Transactions are among the most consequential moments in a business’s life — and among the most legally complex. Whether you’re forming an entity, negotiating a significant contract, acquiring a business, or planning an exit, the legal structure of the deal matters enormously. Getting it right protects you. Getting it wrong can cost far more than the deal was worth.
Scott Resnick Law provides practical, business-aligned transaction support for small and mid-sized businesses in Arizona and California. The focus is on clarity, responsiveness, and results — legal counsel that moves at the pace of business and stays focused on your objectives, not just legal formalities.
Transaction Services
Entity Formation and Structure
The legal structure you choose at formation has lasting implications — for liability, taxes, governance, and future transactions. Scott helps founders and business owners select and implement the right entity structure from the start, whether that’s an LLC, corporation, partnership, or another form, and ensures the foundational documents actually reflect how the business will operate.
Contract Drafting and Negotiation
Contracts are the backbone of most business relationships, and vague or poorly structured agreements are one of the most common sources of business disputes. Scott drafts and negotiates contracts with a practical, business-first approach — vendor agreements, client contracts, service agreements, licensing arrangements, and more. The goal is agreements that are clear, enforceable, and structured to protect your interests.
Business Acquisitions
Acquiring a business involves legal complexity at every stage — from letter of intent through due diligence, deal structure, representations and warranties, and closing. Scott guides buyers through the full acquisition process, identifying legal risks in the target business, structuring the deal to protect the buyer’s interests, and ensuring the transaction closes cleanly.
Business Sales and Exits
Selling a business requires careful preparation and skilled negotiation to protect the value you’ve built. Scott advises business owners on exit planning, deal structure, representations and warranties, non-compete provisions, and transition arrangements — with a focus on maximizing the outcome and minimizing post-closing exposure.
Buy-Sell Agreements
For businesses with multiple owners, a well-drafted buy-sell agreement is essential. It defines what happens when an owner wants to exit, becomes incapacitated, or dies — before those situations arise and when everyone can agree on fair terms. Without one, co-ownership disputes can be devastating. Scott drafts and negotiates buy-sell agreements that reflect the actual dynamics and goals of the ownership group.
Partnership and Operating Agreements
The documents that govern your business relationships — operating agreements for LLCs, shareholder agreements for corporations, partnership agreements — need to reflect how the business actually makes decisions, allocates profits, and handles disagreements. Scott drafts and reviews these documents with an eye toward preventing the disputes that arise when governance isn’t clearly defined.
Joint Ventures and Strategic Alliances
When businesses collaborate on a project or form a strategic relationship, the legal structure of that arrangement defines the rights, obligations, and risk allocation of each party. Scott helps structure and document joint ventures and strategic alliances that are clear, fair, and built to last.
The Transaction Approach
Scott’s approach to SMB transactions is shaped by two things that distinguish his practice from general transactional attorneys: his litigation background and his general counsel perspective.
Having spent significant time in commercial litigation — including complex real estate and co-ownership disputes — Scott has seen firsthand how transaction documents get tested when relationships go sideways. He knows which contract provisions become flashpoints in disputes, which governance gaps create the most conflict, and which deal structures create problems down the road. That litigation perspective informs how he drafts and negotiates at the transactional stage, producing agreements that hold up when they need to.
His general counsel background means he approaches transactions not as isolated events but as part of the broader legal and business context of your company. A transaction that makes sense in isolation may create complications for your governance structure, your existing agreements, or your future plans. Scott thinks about the full picture.
Serving Arizona and California
Scott Resnick Law handles SMB transactions for businesses throughout Arizona and California. Scott is licensed in both states and understands the legal landscape — including the meaningful differences between California and Arizona in areas like employment law, entity governance, and real estate — that affect how transactions should be structured for businesses operating in either or both markets.