For many businesses, promissory notes are a significant asset in the company’s financial portfolio. Securing such a promissory note with a personal guarantee can be an important step in protecting the company’s financial interests. Unfortunately, many business owners learn the hard way that a simple promissory note template is not…
Changing employment can be a stressful, life-changing event. Severance benefits can, however, ease the transition period. With sound advice from a skilled employment law attorney, California employees and employers can both negotiate severance packages which suit their needs. While it may seem like a severance package is simply a final…
A breach of contract can be a costly expense which causes an array of legal damages to a business. In some cases, this damage can be mitigated by negotiating a settlement with the breaching party in advance. In other situations, the contract must be resolved in litigation. And in the…
Contractors, subcontractors, and suppliers deserve to be paid for the work they complete and the supplies they provide. All too often, however, they are not adequately or promptly paid and find themselves in a payment dispute. Fortunately, the law gives those in the construction industry a legal tool called a…
Of the many challenges faced when starting a business, creation of a company’s bylaws can be one of the more complex, technical, and overwhelming challenges of them all. While daunting, such agreements can protect startup companies from liability in business transactions. A Silicon Valley corporate lawyer can help your business…
Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are complex business transactions with much on the line. If a merger or acquisition is not successful, a business can lose substantial assets. Of course, no one would intentionally enter into an acquisition transaction knowing it would fail; however, reports have indicated that more than half…
Limited liability companies, or LLCs, are one of the various types of business entities from which you can choose when forming a company. Generally speaking, limited liability companies combine the tax advantages and flexibility of a partnership with the liability protections of a corporation, without subjecting small business owners to…
Venture capital (VC) is a form of financing that is provided to early-stage companies that have been deemed to have high-growth potential by venture capital firms or funds. Typically, venture capital financing is attractive to smaller, newer companies that do not have access to traditional forms of funding such as…
Selling a business can be an extremely lucrative prospect, but like any business transaction, the deal can go wrong and can be unnecessarily costly. The sale of a business usually is not the sale of one asset; instead, all the assets of the business are sold or transferred. One way…
There are many California requirements for an investor to be a holder in due course. A holder of an instrument is entitled to enforce the instrument. However, a “holder in due course” has greater rights under the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) and the California Commercial Code (COM) than a holder…