Business Law Attorney

Establishing and operating a business is one of the most rewarding experiences you can have. However, managing a successful business in and around Richmond extends beyond providing a high-quality product or service. Business law concerns can affect nearly every facet of your company’s endeavors. Whether they own small businesses or medium-sized businesses, entrepreneurs must be aware of potential legal issues and legal liability surrounding their particular business entity to remain in compliance with state laws and federal regulations.

The knowledgeable and experienced business lawyers at PJI Law are here to provide the legal guidance you need to comply with complex regulations, protect your intellectual property, and safeguard your business interests. From business formation and commercial transactions to creating bylaws and establishing the proper legal documents, our experienced team provides personalized, high-quality legal services tailored to your needs. Let our legal knowledge and assistance secure the future of your company.

Key Takeaways about Business Law in Richmond, Virginia

• Employment Law: Virginia business law includes regulations related to employment rights and responsibilities, seeking to uphold the fair treatment of employees.

• Corporate Law: State laws address aspects of corporate governance, formation, transactions, and dissolution, providing a legal framework for businesses operating in the state.

• Operating Agreement: Establishing a comprehensive operating agreement is vital for Virginia businesses, outlining management structure, decision-making processes, and member responsibilities.

• Contract Law: Virginia’s business law includes provisions on contract formation, enforcement dispute resolution, and emphasizing the importance of clear and legally binding agreements.

• Property Law: Different businesses own or lease properties, which involves significant paperwork. A knowledgeable and experienced business attorney can provide the legal assistance a business owner needs to negotiate fair contracts.

• Small Business Lawyer: Small business lawyers can help Virginia business owners navigate legal requirements and protect their enterprises.

Types of Business Formation in Richmond, Virginia

Virginia business owners can choose a business structure among the following options:

• fSole proprietorship

• Partnership

• Limited liability company (LLC)

• C-corporation

• S-corporation

A Corporate Lawyer Explains S-Corps and C-Corps

As experienced corporate lawyers, we often meet with clients who want to form a corporation but do not know how to proceed. Should they choose an S-corporation or a C-corporation?

Small businesses expecting minimal growth are good candidates for S-corporations. This kind of corporate entity can have up to 100 shareholders, with the business owners receiving common stock and voting rights. Shareholders are taxed based on their profits.

On the other hand, C-corporations can have an unlimited number of shareholders, allowing for expansion and growth. However, this type of corporate entity is taxed twice: First, the company must pay corporate taxes, and second, the shareholders are taxed on their profits.

Although business owners can receive preferred stock when they operate a C-corporation, the stock does not include voting rights. However, as preferred stockholders, business owners can receive dividends before common stockholders.

A business lawyer from PJI Law will evaluate your business plan and growth potential before recommending the right option for you. From there, our Richmond, Virginia business lawyers will help you start your new business.

Keep in mind, that if you organize your business as a corporation, you must comply with the legal requirements to maintain your status, such as holding shareholder or partner meetings, recording minutes, creating bylaws, and electing officers. Our lawyers can also assist with these legal tasks.

Limited Liability Companies (LLCs)

In Richmond, Virginia many small business owners prefer limited liability companies for their new businesses. As the name suggests, owners have limited liability. Following the legal advice of a business lawyer from PJI Law, you will keep your personal assets and business assets separate to prevent debt collectors from seizing your personal assets to collect debts.

Furthermore, LLCs in Virginia do not have to abide by the same rigid regulations and guidelines that govern corporations. For example, if you start an LLC, you can avoid holding shareholder meetings or submitting annual reports. You’ll also have flexibility regarding management and profit distributions.

Many Richmond, Virginia small business owners prefer LLCs because of their tax flexibility. When PJI Law forms your LLC, you can choose to be taxed as a corporation, partnership, or sole proprietorship. An experienced business lawyer at PJI Law will provide legal advice and help you select the right option for your business.

Richmond Business Transactions

Operating a thriving business relies on many components. However, none have more urgency than your business transactions. Each business transaction should represent your interests and move you toward the accomplishment of your goals. Unfortunately, as experienced business attorneys can attest, even seemingly minuscule mistakes can impede your plans and cause significant financial losses.

Our Richmond business attorneys understand the stakes involved in each transaction and will perform due diligence to properly represent and protect your interests. Whether you are in the business planning stage or have already established your company, we can offer the legal advice you need to thrive and remain in compliance with applicable laws. 

Types of Business Transactions

PJI Law represents clients in various commercial transactions in and around Richmond, Virginia, including:

• Purchase or sale of business

• Stock purchase agreements

• Asset purchase agreements

• Mergers and acquisitions

• Commercial lease contracts

• Management agreements

• Supplier agreements

• Non-compete and independent contractor agreements

Richmond, Virginia Contracts and Business Transactions

Contracts are at the heart of every commercial transaction. Our Richmond, Virginia corporate lawyers draft documents to cater to multiple needs and circumstances, ranging from employee contracts to commercial lease contracts.

Ideally, our business lawyers prefer to draft contracts for our clients. In our negotiations with other businesses or individuals, you can trust our legal representation to protect your interests and uphold your rights while keeping all parties in the deal. 

However, we also understand that many businesses might not have the option to draft contracts for each transaction. In such a case, a business lawyer on our team can review and edit the contract for you, and then negotiate with the other party to represent your interests in the contract.

Commercial Leases In Richmond, Virginia

If your company has a physical presence, you’re probably leasing space and dealing with a lengthy commercial lease that can have as many as 50 pages. While a commercial realtor negotiates the market and dollar terms of commercial leases, only a licensed attorney can thoroughly review such legally binding agreements for language that protects your business and you personally.

Both parties like to “red-line” leases, making changes in the document and negotiating back and forth until they can mutually agree to its fairness. A business lawyer from our Richmond law firm can examine your lease with a discerning legal eye and caution you about any aspects that contradict your goals for the lease agreement.

Richmond, Virginia Contracts

Businesses and people develop and maintain relationships with multiple entities and individuals, including customers, vendors, investors, and landlords. As a seasoned business lawyer knows, every time a business enters a new relationship, protecting its interests with a well-drafted and enforceable contract is paramount. When created in compliance with contract law, a contract can safeguard companies and individuals from lawsuits and give them the legal right to sue for breach of contract, fraud, and other issues.

Hiring a Richmond business lawyer should be your company’s first task when forming new relationships. With years of experience drafting legally binding contracts, you can trust the business attorneys at PJI Law to provide the legal help you need to uphold the best interests of your business. To help you avoid a legal issue, we can also review contracts before you sign them. Our legal advice enables you to protect your company today and in the future.

Common Types of Business Contracts

PJI Law creates and reviews many types of business contracts, including:

• Partnership agreements

• Promissory Notes

• Sales Agreements

• Indemnity agreements

• Non-disclosure agreements

• Property lease agreements

• Equipment lease agreements

• Employment contracts

• Non-compete agreements

• Independent contractor agreements

Drafting And Editing Business Contracts

Business owners should seek to be the drafting party when creating a contract to give them more control over its language, enabling them to include provisions that protect their company’s rights and interests. Simultaneously, as corporate lawyers know, when striving for long-term business relationships, these provisions should also be tailored to keep the other party interested in signing.

On the other hand, a business lawyer from PJI Law can draft contracts and edit documents created by others. If someone else has drafted the contract, a business attorney from PJI Law can review and edit it to represent your interests and negotiate with the other party to make changes before the contract is signed. Once we feel confident that the document protects your rights, you can finalize the agreement with your signature.

The Blue Pencil Rule For Northern Virginia Businesses

Some states follow the “blue pencil rule,” which grants a judge the authority to modify unreasonable, vague, or unenforceable sections of contracts. Once the judge is finished, the contracts are legally binding. However, Virginia judges do not follow this rule. Since they are not parties to the agreement, they don’t believe they have the legal right to modify it.

Because businesses cannot rely on the blue pencil rule to correct errors, many include severability clauses in contracts. You can discuss a severability clause and other options when you speak to a business lawyer at PJI Law.

Commercial Leases Attorney

Commercial real estate is much more complicated than residential real estate, with provisions that do not exist in residential property leases. For example, unlike a residential property lease, landlords do not simply charge tenants based on the square footage. Instead, when arriving at a rental amount for a lease agreement, they can also factor in how the business owner plans to use the property. Furthermore, landlords can limit the ways in which a business uses a property and include other complex provisions.

Because of the complexities involved in this commercial transaction, contacting a corporate lawyer from PJI Law is imperative. We can provide legal advice and collaborate with landlords and tenants to establish favorable and legally binding lease agreements.

Types of Commercial Leases

The team of corporate lawyers at PJI Law has experience in all types of commercial leases, including:

• Single net leases

• Gross leases

• Modified gross leases

• Net-net leases

• Triple net leases

Our firm can discuss these and other options with you.

Negotiating a Commercial Lease In and Around Richmond, Virginia

Neither a broker nor a business owner needs a juris doctor degree to negotiate things like rent, the amount of security deposit, and the length of the lease. However, a business owner needs the legal guidance of a corporate lawyer to negotiate the legal aspects of the contract and items where legal and business issues overlap.

At PJI Law, the goal of every business attorney is to ensure favorable terms for our clients when signing commercial leases. To that end, our attorneys analyze lease agreements and negotiate the terms and conditions before advising our clients to sign them.

Adding an Out Clause to a Commercial Lease In and Around Richmond, Virginia

Landlords and tenants often prefer the stability of long-term leases. However, long rental periods have inherent risks. Because many landlords worry that a new business might not last for the duration of the lease, they require a personal guarantee — meaning, if the business goes under two years into a five-year lease, the tenant could be personally responsible for paying the remaining three years of rent.

A lawyer from our Richmond office can help you protect yourself by including an outclause in the document. This clause empowers you to determine under which circumstances you can get out of the lease early without having to pay the remaining balance.

Richmond Registered Agent

Virginia law requires all limited liability companies, corporations, and legal entities registered to do business in the state to have a registered agent. The Virginia State Corporation Commission will send all official correspondence — including legal notices and lawsuits — directly to the registered agent.

As long as an individual is a legal resident of Virginia, business owners can select an officer, director, member, or partner to serve as the registered agent. However, hiring a registered agent in Richmond to act on your behalf provides ease and convenience.

As your registered agent, PJI Law will receive all communications for you and ensure you receive copies on time, allowing you to maintain your privacy while you focus on running your business.

Why Hire a Registered Agent?

Hiring a law firm to serve as your company’s registered agent offers multiple benefits.

• Virginia expects the registered agent to be available at the designated address during normal business hours.

• You don’t have to worry about your customers or neighbors seeing a Sheriff serve you with a lawsuit.

• It prevents your personal name from being listed on the public SCC website.

• It prevents your address from being listed on the public SCC website, which is especially important if it’s a home address.

• Your lawyer will recognize the meaning of legal documents and ensure that you receive them.

• Your lawyer and law firm stay abreast of the laws and requirements for registered agents.