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Business Lawyers in Central Florida
Helping Businesses Large and Small Find Success
Next to perhaps only your family and home, the most important thing in your life is likely your business aspirations and the dreams of greater success. But along the pathway to success, many risks and difficulties lay in wait for the unsuspecting. It’s unwise for any business, large or small, to go without legal aid in their corner for just such an instance. It is highly recommended that you retain professional legal counsel to look after your business and personal interests.
Like all other areas of law, business law (also known as corporate law) has many complexities that require lawyers with extensive experience handling these particular issues. You do not want to settle for just any lawyer in your area. You want a lawyer with experience handling complicated business agreements, the difficulties of finding the right new employees, negotiating new contracts, and other such legal matters. You want an attorney like Melody Lankford and her legal team.
Lankford Law Firm is home to some of the finest business attorneys in Central Florida. We pride ourselves on providing the legal services that our clients rightly deserve. No corporation is too big, and no business is too small. To learn more about what we could offer you and your business, please contact our firm to schedule an in-depth consultation.
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Can Daytona Beach Small Business Lawyers Help Small Business Owners?
Small businesses deserve all the respect and representation that larger companies tend to receive. Like you, Lankford Law Firm itself is a smaller firm, but we take pride in that fact because it allows us to provide more personal legal representation to our clients. Our smaller size grants us increased efficiency at lower prices so that we can solve your issues faster and cheaper.
We understand that small businesses have their own unique set of complexities that large companies do not. Our Daytona Beach small business attorneys have the knowledge and experience necessary to help you meet those goals.
Selling Your Business: How Our Experienced Business Law Attorneys Can Guide You
Selling a business is a significant decision, filled with complexities and legal intricacies. Our law firm is here to guide you through every step, ensuring a smooth and legally sound transition. With years of experience, our law firm understands the challenges and opportunities unique to business sales.
We recognize that each business is unique. Our approach is tailored to your specific needs, focusing on maximizing your benefits while minimizing risks. From evaluating your business’s worth to drafting and negotiating the sales agreement, we provide comprehensive support.
Our commitment to you extends beyond the sale. We offer post-sale legal assistance to address any residual matters, ensuring a complete and worry-free transition. Selling your business is a major milestone. Let our law firm provide the guidance and support you need for a successful sale. Contact us today to discuss how we can assist in turning your business goals into reality.
In practice since 2004, Attorney Lankford is a Daytona Beach business lawyer serving clients throughout Central Florida, serving a vast range of clients, including employees and independent contractors, small businesses and start-ups, medium-sized enterprises, and large corporations.
Attorney Lankford earned her degree from Davidson College in 2001. She then went on to earn her J.D. degree from Florida State University’s College of Law, graduating in 2004 and passing the bar exam shortly after that.
She started her legal career by joining the Raydon Corporation, working as the in-house legal counsel. She held this position from 2004 through 2012, when she went into private practice and established her own law office, the Lankford Law Firm.
What Are the Benefits of Registering a Trademark or Copyright?
Name recognition, brand distinction, and copyright protections are just a few of the several benefits of registering a trademark or copyright. Recent research suggests that trademarks make up a third of all corporate value, making the investment of the registration more than worth the cost.
Trademarks and copyrights help protect your brand and product from your direct competitors by not allowing them to misuse your logos, flavors, designs, and other defined features to their own benefit. If a competitor does use your trademarked property without your permission, this may be a case of trademark infringement, which could reward your business with damages if you decide to pursue legal action.
At Lankford Law Firm, we strongly advocate for the importance and usefulness of trademarking your intellectual properties. As your business lawyers, we can assist you with filing your trademarks or copyrights and protecting those properties if another party ever infringes your exclusive rights.
We’re a smaller law firm. We view that as a strength, not a weakness. Other law firms may leave you waiting on hold or getting passed between different assistants for days. Because we are small, you get a personal working relationship with our lead attorney. With attorney Lankford, you’re not just getting legal counsel; you’re getting a legal partner.
Our goals are to make your lives easier. If you sleep better at night knowing that your legal concerns are being properly seen to, then we feel that we’re doing our job right. Many of our clients believe that we’ve helped them achieve their legal goals better than they previously could’ve imagined possible.
Many business law firms don’t want to represent business start-ups. Lankford Law Firm, on the other hand, takes great pride in helping a new business launch in pursuit of its ambitions. Whether you’re just beginning business formation or you’ve run into a snag along the way to the starting line, we strongly advocate for your new business venture and will help you each step of the way.
Unlike other law firms that may cut ties with you as soon as the primary legal concern has been put to bed, Lankford Law Firm believes in establishing long-term working relationships with our clients across the company’s entire life cycle. We like to think of ourselves as your partners on this journey of yours, acting like in-house counsel as you meet your goals and achieve your dreams.
We offer our legal services to Orlando, Florida, and the Central Florida community. To speak with lead attorney Lankford about your unique case, we encourage you to get in touch with our Daytona Beach-based law offices to schedule your initial consultation.
We’re a smaller law firm. We view that as a strength, not a weakness. Other law firms may leave you waiting on hold or getting passed between different assistants for days. Because we are small, you get a personal working relationship with our lead attorney. With Lankford Law Firm, you’re not just getting legal counsel; you’re getting a legal partner.
Our goals are to make your lives easier. If you sleep better at night knowing that your legal concerns are being properly seen to, then we feel that we’re doing our job right. Many of our clients believe that we’ve helped them achieve their legal goals better than they previously could’ve imagined possible.
Many business law firms don’t want to represent business start-ups. Lankford Law Firm, on the other hand, takes great pride in helping a new business launch in pursuit of its ambitions. Whether you’re just beginning business formation or you’ve run into a snag along the way to the starting line, we strongly advocate for your new business venture and will help you each step of the way.
Unlike other law firms that may cut ties with you as soon as the primary legal concern has been put to bed, Lankford Law Firm believes in establishing long-term working relationships with our clients across the company’s entire life cycle. We like to think of ourselves as your partners on this journey of yours, acting like in-house counsel as you meet your goals and achieve your dreams.
We offer our legal services to Orlando, Florida, and the Central Florida community at a reduced rate that’s difficult to beat. To speak with lead attorney Lankford about your unique case, we encourage you to get in touch with our Daytona Beach-based law offices to schedule your initial consultation.
How Can a Lawyer Help Businesses with Employment Agreements?
Even the simplest of employment contracts come with complexities that demand the attention of a knowledgeable business attorney. As your legal representatives, we can assist you in hiring highly skilled new employees, drafting new employment contracts, and writing enforceable clauses.
Among the many clauses we can help you include in your negotiations are restrictive covenants like non-compete clauses, non-disclosure agreements, and non-solicitation agreements. While we hope that your employees remain with your company for many years to come, when it is time to go your separate ways these clauses can prevent your former employees from poaching your talent or going off to join one of your direct competitors for a certain period of time.
Contact the Lankford Law Firm to Schedule an In-Depth Consultation with Experienced Florida Business Attorneys
Lankford Law Firm serves business clients all across Central Florida. Our Daytona Beach law offices are located within 4 minutes from Sun Splash Park, an 8-minute drive from Frank Rendon Park, and about 10 minutes from Daytona International Speedway. The Daytona Beach International Airport (DAB) is a short 12-minute drive away from our law offices.
We proudly provide our legal services to clients in Orlando, FL, and the surrounding Orlando area. If you believe our firm would be a good fit for your business needs, please contact us to schedule a case evaluation with our highly skilled legal team. Whatever business legal matters you are facing, be they commercial leases, complicated business transactions, business start-ups, or company mergers, we have extensive experience that we would happily pass along to you as a partner in your business ambitions.
To learn more, please contact our law firm at (850) 888 8992.
Do you need a business attorney or can you handle these complex legal issues on your own?
Many aspects of operating a Florida-based business can be handled independently by the business owner and his or her staff. However, a business lawyer can help you prepare for certain risks and avoid business pitfalls ahead of time. Large companies and small businesses alike deserve proper care to ensure that their business venture is a success. The shadow of lawsuits, stolen trademarked property, complicated business planning, employee discord, and other legal issues always loom over every business, though. Plan for success, but prepare for potential setbacks by hiring professional legal counsel. We provide legal representation that can help you avoid or limit such issues.
Which business structure is right for your small business plan?
This question cannot be answered without more closely reviewing your unique business and goals. Depending on several factors, your business could be legally structured as a corporation, limited liability company (LLC), limited partnership, partnership, professional LLC, or sole proprietorship. If you do not understand some of the differences between these business structures, that is okay, we’re here to help. And even if you are aware of the differences, we can help provide guidance so that you choose the right structure for your needs.
Are there alternatives to business and employment litigation?
Alternative dispute resolution (ADR) presents other legal options for those facing serious disagreements, contentious negotiations, and litigation. Alternative dispute resolution methods include mediation (in which a neutral third party — the mediator — helps resolve issues), arbitration (in which a third-party arbiter renders their decision to resolve an issue outside the courts), and informal settlement discussions (in which both sides sit down with their lawyers and attempt to work towards a written agreement). Our business attorneys can help you choose the right alternative dispute resolution for you and your business.
Can a business lawyer help me sell my company or dissolve a corporation?
In addition to helping you work out the deal to sell your company for hopefully even more money than what you put into it, business law professionals can also assist you in dissolving your corporation. Certain state requirements must be met in order to begin the dissolution and we can help ensure that you meet those criteria. Among the many steps required will be a meeting of the company’s necessary figures (shareholders, board members, executives, directors, etc.). If the voting requirements are met, the corporation may adopt the articles of dissolution.
When does a business owner need to be concerned about asset protection?
Asset protection involves protecting your personal assets from legal liability in cases where you’ve been exposed to a lawsuit or debt. Such instances may include: you’re being sued, getting divorced, falling into debt, you’re involved in a high-risk business, you’ve been involved in a personal injury accident, or you’re being investigated by a government agency for wrongdoing. We can help you face these legal matters and protect your assets from seizure.
Is it possible to prevent former employees from working for my direct competitors?
There are employment contracts that include clauses known as ‘restrictive covenants.’ Common examples of restrictive covenants include non-compete clauses, non-solicitation clauses, and non-disclosure agreements. A non-compete clause, for example, does not allow a former employee to work for a direct competitor for a certain period after their employment with you ends. Restrictive covenants must be ‘reasonable’ for them to be enforceable. Work with professional legal representation to ensure your clauses are proper.
What is involved in a corporate merger in Central Florida?
In corporate mergers, one or two businesses become a new unified business. Sometimes, the merger results in a brand new company with a new business model. Other times, the merger involves the dissolution of smaller companies as they are absorbed into the other larger companies. Whatever the case may be for you and your business deal, our attorneys have the experience and know-how to assist you.
What does ‘pierce the corporate veil’ mean?
In most situations, a corporation is treated as its own separate legal entity, with its shareholders, board members, and executives shielded from most liability. However, in certain unique circumstances, the courts will ‘pierce the corporate veil’ and seek to hold an individual involved with the corporation responsible for the corporation’s actions or lack of accountability. In such circumstances, hiring a business law firm to protect your personal and business interests is highly recommended.