Business litigation involves business people representing a variety of industries on local, state and federal levels in matters pertaining to such diverse areas as:

• Business Torts: including commercial defamation; trade dress, patent or trademark infringement (including Lanham Act suits); interference with contractual or economic relations; breach of fiduciary duty; fraud and misrepresentation; unfair and deceptive trade practices and other conduct or claims that affect the success of a business.
• Class Actions: including securities fraud, commercial and tax issues, and minority shareholder rights.
• Contracts: such as a service contract with a primary vendor, an output contract with a key supplier, a sales contract with an important customer, or any other kind of written or oral agreement.
• Professional Malpractice: accountants, architects, engineers, doctors and lawyers all face the risk of malpractice claims that can jeopardize business, reputation and finances.
• Securities and Antitrust: claims involving securities and investments, claims arising under federal law--for example, Rule 10b-5, the 1933 Act, the 1934 Act--or state securities laws.
• Shareholder and Corporate Governance: shareholder inspection rights, duties of directors and officers, conflicts of interest, derivative actions, business judgment rule defenses, change of control provisions, dissent and appraisal proceedings, involuntary and judicial dissolution, minority shareholder rights and claims and valuation of closely held corporations.
• Telecommunications: technical and industry-specific issues, including issues arising out of the Telecommunications Act of 1996.

What do Business Law Lawyers do?

Business law encompasses rules, statutes, codes and regulations that are established which govern commercial relationships and provide a legal framework within which business law attorneys may help you conduct and manage your business.

Business law attorneys help you with every aspect of highly diverse business law including areas like: banking and finance law, business formation and organization, business negotiations, business planning, transactional business law, acquisition, merger, divestiture and sale of businesses, and business litigation, as well as environmental, intellectual property, labor and civil law areas. For more information, please contact Minneapolis business lawyer George E. Antrim, III.

It's obvious that you should hire a business attorney if you're being investigated for securities fraud by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) or a customer is severely injured by one of your products or on your premises. But, there are a lot of not so obvious reasons to retain a business law attorney.

For example, are you planning on forming a corporation or partnership? A business law attorney can avert a lot of legal issues that can arise with forming these types of businesses and he or she can advise you on the best business formation for your needs. A business law attorney can also help research any possible intellectual property issues and issues relating to hiring employees, tax issues and other legal matters that can arise with forming and running a business.