Business Formation
Sole proprietorship, partnership, limited partnership, limited liability partnership, corporation (C-corporation, S-corporation election, professional corporation, close corporation), limited liability company, series limited liability company - these are some of the many business formation options in Illinois.

Satisfactory answers to these questions cannot be obtained from literature or web sites designed to eliminate the participation of your lawyer in important legal decision making that will surely affect your business health and financial future.

In choosing an option, you should carefully evaluate your goals. Among these goals you should include, but are not limited to: asset liability protection, ease of formation, cost of formation and upkeep, need for annual upkeep, business continuity, need for business structure, and taxation issues.

Entity Upkeep
Receiving, completing, notifying you, and submitting the annual report and preparing the necessary annual/special minutes for your entity are among the many services which JBN provides to its business clients.

Registered Agent Services
As a free service to JBN's business clients, JBN offers to be the registered agent for it's Illinois-formed entities. As registered agent, JBN will receive annual reports and other various documents from the Illinois Secretary of State's office and will be the first to know of litigation against the entity, if served, and will promptly notify you, if possible.

Mergers & Acquisitions
JBN is frequently retained to assist in the acquisition/sale and/or merger of business entities, including being asked by other attorneys to assist in complex transactions. Our involvement typically begins at an early stage in the process, typically before a letter of intent is even negotiated.

Succession Planning
Planning in the event of death, disability, retirement, bankruptcy, or numerous other events is an essential element of business continuity. JBN has extensive experience in drafting and implementing the various documents and plans needed to continue business operations during stressful times. Some of these documents include: buy-sell agreements, shareholder redemption agreements, and cross-purchase agreements. Also see: Litigation

Business/Commercial Litigation
Should a lawsuit be brought against your business or should you find that it is necessary to enforce your business's rights, JBN has the experience and knowledge to aggressively defend and prosecute litigation matters in state and federal trial and appellate courts. Although most litigation matters settle before a trial, we believe that the only approach to litigation is an aggressive approach. In this regard, we aggressively prepare each case for a full trail on the merits.

Employment Counseling: See Employment Law

Financial Institution Law/Creditors' Rights/Debt Collection: See Creditors' Rights & Debt Collection

Local Counsel
We often serve as local counsel for law firms headquartered in Chicago and those from out of state. Based upon our years of experience in trying cases locally, we can offer these firms insight regarding judges and local attorneys that may be involved in a case. Many times having this local flavor can help an out-of-town firm shape its case accordingly.