“I had three quotes for forming the bakery and two of them were hourly guesses. Theirs was a number, and the invoice matched it to the dollar.”
Wynona R.Owner, a bakery in West Asheville
Business law · Asheville
Form the company knowing what's covered and what isn't
One flat fee for the papers that decide who owns and runs the company. Not in it: the state’s filing fee, a registered agent and tax advice, each named at cost before you sign.
- Articles filed
- Operating agreement
- EIN and resolutions
Packages
How each stage’s fee works, and what it leaves out
Four packages for the four things an owner-run company most often needs a lawyer for. Each fee is quoted in writing before the work starts.
Launch
Forming an LLC or corporation with up to three owners, and the papers that decide who owns and runs what. More owners move the fee.
Start a companyDeal
One contract read, marked up and explained. A flat fee for each, quoted first once a contract passes 25 pages.
Send a contractRun
A lawyer on call for the questions that come up every week, billed monthly with no minimum term. A heavier month is quoted before we pass six hours.
Ask about RunHand off
Selling or buying a small business, from the letter of intent through the closing. The size of the deal moves the fee, and we quote it in writing after the first call.
Talk through a sale
Our fee is for the legal work. Government filing fees, registered-agent service and any outside experts are separate; each one is named in the engagement letter, at cost, before you sign.
Practice, by stage
Launch, deal, run, hand off
We sort the work by what the company is doing, not by the name of the law that covers it.
- Forming the company
Launch
Choose the entity, file it, and write down who owns what and who decides.
- Contracts
Deal
Leases, supplier terms, wholesale and services contracts, read before you sign them.
- Outside general counsel
Run
A lawyer on a monthly fee for the questions a growing company asks every week.
- Buying or selling
Hand off
Sell the business, buy one, or pass it to a partner or the next generation.
From owners
Owners on the fee they were quoted
“Junia marked up our first wholesale contract and explained every change in a sentence I could repeat to my partner.”
Thaddeus K.Co-owner, a cider house
“When we sold the shop, Lucius told us on day one what the closing would cost and what it would not cover. Nothing surprised us after that.”
Briony L.Former owner, a frame shop
Sample quotes. Every client’s matter is different, and what we did for one business doesn’t promise the same result for another.
The lawyers
Three lawyers, one office on Lexington Avenue
Ottilie Quillen
Founding partner · Launch and Run
Forms companies and stays on as their outside counsel. Most of her clients have fewer than twenty employees.
Lucius Faircloth
Partner · Hand off and Deal
Handles the sale, purchase and succession of owner-run businesses, from the letter of intent to the closing table.
Junia Ferebee
Associate · Deal and Launch
Reads and redlines the contracts: leases, supplier and wholesale terms, services agreements. Works in English and Spanish.
Questions
Before you ask about the fee
Is the fee really fixed?
For the work the package lists, yes. If something comes up that it doesn’t cover, we tell you before we do it and quote it in writing; you can say no.
What do the packages leave out?
Government filing fees, registered-agent service, tax advice and anything that goes to court. Each package lists its own exclusions, so you can see them before you call.
Is the first call free?
The first 30-minute call is, and it ends with a package or a written quote. If we aren’t the right firm for the matter, we say so on that call.
Do you bill by the hour at all?
Only for disputes and for work that can’t be scoped in advance, at a rate written into the engagement letter. Most clients never see an hourly bill from us.
Can we pay in parts?
Launch and Hand off are billed in two halves: one at signing, one at delivery or closing. Run is billed monthly, and Deal when the redline arrives.
First call
Tell us the stage, and we’ll quote the fee
Write a few lines about the company. A lawyer replies within one working day with a package, or a written quote if the work doesn’t fit one.