Business Law

At Gerard Law firm, we work with startups as well as existing businesses to determine the best possible type of corporate structure for the business to minimize risk and maximize benefits. We can provide invaluable assistance in the creation of your Corporation, Limited Liability Company (LLC), Limited Liability Partnership (LLP). We can also assist with development and trademarking a “Doing Business As” name for your company, or “DBA”, which can allow you to develop your company name into a recognizable and valuable brand.

• Incorporation: Incorporation is the process of forming a new corporation and making it recognizable under law as its own legal entity. Corporations enjoy certain tax advantages and enable you to protect your personal assets.
• Limited Liability: LLCs and LLPs limit owners’ liability while also offering flexibility in taxation and management structures. Gerard Law Firm can explain the advantages and disadvantages of a Limited Liability arrangement to help determine if this an LLC or LLP is most appropriate for your business.
• DBA: A DBA (short for “Doing Business As”) can be beneficial for existing businesses that want to restructure to serve different needs or customer bases, or to market and develop their name as a recognizable and valuable brand. 

Gerard Law Firm serves as a resourceful mentor and powerful ally to entrepreneurs, new business owners and operators of start-ups. Whether you are investing your own assets or have a fiscal responsibility to investors, it is imperative that legal risks be kept to a minimum – as unforeseen disputes or litigation can quickly drain your resources and negatively impact your ability to scale.

Gerard Law Firm can assist in every phase of your venture, from seed to growth, to maturity and exit strategy. We have experience protecting all types of NY startup businesses so they can focus on scaling quickly without the added burden of legal issues or court appearances.

• Business Formation: We can help determine the appropriate type of business entity (e.g. a corporation or LLC) to protect you from liabilities and excessive taxes – and file all necessary documentation with appropriate agencies.
• Intellectual Property: Gerard Law Firm ensures that all intellectual property rights, copyrights, and trademarks are in place – and confirms you’re not infringing on the intellectual property rights of others, which can lead to messy and expensive legal issues down the road.
• Raising Capital and Management Structures: We help negotiate fair and favorable terms with investors, VCs and partners around issues such as equity, shares, and repayment structures
• Contract Creation: We are skilled at preparing contracts for ongoing or one-time use with third-party vendors, employees, customers and other businesses.

Most modern businesses depend on contracts to maintain operations and sales, including contracts with vendors, contracts with employees, contracts with customers, and contracts with other businesses. The bottom line: your business can’t be strong if your contracts are weak. At Gerard Law Firm, you’ll work with a NY business lawyer who is equipped to assist in the negotiation, drafting, review, enforcement, and litigation of all types of business contracts.

To protect our client’s financial interests and avoid disputes, we ensure that contracts clearly state terms, costs, deliverables, and obligations of all involved parties – as well as cover future provisions – to enhance the sustainability of the agreement. If we determine that a contract contains unfavorable terms, we negotiate on our client’s behalf to correct the imbalance. We can draft template contracts for you to use over and over again, review existing contracts for weaknesses or irregularities, and ensure that you’re not exposing your business to unnecessary risks with incomplete or non-comprehensive contracts.