Sound corporate counsel helps prevent costly litigation, ensures compliance with Virginia statutory requirements, and structures transactions to optimize tax and operational outcomes. Whether drafting shareholder agreements, advising on fiduciary duties, or planning succession, attorneys provide frameworks that protect business assets, clarify decision-making authority, and preserve enterprise value over time.
Comprehensive planning clarifies fiduciary duties, establishes dispute-resolution paths, and documents buy-sell arrangements so owners’ economic and governance interests are protected. This reduces the likelihood of protracted conflicts and preserves company value for continuing stakeholders and successors.
We prioritize clear explanations, realistic risk assessments, and business-oriented solutions that balance legal protection with commercial practicality. Our counsel aims to make legal requirements understandable and manageable while supporting growth, investment readiness, and ownership transitions for closely held companies.
Regular check-ins, governance updates, and revisiting buy-sell provisions help prevent disputes and ensure plans remain aligned with changing business needs. When conflicts arise, we emphasize negotiated resolutions and practical settlements that protect company continuity while addressing stakeholders’ concerns.
Choosing an entity depends on liability protection needs, tax considerations, investor plans, and management preferences. LLCs offer flexible management and pass-through taxation for many small businesses, while corporations may be preferable for outside investment or more formalized equity structures. We assess your business model, capital needs, and long-term goals before recommending a structure. Selecting the right entity also includes drafting governance documents that reflect ownership and decision-making expectations to avoid future disputes and ensure clarity among founders and investors.
A comprehensive shareholder or operating agreement should define ownership percentages, capital contribution obligations, management and voting rights, distribution policies, and transfer restrictions. It should also include valuation methods for transfers, buy-sell triggers, and dispute-resolution procedures. These provisions reduce uncertainty among owners, set clear expectations for exits or transfers, and provide mechanisms to resolve disagreements without disrupting operations. Regular review ensures the agreement remains aligned with the company’s evolving needs and investor relationships.
A buy-sell agreement is important when owners anticipate retirement, estate transfers, or potential disputes. It sets terms for transfers, valuation methods, and purchase triggers, which helps avoid deadlocks and ensures orderly changes in ownership. Establishing buy-sell terms early protects remaining owners and the business by setting predictable processes for ownership changes. Periodic updates keep the agreement consistent with current valuations, tax law changes, and the owners’ personal planning objectives.
Preparing a business for sale involves organizing financial records, consolidating contracts, resolving outstanding disputes, and ensuring governance documents accurately reflect operations. Clean corporate housekeeping, clear title to assets, and up-to-date regulatory compliance all improve buyer confidence. Engaging legal counsel early helps identify issues that could impede a sale and structure the transaction to meet tax and business goals while protecting the seller’s interests during negotiation and closing.
Begin by consulting governance documents to determine decision-making authority and dispute-resolution mechanisms. If documents are lacking, consider negotiation or mediation to reach an agreed path forward that preserves operations. Formalizing roles and expectations through updated agreements often prevents repeat conflicts. When necessary, legal counsel can facilitate discussions, draft enforceable resolutions, and pursue remedies that protect the business while seeking to maintain working relationships among owners.
Corporate governance documents should be reviewed whenever ownership, capital structure, or business goals change, and at least every few years to ensure compliance with current law and market practices. Regular review helps identify outdated provisions, addresses new regulatory obligations, and ensures buy-sell and valuation mechanisms remain fair and effective. Proactive reviews reduce the risk of disputes and support readiness for transactions or financing events.
Due diligence for a sale examines contracts, financial statements, regulatory compliance, employment obligations, intellectual property, and potential liabilities. Buyers use diligence to verify representations and allocate risk via indemnities and escrow provisions. Sellers benefit from pre-sale due diligence to identify and remediate issues that could reduce value, speeding the process and improving negotiating leverage during the transaction.
Separating personal and business affairs through appropriate entity formation, maintaining corporate formalities, and avoiding commingling funds reduces personal liability exposure. Insurance, clear contracting, and strong governance further protect owners. Asset protection strategies should be coordinated with estate and tax planning to ensure legal compliance and effectiveness, recognizing that improper measures can be challenged if designed to evade creditors unlawfully.
Estate planning is integral to business succession, addressing how ownership interests transfer upon incapacity or death and aligning personal tax plans with corporate continuity. Wills, trusts, and powers of attorney, combined with buy-sell agreements and succession arrangements, help ensure ownership transitions occur as intended and minimize tax and administrative friction for successors. Coordinated planning prevents unintended ownership changes and preserves ongoing operations.
Hatcher Legal emphasizes dispute avoidance through clear agreements and governance, but when conflicts arise we prioritize negotiation and mediation to preserve value and relationships. If litigation becomes necessary, we prepare a thorough factual and legal strategy while seeking efficient resolutions. Our focus is on protecting the company’s operations and value while pursuing practical remedies suited to the client’s objectives.
