Building the Legal Foundation of Early-Stage Startups From Formation & Incorporation Through Series A/B Round Investments
A Boutique Law Firm Serving Metro Atlanta and Georgia Entrepreneurs Since 2016
Personalized Attention for Clients Too Small For Big Law's Full AttentionSM© All rights reserved. Silver Legal LLC 2024.
silverlegal is your go-to firm for investments, formation, technology, contracts and patent law
We are your go-to firm for your early-stage startup investments. We provide guidance and documentation for your pre-seed, seed, and Series A rounds including note rounds (e.g., SAFE notes) and priced rounds. We help build your cap table, calculate share prices and pre- and post-money valuations. We can explain for you investment terms like triggers, valuation caps, dilution and liquidation preferences.We are your go-to firm for formation and incorporation. We help clients with forming tech startups, establishing governance (e.g., operating agreements, bylaws, shareholder agreements), and dealing with co-founders, partnerships, and investors. We set up clients and help administer CARTA, Clerky, firstbase, Stripe Atlas and other online platforms. We can help you with your 83(b), 409A, Rule 701, Reg. D, and Reg. S questions and more.We are your go-to firm for all of your startup contracts and documentation. We can help you with your NDAs, MSAs, sales agreements, RFPs, meeting minutes, resolutions, terms of service and more. Hatching a complex relationship like a joint venture or a distributorship where a standard agreement won't work? Just ask.The firm has a developed a strong client base of technology (software, high tech, deep tech, agtech, medtech, and all other things -tech), healthcare/health IT, and science startups at all stages of the startup lifecycle. What else would you expect from an engineer-turned-lawyer.
Business Formation and Incorporation Legal Work for Georgia Startups
If you are starting or have recently started a company in Georgia or Delaware or Wyoming, talk to silverlegal. We can help you choose whether a C Corp, S Corp or LLC is right for you and whether to form it in Georgia, Delaware, Wyoming or another state. Need a EIN? Apply here.When you have two or more members in a member-managed LLC or you have a manager-managed LLC, the lack of an operating agreement signifies that you likely have not thought through how your entity will be governed and worked through the human element of running a business. Worse yet, the rules governing your LLC will be default rules under the state laws, and may not be what the partners would have chosen for themselves (when everyone got along).We can help with your governance documents (operating agreement, bylaws, shareholder agreement, buy-sell agreement), IP assignment documents, share issuances, contractor agreements, advisor agreements, employee agreements, restricted stock / vesting, phantom equity, options, preferences, section 83(b) elections, and more. When you want to add members, partners, managers, shareholders, etc., we can be your sounding board for these decisions. Even if you attempted this process with form documents and now you're confused, it's not too late to reach out to silverlegal.We have helped multple clients move their business entities from one state to another, including converting the entity at the state level. Do you need a new EIN number? Find out here. We can also help you convert an entity of one type to an entity of a different type including preparing certificates of conversion and the like.We have helped multiple domestic and international clients who used services like Stripe Atlas, Clerky or Harvard Business Services to get set up with a Delaware Corporation. These clients frequently request silverlegal's assistance with completing their post-incorporation needs, issuing shares, changing their share structure, adding angel investors, setting up vesting schedules, adding advisors, complying with Delaware formalities, and creating their early agreements. We would be happy to help you too.Note that silverlegal does not provide tax advice but can work with your accountant or tax attorney, or hopefully we can refer you to someone versed in the types of issues you are facing.For new technology and other eligible businesses in the city of Atlanta seeking a business license, please see this link.https://www.investatlanta.com/businesses/startups-creatives/new-and-emerging-technology-business-tax-waiver
Early-Stage Startup Investment Attorney For Pre-Seed, Seed and Series A/B Rounds
silverlegal helps startups and small businesses with all aspects of equity, setting it up and transferring it. We primarily work with Georgia, Delaware or Wyoming LLCs or Corporations from issuing equity to founders and investors to vesting agreements to employee, advisor, and contractor compensation. We have helped local and international clients. We can help with agreements discussing equity and federal and state filings. We have helped in-bound international founders with their post-incorporation needs for Delaware corporations and receipt of investment.If you have formed a company or corporation but haven't yet dealt with the equity aspects, we can help. If you want to pay an employee or contractor with equity, we can help there too. When you want to add members, partners, managers, shareholders, etc., reach out to silverlegal.If you are, or have found, friends and family, pre-seed, angel, seed or venture capital investors that want to invest in equity or convertible securities, we can help there as well. We handle Regulation D (domestic) and Regulation S (international) private placements for startups and small businesses. This includes Rule 504, Rule 506(b) and Rule 506(c) an intrastate offerings. We can help with SAFE, KISS and convertible notes and even the mechanics of 83(b) elections. We can help with federal securities law and blue sky laws compliance. We handle all of the accredited investor questionnaires, bad actor questionnaires, subscription agreements, . We can adjust governance documents like operating agreements and certificate of incorporation to be ready for investment. We advise on the securities laws for you to be compliant and avoid future allegations of securities fraud.When you are ready to sell your business (or buy a business), we can help with an asset purchase agreement, stock purchase agreement or membership interest purchase agreement, the due diligence and related documents and details.If you founded your company using an online platform, with, e.g., a Clerky or Stripe Atlas operating agreement, certificate of incorporation, or bylaws, we can work with those as a launch off point for implementing your strategy.Call us to receive a price and guidance for your securities law and corporate law needs from a metro-Atlanta, Georgia attorney focused on businesses like yours. We expect that we provide advice and documentation at a more startup-friendly rate than those charged by large law firms. We can handle convertible rounds or fixed price rounds and help with your subscription agreements. Note that silverlegal does not provide tax advice but can work with your accountant or tax attorney.
Contracts, Corporate, and Technology Law for Startups That Do Not Want to Pay Large Law Firm Rates
silverlegal places an emphasis on understanding business creation, acceleration, incubation, and growth. In fact, our view of launching new business means deep thorough client engagement to understand your needs. This teammate approach may seem strange to many attorneys, but we feel obligated to service our clients with solid understanding – and there is no other way but partnerships. While not always possible, silverlegal is proud when we can boil down a contract to the key essentials, fitting it on a single page or two, while still protecting your brand and your future. And we are proud when we can integrate contract terms into a premeditated customer experience (e.g., a sales proposal) so Legal doesn't have to be a separate stop.We measure success by the length of time required to secure a signed contract for our customers – completed contracts. We achieve this using years of intuition honed within an in-house legal department of a multinational corporation. In addition, by utilizing digital e-signatures and employing digital document editing technologies, we minimize transaction time and enable the signing of contracts on a smart phone.Do you like legal jargon? Probably not. You and your customers will enjoy plain straight forward legal language (or at least a straightforward explanation):
Indemnity Clauses
Choice of law Clauses
Payment Descriptions
Expense Handling
IP Assignment
Exclusivity Clauses
Non-compete
Non-solicit
Confidentiality
Fiduciary Duties
Ownership Vesting
The above illustrate a few common areas of importance in startup contracts. At silverlegal we explain and amend contract language to fit your business goals. We can either customize your legal agreement or build a new legal document from scratch.Mr. Silver honed his contract drafting, review and negotiation skills in his 5+ years working for a multinational. In this role, practically speaking, he interacted with every type of contract that flowed through the U.S. entities of the multinational. He developed a keen sense of doing what it takes to get the job done and protecting the company without wasting time on the extraneous stuff. Here, he reviewed a wide variety of sales, distributor, healthcare, technology, manufacturing and service contracts and redesigned many of the company's contract templates from scratch.In his 5+ years at silverlegal, Mr. Silver has focused on contracts for his early-stage startup and business clients. He has also spent time on investment contracts and major business transactions, representing each side of the transaction at different times. In addition, he regularly deals with the contracts associated with business formation and shareholder governance discussed at the Formation Practice page. He commonly assists clients with:
asset purchase agreements
stock purchase agreements
membership interest purchase agreements
operating agreements
bylaws
investment contracts
independent contractor agreements
employment agreements
restricted stock agreements
award letters
vesting schedules
intellectual property assignments
restructuring companies
SAFE notes
convertible debt
SaaS agreements
software development agreements
shareholder agreements
service agreements
demand letters
subscription agreements
resolutions
releases
sales agreements
distribution agreements
reseller agreements
consulting agreements
vendor agreements
confidentiality agreements
and more.
Founder and Managing Partner Jarrett Silver of silverlegal: Startup, Patent, Technology and Investment Attorney
The firm's founder, Jarrett Silver, prides himself on being a practical and cost-effective option for Georgia startups relative to large law firms. Mr. Silver has been practicing for 15 years and has a similarly strong resume as those of the large law firm partners that are charging multiples of Mr. Silver's rate. After gaining substantial law firm and multinational in-house work experience, Jarrett Silver founded the silverlegal law firm in 2016 to work with startups and innovators.Jarrett Silver received a materials science & engineering BS degree from Cornell University and JD/MBA degrees from Emory University. He is a registered patent attorney and has been practicing law since 2008. Find out more about Jarrett Silver at his attorney bio page.
Metro Atlanta Startup Attorney 5-Star Reviews | Jarrett Silver, Founder of silverlegal
Below are uncompensated reviews collected from 3rd party websites."I couldn't be happier with the level of responsiveness, support, and service Jarrett has provided our company. He pays attention to all aspects of our business and proactively points out upcoming deadlines and considerations to keep us on track. And he's always available for advice when we have business legal questions of any kind. Working with Jarrett is truly like having our own in-house counsel. Thank you, Jarrett!""Jarrett has been extremely responsive and attentive since we began this process. Jarrett is clearly very knowledgeable and shares his knowledge in a clear, concise manner. He is very straightforward in his approach and I would HIGHLY recommend him and his services to anyone.""Jarrett has a genuine interest in helping startups. This translates into very personalized service and attention. He is a great listener and very thoughtful. He asked good questions and brought up good topics for my partner and me to consider while we pulled together the paperwork. I feel comfortable reaching out to him anytime with a question and assured that he will provide a thoughtful response. He also keeps us in mind and will often forward information he comes across that he feels may be helpful to our business. This is certainly beyond the call of duty. I've appreciated his communications and level of service and attention.""Jarrett went above and beyond the scope of his tasks and provided great insights, referrals and recommendations for my business. I truly felt like he was part of "my team"!""Jarrett has been quick to respond to all of my messages. He has given me solid information so that I can make the best decisions for myself. He talks to me like a real person and not in "lawyer-speak" and honestly listens to what I need. He has been a pleasure to work with!""Very solid work on a tricky LLC conversion from CA to GA. Diligent, responsive, knowledgeable, reliable and focused. Couldn't recommend Jarrett more highly. My new go-to Business Attorney.""Jarrett is great to work with, very active and communicative through the entire process.""Very knowledgeable, super efficient, extremely helpful - also regarding topics outside of the original assignment. Business-minded and pragmatic when appropriate. Always responsive. Would always work with Jarrett again.""Jarrett is the best attorney I have ever worked with. He is very committed, flexible and knowledgeable in providing the right legal solution.""Jarrett help[ed] us a lot. We are overseas and he always tried his best to smooth things. If we need anything else, definitely Jarrett will be our choice.""Jarrett was sensitive to the time constraints of my project. He was prompt with communication, informative and offered wonderful recommendations based on my concerns for my specific situation.""Jarrett has been a great partner in helping me get my new business set up. He's a thoughtful attorney who asks good questions but doesn't get bogged down in .01% risks or legalese. Thanks to him I was up and running quickly!""I hired Jarrett Silver for setting up an LLC for my startup. The first thing I noticed was, unlike many attorneys, Jarrett is not transactional. He thinks from a client's perspective and provides meaningful solutions while building a good, warm relationship.I also find that he tries to save money for bootstrapped companies such as mine. His suggestions on spending are commendable, focused only on high value items while ignoring low value items. The pricing is clean and upfront with no hidden costs.I enjoyed working with him and will utilize more of his services as I continue to build my company."
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Silver Legal LLC
Silver Legal LLC
4455 Lower Roswell Road #681041
Marietta, Georgia 30068info@georgiastartup.law
+1 678 805 758© Silver Legal LLC. All rights reserved.
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