Ongoing legal advice as your business develops

A significant customer contract, a change in ownership, or a decision to bring in capital can affect several parts of a business at once. Outside counsel helps you work through those connections before you commit.

LMB Partners provides ongoing legal advice to businesses and their owners. We work with management to understand the company’s operations, commercial relationships, and plans, so our advice reflects the decisions you actually need to make. That may mean negotiating an agreement today while considering how its obligations could affect financing or a future sale.

Contracts and commercial relationships

A contract needs to work for the people carrying it out. We draft, review, and negotiate business contracts, including customer and vendor agreements, service contracts, licensing arrangements, and confidentiality agreements.

Our review focuses on the practical consequences of the terms. Can the business meet the promised obligations? What happens if payment is late, performance falls short, or either party wants to end the relationship? We help you evaluate liability provisions, renewal terms, and other commitments against the value of the opportunity and the risks your business can reasonably accept.

Continuing counsel also helps when an existing relationship changes, a customer proposes new terms, or the business needs to revisit the agreements it uses regularly.

Ownership and governance

As a company develops, its ownership documents and decision-making practices may need attention. We advise on management authority, owner approvals, contributions, distributions, and changes in ownership.

We prepare and review operating agreements, shareholder arrangements, and related governance documents. The questions are often concrete: Who can commit the company to a major obligation? What approval does a new investment require? How would an owner’s departure affect management and cash flow?

We help clarify those arrangements and document decisions, with attention to how the provisions work together. Addressing different expectations early can reduce uncertainty when a difficult decision arises.

Growth and business transitions

Expansion brings legal questions alongside the commercial opportunity. A new investor may change voting rights. An acquisition may require contract consents. A proposed owner buyout may affect the company’s ability to fund its operations.

We advise on capital raising, ownership changes, and mergers and acquisitions, helping clients evaluate proposed terms and prepare the agreements needed to carry out the transaction. Ongoing counsel can also help identify issues in ownership records or material contracts before a buyer, investor, or lender asks about them.

Addressing risk in everyday decisions

Legal review is useful before a disagreement becomes a dispute. We help businesses assess contractual obligations, governance questions, and other legal concerns as they arise, then consider the available options alongside timing, cost, and business priorities.

The aim is to identify where legal attention will make a practical difference. That may involve clarifying a payment obligation, documenting an owner’s approval, or revising an agreement that no longer reflects how the parties work together.

Working with your management team and advisers

Outside counsel complements the work of management, your accountant, and other advisers. We address legal issues while coordinating, where appropriate, with the people responsible for financial, tax, and operational decisions. If a matter calls for additional expertise, we discuss what is needed and how that work fits within the engagement.

Michael P. Barry leads LMB Partners’ corporate practice and serves as outside general counsel to established businesses. Our business law team helps clients address both ongoing needs and specific transactions.

Start with the decisions in front of you

Schedule a consultation to discuss your business, its current legal needs, and any upcoming decisions or deadlines. An initial conversation can help identify priorities and whether ongoing counsel would be useful. Before work begins, we agree on the scope of the engagement and the matters we will handle.