Business, Franchising & Real Estate Law Firm in Fremont, California

Matt Dickstein, Business Attorney

39488 Stevenson Place
Suite 100
Fremont, California 94539

(510) 796-9144

www.mattdickstein.com

Contact Matt Dickstein

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Law Firm Overview

Matt Dickstein is a business attorney from Fremont, California providing business-related legal services to clients throughout northern and southern California. Since 1994, Mr. Dickstein has been representing business clients of all types, from small businesses to large corporations, with all of their legal needs. Mr. Dickstein has a strong reputation amongst both colleagues and clients for being a highly knowledgeable and efficient attorney, devoted to addressing the needs of his clients in a timely and cost-effective manner.

Mr. Dickstein provides a range of helpful legal services for business clients, from formation to dissolution; including all types of commercial disputes and agreements. He also assists professional practices and corporations such as professional corporations comprising of doctors, dentists, veterinarians, accountants, etc. with business, corporate, and contract matters. Mr. Dickstein also has extensive experience facilitating legal and commercial transactions with the People’s Republic of China, and also represents several Chinese companies looking to expand to the United States.

With a wealth of experience in several key areas of business law, Mr. Dickstein has the tools and the knowledge to help your business stay on the path of continued growth. His extensive experience dealing with the People’s Republic of China, one of the largest and fastest growing economies in the world, means that he can help you grow your business nationally as well as help you expand your business to new horizons.

Year this Office was Established: 1995

Languages: English, Chinese

Areas of Law

Areas of Law Description

- Business & Corporate

I have been a business / corporate attorney since 1994. I work with domestic and international businesses of all sizes and types. For most business transactions, I charge flat fees. This helps you budget your legal costs and avoid surprises. I have done most deals many times and this helps me predict the likely cost. Further, I try to fit the legal services to the size and complexity of the transaction. It makes no sense to treat a small business purchase like a multi-million dollar deal, because a small deal cannot support the legal fees of a big deal. Conversely, bigger, more complex deals need more legal work. The trick is to know what is really important in a deal.

- Professional Practice

I represent professional practices and corporations, including physicians, dentists, chiropractors, veterinarians and accountants. I form California professional corporations for these and other practices, and I handle their business, corporate and contract matters.

- Real Estate

I help real estate investors with your corporate and securities matters, evictions (unlawful detainers), purchase & sale of real estate and commercial leases. I also run my own real estate investment fund -- I and a partner run Magnolia Foreclosures, which pools investor money to purchase properties in foreclosure.

- ERISA

Fund managers fear the Employee Retirement Investment Security Act of 1974. ERISA might apply if you take money from pension plans or IRAs. ERISA is extremely onerous, and the tax code enforces it with taxes and penalties for violations. A hedge fund can avoid ERISA if it limits the level of investment by "benefit plan investors" to less than 25% of any class of the fund’s equity. Benefit plan investors include employee benefit plans and IRAs. Benefit plan investors do not include investments from the fund manager or any of its affiliates.

- Securities Law

When your fund sells ownership interests to investors, the fund is conducting a securities offering. A securities offering is a highly regulated and complex undertaking. For every offering, the fund must comply with federal securities laws + the laws of each state where an investor resides. This can add up to a lot of law. You can’t opt out of these laws – securities laws will apply to your fund whether you want them to or not. Pretending the laws don’t exist won’t save you.

- Franchise

I practice franchise law, for both franchisors and franchisees. I understand that you have a limited budget, so my philosophy is to provide maximum legal coverage and protection at the minimum price. My franchise practice has three basic parts: First, I help start-up franchisors. Second, I help existing franchisors with their legal compliance and housekeeping work. Third, I help franchisees with their purchase of a franchise and other business / legal needs.

- Shareholder Disputes

Shareholders and partners are like married couples: they fight. It makes no difference that the dispute is between deadlocked equal partners, or between minority and majority shareholders. In both cases, the shareholders and partners need a divorce.

Enter involuntary dissolution, which is your nuclear (that is, your final) resolution. Involuntary dissolution is a judicial process where the court separates the warring partners by forcing a sale of ownership from one to the other, or by forcing a sale of the entire business. You use this process when all else has failed for a dispute between owners of a corporation or an LLC in California.