Start-ups and emerging companies require a special skill set that traditional law firms rarely have the expertise to provide. Paul Ellis Law Group began as a tech-friendly law firm, so we have a laser focus on exactly the kind of legal matters with which you’ll need help. We handle everything from structuring and formation to financing and intellectual property protection. And we’ll help prioritize the issues you’ll need to deal with in the order in which you’ll face them.
The Firm’s corporate and securities practices offer essential support to our clients that are growing and emerging companies. Our Firm’s size and style are uniquely suited to assisting young companies as they expand and require more sophisticated representation. In any number of areas, including employment, equity incentive arrangements, real estate, intellectual property, financing arrangements and dispute resolution, our lawyers assist clients in implementing scalable solutions that support and facilitate their profitable growth.
We act as both general business counsel and securities counsel to advise emerging companies from initial start-up through the various tiers of venture capital and public financing, all the while providing practical guidance in operational matters. Some of our startup clients have limited experience in the fundamentals of starting and building a company. We can assist these clients in identifying and understanding the fundamental issues they need to be aware of, making intelligent choices as to the issues to be addressed at the outset and those that can be postponed, and generally establishing strong legal foundations for their companies.
Many of our clients expect to raise funds through angel and venture finance and/or are expecting an accelerated growth curve which will result in an acquisition. For these clients, some of the greatest value that we provide occurs before the first term sheet is drafted. Our clear understanding of what makes a company attractive to the investment community or as an acquisition target enables us to offer invaluable guidance early in the process. We advise on critical threshold issues such as corporate structure, employment relationships and intellectual property protection, and can offer guidance on content and format of business plans.
Emerging companies, dependent as they often are on alternative sources of funding and angel and VC financing, are understandably focused on the need to contain legal costs. So are we. Through strategies such as spreading out various projects over time and identifying activities that can be performed in-house, we work closely with our clients to manage and control their legal budgets. An initial conference with our corporate lawyers is always free of charge.
Beyond our legal services, we are very active in the New York technology startup community. In 2009, Paul Ellis co-founded the New York Technology Council, which merged with NY Tech Meetup to become the 60,000 member New York Tech Alliance, where he is a board member and organizer of NYTA’s “Legal Track” of events to educate founders, principals, executives and in-house counsel of technology companies regarding the critical legal issues they face. Paul frequently speaks on and moderates panels on legal topics of interest to technology companies. Paul Ellis Law Group has a significant network of investors and accountants, bankers, consultants and other service providers who have expertise in working with emerging companies. Consquently, we are often able to refer our clients to specialists who have a clear understanding of the challenges and opportunities faced by emerging companies, and who can offer direct and immediate assistance in achieving their business objectives.
