Business Planning

As the nature of how businesses operate has changed, so have the tax codes. To stay ahead of the curve today, we look for every advantage, structure, or nuance to give our clients the best-advantage position possible.

Our Business Planning Group assists clients with a wide range of business, tax and financial issues. We act as our clients' outside general counsel with respect to all of their business and corporate needs, and are often relied upon to provide sophisticated merger and acquisition services. We assist first-time and seasoned entrepreneurs, small and large privately held businesses, family owned enterprises, venture backed entities and publicly traded companies with all issues that relate to their businesses, including: entity formation; contract preparation, review and negotiation; raising of capital or debt; and governance, business finance, and succession planning.

From first-time entrepreneurs to experienced business leaders, we work with clients to identify risks that can affect their business, form strategies to alleviate those risks and implement tactics to accomplish the clients' goals.

Representative Matters

Services for Established Businesses

Business Continuity Planning: For our clients with interests in closely held businesses, a key to effective planning is the structure for the succession of the closely held business and the implementation of Shareholder Agreements and Cross-Purchase Agreements.
Financing: Assisting clients in obtaining the debt or equity financing that is necessary for the successful growth and operation of their business.
Employment: Tailoring appropriate employment agreements and noncompetition agreements for employment relationships taking into account the many nuances of federal and state employment law.
Executive Compensation Arrangements: Assisting clients in structuring deferred compensation plans with or without Rabbi or secular trusts, golden parachute provisions, bonus and employment agreements, as well as stock-based compensation arrangements such as restricted stock or stock option plans.
Employee Benefits: Counseling clients in selecting, designing, installing, reviewing, amending and terminating appropriate employee benefit plans for their employees. We also sponsor a regional prototype defined contribution plan by which our clients may adopt 401(k), profit sharing and money purchase pension plans.
Contracts: Negotiating, preparing and reviewing a wide variety of contracts for companies relating to all aspects of their business and their contractual relationships.
Tax Planning and Federal & State Taxation: Integrating a client's business objectives with the tax planning tools which are available to enable our clients to achieve those objectives while minimizing both federal and state taxes. In addition, we represent clients before the New Hampshire Department of Revenue in audits and administrative proceedings.

Services for Start-up Businesses

Start-ups: Assisting clients in comparing and selecting the most appropriate form or organization for their business.
Buy-sell Arrangements: Assisting clients in structuring a buy-sell arrangement among the business and its owners, working closely with the business' accounting and insurance professionals to facilitate implementation of the arrangement.
Incentive Compensation Arrangements: Assisting clients in incentivizing employees with a variety of incentive compensation plans including stock option plans, restricted stock plans, phantom stock plans and creative bonus arrangements.