LOS ANGELES
BUSINESS & CORPORATE LAW
legal counselFOR BUSINESSin motion.
Julian Mercer advises companies, founders, business owners, and investors on contracts, corporate structure, partnerships, transactions, governance, and growth.
THE PRACTICE / 01
Business lawshould moveWITH THE BUSINESS.
A business rarely encounters legal questions in isolation. A contract may affect ownership. A new partner may affect governance. A transaction may affect financing, people, intellectual property, and control. Julian Mercer provides business-focused counsel built around the legal issue and the commercial objective.
CORE SERVICES / 01
COMPANIES
Build an entity around ownership, control, and what comes next.
EXPLORE SERVICE
AGREEMENTS / 02
the contract
IS THE BUSINESS
on paper.
Commercial relationships depend on agreements that define expectations, economics, responsibility, ownership, and risk.
DraftingReviewNegotiationService agreementsVendor agreementsLicensingDistributionNDAsEmploymentJoint ventures
EXPLORE CONTRACT SERVICES ↗THE CONTRACT PROCESS
FROM TERMS
TO SIGNATURE.
REVIEW
NEGOTIATE
EXECUTE
STARTING / STRUCTURING / 03
BUILD THECOMPANYCORRECTLY.
Entity formation is only the beginning. Ownership, governance, management rights, founder relationships, and future investment should be considered together.
EXPLORE BUSINESS FORMATION ↗THE COMPANY LIFECYCLE / SWIPE TO EXPLORE
FROM
FORMATION
TO EXIT.
FORM
- Entity selection
- Formation
- Ownership
- Founder documents
OPERATE
- Contracts
- Employees
- Governance
- Compliance
GROW
- Capital
- Strategic partnerships
- Expansion
- New markets
TRANSACT
- Acquisition
- Investment
- Restructuring
- Diligence
EXIT
- Business sale
- Succession
- Partner buyout
- Wind-down
PARTNERSHIPS / 04
GOOD
PARTNERSHIPS
START WITH
CLEAR TERMS.
The best time to define difficult issues—authority, voting, capital, distributions, transfer restrictions, deadlock, and buyouts—is before they become disputes.
EXPLORE PARTNERSHIP SERVICES ↗
STRUCTURE
Organize the deal around the commercial objective.
DILIGENCE
Review the business, contracts, liabilities, and material information.
NEGOTIATE
Address economics, control, and legal risk.
DOCUMENT
Prepare and negotiate the transaction agreements.
CLOSE
Coordinate approvals, final documents, and completion.
BUY WITH CLARITY.
Understand structure, liabilities, contracts, people, approvals, and the purchase agreement.
READ MORE ↗02PREPARE. NEGOTIATE. CLOSE.
Organize the company, manage diligence, negotiate terms, and protect the transition.
READ MORE ↗03GROWTH CAN BE ACQUIRED.
Use strategic acquisition to add capability, reach, talent, customers, or scale.
READ MORE ↗STRUCTURE / CONTROL / 06
KEEP THECORPORATE HOUSEIN ORDER.
Governing documents, approvals, ownership records, capitalization, and corporate records should reflect how the company actually makes decisions.
EXPLORE GOVERNANCE ↗RISK / GOVERNANCE / 07
COMPLIANCE
WITHOUT
THE CHAOS.
Build repeatable practices around governance, policies, contracts, records, employment documentation, and risk coordination—without implying one-size-fits-all regulatory expertise.
EXPLORE COMPLIANCE ↗
OUTSIDE GENERAL COUNSEL / 08
LEGAL COUNSEL
WITHOUT BUILDING
A LEGAL DEPARTMENT.
For businesses that regularly encounter contracts, negotiations, governance questions, strategic decisions, and transactions but do not require full-time internal counsel.
DISCUSS OUTSIDE COUNSEL ↗COUNSEL / LOS ANGELES
JULIANMERCER
Business law starts with understanding the business.
Julian Mercer advises founders, executives, business owners, and companies on corporate matters, contracts, ownership, governance, and transactions. His approach begins with the objective, identifies the legal issues that matter, and develops a practical path forward.
Professional credentials and admission information will be added only after verification.ABOUT JULIAN ↗OUR WORKING PRINCIPLES
HOW WE
WORK.
BUSINESS FIRST
Understand the commercial objective.
CLEAR TERMS
Turn complicated language into understandable decisions.
MANAGED RISK
Identify material problems before they become expensive problems.
MOMENTUM
Keep legal work aligned with the business or transaction timeline.
INDUSTRY CONTEXT / SUBJECT TO VERIFICATION
BUSINESS
IS SPECIFIC.
Potential sector experience is listed as editorial scope only until Julian Mercer’s actual matters are verified.
PERSPECTIVE / 09
BUSINESS
NOTES.
02FORMATION
LLC vs Corporation: What Should Founders Consider?
↗03CONTRACTSKey Terms to Review Before Signing a Commercial Contract
↗04OWNERSHIPWhat Businesses Should Know About Shareholder Agreements
↗05COUNSELWhen Does a Company Need Outside General Counsel?
↗06TRANSACTIONSPreparing to Sell a California Business
↗07ACQUISITIONSUnderstanding Due Diligence in an Acquisition
↗08PARTNERSWhat Happens During a Partner Buyout?
↗LET’S TALK BUSINESS.
YOUR NEXT
MOVE DESERVES
GOOD COUNSEL.
DISCUSS YOUR MATTER ↗CONTACT / LOS ANGELES
LET’S TALK
BUSINESS.
Tell us about the company, contract, transaction, partnership, or legal issue.