I'm trying to find a practicing attorney who has experience in business law - is there anyone here who's into that?

Give me 3.5 years

Im not sure how ethical it is for me to answer that question.

 

I see that you are from Maryland, so are you looking for Maryland advice or Illinois advice?

 

I know there are a few Illinois attorneys, but im not sure there are any Maryland ones here.

Im not sure how ethical it is for me to answer that question.

 

I see that you are from Maryland, so are you looking for Maryland advice or Illinois advice?

 

I know there are a few Illinois attorneys, but im not sure there are any Maryland ones here.

How's it not ethical exactly?

 

To get to the "why" I'm trying to open up a sports bar and it'll be in Illinois.

Well there are all these crazy rules about contacting potential clients and people, and Im not 100% sure what the rules are with regard to posting on a message board. I have no problem giving opinions that have a disclaimer, but I just wasnt sure where it was going so I wanted make sure that I didnt some how get myself into trouble.

 

Anyways, as for opening a sports bar, that shouldnt be to difficult. The biggest obstacles will be obtaining the appropriate liquor licenses. Ive done this for a liquor store in Chicago, its just annoyingly time consuming.

Well there are all these crazy rules about contacting potential clients and people, and Im not 100% sure what the rules are with regard to posting on a message board. I have no problem giving opinions that have a disclaimer, but I just wasnt sure where it was going so I wanted make sure that I didnt some how get myself into trouble.

 

Anyways, as for opening a sports bar, that shouldnt be to difficult. The biggest obstacles will be obtaining the appropriate liquor licenses. Ive done this for a liquor store in Chicago, its just annoyingly time consuming.

 

The potential client is soliciting an attorney. There is no problem. YOU can't solicit HIM (even on a message board).

Obviously a disclaimer is appropriate so that he knows no binding relationship is established.

Edited December 8, 200916 yr by G&T

Yeah that's what I was thinking, I was pretty up front about the fact that I was soliciting, I didn't think there were any ethical issues on the attorney's part if I initiated it, I'm not a lawyer though so I don't know.

 

Someone told me that you also have to go through the alderman to make sure they don't have a limit on the # of liquor licenses in their ward. I think for the most part we have a good idea on what we're going to have to do to get all the various licenses, but what we don't know about is payrolls and that kind of thing.

G&T,

 

That is why we have lawyers who specialize in ethics, so that they can tell me what I can or cant do. I just didnt want there to be any questions and potentially have some ardc complaint over trying to be helpful.

 

lostfan,

 

If youre dealing with Chicago, you may need to go through the alderman. I definitely suggest getting alderman approval before you do it. The last thing you want is to go through the whole process and have the alderman reject it for some ridiculous reason. Generally if you work with alderman etc, beforehand it makes the process a lot smoother.

 

So judging by your statements do you have a location in mind? Or just a general area? You also may need to check on the zoning to see if a liquor license can be issued there. Generally speaking its easier to get a liquor license on a property that already has one or had one.

Edited December 8, 200916 yr by Soxbadger

General area is the south side of Chicago but we don't have a building, or even a location picked yet. We're not that far in the process. I do wonder though if we can find some empty building and just pick up where that one left off.

If you can find a location that previously was a bar, Im pretty sure that the process will be much easier, as the zoning etc will have already previously been approved.

 

Different districts, have different rules. My first suggestion would be to find locations that you are interested in, then see if any of those locations are feasible. At that point youll know what rent or mortgage youll have to pay and can figure out if the business plan will work.

 

I assume that you will be forming either a corp or llc for this business.

It'll be a LLC, we won't be big enough to need to be a corporation at first.

You can be a corporation if you are small. A lot of smaller businesses are starting to go back to the corporation option because S Corp election is pretty easy (S Corp makes it so your corp is taxed the same way as a LLC or sole proprietorship), the main difference between corp and llc is that llc costs more to form (at least in IL) and the LLC has less stringent rules about corporate formalities.

 

At the end of the day, both llc and corp protect you from personal liability.

An LLC costs more to form than a corporation?

I suggest you look at these websites:

 

http://www.cyberdriveillinois.com/departme...vices/home.html

 

LLC- $500

 

Corp- $150

 

http://egov.cityofchicago.org/city/webport...elName=Business

 

The Secretary of State website is really good. In the forms section it has a guide to forming LLC/Corp, it gives you start to finish information, including how to get your FEIN and registering with the IBT.

 

Also, I suggest searching the difference between LLC/Corp. Its small, but it still may impact your decision.

 

(And its strange that instead of doing real work, im doing fake work on the internet. haha)

Edited December 8, 200916 yr by Soxbadger

Generic advice from someone who has started, run, closed, and sold a couple businesses.

 

The cheapest thing in the world, in the long run, is paying an attorney and accountant what seems like lots of money. Sadly, you will never know how much aggravation, time, and treasure you save by getting professionals involved at the start.

I suggest you look at these websites:

 

http://www.cyberdriveillinois.com/departme...vices/home.html

 

LLC- $500

 

Corp- $150

 

http://egov.cityofchicago.org/city/webport...elName=Business

 

The Secretary of State website is really good. In the forms section it has a guide to forming LLC/Corp, it gives you start to finish information, including how to get your FEIN and registering with the IBT.

 

Also, I suggest searching the difference between LLC/Corp. Its small, but it still may impact your decision.

 

(And its strange that instead of doing real work, im doing fake work on the internet. haha)

Yeah we did look up the difference and we decided we wanted to be a LLC, it almost seems counterintuitive that it costs less for the extra protections of a corporation though...?

Yeah we did look up the difference and we decided we wanted to be a LLC, it almost seems counterintuitive that it costs less for the extra protections of a corporation though...?

*Yawn*

 

PM me, you doofus. I'll explain all the differences to you and the legal and tax ramifications. I did a lot of work in this during the short time I actually worked for a CPA firm.

 

General, boring non committal advice, of course.

 

*Yawn*

 

PM me, you doofus. I'll explain all the differences to you and the legal and tax ramifications. I did a lot of work in this during the short time I actually worked for a CPA firm.

 

General, boring non committal advice, of course.

I probably sound like a complete moron to you guys... lol

I probably sound like a complete moron to you guys... lol

I just like giving you a hard time. Got to while I can.

 

I probably sound like a complete moron to you guys... lol

 

You mean more than usual?

You mean more than usual?

Indeed.

Speaking of Business Law, I'm studying for my Business Law final exam right now. Not looking forward to taking this thing, but that's cause I feel unprepared. Anyway, back to normal discussion. I just found the topic of this thread to be fitting since that's what I've been doing all night.

 

Hmm, I just contributed nothing to this thread...

Edited December 9, 200916 yr by dasox24

Oh law school finals, how I miss thee not.

 

Unfortunately that's all I have to contribue to the thread. I only do contract/real estate/tort litigation.

Edited December 9, 200916 yr by Jenksismybitch