Practice Areas · Business & Corporate Law
Counsel for the businesses that run on their owners’ names.
Family businesses, professional practices, contractors, restaurants, churches, and community organizations: the companies that make the Southland and Northwest Indiana work. McCain helps owners start right, run clean, and hand off well — with a lawyer who answers the phone.
This is a practice for owner-operated and closely held companies, not public corporations. If your deal needs a forty-lawyer team, we will tell you so and help you find one.
He carried a quota before he carried a caseload.
McCain earned a B.S. in Business Administration from Florida A&M University and spent five years in corporate America before law school: four years with Eastman Kodak Company, then a Fortune 50 company, as a marketing intern in Rochester and an account executive in Northern Virginia, followed by industrial and commercial sales for a Northwest Indiana utility. He has read a P&L, made a sales call, and lost a deal to a bad contract. That is the lawyer you want reviewing yours.
Start right.
The entity you choose and the agreement you sign with your partners on day one decide how taxes, liability, and disputes play out for years. Most formation packages are quoted at a flat fee.
- Choosing the right entity: LLC, S-corporation, partnership, or nonprofit
- Articles, operating agreements, bylaws, and shareholder agreements
- Illinois and Indiana registrations, annual reports, and good standing
- Buy-sell agreements between owners
- Registered agent service in Illinois and Indiana
Outside general counsel, without the overhead.
Most small businesses can’t justify a lawyer on staff but shouldn’t be signing contracts without one. McCain reviews the deal before you sign it, answers the question before it becomes a dispute, and is on call when something comes up.
General counsel, by the month.
A flat monthly fee, two sizes to choose from, for the questions and documents a growing business runs into every month. Litigation, closings, and formations are quoted separately.
Month to month; cancel any time. Pricing provided at your consultation.
Ask about the retainer plans- Contract drafting and review: customers, vendors, leases, independent contractors
- Employment basics: offer letters, handbooks, non-competes, separations
- Commercial leases and landlord negotiations
- Licensing, permits, and regulatory questions
- Zoning petitions, special-use permits, variances, and appearances before plan commissions and village boards
- A standing relationship: a lawyer who knows your business before the problem comes
Governance that holds up.
Boards of small companies, nonprofits, and churches carry real legal duties, and often learn about them the hard way. McCain advises directors on what the law requires of them and keeps the paper trail that protects them.
- Advising boards of directors and nonprofit boards on governance and fiduciary duties
- Board minutes, resolutions, and conflict-of-interest policies
- Guiding churches and community organizations through incorporation and 501(c)(3) status
- Attending board meetings as counsel
Deals on a human scale.
Buying a competitor, selling the practice you built, bringing in a partner, or handing the company to your children: these are the biggest transactions most owners will ever make. McCain structures them, papers them, and sees them through closing.
- Buying or selling a small business or professional practice
- Asset and stock purchase agreements, letters of intent, and due diligence
- Bringing in or buying out a partner
- Succession planning: passing a family business to the next generation
- Winding down or dissolving a company
What to expect
A business conversation
Where you are, where you want to be, and what keeps you up at night. We talk business before we talk law.
Clear pricing
Flat fees for formations and routine documents; a quote before any larger project; a monthly retainer for ongoing counsel.
Plain-English documents
Agreements you can read and your partners can understand, explained before anyone signs.
Common questions
LLC or S-corp?
It depends on how you’ll be taxed, who the owners are, and where the company will operate. An LLC taxed as an S-corporation is often the answer for an owner-operated business, but not always.
I formed my LLC online. Do I still need a lawyer?
The filing is the easy part. What most online services leave out is the operating agreement, and that is the document that matters when a partner leaves, dies, or disagrees.
My business is in Illinois but I live in Indiana. Which state’s law applies?
Sometimes both. Where you form, where you operate, and where your customers are each matter. We practice on both sides of the line and can set it up correctly the first time.
Can you help our church or nonprofit?
Yes. Incorporation, 501(c)(3) applications, bylaws, board governance, and the questions that come up along the way.
Let’s talk about your business.
Starting, growing, buying, selling, or just need a lawyer on call. Tell us where you are.
Request a ConsultationBefore you sign anything
- Read every page, including the exhibits.
- Know what happens if a partner leaves.
- Know who owns the name, the lease, and the accounts.
- Have a lawyer read it. It costs less than the fight.