Business & Commercial

We are Maryland business lawyers with offices in Montgomery County, Maryland and Washington D.C.

We provide on-demand business & commercial general counsel services to companies located in the District of Columbia, Northern Virginia, Prince George’s and Montgomery County, Maryland. With our help our small clients can match the resources of large companies with in-house legal staffs to understand the contracts they are presented, to draft agreements that protect their interests and to enforce their rights in court.

  • Many first found us when ill-suited form agreements were put to the test. They came to recognize the value of an ongoing relationship; we now prepare and if necessary enforce clear, simple, and customized contracts and forms meeting their needs.
  • Many came to us earlier by referral, in the planning stage. We counseled them on business risks and forms, created and documented their transactions, and generally assist as needed. We offer brief no-charge telephone consultations to all our regular clients to reduce their risks and maintain our knowledge of their operations.

We counsel our business and commercial clients in all legal aspects of running a business, including:

  • initial planning
  • forming proprietorships, partnerships, limited partnerships, corporations, and limited liability companies
  • protecting a business and its assets and owners
  • planning joint ventures, mergers and acquisitions
  • buying or selling a business
  • creating form or special contracts for businesses to use with customers, venturers, and employees
  • the employment relationship, including trade secrets, non-compete agreements and confidentiality agreements
  • representing business owners in partnership disputes
  • succession planning
  • breach of contract disputes
  • taking your case through trial.

When required, we go to court for you in such matters as breach of contract, breach of confidentiality agreements, non-compete clauses, creditor/debtor rights, fraud, shareholder litigation and tortious interference with business relations. We have appeared in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, the United States District Court for Maryland, Montgomery County Circuit Court and Prince George’s County Circuit Court, and we occasionally enter appearances in other courts around the nation. We are also experienced in commercial arbitration and have successfully represented clients in American Arbitration Association arbitrations in New York City and Washington, D.C.

We have experience in public utility regulation and advise clients in this area on such diverse issues as jurisdiction, rate setting, and the antitrust laws. We have developed and worked with coalitions of states to resolve regional energy issues. We have prosecuted cases in this area and have represented state government agencies before federal agencies on forming policies and in specific cases.

We have broad business law and commercial law experience, including negotiating and drafting all forms of business agreements, from sales of goods and services, through executive compensation, leasing and licensing, to separation of partners and owners to software development agreements. We handle small business acquisitions for buyers and sellers. Where litigation threatens, our preference is to limit exposure and achieve client objectives through negotiation and favorable settlements. When litigation is necessary, we use the excellent tools of discovery and motions practice to resolve matters early in the process. We can be flexible and use different approaches, depending on client resources and the circumstances of the matter at issue, to achieve the kinds of results that have earned us regular praise from our clients.

We are located in Bethesda and Washington, D.C. and our clients are primarily located in Bethesda, Rockville, Silver Spring, Gaithersburg, Potomac, Greenbelt, Montgomery County Maryland, Prince George’s County Maryland, Washington D.C., and northern Virginia. However we have occasional business clients located at other locations in Maryland, Virginia and in other states on the eastern seaboard.