Legal Advice Designed to Enhance Your Bottom Line
At The Mathews Group, LC, we help businesses face every legal challenge, from start-up to expansion, and from simple compliance formalities to complex contractual strategies.
A Different Model of Legal Services for Businesses in Leawood, Kansas
We have modeled our law firm on a distinct operational philosophy. First and foremost, we offer almost every legal service on a flat-fee basis. This includes business law services. Secondly, we do not charge extra for every little phone call or letter we write. Thirdly, we tell our clients honestly if they can resolve all or part of a particular legal challenge without an attorney's help.
Read more about our philosophy of practice, or contact our office for information about our business law services.
Legal Services for Business Start-Ups
When starting a business, legal advice is important to help you choose the type of business organization under which to operate. What best fits your needs: a corporation, a limited partnership, a limited liability company (LLC) or a nonprofit? A smart business lawyer can describe the advantages and disadvantages of each. At The Mathews Group, we also make sure to explain the tax ramifications of each type of business entity.
Contracts: Drafting, Review and Negotiation
Most business litigation occurs because of a failure in a form contract used by an inexperienced attorney or layperson. At The Mathews Group, we help clients creative comprehensive, customized legal agreements that can handle unforeseen obstacles and protect your business dealings.
Mergers and Acquisitions: Entity Sales Versus Asset Sales
The legal steps necessary when acquiring or merging businesses are very different from those required to start a new business, and it all begins with planning. Sales of business entities usually fall under one of two categories: entity sales and asset sales. When you purchase an entity, you acquire all of its assets and liabilities. Liabilities include any outstanding legal claims against the entity, even if they haven't been brought yet, for activities that occurred before the purchase took place. Attorneys often recommend an asset sale to protect the buyer against such liabilities. In an asset sale, the original owner maintains ownership of the business, and the buyer acquires only the business assets. An asset sale protects the buyer in theory but may not protect the buyer in practice. If the acquisition contract is not written with extreme care, a court of law may deem the sale to be an entity sale despite the buyer's intention — making the buyer legally responsible for old liabilities.
The Mathews Group helps our clients avoid the kind of errors that can end up costing tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars in litigation.
Commercial Real Estate Transactions
Some of the most important contracts that a business will ever negotiate are related to real estate. Whether buying, selling or leasing real estate, the contracts and entities used play a large role in the protection of businesses and individuals. The Mathews Group uses techniques such as stacking and division of ownership to protect the financial viability of commercial properties.
Dissolution of Commercial Enterprises
Most people understand how contentious and illogical divorce cases can become. Unfortunately, the dissolution of a business can be just as difficult as a dissolution of marriage (and in the case of family-owned businesses, can often be part of the same case). Many partnerships and joint ventures are created by business owners or lawyers using only basic legal forms that provide no good vehicle for dissolution or change of form of the business. When business partners cannot resolve a disagreement about operations, the organizational documents allow for only one remedy: the dissolution of the entity and distribution of assets. This can result in serious tax consequences, preventing either party from continuing on in the business at all.
The Mathews Group can advise individual partners or boards of directors about various methods to resolve operational disagreements, including restructuring, dissolution and sell-out.
We're Different — And It Makes a Difference
The Mathews Group continually strives to be a unique law firm. We welcome inquiries from business owners with all types of operations regarding any type of business question. To schedule an appointment, contact us online or call 877-88-KC-LAW (877-885-2529).
