The Legal Nuts and Bolts of Starting, Financing, and Operating a New Company in Today’s Environment

By: ninalubrano | Published: June 19, 2009 | Filed under: About small businesses

Presented by: The Sunshine Entrepreneur Networking Group Thursday, June 25th at 6pm Sunshine Suites – Tribeca West, 12 Desbrosses St. (1 block South of Canal St. BTW Greenwich & Hudson St.)The five member panel will include lawyers with expertise in the areas of seed/angel stage, venture capital and private equity financing, business formation, corporate governance and planning, entertainment law and intellectual property. Space is limited, so please reserve your spot today by emailing shiners@sunshineny.comJames Gerkis is a Partner in the Corporate Department of Proskauer Rose LLP, which employs over 700 attorneys in twelve global offices. James has extensive experience in sophisticated domestic and international corporate, real estate, financing and securities transactions. His practice expertise includes: mergers and acquisitions, leveraged buy-outs and spin-offs; private equity and venture capital transactions, partnership and corporate joint ventures, and securities experience. Among other clients, Mr. Gerkis has represented Neuberger Berman, L-3 Communications Corp., Merrill Lynch, Town Sports International, Emaar Hotels & Resorts and Oxford Analytica.Robert Herbst has worked with numerous Venture Capital and Private Equity backed companies, ranging from start-ups through taking them to an IPO. He has advised companies both as outside counsel and in-house General Counsel and brings a broad perspective from both the investor and portfolio company side.Ryan Long is the sole member and manager of Ryan E. Long PLLC, which is a boutique commercial and entertainment law practice based in New York City. The firms specializes in providing exceptional counseling to individual creative entrepreneurs and to small and medium sized creative businesses in intellectual property and litigation matters, among other areas of the law. The firm’s clients include Grammy award winning Island Def Jam recording artist Ms. Chrisette Michele Payne, photographer Mr. James Bareham, fashion designer Mr. Donald Deal, and Los Angeles based media distribution company Victory Audio Video Services, Inc., among others.Aaron Polak is the founder of Aaron J. Polak, Esq. P.C., a small firm focusing on all aspects of advising early and mid-stage entrepreneurs and entities. Aaron focuses on providing efficient and practical advice to public and private healthcare and technology-oriented clients, as well as companies in the retail, entertainment, and investment industries. Aaron has divided his career between nationally recognized law firms and in-house practice, including most recently as general counsel for several companies. Previously, he worked at Ernst & Young, nationally recognized law-firm Arnold & Porter, and publicly-traded Blimpie International.Michael L. Yang is an associate in the Corporate Department of Proskauer Rose LLP and is a member of the Private Equity and Private Investment Funds Practice Groups. Michael has a general corporate practice with a particular emphasis on private equity and investment fund formation, co-investment arrangements, feeder fund arrangements, institutional investor representation, mergers and acquisitions, and venture portfolio company acquisitions, financing and dispositions. Prior to joining Proskauer, Michael was a co-founder and chief technology officer of Redmind, Inc, a venture-backed enterprise software company that was acquired by Ikimbo, Inc. in 2001.