Richard Burt Professional Law Corporation
Mon - Fri: 9 AM - 6 PM
In communicating through a website with a lawyer you are thinking of hiring, you should not provide any confidential information concerning your legal matter until an attorney-client relationship has been formed.
Sending an email to Richard Burt or leaving a voice mail for him or his assistant (and a reply from either) does not create an attorney-client relationship.
No attorney-client relationship will be formed until you and Mr. Burt have agreed that he should represent you, he has determined that there is no conflict with an existing client, you have signed an engagement letter that sets forth the terms of the representation, and, when requested, you have made a fee deposit.
Please note that the initial consultation is solely to determine the nature of your legal matter and to discuss fees. Mr. Burt does not offer free legal advice.
After an attorney-client relationship has been formed, email (and voice mail) may of course be freely used for confidential attorney-client communications.
If we try to call you at a telephone number that you provide to us and are unable to reach you (and your voice mail is full or is not set up), we may text you at that number to let you know that we tried to call you. By sending an email via this website or by calling and leaving a voice-mail message, you consent to receiving such texts. At any time, you may reply STOP to opt-out from further messages.
NOTE: Mr. Burt does not handle litigation of any kind. If you wish to sue someone, are being sued, or need to make a court filing of any kind, Mr. Burt cannot help you. You should not contact him for those services.
Why Buy a Business?
Persons looking to be their own bosses have two options. They can start their own business or they can buy an existing business.
Starting a business from scratch will typically take less capital than buying an existing business since you will have to pay for the value of the existing business. But there are advantages to buying an existing business. For this purpose, I assume the existing business is profitable.
An existing business has a successful track record. A newly started business has more uncertain prospects. Indeed, this is a strategy that many public companies use. When they want to expand, they buy an existing business that is successful rather than start their own. They would rather pay for success than take the risk of failure.
An existing business usually has a much larger scale than one started from scratch. Buying an existing business is like buying a tree versus planting your own seed. Planting your own seed is much cheaper, but it will take a while to get to the stature of an existing tree.
An existing business usually has systems, employees, customers, and suppliers in place. It takes time, effort, and money to develop and acquire those things.
An existing business has positive cash flow. A newly started business typically has negative cash flow for a time (and in some cases, never!).
The seller of an existing business can provide training and insights into the business that the person starting his or her own business might not have.
Buying a business requires an expertise that most buyers just don’t have. And unless a buyer is an expert in buying a business, the buyer should hire experts to help.
An existing business may have a credit history that the buyer can take advantage of. A new business will have no credit history and may have to pay cash on delivery, provide a personal guaranty, or be more limited in the amount of purchases it can make on credit.
One necessary expert is an attorney. An attorney can make sure the purchase agreement reflects the objectives of the buyer and protects the buyer. A lawyer who is experienced in helping a buyer will have tools to assist the buyer in doing the buyer’s due diligence to smoke out issues that the business may have.
The best way to accomplish that is to hire a San Jose Business Purchase Attorney who is knowledgeable and experienced in helping buyers buy businesses. Richard Burt has substantial experience representing both buyers and sellers of businesses. If you are planning to buy a business. Call (408) 286-7333 and ask to speak to Janet to get more information to determine whether to hire Richard Burt, or you can set up a fixed-fee engagement to discuss your particular circumstances and to get advice. You can also send an email using the form on the contact page.