Real estate financing and transactional services:
Typically, as they expand, growing businesses become more and more involved in real estate transactions, ranging from office space to retail store properties to warehouses and shopping mall syndication.  A qualified business lawyer can provide valuable assistance in traditional real estate purchase, sale and leasing transactions, and in dealing with environmental and various other issues arising out of industrial and agricultural redevelopment projects.

Business contracts:
Business contracts are written agreements spanning a broad range of the business relationships that occur in the life of a typical company.  They can include non-compete agreements, non-piracy agreements, non-disclosure agreements, restrictive covenants, employment agreements, producer agreements, sales representative agreements, consulting agreements, management agreements, franchise agreements, licensing agreements, deferred compensation agreements and independent contractor agreements.

Franchises and other types of business marketing:
A great many small businesses in the marketplace today are operated not as purely independent businesses, but as franchises, distributorships, or any of various types of licensing arrangements.  All of these businesses are created through written agreements containing express and implied warranties, and it is not uncommon for issues to arise resulting in litigation.

Licensing and commercial contracts:
Business services attorneys counsel clients in a wide range of commercial and intellectual property (IP) transactions. They provide assistance in structuring, drafting, reviewing and negotiating commercial and IP agreements related to the development, acquisition and commercialization of technology, IP, goods or services. The types of agreements involved in these transactions include:

• Software license, maintenance and support, source code escrow, end user license, patent and other technology license agreements
• Development agreements
• Purchase and supply agreements
• Manufacturing agreements
• Distribution, reseller, value-added reseller (VAR) and original equipment manufacturer (OEM) agreements
• Referral, marketing agreements
• Employment, consulting, technical services and outsourcing agreements
• Joint venture, strategic partner, technology transfer agreements
• E-commerce and Internet-related agreements (including web-based hosting agreements, application service provider (ASP) agreements, web site development, privacy policies and website terms of use)
• Non-disclosure agreements

Sales Commission Disputes:
In avoiding sales commission litigation there is no substitute for an artfully drafted agreement spelling out precisely how and at what rate sales representatives are to receive commissions. Common usage and custom are also taken into consideration by courts in determining the issues, even where there is a written agreement.

Litigation and dispute resolution:
Commercial disputes often become legal disputes, the resolution of which typically proceeds along an escalating scale of confrontation ranging from informal settlement negotiation to hardball litigation.  An effective business litigation attorney must have complete mastery of this complex and challenging field of law, but more than that, he or she must also have the patience and personal skills to operate on an informal level, and the aggressive forensic ability and tenacity to claim victory in the courtroom.

Contract Remedies:
Contracts are the very stuff upon which the marketplace is founded, and they provide the basis for a large share of business litigation.  The remedies for breach of contract include money damages and injunctive relief expressly directing one of the parties to perform a contractual obligation. This remedy involves a form of injunction called a “specific performance” decree.  The remedy of specific performance is often called an “extraordinary” equitable remedy, in that courts will not grant specific performance except in a sharply limited number of circumstances. Punitive damages are not an available remedy in a contract lawsuit.

Business Litigation:
Business litigation is the area of law that provides assistance in the preparation and presentation of a lawsuit or other resort to the courts to determine a legal question or matter in business situations.  Business can be any activity or enterprise entered into for profit, usually a company, a corporation, partnership or any such formal organization. Business lawyers advise and represent businesses and financial institutions in such areas as business torts, class actions, complex contracts, financial forensics, government investigations, international dispute resolution, professional relations, real estate disputes, securities and antitrust, technology and intellectual property, professional malpractice, shareholder and corporate governance and telecommunications.

Business lawyers place an emphasis on achieving or defending against pre-judgment remedies, including pre-judgment orders for writs of possession, attachments, temporary restraining orders, and injunctions, as well as arbitration or mediation settlements and monetary compensation resulting from lawsuits. Transactional business lawyers represent clients in matters relating to, but not limited to, organizational, operational and contractual documents for corporations, partnerships and limited liability companies, commercial transactions, mergers, real estate acquisitions, leasing and development and commercial financing.

Business Formation:
There really isn’t any need for legal counsel in forming a sole proprietorship, but other forms of business organization are a good deal more complicated and are best accomplished with the assistance of a lawyer. These include the formation of partnerships, limited liability companies and corporations.

Business and Corporate Services:
Business and corporate services involves advising companies and investors in the purchase, sale and mergers of businesses.  The services provided include forming and funding start-up companies, buying and selling practices, assets, divisions and companies, engaging in private stock offerings and re-sales, structuring venture capital financing, forming off-shore sales and sourcing entities, structuring commercial and partnering transactions and syndicating real property acquisitions.

If you or someone you know in Michigan needs the assistance of an experienced Bloomfield Hills Business and Commercial Law Attorney, call Safford & Baker today at 866-785-3426, or complete the contact form provided on this site to schedule your initial consultation.

If you or someone you know in Michigan needs the assistance of an experienced Bloomfield Hills Business and Commercial Law Attorney, call Safford & Baker today at 866-785-3426, or complete the contact form provided on this site to schedule your initial consultation.

ADDRESS OF THE FIRM:
Safford & Baker, PLLC
40900 Woodward Avenue, Suite 278
Bloomfield Hills, MI 48304
Telephone: 866-785-3426
Fax: 248-646-9102

MEMBERS OF THE FIRM:

Ralph R. Safford
Born Detroit, Michigan, March 29, 1949; admitted to bar, 1974, Michigan; admitted to United States District Court, Eastern District; United States District Court, Western District; United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit; Federal Circuit; United States Supreme Court. Education: University of Michigan (B.A., 1971); Harvard University (J.D., cum laude, 1974). Phi Beta Kappa. James B. Angell Scholar. Member: Oakland County (Chair, Federal Court Committee, 1989-1990) and American Bar Associations; State Bar of Michigan. Practice Areas:  Business Law and Commercial Transactions; Employment Law; Commercial Litigation; Appellate Practice; Real Estate and Construction Law; Publishing and Copyright Law; Computer Law.

Donald H. Baker, Jr.
Born Baltimore, Maryland, April 25, 1958; admitted to bar, 1983, North Carolina; 1987, Michigan; admitted to United States Tax Court; Michigan Tax Tribunal. Education: University of North Carolina (B.S., 1980); University of Michigan (J.D., cum laude, 1983). John Motley Morehead Scholar; Research and Executive Editor, Michigan Law Review, 1981-1983. Law Clerk to Honorable James Dickson Phillips, Jr., United States Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit, 1983-1984. Adjunct Professor of Taxation, Walsh College, 1989—. Member: North Carolina and American Bar Associations; State Bar of Michigan. Languages: Spanish and Portuguese. Practice Areas: Business Law and Commercial Transactions; Taxation; Venture Capital/Capital Formation; Publishing and Copyright Law; Computer Law.

Mary Ann Hart
Born Detroit, Michigan, April 19, 1965; admitted to bar, 1993, Michigan; admitted to U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Michigan; U.S. Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit. Education: University of Detroit (B.S., summa cum laude, 1987); University of Michigan (M.S., 1988; J.D., 1993). Insignis Scholar; Executive Editor, University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform, 1992-1993. Law Clerk to Honorable Mark J. Cavanagh, Michigan Court of Appeals, 1995-2000. Member: Oakland County Bar Association; State Bar of Michigan. Practice Areas: Litigation; Appellate Practice.

Matthew W. Bower
Born Royal Oak, Michigan, August 19, 1972; admitted to bar, 2004, Michigan; admitted to New York bar 2003; admitted to U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Michigan.  Education:  University of Michigan (B.A., 1995); Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, New York, NY (J.D., cum laude, 2002).  Editor-in-Chief 2001-2002, Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal, Jacob Burns Medal (Outstanding Contribution to a Journal), Dean’s Merit Scholarship 1999-2002, Bond Merit Scholarship 2001-2002.  Member:  Oakland County Bar Association; State Bar of Michigan.  Practice Areas:  Litigation; Publishing  and Copyright Law.