brian-ripley

Brian Ripley's Conversation with Louis Goodman on the Love Thy Lawyer Podcast

Sun, 15 Mar 2026 23:36:32 GMT

I had the opportunity to chat with Louis Goodman on his Love Thy Lawyer podcast about my legal career progression and advice for entrepreneurs and attorneys helping serve local businesses in Alameda County.

About This Episode

Brian Ripley is a business attorney based in Oakland, California who works with small business owners, real estate investors, and licensed professionals. He often serves as outside general counsel, helping clients set up businesses and handle legal questions as their companies grow.

He began his legal career in the early 1980s and spent many years working as a litigator, handling cases such as insurance defense and product liability. After decades in litigation, he started his own firm and later shifted his focus to business transactions after a major health crisis led him to reconsider the pace and stress of litigation work. Today he helps entrepreneurs build strong legal foundations for their businesses and advises them on contracts, structure, and risk.

During the conversation, he talks about the importance of lawyers developing their own client base and understanding how to run a business. He also shares his views on mentorship, the challenges solo attorneys face, and why having a network of trusted professionals is important for long-term success.

Tune in to hear practical advice about building a legal career, managing clients, and thinking like a business owner. The discussion also offers useful lessons about professional relationships, career changes, and how lawyers can create sustainable practices.

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Full Transcript

Louis Goodman / Brian Ripley

[00:00:03] Louis Goodman: Welcome to Love Thy Lawyer, where we talk with attorneys about their lives and careers. I'm your host Louis Goodman. Today we welcome Brian A. Ripley to the podcast. Mr. Ripley is recognized as one of the foremost business transaction attorneys in the Bay Area. Oakland Magazine named Mr. Ripley as Best Lawyer.

The East Bay Express recognized him as the best business attorney for the last four years, and he's been named as a Northern California Super Lawyer for the second year in a row. Among numerous areas of public service, Mr. Ripley impresses me in that he has served as a board member for the Alameda County Bar Association.

Brian A. Ripley, welcome to Love Thy Lawyer.

[00:00:54] Brian Ripley: Thank you very much Louis. It's a pleasure to be here with you.

[00:00:57] Louis Goodman: Pleasure to have you. Where are you speaking to us from right now?

[00:01:01] Brian Ripley: Yeah. I'm actually working from my home office. I have an ADU in my backyard where I work full-time. And then I also have an office downtown, but like most lawyers, I don't use it as much as I used to.

[00:01:13] Louis Goodman: And both of these offices are in the city of Oakland?

[00:01:16] Brian Ripley: They are. They are, yeah. I live in what's called Maxwell Park. Which is off of five 80, and my main office is downtown in the main part of Oakland, right across from City Hall.

Brian's Practice: Outside General Counsel for Small Business

[00:01:27] Louis Goodman: Can you tell us how you describe your practice?

[00:01:31] Brian Ripley: Yeah. I would say that I characterize myself as outside general counsel for small business owners. Obviously if a company is large enough to have their own in-house lawyers, that's not a good fit for me. But I do work with a lot of small business owners, real estate investors, licensed professionals and so forth who do have legal questions, and I'm the guy that they call if they have a question. I really start with helping them set up their businesses as having a great foundation for your business is key.

So rather than letting them use an online platform, I convinced them to work with me and we create, as I say, a good foundation both for the business entity itself and then the documents that they use in their business.

[00:02:17] Louis Goodman: How long have you been in this kind of practice?

[00:02:20] Brian Ripley: So I've been in practice overall since 1983, but I really transitioned to this area of practice in 2007 when I first moved to Oakland. I was a litigator for almost 25 years, both in San Francisco and in Contra Costa County. But then, as I say, when I moved to Oakland, I made that transition.

Background & Education

[00:02:43] Louis Goodman: Where are you from originally?

[00:02:45] Brian Ripley: I grew up in Marin County. My dad was stationed in the Presidio during the Korean War, and when the war ended, he and my mom moved to Sausalito, which is where I was born. Grew up in Marin County. I have two siblings who both live on the East coast, but I stayed here just because, Hey, why would you wanna live anywhere else?

[00:03:04] Louis Goodman: Really? Did you go to high school in Marin County? In Sausalito?

[00:03:07] Brian Ripley: I did, not in Sausalito, but I went to Redwood High School at Larch for, and actually spent my junior year overseas as an exchange student in a beautiful town in southern Germany called Freiburg, which is the capital of the black forest, and lived with a German family there, attended a German school, and just had that immersion of being a German student and it changed my life, no question.

[00:03:33] Louis Goodman: How's your "sprechen Deutsch" these days? Right. So when you graduated from high school, where'd you go to college?

[00:03:44] Brian Ripley: I actually went to two different colleges. I originally started at the Claro Men's College in Southern California and then transferred to Colorado College midway through my sophomore year. I don't know if you remember, but in those days, the air quality in Southern California was horrific. This was in the early seventies, and I actually just couldn't stand living in pollution 24/7, and my roommate at that college was from Colorado and he was the one who persuaded me to move to Colorado and attend Colorado College, which is a very unique college in the way that it's structured. You take one class at a time for three and a half weeks, so the year is broken into what they call blocks, and you have this very deep immersion in whatever subject that you're pursuing.

[00:04:35] Louis Goodman: When you went to law school, did you take some time off between college and law school or did you just go straight through?

[00:04:39] Brian Ripley: No, I did take a couple of years off when I got done with college, I had actually had a pretty severe accident at the end of college and needed to recover from that and really didn't wanna be sitting in a classroom full-time. But I ended up actually working for various businesses in San Francisco. Ended up working for Hartford Insurance and their legal department.

[00:05:01] Louis Goodman: When you ultimately did go to law school, where'd you go?

[00:05:04] Brian Ripley: I went to Hastings, although we don't call it Hastings anymore. It's the University of California Law School in San Francisco. But that was, yeah, from 1980 to 1983.

[00:05:15] Louis Goodman: Yeah, I went there too. I'm, I still have trouble with all the AKAs that I know that the law school has now. So what was that experience like coming back to the Bay Area and being in law school?

[00:05:28] Brian Ripley: It was, I'll have to say it was challenging. When I was growing up I was always at the top of the class. And when I went to law school, I was with everybody else who was at the top of the class, and it was very competitive and I was also working at the same time. I was working for McKesson at downtown San Francisco, so I would go to school in the morning and then I would go and work the rest of the day. So it was exhausting.

Deciding to Become a Lawyer

[00:05:54] Louis Goodman: When did you first start thinking about being a lawyer, and then when did you actually decide, okay, I'm gonna fill out the applications, I'm gonna send in the money. I'm gonna go to law school.

[00:06:06] Brian Ripley: I was working for the in-house legal department at Hartford Insurance as a law clerk and as their legal librarian. And I got to know these, many of them were younger lawyers and they, after working with me, said, you're wasting your time as a law clerk. You should be a lawyer. And they were the ones who actually convinced me that this was something that I should pursue. And the senior partner at the firm kind of became my mentor in terms of helping me prepare for the exam, the application, and all of that.

But it was not my intention to become a lawyer. It was really based on these other young lawyers that I connected with that I felt, Hey, this is fun. This is something that I can do.

[00:06:50] Louis Goodman: Do you think that having worked in a legally adjacent industry gave you a better focus once you got to law school?

[00:06:58] Brian Ripley: No question. No question. When you're in law school, you're learning about the law, but you don't really learn about, Hey, how do you interact with a client? And just the law firm that I was working with was a litigation law firm, so I got to learn a lot about the litigation process, about discovery and depositions and so forth, and helping the lawyers there to prepare for these various items and court appearance and so forth. So I did come into law school with, I think, an advantage as to what does it mean to be a lawyer as to just being a, a legal intellectual.

Career Path: From Litigator to Business Transactional Attorney

[00:07:32] Louis Goodman: Can you give a brief history of your career like you got outta law school and then you obviously got some kind of a legal job. You now have this, I dunno, a niche practice of doing this business transactional work. How did you get from one spot to the other?

[00:07:47] Brian Ripley: I started as a litigator back in these days, in the early eighties, the jobs that were available were primarily insurance defense positions at various law firms that worked and represented various insurance companies, and that was the firm that I signed up with. I was fortunate in that it was a small kind of boutique firm. So that I was able to get my feet wet very quickly. I was in court and taking depositions within the first six months of having been hired as an associate with this firm as opposed to other colleagues of mine who were basically sitting in the back room going through documents, having no interaction with the client.

That was not my experience. I was as if a very lucky to get in there and really have that experience of what it meant to be a litigation attorney.

[00:08:36] Louis Goodman: How long did you remain as a litigator?

[00:08:38] Brian Ripley: So I worked as a litigator really until 2007, but I didn't stay with that firm. I ended up starting my own firm and a number of the clients who had been clients of that firm went with me. I worked with a couple of large manufacturers of construction equipment and I did a lot of products, liability litigation, and then also began to just start doing my own litigation. I started doing some personal injury litigation for plaintiffs.

[00:09:08] Louis Goodman: How did you decide to go into the transactional work?

[00:09:12] Brian Ripley: It was actually health driven. When I turned 50, I actually had a very major health crisis and the doctor who diagnosed my condition said that if I continued litigating full-time, I was going to really jeopardize my long-term health.

Building a Book of Business: Essential Advice for Attorneys

[00:09:32] Louis Goodman: I wanna ask you about something that you touched on a little earlier when you said that when you left your firm, a number of clients came with you. I really think it's important for lawyers to understand, especially young attorneys to understand how important it is for any attorney to have their own book of business.

[00:09:51] Brian Ripley: A hundred percent.

[00:09:52] Louis Goodman: And it's something that they never taught us in law school, they never talked about, and yet as a practitioner and in talking to so many attorneys on this podcast, it's just some really something that's, that I've recognized as being important about an attorney, having his or her own book of business. And I'd like you to talk a little bit about your experience with that and if you just comment on that.

[00:10:17] Brian Ripley: Sure. I'm really amazed these days that young attorneys who get outta law school and are opening up their own firms without having that, as you say, that group of clients, when I launched my own firm, I was working in the financial district in San Francisco. I had an expensive office. I had multiple staff members that were helping me and my monthly, it was 15, $20,000 just to keep the doors open. And if I hadn't had those group of clients who came over with me from the old firm I couldn't have done it. And as I say, I'm amazed that and that young lawyers choose to launch a law firm without having that client base for a number of reasons, not just the financial basis, but also I was fortunate enough to have an enormous amount of experience before I launched my own firm.

So I knew how to interact with clients. I knew how to, I knew how to address their expectations to, to set goals and so forth. It was, again, I think I was lucky in that respect that I had significant experience in, because I was the managing partner of the firm before I left. I had a lot of interaction with clients and I understood what it meant to be a business lawyer.

I think that's another thing that a lot of lawyers, we don't get that in law school. We don't learn how to be a business owner, and so a lot of lawyers, they fail because they don't have that background.

[00:11:48] Louis Goodman: Yeah, I've mentioned it on this podcast before many times people are probably going, oh, he's Louis is going into this again. But I just feel it's malpractice on the part of the law schools to not talk about lawyers running a business. And

[00:12:04] Brian Ripley: I agree.

[00:12:05] Louis Goodman: And then we wonder, well, why do lawyers get in trouble? Why are lawyers in trouble with the state bar? Why are lawyers stressed out about their lives and their practices? And if you don't have some basic sense of how to run a business and you're trying to run a business, I think that it's a recipe for disaster.

[00:12:23] Brian Ripley: I've seen it, and I'll be candid, I made some terrific mistakes because I didn't have the education on what it meant to be a business owner. And I've been lucky over the years to be working with business coaches and other people who've really helped me understand what does it mean to have a business plan. And that's something that when I sit down with a new business client, like, what's your plan? And if they don't have a plan, then we back up and get that started.

Advice for Young Attorneys

[00:12:54] Louis Goodman: If a young person were just graduating from college thinking about a career, would you recommend the law?

[00:12:59] Brian Ripley: I would say yes overall because I think that having that degree gives you options. It gives you a level of credibility, whether you decide to work as a lawyer or not, I think it, it gets you in the door in a way that not having that credibility and would provide.

[00:13:19] Louis Goodman: What advice would you give to a young person just starting out?

[00:13:24] Brian Ripley: I think having a mentor. Is really critical, to have somebody who has walked the path that you're walking, who knows what the mistakes are and what are the ways to avoid that or mitigate those problems. And building a community of other lawyers that you know and trust and that you can get together and hey, have coffee every once in a while and say, Hey, here's what's going on with me. Have you experienced that before? But again, getting that feedback from other professionals.

[00:13:57] Louis Goodman: Yeah. I think one of the most dangerous things about being in a solo practice is not having those people down the hall to just bounce things off of.

[00:14:08] Brian Ripley: Exactly.

[00:14:09] Louis Goodman: And I, when lawyers who get in trouble, the state bar, I don't know, probably a large percentage of them are solo practitioners.

[00:14:17] Brian Ripley: Absolutely.

[00:14:18] Louis Goodman: And I think a lot of solo practitioners feel, oh, the state bar's picking on us. And I'm, I'm not saying that the state bar doesn't pick on solos a little bit, but on the other hand, I think that solos get themselves in troubles for the things that we're just talking about.

[00:14:33] Brian Ripley: Absolutely.

[00:14:33] Louis Goodman: You know, the lack of business acumen, the lack of having someone to talk to, the lack of having someone to be a mentor, where if you're in a big firm or big government office, these things are just built into the practice.

[00:14:48] Brian Ripley: Exactly, exactly.

[00:14:49] Louis Goodman: And while I'm preaching on my soapbox here, and it also relates to something we were talking about earlier, which is, um, coming right outta law school I think going with a big firm or big government or a big company is the way to get started and to learn something. You come outta law school, you don't know anything. I didn't know anything.

[00:15:11] Brian Ripley: And again, I had the advantage that I had already worked for a law firm for a couple of years.

[00:15:15] Louis Goodman: Exactly, exactly. Yeah. Do you think the legal system's fair?

[00:15:20] Brian Ripley: Candidly, no. I think, and this isn't a new revelation, but I think the legal system works in favor of people who have the resources, the money to hire the best lawyer, and whether that means that justice actually happens, I think that's the real question. I think people have this fantasy that if they file a court case and they're in the right, that they're gonna prevail. But there are a lot of things that get in the way of prevailing, whether you are right or not.

Life Outside the Law: Travel, Art & Personal Passions

[00:15:51] Louis Goodman: Lemme switch gears here a little bit. I'm wondering what sort of recreational activities that you enjoy. What do you do when you wanna get your mind off of the practice of law?

[00:16:01] Brian Ripley: When I stepped away from litigation, I actually had big chunks of time where I could do things that I loved to do and that I had really not been doing for 25 years, traveling. I started traveling. I would take two months out of the year, I would take April and I would take September, and I would travel.

[00:16:20] Louis Goodman: Where have you gone that you really enjoyed?

[00:16:22] Brian Ripley: I, one of my favorite was being in Japan for the cherry blossom season. That was amazing. I've spent a lot of time in south and central America. I have a very large extended family in Paris, so I've spent many times in Paris and I, one of my other passions is collecting Mexican folk art. So I've spent hundreds of days in Mexico pursuing art and participating in arts festivals.

[00:16:50] Louis Goodman: Have you had a chance to get back to Germany?

[00:16:53] Brian Ripley: I have. I actually, the year after I was an exchange student, a student from the same high school that I went to came and lived with my family, and he and I have remained friends all of these years. He and his wife were actually here in Oakland just a few months ago. But yeah, I've visited him in Germany multiple times over the last couple of decades and it's been nice to maintain that, that friendship with him.

Vision: Supporting the Arts in the Bay Area

[00:17:20] Louis Goodman: Let's say that you came into some real money. Let's say you came into several billion dollars, three or $4 billion. What, if anything, would you do differently in your life?

[00:17:33] Brian Ripley: I would, first of all, I would support the arts here in the Bay Area. As I think I've been very active in the arts here in the Bay Area, and seeing them struggle the way that they're struggling right now breaks my heart because I grew up in a family where the arts were critical, and I know that having that exposure made me who I am, and I think every kid should have an opportunity to participate in, whether it's music or whatever that is, whatever their heart pulls them towards, that they should have that opportunity. And that's what I think would be my focus.

[00:18:11] Louis Goodman: Let's say you had a Super Bowl ad, somebody gave you 60 seconds on the Super Bowl. You could say whatever you want to, a really big audience. What would you wanna put out there on your 60 second Super Bowl ad?

[00:18:24] Brian Ripley: Focus on love, focus on support. Focus on the things that make you happy.

How to Reach Brian A. Ripley

[00:18:31] Louis Goodman: Brian, if someone wants to get in touch with you, another attorney's looking to refer you some business or get some advice about a case that he or she's handling, or someone has a case where they feel that your services might be a positive fit, what's the best way to get in touch with Brian A. Ripley?

[00:18:52] Brian Ripley: Yeah, it's actually www.brianripley.com . We've actually just recently relaunched the website. It talks about what we do, how we do it, and there are ways to contact us, whether by phone or otherwise, through the website. So that's probably the best thing.

[00:19:11] Louis Goodman: And if we were to Google Brian Ripley attorney in Oakland, I'm sure you would come up.

[00:19:16] Brian Ripley: Oh, absolutely. Absolutely.

The Hub Strategy: Brian's Best Career Advice

[00:19:18] Louis Goodman: Brian, is there anything that you wanted to talk about that we haven't covered? Any, anything at all that you'd like to bring up that you'd like to discuss?

[00:19:25] Brian Ripley: Yeah, actually there is, and you were talking about what advice would I give a young lawyer and some of the best advice that I was given was learn to be a hub. And by that I mean, get to know a broad community of very high quality professionals so that whatever your clients need, they know that they can call you.

My clients call me if they need a hairdresser, if they need a CPA, if they need a painter, whatever that is. But being that hub means that I'm always top of mind. So even if my clients don't need my services right now, the fact that they have been contacting me on a regular basis over the years to get connected with other professional service providers, whatever that is, means that I'm, they know and they remember who I am and they appreciate the fact that I will refer them to a top CPA, a top financial advisor, whatever that is. And that helps my credibility as well.

Alameda County Bar Association (ACBA)

[00:20:31] Louis Goodman: There's one other subject I'd like you to address a little bit, which is your work with the Alameda County Bar Association, 'cause this podcast is very connected with the ACBA, and I'd like you to talk a little bit about your work with that.

[00:20:46] Brian Ripley: Absolutely. I've actually been associated with the ACBA for many years. I was the head of the business law section for a number of years, and most recently, for the last two years I've been on the board and I think that legal community that the ACBA has created is such a great place for, again, for young lawyers to get connected. Whatever your area of expertise is, join that section of the ACBA, participate in continuing education programs, learn how to give continuing education programs. Some of the first opportunities that I had to be a public speaker was as a presenter for ACBA continuing education programs.

And the fact that ACBA provides free continuing education for its members is huge. And it also, again, allows you to build a community of other lawyers. Again, if you're a solo lawyer, you've now got that group of friends that you've met through ACBA that are gonna be there for you and that you get to be there for, through the course of your career. And they have great social events too.

[00:21:57] Louis Goodman: Brian Ripley, thank you so much for joining me today on the Love Thy Lawyer podcast. It's been a pleasure to talk to you.

[00:22:03] Brian Ripley: Likewise, Louis. Really appreciate it and hope to connect with you again sometime soon.

[00:22:07] Louis Goodman: That's it for today's episode of Love Thy Lawyer. If you enjoyed listening, please share it with a friend and follow the podcast. If you have comments or suggestions, send me an email. Take a look at our website at lovethylawyer.com , where you can find all of our episodes, transcripts, photographs and information.

Thanks to my guests, and to Joel Katz for music, Bryan Matheson for technical support, Paul Robert for social media and Tracy Harvey. I'm Louis Goodman.

[00:22:45] Brian Ripley: Good question. I was actually pretty arrogant early on in my career and far part

[00:22:50] Louis Goodman: Aren't we all?

Penny Wise: The Hidden Risks of Online Entity Formation Services

Thu, 16 Oct 2025 13:43:31 GMT

As businesses increasingly turn to online entity formation services for convenience and perceived cost savings, it is important to recognize the potential risks associated with these platforms. While such services can streamline the process of registering a new company, they may not provide comprehensive legal, tax, or compliance guidance tailored to your specific business needs. This could result in incomplete documentation, incorrect filings, or missed regulatory compliance, which can lead to complications or penalties down the road.

Additionally, online entity formation services often operate with limited customer support, making it challenging to address complex questions or unique circumstances. Sensitive business information submitted online could also be vulnerable to data breaches or misuse. For these reasons, it is advisable to consult with a qualified attorney when forming a new business entity to ensure that all legal and regulatory obligations are fully met and your interests are adequately protected. In my experience, it's almost always more expensive to have me fix the mistakes you (or your online service provider) created than if you'd hired me in the first place.

The Value of Professional Legal Guidance

One of my key roles as an attorney is to educate business owners how to properly form and manage their business and real estate entities. This substantially enhances the legal liability protection, risk management, tax savings, and asset protection that are the main reasons for using such entities for your business.

To Be or Not to Be ... a Business Entity

Fri, 11 Jul 2025 05:30:00 GMT

Over the many years of my business law practice as Brian A. Ripley, Attorney at Law, I have had the honor of creating hundreds of business entities for my clients. In fact, business entity creation is often the first phase in a long-term legal support relationship between the business owner and my business law practice. The decision to place one's business in an entity, whether it's a corporation , LLC , or some other entity type, may seem straightforward but can involve complicated nuances best explained by a competent business lawyer before the decision is made.

The Cost of DIY Mistakes

Too many times, a client comes to me having created an entity using an online platform only to learn that they've chosen the wrong type . Other clients may have selected the right type of entity but unknowingly did not take the steps necessary to complete the process, thereby creating legal or tax problems down the road.

Most of the time, correcting these mistakes or omissions cost far more than hiring a business attorney to "do it right" from the beginning.

State-Specific Requirements Matter

It's also important to understand that the correct type of business entity may vary depending on the state in which your business is located. In fact, there may be state-specific restrictions on the type of entity your business may use.

In California , for example, certain types of licensed professions (doctors, lawyers, CPAs, architects, and others) are barred from using an LLC or "general" corporation . Instead, they are required to use a "professional corporation" for their practices (or in some instances, a limited liability partnership).

Important: The failure to use the correct type of entity may place that professional at risk of having their license suspended or revoked.

Interestingly, other states, such as Texas , allow the use of LLCs for such professionals. Though if the professional moves to California, they are typically required to abandon their out-of-state LLC and create a professional corporation. A related issue involves forming an entity in a different state (e.g., Delaware, Nevada, Wyoming, etc.), though that will need to be the subject of a separate article.

Understanding Your Entity Options

Overall, the choices for business structures consist of:

Sole Proprietorship

A sole proprietorship is frequently used for newly formed small businesses that may not have the financial resources to set up a formal business entity. It's important to understand that a sole proprietorship does not provide any type of legal liability protection . In addition, the owner may face a significant "self-employment" tax on top of the general income tax associated with the business' activities.

Limited Liability Company (LLC)

A limited liability company is often a good choice for many types of small businesses and real estate investors, providing both liability protection and potentially significant tax benefits . The management of an LLC is typically much simpler than a corporation, meaning there are fewer things to "do wrong" that could expose the owner to legal and financial consequences.

There are multiple "options" for the tax treatment of an LLC (e.g., disregarded entity, partnership, S-election), which should always be reviewed by a competent tax professional to ensure optimal tax savings.

General Corporations

"General" corporations tend to be more appropriate for larger businesses or start-ups seeking significant investor capitalization. The management of the entity can be more complex, and also carries the risk of "double taxation" if the finances are not correctly structured and managed. But it provides flexibility in the types of equity ownership that may not be available to an LLC or partnership.

Schedule Your Consultation

If you're thinking about a business entity for your company, practice or real estate investment property, please schedule a consultation with me and we can begin the analysis that will ensure the correct type of entity and tax treatment are selected.

Mindful Risk Management For Your Business – Advice From An AV-Rated Business & Real Estate Attorney

Mon, 23 Jun 2025 20:59:27 GMT

As a business lawyer with a broad variety of business owners and real estate investors, the core question I’m frequently asked is, “How can I protect my business and personal assets from potential legal liability arising from my business?” While there may be common elements applicable to virtually all business owners and real estate investors, creating an effective risk management strategy is a complicated process best facilitated by an experienced attorney.

Every business has its distinct and specific risks. The risks associated with selling consumer products to the public are very different from those arising from renting real estate to commercial tenants. A general contractor will face much larger financial exposure from an unsatisfied customer than the owner of a bookstore or a residential cleaning service. Over my 40+ years in business law, I’ve had the opportunity to help assess the risks of a countless variety of businesses.

Once the risk assessment process is completed, the next step is determining the business owner’s risk tolerance. Some business owners have significant personal and family assets that could be exposed to loss if their business is successfully sued. Other owners have very nominal assets, meaning they may be willing to accept a higher level of risk related to their business. As a business attorney, understanding my client’s risk tolerance is critical to creating a risk management plan that will let that client sleep well at night.

The components of a successful risk management plan may be multiple.

1. Creating a business entity, such as a corporation or limited liability company (LLC), can provide significant liability protection providing the entity is properly form and managed. A common problem business owners face is determining which type of entity is appropriate for their businesses. Hiring an attorney and getting this correct from the start can save a business owner a great deal of money, because the costs are far greater when the correct entity is not selected..

2. Using lawyer-created legal agreements for your business containing language limiting your financial exposure can be a powerful tool. On the flipside, understanding the risks and consequences related to third-party contracts you sign is critical. It is usually more costly to fix an error in a contract than it is to hire an expert to ensure that your financial exposure is limited in the first place. As with legal entities, the use of on-line contracts and agreements only increases the risks that the document simply will not protect you from the risks and liability arising from the transaction or activity.

3. The third major element of a risk management strategy is the right time and amount of business insurance. For example, an insurance company can deny coverage for a legal loss if its client (the business owner) is determined to have failed to explain thoroughly the risks associated with that particular business. Working with a reputable insurance professional during the “underwriting” process is key to avoid such a potentially catastrophic scenario.

“Peace of mind” related to your business depends on completing each of the elements I’ve outlined above. Please contact my firm for a complementary initial consultation about how to best protect your particular business and personal assets through creation and implementation of a mindful risk management strategy.

An Ounce of Prevention

Wed, 23 Apr 2025 19:11:11 GMT

As Benjamin Franklin famously said, “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”

As we continually emphasize to our clients, the best time to establish written agreements and procedures is before disputes arise. Given the fact that many business owners embark on new business ventures with family members, close friends, and other familiar business associates, it is not surprising that they frequently operate with the attitude of getting the business off the ground while “figuring everything else out later.”

Of course, we understand this perspective, and can appreciate that time and resources may be limited. Yet, succumbing to this trap often leads to significant unintended, negative consequences. The results frequently include loss of valuable time and money, and the uncertainty of unwanted litigation. The cost of cleaning up mistakes is exponentially higher than hiring a good transactional lawyer from the beginning. Sadly, we have seen the closest of friends and family members end up in court, something that could easily have been avoided through thoughtful, proactive planning.

The following are some common pitfalls that could cause issues or disputes later on: operating without written agreements among business owners; failing to document key business transactions; inadequate corporate governance; disorganized management structure; tardiness in state or federal filings resulting in fines and penalties; and commingling of business and personal funds. To be sure, these are just a sampling: there are an endless array of traps for the unwary, uninformed business owner.

Having appropriate agreements and business structure in place is crucial for many situations: the onset of catastrophic events; preparation for a business acquisition or merger; or the smooth transition of a business triggered by a founder’s disability, death or retirement.

As experienced business lawyers, we strategize with our clients on how to best resolve issues and disputes when they arise. However, we much prefer working closely with our clients to proactively plan and prevent these types of issues from ever arising. And frankly, it’s easier, less costly, and more effective. Our clients are grateful in either scenario – coming to us before or after a dispute – but the before has much less headache.

We look forward to speaking with any business owners who feel that they could benefit from this type of proactive approach.

Tags: business contracts, Business law, Business Succession, Business Succession Plan, business transactions, Buy-Sell Agreement, Buy-Sell Agreements, contracts, Corporate governance, Exit Strategy, Family owned business, management structure, proactive, retirement, transactional

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Protect Your Business with the Right Structure

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Contracts and Agreements Matter

Creating proper contracts and agreements for your business is another key tool in mitigating the risks arising from your business. Making sure those agreements are reviewed and approved by your lawyer is critical to ensure that the protections you seek are in fact enforceable in the event a legal action is brought against your business.

Don't Overlook Insurance

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Ready to Protect What You've Built?

If you'd like the guidance of an experienced business attorney to help you identify and address the risks associated with your specific business, please contact us to schedule a complimentary initial consultation.

Succession planning needs?

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