The Corporate and Business Services Group is comprised of experienced attorneys who guide and advise our clients through a variety of complex and sophisticated corporate and business related legal matters, all while maintaining a keen focus on "making the deal". We assist businesses of all character and size in a complete range of services vital to their growth and profitability. Our approach is predicated upon personal counseling and our attorneys' ability to draw on firm specialists and outside professional affiliates, as needed, to create vehicles that can properly support the client's business goals.
Business Planning and Formation: Our attorneys assist clients in developing strategic business plans and determining the most advantageous form of organization, whether in a traditional corporate structure, such as a Subchapter C or S corporations, or alternative entities or vehicles, such as limited liability companies, partnerships, joint ventures, associations and business trusts. We assist our corporate and start-up clients in their company formation, day-to-day operations, and governance.
Corporate and Business Transactions: Working closely with our Tax Group and a wide range of outside professionals, including accountants, financial services groups, venture capitalists and others, we serve as counsel to large and small companies, and individuals engaging in all nature of corporate and business transactions including purchases and sales of business and business assets, mergers and acquisitions, employment and severance agreements, agency contracts, licenses and concession agreement, franchise agreements and other sophisticated business transactions. Our attorneys pride themselves on the ability to efficiently and cost effectively close the deal, but our interest and counsel most often continues beyond the closing room. We continue to provide our corporate clients with all aspects of business legal support and advice, ensuring lingering success, and enabling us to cultivate long standing relationships with our clients.
Tax Planning and Workouts: Proper tax planning is essential for every business and individual. Our tax group, supported by a comprehensive tax library and outside professional affiliates, provides specialized guidance on the tax ramifications of business decisions and transactions, including prompt and aggressive workouts of corporate business and bulk sales tax issues in the sale of business and asset sales. Our tax group's goal is to provide solutions which take maximum advantage of Federal and state tax laws for our clients. In conjunction with our Litigation Department, the group represents taxpayers in audits, collection, and tax liability litigation with the state and Federal governments. Members of the group are: Robert A. Hetherington III, Martin J. Dever, Jr., Christopher H. Minks [make link], and Peter G. Banta. [make link]
Corporate Trust: For the past 25 years we have represented banking institutions, serving as trustee for corporate and tax-exempt bond issues that have totaled well over a billion dollars. Similarly, we have represented both governmental authorities and hospitals in tax-exempt bond issues of over one billion dollars. When representing trustees our attorneys work closely with the issuing authority, underwriters, bond counsel and other professionals to ensure that the bond documents properly protect our client's interests and that the deadlines for the financing are successfully met.