The Corporate and Finance Department has one overriding focus: business. We counsel companies, both public and private, in connection with a broad range of commercial activities. We represent businesses of all sizes – from small startups to large multinational corporations – in nearly every aspect of their operations. Our clients include companies in a variety of industries, including manufacturing, mining, technology, real estate development, healthcare and construction—to name a few.

We provide advice on a full range of business issues, including general business counseling, corporate governance, contracts and transactions, financing, and the distribution of products and services.

While our business clients are headquartered predominantly in the upper Midwest, they have operations worldwide. We provide a full range of support throughout the United States and globally. Our nationally recognized franchise team serves a national and international ‎franchisor clientele.

Services we provide:

• Business entity selection
• Contract negotiation
• Corporate finance
• Debt restructuring and bankruptcy
• Dissolution
• Franchisor structuring, registration and disclosure
• H-1B, L-1 and other qualified foreign worker visas
• Import, export and product classification
• Incorporation
• International transactions and compliance
• Licensing, distributorship and sales representative agreements
• Limited liability company organization
• Limited liability partnership and limited partnership formation
• Manufacturer, sales and supplier agreements
• Mergers and acquisitions
• Negotiation of loan documents
• Owner and investor agreements
• Protection of trade secrets under state and federal law
• Section 1031 exchanges
• Securities
• Security agreements for lenders and borrowers
• Succession planning
• Taxation
• Transfers and sales of ownership interests

We work ‎closely with other Larkin Hoffman attorneys to provide advice on employment and labor, employee benefits, regulatory, and intellectual property issues.