Business & Corporate Law
Team Member: Marie Quashnock
At Alvis Quashnock and Associates, we offer nearly four decades of business experience and have attorneys regarded as one of California’s leading business and corporate lawyers. Our firm has helped over 700 businesses, including Corporations, LLCs, Partnerships and Sole Proprietorships, become leading-edge providers of services and products in their industries throughout the world.
Our services include:
- Business Formation
- Annual Corporate Compliance
- Business Dissolution
- Buy-sell Agreements
- Contracts
- Unfair Competition and Restrictive Covenants
- Best Practices
- Employment and Independent Contractor Agreements
- Employee Handbooks and Personnel Policies
- Entrepreneur Consulting and Fixed Fee Corporate Plans
Business Formation
So you’re ready start your own business. Great! Will you be a sole proprietor, partnership, a Limited Liability Company (LLC), or a Corporation? If a Corporation, what state should you incorporate in? At Alvis Quashnock and Associates we provide customized, goal oriented legal analyses that eliminate uncertainty and point you on the smart path to business success. We can advise you on which type of entity you should form and help you structure your company to allow for smooth expansion as your business and income grow.
Annual Corporate Compliance
Are you doing what it takes to avoid having your corporation or LLC suspended? More importantly, are you taking the necessary steps to make sure your personal liability protection is not jeopardized? Meeting with your attorney annually for corporate compliance and strategic planning is smart business. Alvis Quashnock and Associates business law services include filing of required statements with the Secretary of State, review of annual corporate activity, preparation of corporate minutes, registered agent services, and planning for the year ahead.
Business Dissolution
Optimism usually marks the start and growth of a new business, but entrepreneurs should plan for the eventual breakup, even if it never happens. Our office provides dissolution services for Corporations, LLCs and partnerships, including buy–sell agreements. We can provide the sound guidance and effective solutions necessary to ensure that your business is dissolved correctly. Because the last thing you need after you’ve shuttered your business’s doors is to have future tax issues that could have been avoided.
Buy-Sell Agreements
Every co-owned business needs a buy–sell, or buyout, agreement the moment the business is formed, or as soon after that as possible. These binding contracts between co-owners guide buyouts, and are also known as buyout agreements. We can help make sure you’re protected should you or your business’s co-owner retire, go bankrupt, become disabled, get divorced or die.
Contracts
Once you’ve formed your business structure it’s time to consider written contracts that outline business deals in clearly defined legal terms and protect you against the unexpected. We have over 300 types of contracts on file that have been created by us personally, and we’re always updating our knowledge. Recent additions include Internet-based e-commerce agreements, affiliate agreements and website development agreements. Whether you’re starting from scratch or have a sample you want us to spruce up, it pays to involve us before making a long-term commitment.
Unfair Competition and Restrictive Covenants
We assist clients in crafting documents to protect their intellectual property and in assessing the enforceability of agreements and policies to which they may be subject. We regularly advise clients on issues relating to unfair competition, trade secrets, covenants not to compete, and other restrictive covenants. When disputes arise, we have extensive experience in representing both employers and employees in lawsuits alleging unfair competition and misappropriation of trade secrets, as well as cases in which temporary restraining orders or other injunctive relief are sought.
Best Practices
In furtherance of our overriding goal of assisting clients in avoiding lawsuits, the attorneys at Alvis Quashnock and Associates advice and counsel clients regarding proper classifications of exempt and nonexempt employees, and independent contractors; preparation, development or assessment of workplace safety programs; risk assessment; and preparation of personnel manuals.
Employment and Independent Contractor Agreements
If your company would like to enter into an employment-related contract, or you have been presented with a contract, it is always advisable to first consult an experienced professional regarding your rights and obligations under that contract. At Alvis Quashnock and Associates we have experience in employment law matters and can advise you regarding a variety of agreements including:
• Individual and executive employment agreements• severance agreements• consulting agreements• commission agreements• employee profit-sharing agreements• independent contractor agreements • restrictive covenants, including non-compete and non-disclosure
Employee Handbooks and Personnel Policies
Our team regularly drafts and revises documents typically used by employers in the course of managing their personnel, including:
• Employee Handbooks and individual personnel policies• applications for employment• employment offer letters• employment contracts• commission plans and agreements• performance review forms • disciplinary memoranda • documents relating to leaves of absence • arbitration agreements • severance agreements