Legal Services
Business & Corporate Law
Carrizo Global Law advises entrepreneurs, founders, business owners, and companies on legal matters arising throughout the life cycle of a business.
Our work includes entity formation and structuring, governance, operating and ownership agreements, commercial contracts, transactions, reorganizations, and ongoing corporate legal matters.
For businesses involving multiple jurisdictions, foreign owners, immigration considerations, or federal tax issues, we also evaluate whether those matters should be coordinated as part of the broader legal strategy.
How We Approach Business Matters
Business legal needs rarely begin and end with filing formation documents.
We begin by understanding what the client is building, how the business will operate, who will own and control it, where it will conduct business, and what legal relationships need to be documented.
Depending on the matter, our analysis may consider:
Entity type and ownership structure
Formation state and principal operating state
Governance and decision-making authority
Capital contributions and economic rights
Agreements among founders, members, or shareholders
Contractual relationships with customers, vendors, contractors, or other parties
Transfer, succession, and exit considerations
Federal tax or immigration issues that may materially affect the structure
Whether the laws of another jurisdiction or local counsel are relevant
The objective is to create a legal structure that reflects how the business will actually operate, not merely complete a filing.
Business & Corporate Matters We Handle
Carrizo Global Law advises entrepreneurs, founders, owners, and businesses on a range of corporate and commercial legal matters. Select a category below to learn more about representative services.
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Carrizo Global Law assists entrepreneurs, founders, investors, and business owners in selecting and establishing legal structures appropriate to their ownership, operations, objectives, and applicable jurisdictions.
Representative matters may include:
LLC and corporate formation
Entity-type and ownership-structure analysis
Choice of formation jurisdiction and principal operating jurisdiction
Articles or certificates of formation or incorporation
Organizational actions, initial resolutions, and governing records
Membership, shareholder, and capitalization structures
Capital-contribution arrangements and economic rights
Entity classification and related federal tax considerations
Foreign qualification considerations when a business operates outside its formation jurisdiction
Structuring involving holding companies, subsidiaries, and affiliated entities
Entity formation involves more than filing documents with a state. The legal structure should reflect how the business will actually be owned, governed, financed, and operated, while accounting for the jurisdictions in which the business will conduct its activities.
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Carrizo Global Law prepares and advises on operating agreements, bylaws, and other governance documents establishing how owners and governing bodies make decisions, exercise authority, allocate economic rights, and manage the internal affairs of a business.
Representative matters may include:
LLC operating agreements
Corporate bylaws
Initial and ongoing member, manager, board, and shareholder resolutions
Member, manager, officer, and board authority
Voting rights, consent requirements, and approval thresholds
Capital contributions, distributions, and economic rights
Allocations of profits and losses
Restrictions on transfers of ownership interests
Deadlock and dispute-resolution mechanisms
Indemnification, limitation-of-liability, and related governance provisions where permitted by applicable law
Recordkeeping, corporate formalities, and governance procedures
Governance documents should reflect the governing law, actual ownership relationship, decision-making structure, economic arrangement, and anticipated operation of the business rather than being treated as generic formation paperwork.
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Carrizo Global Law assists businesses with drafting, reviewing, negotiating, and revising commercial agreements governing relationships with customers, vendors, contractors, consultants, strategic partners, suppliers, licensors, licensees, and other commercial parties.
Representative matters may include:
Service agreements
Consulting agreements
Independent-contractor agreements
Vendor and supplier agreements
Confidentiality and nondisclosure agreements
Licensing and commercial-use agreements
Master service agreements
Statements of work
Purchase, supply, and procurement agreements
Strategic business agreements
Contract amendments, renewals, and termination provisions
General contract review, negotiation, and risk analysis
Commercial contract review considers not only individual clauses, but also the allocation of risk, scope of performance, payment obligations, representations and warranties, indemnification, limitation of liability, remedies, termination rights, dispute-resolution provisions, governing law, and the commercial objectives of the transaction.
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Businesses with multiple owners benefit from clearly defining ownership rights, economic expectations, decision-making authority, transfer restrictions, and exit arrangements before disagreements or major ownership events occur.
Representative matters may include:
Founder agreements
LLC member agreements
Shareholder agreements
Ownership percentages, voting rights, and control arrangements
Capital contribution and vesting arrangements
Management roles and decision-making responsibilities
Restrictions on transfers of ownership interests
Rights of first refusal and similar transfer rights
Buy-sell and redemption provisions
Valuation and purchase-price mechanisms
Departure, death, disability, termination, or other triggering events
Deadlock and dispute-resolution mechanisms
Confidentiality and other restrictive provisions where permitted by applicable law
These agreements establish not only how the owners will work together while their interests are aligned, but also what happens when ownership, management, economic interests, or circumstances change.
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Businesses may need to reorganize or restructure their legal, ownership, governance, or operational structure as their activities, ownership, investment needs, or strategic objectives evolve.
Representative matters may include:
Internal entity reorganizations
Holding-company structures
Parent-subsidiary and affiliated-entity structures
Ownership and capitalization restructuring
Conversion, domestication, merger, or other reorganization of business entities, where permitted by applicable law
Creation or reorganization of affiliated entities
Separation of operating businesses from real estate, intellectual property, or other asset-holding activities
Governance and control restructuring
Corporate approvals, consents, and implementation documents
Coordination with federal tax considerations and other affected legal matters where relevant
Reorganizations and restructurings should be evaluated before documents are executed or ownership changes are implemented. Changes in entity structure, ownership, control, assets, or jurisdiction may create corporate, contractual, federal tax, regulatory, licensing, or other legal consequences that should be identified as part of the restructuring analysis.
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Carrizo Global Law advises clients whose business activities, ownership structures, or transactions involve more than one U.S. jurisdiction or have an international component.
Representative matters may include:
Companies formed in one jurisdiction but operating or conducting business in another
Analysis of formation, principal operating jurisdiction, and potential foreign-qualification requirements
U.S. entities owned by non-U.S. individuals or foreign companies
U.S. subsidiaries and affiliated entities of foreign companies
Cross-border ownership and holding-company structures
U.S. market-entry and entity-structuring considerations
Corporate matters involving internationally based founders, owners, or investors
Coordination of business structure with U.S. immigration objectives
Coordination of federal tax considerations arising from ownership, investment, or entity structure
Identification of matters requiring counsel admitted in another U.S. or foreign jurisdiction and coordination with such counsel where appropriate
Cross-border and multi-state business representation begins by identifying which jurisdiction’s law governs each issue, what legal consequences may arise in each relevant jurisdiction, and which aspects of the matter fall within the firm’s permitted scope of practice. When another jurisdiction’s law requires separate or local counsel, Carrizo Global Law may coordinate with appropriately qualified counsel as part of the broader representation.
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Carrizo Global Law advises businesses, founders, investors, and owners on transactions that change ownership, control, capitalization, assets, or material contractual relationships.
Representative matters may include:
Equity purchases and sales
Membership-interest transfers
Stock purchases and transfers
Asset-purchase transactions
Admission or withdrawal of owners
Buyouts and redemptions
Internal ownership reorganizations
Transaction structuring and documentation
Due diligence review and support
Corporate approvals, consents, and closing documents
Coordination of federal tax, immigration, governance, or other legal considerations affecting the transaction
The scope of transactional representation depends on the structure, governing law, jurisdictions involved, transaction documents, due-diligence findings, regulatory requirements, and complexity of the particular matter.
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Carrizo Global Law assists business owners in planning for changes in ownership, management, and control that may occur during the life of the business or following an owner’s death, incapacity, retirement, withdrawal, or other departure.
Representative matters may include:
Ownership and business-succession planning
Buy-sell and redemption arrangements
Transfer restrictions and permitted-transfer provisions
Rights of first refusal and related ownership-transfer mechanisms
Valuation and purchase-price provisions
Death, incapacity, retirement, withdrawal, and other triggering events
Management and governance continuity planning
Family-business ownership transitions
Coordination of corporate governance documents with succession arrangements
Continuity provisions in operating agreements, shareholder agreements, and other ownership documents
Coordination with the firm’s D.C. Trusts & Estates practice where District of Columbia estate-planning issues are implicated
Business succession planning may involve both corporate-law and estate-planning considerations. Carrizo Global Law addresses the business, ownership, governance, and contractual aspects within the firm’s permitted scope of practice. Where District of Columbia trusts-and-estates law applies, those issues may be coordinated with the firm’s D.C. Trusts & Estates practice. Where another jurisdiction’s estate, probate, trust, marital-property, or similar laws are implicated, coordination with qualified local counsel may be appropriate.
These categories are representative and are not an exhaustive description of the firm's Business & Corporate practice. The availability and scope of representation depend on the nature of the matter, governing law, applicable jurisdiction, and professional-practice requirements.
Multi-State, Cross-Border & Interdisciplinary Matters
Business matters do not always fit neatly within one jurisdiction or one area of law.
A company may be formed in one state and operate in another. Its owners may reside elsewhere or outside the United States. A transaction may create federal tax consequences. A founder's immigration objectives may interact with ownership or corporate structure. Succession planning may affect both company governance and estate planning.
Carrizo Global Law identifies the jurisdictions and legal issues relevant to the particular matter and determines the appropriate scope of representation.
Where applicable, the firm may coordinate business and corporate analysis with federal tax, immigration, trusts and estates, or qualified counsel in another jurisdiction.
Discuss Your Business Legal Needs
The appropriate business structure and legal strategy depend on the company's ownership, operations, objectives, governing law, and the particular transaction or issue involved.
Request a consultation with Carrizo Global Law to tell us about your business and determine the appropriate next step.