Tennessee Business Law Services

Nashville lawyer Michael Shipman uses his experience developed while he was General Counsel and Director of Business Development for one of the largest and quickly growing sports training companies to assist small businesses with structuring their company properly from a legal perspective and provides assistance with marketing and business development strategy.

Our Nashville attorneys at Shipman & Crim, provide these business related services:

• Tennessee Business Formations. Its important to select the appropriate legal entities, whether it be an LLC, C-Corp, S-Corp, or a Partnership. Each type of Tennessee entity has its own unique advantages and disadvantages.

• Tennessee Business Agreements. Different types of entities have different requirements and different agreements which need to be put into place. Members of an LLC may enter into an Operating Agreement. Partners of a partnership may enter into a Partnership Agreement. Even if the business is family owned and everyone has a high degree of trust, there are other important reasons these documents need to be in place.

• Small Business Structure Analysis. There are many questions which need to be answered prior to drafting any business agreement. How will the individuals make decisions? If an LLC, will the ownership be proportionate to the voting, will distributions be proportionate to the ownership? An unwary reader may not realize that the level of ownership does not necessarily indicate the degree of control, or even the distributions of profits and losses. Whether setting up yourself, or entering into a business agreement, it is very important to discuss with our Nashville attorneys.

• Specialized/Custom Services Contracts. Most businesses use some form of a template agreement which may or may not address all of the issues and terms of the agreement. Many contracts are left vague and if relied upon, may result in an unjust outcome for your Tennessee business. Our firm has experience drafting very customized and unique contracts for many different types of businesses and individuals.

• Business Mergers, Acquisitions and Sales. Your Nashville attorney is perhaps your only line of defense to entering into an unfavorable business purchase, sale or acquisition. It is critical that you have professional analysis of every deal. If purchasing ownership of a business, how closely have you examined the financials? Have they ever conducted audited financials? Have they provided a pro-forma and what is the basis of the pro-forma? Have promises or guarantees been made related to the transaction – and are those promises or guarantees included as terms of the purchase, sale or merger agreements?

• Business Development Marketing Analysis. Forming a business, legally speaking, is only the first small step to taking your idea from a business concept to a successful business. Hard work provides no guarantees either – you need a plan for your business. We can assist with targeting key markets and demographics – and help make your business a success.