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February 14, 2014

Think of a Shareholder Agreement as Preventative Medicine

Peter Saad
You’re in the early stages of building a business. You have a partner who you’ve known for some time now and you couldn’t be more thrilled to enter into what will certainly be a mutually beneficial business relationship between the two of you. It sounds wonderful. What could possibly go wrong? Let the recent collapse of the renowned Heenan Blaikie law firm be a lesson to you. Even after 40 years, 500 lawyers on staff and the involvement of prominent political names including Pierre Elliott Trudeau, Jean Chretien, Pierre-Marc Johnson, Marcel Aubut and Michel Bastarache, the firm has been dissolved and it leaves behind a legal community beside itself with shock. The “Honeymoon” Phase Intimate relationships always have a “honeymoon”
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January 30, 2014

“Can I Negotiate My Lease?”

Peter Saad
There is a simple answer to this question, which was asked by one of our followers last month. YES. The problem is, far too many business owners don’t know or don’t understand that they do, in fact, have the power to negotiate. In other cases, they may be aware of their rights but they simply don’t know how to properly exercise them. You Do Have a Choice There is a shocking trend we see in our line of work: landlords adopting the position of “take it or leave it” when it comes to lease agreements. In such cases, tenants often sign even though it isn’t in their best interests to do so. Why? Location dependency, hasty decision making, fear of
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January 16, 2014

Caveat Emptor. Always.

Peter Saad
You’re about to enter into a new agreement. If you’re like most people, you do not have the knowledge to comprehend every provision nor the skill to ascertain whether or not the specified terms are in your best interests. And so this raises the following questions: have you done your due diligence? Have you considered all possible scenarios? Have you exercised your right to fully understand what you’re getting into? This is caveat emptor. Let the Buyer Beware Caveat emptor is Latin for “let the buyer beware”. You probably already knew that. But what does this really mean? Simply put, this famed phrase means that it’s up to you to make an informed and educated decision about whether to buy or
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