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

Maine Media Organizations Oppose Foreign Electioneering Ban

Question 2 on Maine’s November ballot asserts that corporations owned or controlled by foreign governments do not have the same rights to political speech as companies here in the U.S. and that foreign governments should be prohibited...

Press Coverage

Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting Wins Public Records Dispute with York County Jail

News

Jeffrey Talbert Named to American College of Environmental Lawyers

Jeffrey Talbert, Chair of Preti Flaherty’s Environmental Law Group, has been invited to become a Fellow in the distinguished American College of Environmental Lawyers (ACOEL). Membership in the premiere association of environmental lawyers is by...

Publication

Schutz and Harriman Author Article for MLRC on Mill's Veto of Constitutionally Fraught Legislation

In an article for the Media Law Resource Center's July 2023 Media Law Letter,  Preti Flaherty attorneys Sig Schutz and Alex Harriman explore Gov. Janet Mills' recent veto of L.D. 1610, “An Act to Prohibit Campaign Spending...

Event

2023 Maine Employment Law Summit

For nearly 30 years, Preti Flaherty's Employment Law team has provided Maine employers with practical guidance and best practices at our annual Employment Law Summit. Join us  Thursday, October 5  for the 2023 Employment...

News

Preti Flaherty Litigation Practice Group Adds Four New Attorneys

Preti Flaherty is pleased to announce the addition of four experienced Associates to the firm’s Litigation Practice Group: Stephen Garvey, Michael Hanify, Hanna May, and Tiffany Ottenga. Stephen Garvey is a graduate of Boston...

Publication

Maine Law Amended to Require More Details When Public Employees Disciplined

Governor Mills recently signed a bill amending the public disclosure requirements for public employees who have been disciplined. Although widely reported as applying to police misconduct, the law applies to all government employees. The...

Publication

Municipal Update: Maine Legislature Acts to Clarify Sales of Tax-Acquired Properties

Early this week, in response to the  United States Supreme Court’s recent decision in  Tyler v. Hennepin County, Minnesota  (598 U.S. (2023)) , the Maine Legislature passed emergency legislation establishing a new process for...

Publication

How to navigate the legal side of nondisclosure agreements

Preti Flaherty attorney Kristy Abraham has authored an article for  MaineBiz  on navigating the legal side of nondisclosure agreements (NDAs), outlining six questions for organizations to review before entering into a NDA.

News

Matt Warner Named to Cannabis Law Journal Global Top 200 Cannabis Lawyers 2023

Preti Flaherty attorney and Cannabis Business Group member Matt Warner has been named to the list of Global Top 200 Cannabis Lawyers for 2023-2024. A joint publication of  Cannabis Law Report and  Cannabis Law...