Are you considering forming a new LLC in San Diego or anywhere in California?  You need the advice and counsel of experienced and proven business attorneys with more than four decades of experience helping to start new LLCs and companies.  At the Watkins Firm, our business lawyers can provide great coaching when forming a new LLC in San Diego.  Why does every small business need a strong, experienced business attorney? Do you really need an attorney to start a business today?

Important Takeaways When Starting a New LLC in San Diego:

• Downloading forms off of the internet is not an effective way to start any new company.  If this is your first company, you need the affordable start-up package from the Watkins Firm, and insight from business attorneys with decades of experience in your business niche.
• Many startups, especially LLC owners fail to understand the importance of the LLC operating agreement and other corporate documents.  Getting them right, up front, will save you a large sum of money down the road, and prevent expensive internal and external disputes and lawsuits.
• Are you going to have a payroll?  California is, by far, the most difficult state in the union in which to be an employer.  You will need to learn and stay up-to-date on all federal, state, and local laws, ordinances, and regulations.
• A business attorney should be one of your closest business advisors throughout your business career.  Draw on the 40+ years of experience available to you at the Watkins Firm.

The Down Low on Download Forms

There are many forms provided by download sites and across the internet. These seem to be an inexpensive solution to corporate documents and an operating agreement.  However, California has many unique, and complex laws that generic forms from a download site most often will not anticipate. Did you know there is a built-in bias toward minority partners under California law?  How can you make sure your company is formed and established as you intend it to be?

Here at the Watkins Firm, we have an extensive library of proven, up-to-date enforceable templates which help to keep costs as low as possible when starting a new LLC in San Diego.  However, even these corporate documents and the LLC operating agreement have literally more than a hundred optional phrases and clauses which must be decided from the outset.  Our start-up package provides a lot more than forms.  We invest time in our new business startup clients to help them to understand why each clause in an operating agreement matters, and how to protect all of the time and money they are about to invest in their new company.

There are many issues you should consider as you develop the corporate documents and operating agreement that will guide your LLC now and in the months and years to come.  However, an effective and enforceable business formation document must meet California’s unique and complex commercial laws.  Most download form sites provide cheap boilerplate documents which fail at the first real test – a dispute or lawsuit.  Are you willing to risk all the hours of hard work, effort, sleepless nights and money you’ve put into your new business over poor forms?

Pro-Tip: “The purpose for forming a new LLC in San Diego, or any business entity is to allow you to take the types of risks you need to in order to have a successful business and make money. You have different types of companies, different types of licenses, different types of product, different types of ways of making a profit companies that just hold asset. You have companies for asset protection. You have companies for professional corporations, companies for real estate development companies for healthcare companies, for international business, the list goes on and on. And so when you come to an experienced lawyer who has experience with your type of company, you’re going to get insights and you’re going to get formation and you’re going to get a custom fit for the documents that are required in your specific type of business and for what your business goals are.

It’s important to select the right entity. It could be just a fictitious business name, or it could be a corporation. It could be a couple of companies, two or three companies. It could be a combination of the above. For example, here’s a good example. You have a company and you own a building and you run your company out of that building. A lot of our clients will have a corporation for the business and they’ll have another company or their own entity for the building and lease the building to their own company. And when you have an experienced lawyer, we usually come with experienced tax professionals and experienced bankers and experience other service industry individuals that are entities that help business.

Another thing startups often underestimate is the importance of getting the corporate documents right. How do corporate documents set a new company up for success? Well, we guide the client on what’s best for them, and we’ve guided them through the process of questions that we ask them that lead us to the conclusion, they need a limited liability company or a corporation or general partnership or whatnot. If it’s a corporation, then we’re going to form that for them, for the person who’s hiring us. Because most people don’t understand lawyers are advocates, not just in the courtroom, but we’re advocates for you, the business owner. When we draft your documents, we’re your advocate. We are thinking, how can I best protect my client and achieve their goals for them when we form and create the corporate documents?

We customize our documents when we form a corporation. Unlike when you go to the internet or some of these companies that give you a bland agreement, that’s neutral, we give you an agreement that is biased in your favor, which is important because you may want to have investors. You may want to sell the company someday. You may want to own the intellectual rights. You may have an invention that you’d like incorporated in that company. On top of that, one of the big reasons for forming a company is making sure that it’s protects you. That’s the essence of a company – the corporate veil. If your documents aren’t formatted properly, if you are not set up and organized correctly, if all of the legal requirements for having a separate entity are not in place, then you’ve wasted your time and money because you will have no protection when a creditor comes after you.  Your corporation or LLC is somewhat like an insurance policy.

If you do everything right when forming a new LLC in San Diego, and something goes wrong down the road, one of your employees does something bad, or a dispute with a customer comes up, you are personally protected. You’re only liable for the amount of money you capitalize that corporation with. So that means you are protected. If you do everything right, you can also use this corporation, sell it, merge another company with it, and everything your planning to accomplish. And all of the time you spend to do things right pays off, literally. The other lawyer representing the individual or company who wants to do business with you is going to look at your corporate documents and say, yes, they did everything right. And it’s professional, and worth a lot more money!” – Dan Watkins, Founding Partner

You Need Sound Advice and Counsel when Starting a New LLC in San Diego

Forming a new LLC in San Diego is an important step for any entrepreneur, and the decisions you make today will affect your company’s ability to survive, grow and prosper.  Our business lawyers can provide great coaching when starting a new LLC to help you to avoid mistakes and get things off to a great start.

The very purpose of an LLC or any corporate entity is to separate your personal assets and you as an individual from the “entity” that is your new LLC.  This valuable protection prevents creditors from being able to pursue you personally for business debts.  The protections for your home and family are important, and there are many steps you must take at the beginning and throughout each year to protect the corporate veil and the integrity of your new LLC.

If you are starting a new company we invite you to review our podcast Episode 6 – Why You Need a Business Lawyer as well as the strong recommendations of our clients and contact the Watkins Firm or call 858-535-1511 for a complimentary consultation today.  Learn about our decades of experience with companies just like yours and the sound coaching and counsel we provide to our small business clients.  We will discuss the business you are about to enter, and the legal steps you must take to operate your new LLC here in California.  There is no cost for the phone call or initial consultation.  You need sound advice and counsel now and throughout your business journey.

Meet Daniel Watkins:

Daniel W. Watkins is a true people person who sincerely listens. He cares deeply about what others are going through.  Dan enjoys digging into the facts and finding creative solutions to problems.  He contributes his insights candidly and constructively.

Dan’s interest in people make him deeply invested in every relationship and his exuberant personality makes him a true litigator. Dan fights for his clients with a fierce and calculated commitment.

Dan has practiced in the areas of business, medical practices and healthcare business, high tech/science, real estate and employment defense law since 1987. He is a trusted litigation strategist and true trial attorney with over 50 jury and bench trials to his credit. Dan has successfully represented both large companies and individuals and achieved substantial victories in well-publicized trials throughout California and the U.S.

He is experienced in business and corporate formation and administration, as well as all forms of alternative dispute resolution, including binding arbitration and mediation.

THE ROAD TO BECOMING A BUSINESS LAWYER AND LITIGATOR

Dan has almost 40 years of experience working with, for and against some of the largest insurance companies in the country. He has successfully tried and litigated cases in the areas of Healthcare Compliance, Commercial Litigation, Unfair Business Practices, Fraud, Breach of Contract, Battery, Premises Liability, Product Defect, Medical Malpractice, Discrimination, Sexual Harassment, Construction Defect, as well as Unfair Competition, Defamation, and Trade Secrets.

In December 2003, Dan commenced litigation against Health South Surgery Centers-West, Inc and its’ subsidiaries, exposing the company’s extensive mismanagement and misconduct of its’ surgery centers. Dan has also been asked by some of California’s largest municipalities and corporations to conduct legally required investigations into matters involving alleged employment discrimination and harassment.