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In many cases, the most difficult part of running a business is finding a place to start. This holds just as true for veterinary professionals seeking to start or build on their own practice. If you find yourself in this situation, LaMaster Law can help. We’ve helped many veterinary professionals get their practices running in the state of Michigan by offering several different services catered to the different stages of a business practice’s growth. Some of them include:

Starting Your Own Veterinary Practice in Michigan

Giving yourself a solid foundation upon which to build your business is an important first step. LaMaster Law has experience guiding veterinary professionals through the lengthy process of starting their own practice. We help you through the many stages of development, starting with naming your own practice and seeing you through Michigan state and federal compliance to particulars of hiring veterinary experts for your practice, negotiating property leases and putting you in touch with experienced professionals from a variety of fields: accountants, technology specialists, and practice consultants specialized for your needs, to name a few.

LaMaster Law also offers CE-approved seminars in the state of Michigan. Whether you are a budding veterinary professional or a veteran business owner looking for a refresher course, our seminars can help you get the edge in developing your business structure so you can focus more intently on your practice of veterinary medicine.

Buying or Selling a Veterinary Practice in Michigan

For those looking to start in an established location or hoping to expand upon an already-existing veterinary practice, buying a practice might seem like a daunting task. LaMaster Law can help you with all of the legal documents required in selling or purchasing a practice in Michigan, beginning with drafting a letter of intent on your behalf. We also perform a due diligence investigation, ensuring you don’t inherit any unknown debts or expenses with your new purchase. We can assist you in working through many other legal documents to determine the direction of negotiations, including:

  • Purchase Agreements, a contract that details the means and process of a transaction and all other terms involved
  • Non-Compete and Non-Solicit Agreements, agreements that assure geographical boundaries between buyer and seller so as not to impose on potential growth for the existing practice.
  • Transfer of intangible assets, generally including patient records and the personal goodwill of the seller
  • Transfer of other contracts and agreements, contracts involving third-party services such as vendors and maintenance, as well as leases and licenses associated with the practice

Michigan Associate Agreements

Now that you have established a location in which you can build your practice, the next important step usually involves hiring staff and employees. While often regarded as a relatively simple task, the inclusion of associate agreements becomes necessary for establishing a well-structured policy for incoming employees. This helps avoid potentially unnecessary disputes between employees and employers or establish a legal foundation for your veterinary practice should any disputes arise.

LaMaster Law can help you create associate agreements that focus on a variety of key points regarding employees, such as their employment status, wages, compensation and incentives, fringe benefits such as health care or company vehicles, and the details of termination that often include non-compete, non-solicit and confidentiality agreements through termination. LaMaster Law can also arrange partnership agreements if you believe co-ownership is in your practice’s best interest. We can help organize details such as authority regarding decisions that impact your company or establishing a framework for conflicts of interest.

We also have experience in settling disputes between employer and employee, whether those disputes arise from poorly-constructed associate agreements or from no agreement at all. LaMaster Law helps to mediate disputes to a peaceful resolution that benefits the veterinary practice, and we can also help establish associate agreements in the wake of such disputes.

Buying or Selling Veterinary Real Estate in Michigan

If you are interested in owning your own veterinary practice as well as the property associated with it, LaMaster Law can use its resources to help you find available commercial real estate for purchase in your area of Michigan.

LaMaster Law walks you through understanding many of the legal documents that become associated with purchasing real estate upon which to build your practice. We will write a letter of intent on your behalf to a representing seller and guide you into the process of escrow. During this process, LaMaster Law performs an investigation of due diligence.  We use this time to discover any faults or imperfections with regard to the property you hope to purchase, including finding potential undisclosed expenses. The advantage of escrow is that it can limit financial losses on your part by seeking out any irreparable problems with the property and preventing a transfer of funds should the property eventually fail to meet your satisfaction.

Lease Negotiations in Michigan

If you have decided to explore the route of renting property from a landlord or property owner or you are a property owner looking to rent out to tenants, LaMaster Law has experience in negotiating lease arrangements from whichever position you are in. We shoulder the responsibility of these negotiations so you can focus on your business as a veterinary professional.

Contact Our Experienced Veterinary Practice Attorney

Our goal at LaMaster Law is to negotiate the most beneficial lease arrangement possible for the growth of your practice while maintaining a good relationship between all parties. We can review the terms involved in a lease to find and determine the items that would be in your best interest to negotiate. We also review leases involved with property that is being bought or sold. Perhaps you are even interested as a property owner to rent off a portion of your property. LaMaster Law can assist you in structuring leases that will impact your practice beneficially while mitigating as much personal liability as possible. Our hope is to see your veterinary practice succeed. If you are interested in developing, purchasing, or selling a veterinary practice in the state of Michigan, we encourage you to contact LaMaster Law so our veterinary real estate lawyers can help you meet any of your needs pertaining to business law and work toward reaching your practice’s full potential.