Why Should I Have an Attorney Form my Corporation (or LLC)?

On occasion, I get asked to write blog posts or submit my thoughts on topics of interest related to corporate law, starting your own business, and the like for other websites or blogs.  A version of this post was originally written for The UpCounsel Blog and appeared on October 3rd.  You can find it here. 

So you’ve decided to form your own business.  Congratulations!  And you’ve heard enough horror stories about folks losing their shirts (or houses) to know that you want an entity between you and all that potential business liability.  Congratulations again!

But where do you begin?  Corporation or LLC?  Board of Directors? Managers? Advisors?  Employees or Consultants? Interests or Units? Vested or Unvested? S-corp? C-corp? No-corp?

The great news about forming a U.S.-based business in the 21st century is that you literally have more options than ever before.  That’s also the bad news.

While the Internet can offer an almost unlimited bank of terms, precedent materials, and even some very good advice on the formation process itself (like blogs, for instance), regardless of how “off the shelf” you believe your new enterprise to be, there are risks to mitigate and questions to consider that no amount of filling in blanks on a pre-prepared form can properly account for.

That’s where a good attorney comes in.

Start-Up Entrepreneur Series: Founders Stock

In the Start-Up Entrepreneur Series, I will be taking a deeper look into some of the most common questions early stage founders face in putting together and operating their new businesses.  

The Start-Up Entrepreneur Series will be published each Wednesday morning until conclusion. For more information, check out www.hoeglaw.com or drop Rick a line at rhoeg@hoeglaw.com.

***

Last week we discussed the nature of a company’s operational organization through a discussion of its officers and directors.  This week we’ll take a deeper look at another major organizational question (and one whose answer is needed to elect those officers and directors):

“How should the founders split up the Company?”

That question, as it turns out, is difficult to answer before a series of smaller, but equally important, questions are considered.

Start-Up Entrepreneur Series: Directors and Officers

In the Start-Up Entrepreneur Series, I will be taking a deeper look into some of the most common questions early stage founders face in putting together and operating their new businesses.  

The Start-Up Entrepreneur Series will be published each Wednesday morning until conclusion. For more information, check out www.hoeglaw.com or drop Rick a line at rhoeg@hoeglaw.com.

***

Last week, we talked about the various documents that make up the governing “law” of a corporation (or LLC).  This week, we’ll talk about the individuals that govern the actions of a corporation: the Board of Directors and Officers.

(Note that because of the inherent flexibility in the LLC structure, a discussion of an LLC’s management at a generalized level is not possible.  Know that an LLC can be organized as we discuss below (and that many do in order to emulate the more understood corporate form), but that it can also be organized in myriad other, distinct ways.)