Business Lawyer Charlottesville, VA

Dale Jensen, PLC a Charlottesville, VA business lawyer, practices law so you can effectively run your business.

Forming, safeguarding, and managing your business is prudent to its growth, livelihood, and even legacy. As a business lawyer in Charlottesville, VA, Dale Jensen, PLC assists businesses of all sizes and types. Our services are broad so whether you are at the founding stages of a business creation or concerned about leaving your legacy in tact for the clients you care about, we can help.

We firmly believe legal expertise can empower you. When you choose us to be your business lawyer in Charlottesville, VA, we will be ready to serve as your confidant, advocate, and legal partner. We will take the time to understand your business objectives now and in the future. You can discuss your concerns and questions with us, and know that we aim to offer you the most honest, practical advice.

For a consultation with a Charlottesville, Virginia business lawyer, please call Dale Jensen, PLC.

Forming a Small Business in Virginia

Starting a business can be easier and simpler when you retain a qualified business lawyer in Charlottesville, VA. The sooner you do this, the better. In fact, you may save time, money, and hassle when you get help from Dale Jensen, PLC. Our popular legal services for businesses include:

1. Business Formation – We discuss the best type of legal entity, and any relevant agreements, for your business.
2. Contract Drafting and Review – Let us help you to draft effective contracts that safeguard all parties involved.
3. Ensure You Are Compliant – We’ll review any regulations, rules, or laws to ensure your business is compliant.
4. Risk Assessment – We don’t want you to get involved in any disputes, if possible. Let us conduct risk management to identify and avoid costly business threats.
5. Litigation – Our lawyers know how to resolve disputes before they go to trial. If this happens to you, we can help. We are recognized as being one of the leading business lawyers in Charlottesville, VA. Our lawyers and legal team can assist you in getting off the ground, or with legal tasks that arise soon after you are running a business.
6. Small Business Succession
   If you own a small business, it is important to think about what might happen to it when you choose to retire or die. This might be something you feel like you don’t need to think about, but the sooner you do, the better. Our business lawyers in Charlottesville, VA can help you to create a legally binding plan that addresses the succession of your business. This plan may include who will overtake the business, who will manage it, taxes, income, buy and sell agreements, avoiding conflicts, and more.

Litigation to Dissolve a Business Partnership

The idea of ending a partnership can instill fear in a business partner. When one partner is not upholding their end of the deal or partners are in disagreement, parting ways may be in the best interest for all. There are a variety of reasons business partners may choose to end their partnership. While in some cases, business partners may have the ability to amicably end a business relationship, other situations may require litigation. It may be imperative to remove a business partner through the judicial dissolution of the partnership. Seeking counsel from a business lawyer in Charlottesville, VA can be helpful in guiding you through this process and providing you with the consultation you require.

Reasons Business Partners Part Ways

In most cases, the decision to end a business partnership is a long time coming. For some, years of disagreements or poor business operations can take a toll. Not only could your business be impacted, but its ability to obtain success. Business partners may be desperate to make things work for fear that dissolving the partnership will mean the business has been lost forever. Such reasons business partners may choose to end their partnership can include:

1. Inequitable distribution of job responsibilities.
2. Financial problems and disagreements.
3. Illegal or unethical business operations.
4. Disagreement over the future of the business.
5. Disagreement over daily business operations.

Regardless of whether the decision to end a business partnership is amicable, a savvy business owner should always consult with a business attorney.

Is Litigation Necessary?

The thought of litigation can be incredibly anxiety provoking. No business owner wants to face the expense of hiring a business attorney. However, it’s key to a successful litigation. A Charlottesville, VA business lawyer will keep your interests at the forefront and work closely with you to move through the process as quickly as possible. In some cases, dissolving a partnership can be a mutually agreeable process. However, other situations, may require the help of the courts.

Judicial Dissolution of a Partnership

Business partners may have a falling out that results in the need to forcibly remove a partner from the entity. This is especially the case when partners are unable to reach an agreement or develop a plan for buying out a partner. This will require a court process known as a judicial dissolution. In order to pursue this process, a business partner may choose to initiate a lawsuit with the help of a business litigations attorney. Judicial dissolution of a partnership may be effective when:

-Partners are unable to reach an agreement

-The business is unable to continue to operate due to a disagreement

A partner has engaged in illegal activity such as:

1. Embezzlement
2. Fraud
3. Mismanagement
4. Abuse of Authority

In some cases, when decisions cannot be made through negotiations, litigation may be required to forcibly dissolve the partnership. It can be especially troubling to be in a situation that requires you to come to this specific circumstance. Speaking with a business lawyer Charlottesville, VA businesses rely on can help in mapping out the best way to pursue a judicial dissolution of a partnership.

Making the decision to end a business partnership can be difficult to come to terms with. Not only may you be fraught with conflict and frustrations while operating your business together, disagreeable partners can be incredibly damaging to the business.

Determining that you and your business partner should go your separate ways is just the start to the process. Dissolving a partnership can be conflictual and stressful. In some cases, litigation may become a necessity. Speak with a Charlottesville, VA business lawyer for representation and counsel when ending a partnership agreement.

Everything You Need To Know About Joint Ventures and Partnerships

You may think that a joint venture and a partnership are synonymous terms. It is an easy mistake to make, as they are both agreements between two entities to do business together. However, many distinct characteristics define the differences. First and foremost, a joint venture is a legal structure formed from a contract between two companies, while a partnership is an agreement between two individuals.

Purpose

A joint venture is formed when two companies agree to come together for a specific purpose, such as sharing resources. An example when Google and NASA combined efforts to create Google Earth. They remain separate companies with different objectives. However, in a joint venture, they leverage the skills, expertise or resources of each business to do something more than either could easily do by themselves.

A partnership is a voluntary arrangement between two or more individuals that perform services together for profit. Law firms and accounting firms are two common examples of partnerships. The partners are co-owners of the business and share in the profits and loss. No partner can act on their own, as each represents only a fraction of the company.

Duration

The length of time that a joint venture lasts is usually finite, meaning that it is only until the project or objective is completed. A partnership is an ongoing concern and can last indefinitely. There are some exceptions where joint ventures are ongoing concerns, as well. Those types of joint ventures usually involve shared resources that are advantageous to each company to share. An example is Vodaphone and Telefonica who share a mobile network.

Structure

Partnerships have partnership agreements that outline the percentage of ownership of each partner, the terms by which a partner can leave the partnership and how the profits and losses are distributed. Joint ventures, however, may not have any profit goals. The agreements may be legally documented or not and expressly stated or implied.

Tax Implications

A partnership is called a pass-through tax entity, which means the tax liability passes through the business to each of the partners individually. The partners can take advantage of a 20% pass-through tax deduction. Joint ventures may be taxed as a corporation or a partnership, according to the circumstances. One advantage in partnerships is that the percentage of profit and loss does not have to be equal for each partner. A single partner may be entitled to 40% of the profits but may also be responsible for 50% of the losses.

Do Business Right From the Very Beginning

If you want to run your business with confidence, you should ensure its value is entirely protected. This can be done through proper set up and execution of a small business, in addition to ongoing legal maintenance. Don’t risk losing your business, losing money, or getting into a legal complication because you did not utilize legal assistance. Call a business lawyer Charlottesville, VA residents can count on, call Dale Jensen, PLC.

What does a Charlottesville VA business lawyer do?

Business lawyers can provide business owners with key consultation. A business lawyer in Charlottesville VA can help to keep you focused on the best and most appropriate way to manage your business. More importantly, they can be key to the success of your business. A business lawyer can help business owners manage a number of business dealings:

1. Help grow your business
2. Mitigate legal issues
3. Reviewing and managing contracts
4. Formation of the business
5. Key tax decisions
6. Management of employees

A business owner can help to ensure that your business functions ethically and legally. Even the most well-intentioned of business owners can make poor business decisions. Attorneys can help make crucial business decisions and help reduce legal complications.

Do I need a Charlottesville VA business lawyer?

Although you may not need to call an attorney for every single business decision you stand to make, it’s a good idea to have an attorney that you have identified should you need them. As a business owner, you will want to keep as much of your profits in your pocket as possible. Hiring an attorney can feel like a hard pill to swallow. However, by having legal counsel, you can feel at ease when making key business decisions.

Where should I start with finding a business lawyer?

As a business owner, you will have a series of legal questions for an attorney. Having the ability to contact an attorney at the moment can be incredibly helpful. Whether you meet with your attorney on a regular basis or contact them sporadically with questions; having an attorney already identified can help to provide you with an immediate response to your legal needs. Finding a business lawyer in Charlottesville VA early on can prevent problems from ever arising. It can be overwhelming to look for a business attorney. Sometimes, the best place to start is by asking other professionals in your industry. Ask your local chamber of commerce or check with the American Bar Association. Taking the time to retain an attorney early on can help ensure that you have a professional to call when faced with legal issues.  

Many business owners may attempt to run their business without the help of a business owner. As tempting as this may be, failing to obtain the counsel of an attorney can be devastating to a business. Although there are a number of actions you can take without an attorney, Dale Jensen, PLC Law Firm may help to guide you towards which decisions should be made with our help. Don’t wait until there is a problem before finding a business lawyer Charlottesville, VA business owners recommend to support you. Taking the time to select a business lawyer when in the initial phases of starting your business can serve as a preventative measure should problems arise down the road.