Practice Areas

• Business Law
• Real Estate
• Commercial Law and Secured Transactions
• Litigation

Business Law - We provide a wide variety of services to our business clients from assisting in selecting the type of organization entity under which to operate, preparation of agreements, sale and purchase of businesses, and obtaining financing and funding for business operations. The form of business chosen for a business entity potentially affects every aspect of its operations. Our firm assists our clients in formation and business planning in deciding whether they want to operate as a closely held business, limited liability company, partnership, or corporation. We advise our clients about directors' and officers' liability, dissolution, franchising, reorganization, trade association membership and activity, joint ventures, mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, business successions, and shareholders' rights. Areas of expertise include:

• Advice on entity selection including corporations, partnerships, limited liability companies
• Tax planning for business entities and individuals
• Purchase and sale of businesses ranging from start-up franchise to national chain franchise or manufacturers representative business to $100 million plus multi-state manufacturing company acquisition
• Debt consolidations and informal reorganizations for businesses as an alternative to bankruptcy
• Business succession planning
• Shareholder disputes including mediation, arbitration and litigation
• Employment agreements, non-competes
• Mergers, acquisitions
• Private and exempt offerings

Real Estate - Areas of Expertise Include:

• Land use, planning and zoning - planned unit developments, including residential, resort, commercial and golf course communities, conditional use permits, variances, developer agreements, zoning amendments, tax increment financing, special zoning districts
• Commercial Leasing - lease drafting and review including industrial warehouse and office parks, apartments, townhomes and condominiums, and commercial retail leases ranging from free standing buildings to commercial strip centers, regionals and malls (such as Mall of America, Arbor Lakes and Southdale Center)
• Common Interest Community documentation, master planned community declarations, reciprocal easement declarations, and conventional declarations for resort, townhome, condominium, cooperative and commercial planned developments
• Mechanic's Lien Foreclosures - filing and foreclosure of subcontractor's liens with recommendations from clients with representation extending over 20 years
• Construction and Commercial Litigation - aggressive representation in State or Federal Court or in arbitration or mediation proceedings with client references; 25 year history of involvement in developer construction projects that provide familiarity with the construction industry
• Title Disputes - quiet title actions, boundary disputes, easement issues, torrens proceedings, partitions

Commercial Law and Secured Transactions Experience in a Number of Areas Including:

• Aggressive representation in commercial litigation and collection proceedings
• Receiverships and collateral liquidation
• Foreclosure of secured credit claims
• Real estate foreclosures by action or by advertisement
• Informal debtor reorganizations
• Specialized loan documentation including pledges, escrows, work-out agreements