From forming your business the right way to the contracts that keep it running smoothly — practical legal guidance for Michigan business owners, not just paperwork.
What We Handle
Business formation (LLC, corporation, partnership)
Contract drafting and review
Operating and buy-sell agreements
Business transactions
Compliance and regulatory questions
Business dissolution
Why It's Worth Doing Right the First Time
A lot of business legal trouble starts with something that seemed
minor at the time — an LLC formed without an operating agreement, a
handshake deal with a business partner, a contract copied from the
internet without review. Those shortcuts are cheap upfront and
expensive later, usually right when a disagreement or a deal falls
through and there's nothing in writing to fall back on.
Broad Business Experience
Before founding this firm, Attorney Fleming built a private
practice that included civil and business matters alongside family
law and criminal defense — meaning practical, real-world experience
with the kinds of agreements and disputes Michigan business owners
actually run into, not just formation paperwork.
Frequently Asked Questions
It depends on your goals, tax situation, number of owners, and
liability concerns. An LLC is the most common choice for small
Michigan businesses because it's flexible and limits personal
liability, but a corporation or partnership structure fits
better in some situations. Worth discussing directly rather
than guessing from a generic online article.
Michigan doesn't require an attorney to file LLC formation
paperwork with the state, but having one draft your operating
agreement and advise on structure catches problems — ownership
disputes, tax issues, liability gaps — before they become
expensive, rather than after.
At minimum: clear terms on what each party is providing,
payment and timing, what happens if either side doesn't
perform, and how disputes get resolved. A contract that's
vague on these points is often worse than no contract at all,
because it creates a false sense of security.
Yes. A single-member LLC without an operating agreement is more
vulnerable to having its liability protection challenged, and
you lose the chance to document how the business should be run
or transferred if something happens to you. It's a small
document that does real work.
What happens next depends heavily on what your operating or
partnership agreement says — which is exactly why having one
matters. Without clear terms, a disagreement between owners can
turn into a drawn-out dispute. If it escalates to that point,
the firm's Civil Litigation
practice handles business disputes that need to go to court.
Before you sign anything, ideally. A review beforehand means
problems get caught while you still have room to negotiate,
instead of discovered after you're already bound by the terms.
A free consultation is a low-cost way to find out whether a
deal needs a closer look.