Corporate and M&A

Emerging Businesses

New ventures face many challenges on the path to success, some of them legal in nature. Preti Flaherty’s Emerging Businesses group has worked on behalf of hundreds of northern New England’s finest entrepreneurial minds, serving as a strategic partner from the very beginning. We work with our clients to successfully launch their business from a strong legal foundation, raise capital, establish employment agreements, protect intellectual property, navigate tax and licensing matters, and tackle any other legal challenges that may arise along the way. Our legal services for emerging companies and entrepreneurs include:

  • Formation consultation to determine correct type of legal entity and tax treatment
  • Positioning for raising capital through angel investors, venture capitalists, or other means
  • Ensuring all investment is done in compliance with state and federal securities law
  • Evaluating debt financing options including venture capital and traditional bank financing
  • Securing, maintaining, exploiting, and enforcing intellectual property rights and assets
  • Employee compensation plans, from initial stages to equity compensation and stock plans
  • Negotiating commercial lease space

Innovative legal planning to grow your business

Working with a lead attorney from our Business Group, our emerging business clients benefit from a collaborative approach tailored to their unique business needs. We represent companies and entrepreneurs across the full spectrum of industries and from every stage of growth, offering legal counsel from a business perspective to ensure their success. From intellectual property and labor and employment to tax, litigation, regulatory issues and beyond, we provide clients with the tools, information, and foundation necessary to make solid business decisions and gain a valuable edge.

Firm Highlights

Press Coverage

Authorities Refuse to Release Records for Maine School Shooter Hoax Calls

On November 15, 2022, multiple law enforcement agencies in Maine received false calls alerting police to active shooter situations at several high schools throughout the state. In the wake of this widespread hoax, the Kennebec...

Press Coverage

What’s Inside Maine Freight Trains? Public Can Only Hazard a Guess

Due to an exemption from the state's Freedom of Access Act, Maine residents are prevented from reviewing information regarding the transportation through their communities via freight trains of potentially hazardous materials. Rail industry officials...

Publication

FY2024 H-1B Registration Fact Sheet for Employers

Registration Process To file H-1B petitions subject to the FY2024 cap for an employee, you must first electronically register and pay a $10 fee for each electronic registration. The electronic registration includes basic information about...

News

Maine Lawyers and Judges Once Again Show Overwhelming Support of Campaign for Justice

2022 proved to be another challenging year for Mainers. Skyrocketing inflation, an uncertain economic future, an ongoing housing crisis and more factors continue to push more at-risk individuals into a tight spot. Maine’s civil...

News

Attorney Jeffrey Thaler Named to 2023 Lawdragon Green 500: Leaders in Energy Law

For the second time, Preti Flaherty attorney Jeffrey Thaler has been recognized by the esteemed legal publication Lawdragon as an elite practitioner in the field of energy law. Jeff is the only Maine-base lawyer...

Publication

Enforcers Make It Easy to Report Cartels

This article was originally published in the American Bar Association  Antitrust Newsletter  on February 8, 2023.  Did you know that global competition enforcers have easy-to-find websites to encourage reporting of anticompetitive conduct? Not only...

Event

Jeff Talbert to Moderate Panel on PFAS Regulatory Action at ABA Toxic Torts & Environmental Law Conference

Jeff Talbert, Chair of Preti Flaherty's Environmental Law Group, will moderate "Regulatory Action: History & Horizon" at the ABA Toxic Torts & Environmental Law Conference. This panel will discuss the 2016 EPA health advisory, the...

Event

Bodie Colwell will be a Featured Panelist at ABI Annual Spring Meeting

Bodie Colwell will be a featured panelist on "Danger Ahead! Avoiding and Addressing Ethical Landmines in Attorney Engagement and Compensation" at the American Bankruptcy Institute's Annual Spring Meeting. The panel focuses on disputes regarding engagement...

Publication

Maine Workers’ Compensation New Year Update 2023

The new year brings proposed legislation, an update to the Medical Fee Schedule, and two recent decisions from the Appellate Division. Proposed Legislation Workers’ compensation bill LD 53 (HP 28) would amend 39-A M.R.S.A...

News

Benchmark Litigation Names Preti Flaherty 2023 “Maine Firm of the Year”

Benchmark Litigation has named Preti Flaherty as 2023 Litigation Firm of the Year in the State of Maine. The Benchmark Awards honor distinguished litigators and law firms in all 50 states and 10 practice...