and limited liability companies, these protections are not impenetrable. Creditors will only be able to access the personal assets of owners and investors if the court determines that piercing the corporate veil is the appropriate remedy. Otherwise, the protections of limited liability remain intact.

02Entity Formations

Among the most important decisions a business owner or entrepreneur can make is determining what business entity best suits their needs. This decision can affect how much you pay in taxes, the amount of paperwork that you will need to do, your own personal liability, and your ability to raise capital by issuing stock. A sole proprietorship is perhaps the most common type of business that exists today, and many people may own one without knowing it. Sole proprietors are simply individuals who engage in some sort of business venture for themselves. A partnership involves two or more people who work together in a common enterprise and share in the profits and losses of that enterprise. A corporation is a legal entity separate from its owners created to conduct business. Limited Liability Companies are a relatively new business formation favored by many startups and small businesses because they combine the flexibility of partnerships with the liability protection of corporations.

03Mergers & Acquisitions

Successful merger and acquisition (M&A) transactions often rely on how well the parties involved communicate and how efficiently they can complete negotiations and due diligence. There are many reasons why thorough due diligence is indispensable to a successful corporate acquisition. Perhaps most importantly, it is a critical step in ensuring that the buyer has a comprehensive picture of what is being acquired. In general, due diligence is the process by which a buyer or seller performs a comprehensive appraisal of a business asset before executing a sales transaction. Depending on the type of transaction, purchase price, and corporate entity, the M&A activity may require regulatory notice and compliance. An M&A attorney can be valuable in helping to navigate and communicate with regulatory organizations. The SEC is the federal agency that is tasked with ensuring that any merger activity is not illegal by violating federal securities laws. The FTC oversees corporate transactions to make sure that the transaction complies with various federal laws. Some corporate transactions carry tax implications. You must comply with all tax requirements, but also want to minimize taxation when possible.

04Process and Resource Optimization

Assessing business operations that impact risk, cost, and value, we provide actionable roadmaps to help legal organizations pursue initiatives and accelerate performance. Our assessments scale from review of specific processes to a comprehensive evaluation of legal operations, structure, roles and responsibilities, service delivery, cost, and technology. Incorporating our experience, industry benchmarks, client feedback, and business objectives, we develop recommendations for improving operations and organizational design and effectiveness to meet both short- and long-term goals.

05Spend Analysis and Cost Reduction

Positioning legal organizations to achieve an average of 5%-15% reduction in external legal spend, our tailored action plans and supporting cost models are practical, creative, and effective.Understanding the relationship between law firms, corporate counsel, and outside vendors, we guide clients on how to better manage cost without adversely impacting risk or quality. Opportunities include shifting or consolidating work, researching new providers, sourcing through preferred providers, implementing alternative pricing structures, and enhancing business reporting.

06Safeguard Your Interests

You don't want to let your idea out of the bag too soon, especially if you are leery that potential competitors will benefit. You don't want your employees to, either. To protect intellectual property assets-including trademarks, patents and trade secrets, have employees, contractors, consultants and business partners sign a Confidential Information and Invention Assignment Agreement. This agreement states that all intellectual property created or disclosed by the company remains the property of the company. To protect your invention, apply for a Provisional Patent. This lets you use a "patent pending" notice to keep others from copying your invention while you focus on starting your startup. We offer a free Provisional Patent Application that you can fill out to submit to the US Patent and Trademark Office and start the process. You can also include a non-compete clause in an Employment Agreement that prohibits an employee from competing against you or soliciting your employees or customers for a limited time after leaving the company.

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Key Advantages

  • Patents, trademarks and other IP asset protection
  • Company formation
  • Agreements
  • Liability
  • Equity issuance
  • Venture financing
  • Infringement resolution and litigation