Privately Owned Business

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Today’s privately owned businesses face unprecedented legal and business challenges — along with a multitude of critical questions. These may include: Do you have a succession plan or exit strategy? How can you grow or best position your business in an uncertain economic climate? Are your corporate governance procedures sufficient?

Whether your business is just preparing to launch or your company’s lifetime spans generations, Hodgson Russ’s Privately Owned Business Practice Group can help you achieve your objectives in a constantly changing marketplace. Our attorneys have extensive experience counseling private companies on everything from entity formation and day-to-day operation to complex transactions, dispute avoidance and resolution, and business succession planning. As one of the nation’s oldest law firms, we have a long history of advising successful private businesses through all stages of growth.

With Hodgson Russ, you receive the high-quality, sophisticated legal services trusted by Fortune 500 companies coupled with a deep understanding of the complex dynamics inherent in family-owned and other closely held businesses. We provide practical, business-focused legal advice that is sensitive to the unique needs of a family-owned or other type of closely held business.

We work closely with other advisors such as accountants, financial planners, valuation experts, bankers, and insurance brokers who have experience with family- owned and other closely held businesses.

We advise privately owned businesses of all types and sizes, and we can assist you with your legal needs in connection with all aspects of your business, including:

Company Structure and Ownership 

• Choice of business entity and company structure
• Equity ownership and voting power
• Buy/sell agreements and restricted stock arrangements
• Recapitalizations and reorganizations

Business Strategy, Operation, and Growth

• Employee compensation, benefits, and agreements 
• Drafting and negotiating business contracts 
• Megers and acquisitions, strategic alliances, and joint ventures, both domestic and international 
• Obtaining financing, including debt, private equity, and bank financing 
• Private offerings of securities 
• Cross-border strategies and expansion 
• Real property leases and construction matters 
• Minimizing federal, international, state, and local tax
• Protection, licensing, and acquisition of intellectual property
• Bankruptcy, restructuring, and work-outs

Governance and Compliance

• Procedures for board and shareholder meetings
• Corporate compliance
• Legal obligations of directors, trustees, and others
• Dealing with interested party transactions
• Regulatory matters

Dispute Avoidance and Resolution 

• Minimizing risk of litigation
• Contract and other commercial disputes
• Product liability defense
• Shareholder and partner disputes
• Addressing the challenges of family relationships in the business context

Wealth Management and Business Succession

• Estate and tax planning
• Ownership and management succession
• Charitable giving and establishment of trusts and private foundations
• Sale of business, ESOPs, and other exit strategies