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In the arena of corporate law, the firm's practice primarily focuses on the three main lifecycles of any business: Formation, Growth & Exit.
Formation
Many clients choose to involve the firm early in the formation of a new business. This allows for proper decisions to be made regarding matters such as choosing a business entity, planning tax strategies, establishing the proper agreements for structuring the entity, and drafting employment, compensation, non-compete and/or confidentiality agreements and shareholder agreements. In addition, the firm helps limit the risks many new businesses face by offering consultation to avoid litigation.
Growth
As businesses grow, ShuffieldLowman works with them to provide guidance in areas such as the retention of key employees through qualified and non-qualified executive compensation packages; the creation of holding companies and management companies; and the purchase and/or leasing of necessary real estate. In addition, the firm assists companies in maximizing the value of assets such as intellectual property and goodwill and regularly counsels clients on the best way to leverage these assets to obtain the additional capital necessary to implement expansion programs. The firm also assists in the preparation of various contracts, including manufacturing and distribution agreements, sales representative agreements and the various services agreements used by businesses, either with clients and/or independent contractors.
Due to extensive experience, ShuffieldLowman is uniquely suited to handle the special needs of family related business issues that often manifest themselves in very emotional ways.
The Exit Strategy
The firm regularly counsels clients on the best means to exit an existing business through vehicles such as business succession plans, ESOPs, stock options, outright sales and gifting, always factoring in the best possible tax advantages on behalf of the client.
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In everything from routine filings to orchestrating IPOs, ShuffieldLowman's attorneys are up-to-date on regulatory requirements on both the federal and state level. In addition, the firm provides general asset acquisition consultation, secondary offerings, and private placement of debt and equity offerings.
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Experience and commitment to excellence define the ShuffieldLowman real estate team. These highly skilled professionals provide legal counsel on all aspects of commercial and residential real estate matters, representing owners, developers, investors, lenders, borrowers, landlords, tenants and others in the business of real estate and lending transactions. The ShuffieldLowman team offers timely service in all areas of real estate, including buying, selling, financing, managing, developing, and investing in real estate on behalf of clients, including the management and development of retail, office, and hotel properties; planned communities; and industrial properties.
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A successful development frequently requires assistance from a broad variety of professionals and close interaction with numerous governmental agencies. ShuffieldLowman's land use department understands the importance of teamwork and cooperation in the development process necessary to take a project from the drawing board to completion. The firm's attorneys have experience working with and an understanding of Florida's growth management laws together with land development rules and regulations established by state agencies and local governments.
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ShuffieldLowman represents a wide variety of commercial, community, savings and private banks in their corporate, lending and litigation needs. These needs include traditional real estate and business loan transactional work, large-scale lending, securities representation, mergers and acquisitions, leasing, and a variety of other services.
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ShuffieldLowman’s Health Law Section offers a broad base of industry experience to serve the legal needs of health care providers and suppliers, including hospitals, health systems, academic medical centers, home health care and hospice agencies, mental health and other clinic providers, long-term care facilities, physicians, and suppliers of health care products, equipment and IT-related services. Areas of experience include:
· Health regulatory matters, state and federal
· Structuring and development of health care programs and facilities
· Health care affiliations, joint ventures, and corporate and commercial transactions, including
mergers and acquisitions, strategic partnerships, venture capital and public financings
· Health information technology and privacy issues, including requirements imposed by the
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA)
· Issues in health facility operations, bio-ethics, and patient care
· Health care compliance, including compliance programs and defense of audits and
investigations
· Bio-technology outsourcing agreements, licensing partnerships and intellectual property
· Medicare, Medicaid, managed care, grants and other payment and reimbursement matters
· Physician-hospital relationships, including medical staff and peer review
· Clinical research; health policy and legislation
· Representation of provider associations and networks
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ShuffieldLowman’s experienced public finance attorneys have served as general counsel to housing finance authorities, health facilities authorities and industrial development authorities, at the local and state level, and have represented various counties, community development districts, public utilities and other public entities. The highly regarded and extremely efficient public finance team is regularly involved in the issuance of millions of dollars of bonds for general purpose governmental units, conduit issuers, utilities and community development districts. ShuffieldLowman has the ability to and has served at various times as issuer’s counsel, trustee counsel, underwriter’s counsel, disclosure counsel and special counsel to public governments, as well as developer’s counsel, in public finance transactions.
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ShuffieldLowman's experienced litigators are always prepared to take a case to trial. However, our reputation as strong trial attorneys and our focus on the client's best interests often results in the successful negotiated settlement of many matters. The Litigation Section's particular areas of expertise include matters related to contracts, construction, real property, title defect, corporate, securities fraud, banking, intellectual property, products liability, landlord/tenant law, probate and employment issues. In addition, the firm regularly counsels clients on safeguards to avoid future litigation.
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ShuffieldLowman also assists clients in planning for the continued growth, development and refinement of their businesses. The firm has the broad expertise necessary in tax, corporate and securities laws to assist clients in selecting and implementing the most appropriate form of acquisition model to enable clients to achieve both their short term and long term business objectives, whether a tax free and taxable merger, stock or asset purchase, joint venture, partnership or other growth model.
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Generations of families depend on ShuffieldLowman to handle their estate planning and probate needs. The firm offers secure solutions for the transfer of assets to children, spouses and loved ones and charities through a variety of tax-saving options, including revocable trusts, irrevocable trusts, generation-skipping trusts and charitable trusts, just to name a few. The firm also assists those appointed to manage the estate of a decedent through the probate process and the management of an estate's assets. In addition, the firm has built a strong practice in the areas of business succession and high net worth planning.
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With the growing power of recognizable corporate images, brands, and trademarks, the value of protecting intellectual property is unquestionable. ShuffieldLowman understands the increased difficulty of protecting your investment and we offer innovative solutions to the problems that arise from the rapid progress of technology. The firm regularly assists clients in the registration and protection of trademarks, service marks, trade secrets, domain names, and copyrights, including protection of high-technology assets in the computer and Internet industries. We act as counsel to creators and users of intellectual properties by establishing protective measures to maximize investments, licenses and agreements. The firm also offers intellectual property litigation services in federal and state courts when infringement issues occur.
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In the wide world of tax law, ShuffieldLowman has experience in all manner of federal, state and local tax issues. From personal estate planning and gifting to corporate restructuring, tax-exempt entities, tax litigation and more, the attorneys at ShuffieldLowman advise clients daily on tax benefit options. Most of the attorneys in the tax section have advanced LL.M degrees in taxation.
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ShuffieldLowman represents private and public employers in age, sex, national origin, disability and religious discrimination cases. The firm advises clients regarding employment, termination, non-compete, non-solicitation, confidentiality agreements, employer trade secrets and day-to-day labor and management issues. In addition, the firm creates and reviews employee handbooks, training sessions for supervisors, sexual harassment educational programs and other general programs designed to limit liability.
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