Overview: Business Attorneys
You are starting a company, taking on a partner, or signing a contract that suddenly looks bigger than it did last week. A business attorney works on the deal itself: forming the entity, drafting shareholder and partnership agreements, papering commercial contracts, running an investment round, buying or selling a business, and keeping governance records straight. If a relationship has already broken and someone is threatening to sue, that goes to a civil litigation firm.
Firms differ most in the size and type of deal they handle daily. The practice that forms small LLCs all week is not the one you want for a venture round, and the reverse holds too. Ask who drafts and who only reviews. Ask whether you are billed hourly, per document, or on a monthly retainer for ongoing counsel.
Bring what you already have. The formation paperwork, the operating agreement or bylaws, the ownership table, any signed customer or supplier contract, and a plain account of who owns what and who decides what. A first meeting usually maps the structure you have against the one you need.
Each listing here reflects the transactional work a firm advertises for itself: the sectors it names, the deal types it handles, and the size of client it takes on. Work down the state and city lists to reach practices close to your business. Every city page flags which firms hold an address there.
Frequently asked questions
What does a business attorney handle for a company?
Entity formation and the choice between a corporation and an LLC, shareholder and partnership agreements, commercial contracts with customers and suppliers, financing rounds, and the purchase or sale of a business. Governance work sits here too: board minutes, resolutions, and keeping the ownership records accurate. Disputes are handled by litigation firms.
How do business law firms usually charge?
Three structures dominate. Hourly billing for work whose shape is unknown, a flat fee for a defined document or filing, and a monthly retainer for companies that want counsel on call. Transactions often mix them: flat fee to form the entity, hourly for the negotiation that follows. Ask for the structure in the engagement letter, along with who bills at which rate and what triggers a new estimate.
What should I bring to a corporate law meeting?
Whatever documents already exist. Formation certificates, the operating agreement or bylaws, the ownership table, loan documents, leases, and every contract you have signed with a customer, supplier or contractor. Add a short written summary of who owns what share, who can sign, and what you are trying to do next. Lawyers price and scope work far better when they can see the paper rather than hear about it.
Corporate work or a dispute: which firm do I need?
Ask yourself whether anyone is threatening a claim. A business attorney builds and documents the relationship: the entity, the agreement, the deal. A litigation firm steps in once that relationship has failed and a court or arbitrator may decide it. Plenty of larger practices hold both, and a transactional lawyer who spots trouble early will usually hand the file across the corridor rather than run it alone.
How do I tell whether a corporate firm fits?
Match the firm to your stage. Ask what they closed for companies like yours, who would actually draft your documents, and how quickly they turn around a contract review when a counterparty is waiting. Ask how they communicate: email, a portal, a named contact. A practice that answers plainly and puts scope and fees in writing is telling you something about how the work will run.
Do I need a lawyer to incorporate at all?
Filing the paperwork is something you can do yourself in most states, and plenty of founders do. What you cannot download is the part that matters later: how ownership vests, what happens when a founder leaves, who can sign, how new investors come in. A lawyer earns the fee on the agreement between the owners, not on the filing itself.
