Bay Area Business Attorneys for Owner-Operators
You built this business. Every contract, partner, and lease is a live wire running through it. One bad clause can cost you a customer. One bad partner can cost you the company.
A California business lawyer who works at your pace, not ours.
Business Law Services for California Companies
Danfoura Law Group P.C. is a Burlingame, California law firm providing business law services to owner-operated companies across California. Services include entity formation, business contracts, partnership and commercial disputes, corporate secretary services, and buy-sell agreements with business succession planning. The firm has practiced since 2006.
Here's how each service protects a different part of what you've built — from preventative counseling that heads off disputes to commercial litigation that resolves them.
Entity Formation & Restructuring
The right entity protects your personal assets and sets the rules before there's a fight. This means that when a partner leaves or an investor comes in, the answer is already written down — not argued over. We form LLCs and corporations, and we restructure entities that were set up wrong the first time.
Business Contracts
Your contracts are your business, written down. We draft, review, and negotiate the agreements you rely on — service contracts, sales agreements, vendor terms, commercial leases, and investor agreements — so the deal you think you made is the deal you can actually enforce.
Business Disputes & Litigation
When a partner, vendor, or customer breaks their word, you need a litigator who treats the lawsuit as a tool — not a lifestyle. Most business disputes resolve through negotiation, mediation, or arbitration before they ever see a trial. We fight for the business outcome you need — in court or through alternative dispute resolution.
Corporate Secretary Services
Skipped minutes and stale filings are invisible — until you're sued and the corporate veil doesn't hold. Our attorney-managed corporate secretary service keeps your minutes, resolutions, and state filings current, every year.
Buy-Sell Agreements & Business Succession
What happens to your company if a co-owner dies, divorces, or just wants out? A buy-sell agreement answers that question while everyone is still friends. We also plan full successions for family businesses — the handoff to the next generation.
Access to Business and Real Estate Expertise Under One Roof
Here's a problem we see constantly, and almost nobody else leads with it: your building sits inside your operating company.
It feels efficient. It's actually a risk. If the business gets sued, the property is exposed. If you sell the company, the real estate tangles the deal. If you plan your estate, the two assets are stuck together.
Because our attorneys handle both business law and real estate transactions, we can separate the property from the operating entity, structure the lease between them, and keep both assets protected. Most business attorneys would need to refer that out. We don't.
The same is true in reverse. When you buy a business that comes with a building, or negotiate a commercial lease that will outlast the deal itself, one firm sees the whole picture — the entity, the contract, and the property. This means that nothing falls into the gap between two law firms, because there is no gap.
Who We Serve
Our business clients are Bay Area owner-operators — typically companies between $1 million and $30 million in revenue. That includes:
- Trades and construction — contractors, subs, and suppliers
- Professional services — agencies, consultancies, medical and dental practices
- Hospitality — restaurants, caterers, and hospitality groups
- Tech-adjacent businesses — the companies that serve the tech economy without being venture-backed themselves
If you own the company, sign the checks, and lie awake thinking about it — you're who this practice was built for. We serve clients across all of California and represent them in every California state court.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does a business attorney cost in the Bay Area?
Business attorney costs in the San Francisco Bay Area vary by task: flat fees are common for defined projects such as entity formation or contract review, while hourly rates apply to negotiations and litigation. Danfoura Law Group provides detailed invoices showing the work performed.
The honest answer is that "it depends" — but you should never find out what it depends on after the invoice arrives. Tell us what you need. We'll tell you what it costs before you commit
When does a small business need a lawyer on retainer?
A small business typically benefits from ongoing legal counsel when it has employees, signed commercial leases, active vendor or customer contracts, or multiple owners. At that stage, legal questions arrive monthly, not yearly. An ongoing relationship with a business attorney means faster answers, because the attorney already knows the company's structure and contracts.
Many of our clients simply call us as things come up — and because we already know their business, the answers come fast.
Talk to a Business Attorney Who Moves at Your Speed
Whether you're forming your first entity, untangling a partner dispute, or planning the handoff of a company you spent twenty years building — start with a conversation. We'll listen, give you a straight read, and describe the work clearly.
