Roger Wiegley, founder and CEO of The Corporation Secretary, is a corporate lawyer with over 30 years of experience.  He started The Corporation Secretary three years ago because he felt that there was a gap in both the knowledge and administration of small businesses.  Every day hundreds of new companies are formed as entrepreneurs launch new ideas.   In many cases—perhaps most cases–the founders and managers of these small business do not understand the legal issues surrounding the organization that they have created or plan to create.  Where do they turn for help?  Some seek advice from law firms.  This often proves to be a very expensive alternative.   Another source of guidance is the Internet.  This route is particularly dangerous because the advice is generally too general, too simple, too esoteric or just self-serving.  The companies that will incorporate a business for $99 do not have the resources to try to understand the circumstances of a potential buyer.  They just want the $99.  What happens after that is not their concern.  It is fair to say that many owners of start-ups, despite their original objectives, have not protected their personal assets from liability through the business organization they formed.

What have we learned in three years?  More people than we expected have come to The Corporation Secretary for the formation of business entities.   This is a service that we do not even promote on our website (www.thecorpsec.com) because there is so much competition and, to do the task properly (covering all the steps, discussing all the issues and alternatives, and providing personal service), we are more expensive than the “corporation in can” Internet services (although much less costly than a law firm).   The second thing we discovered is that our clients often need follow-on advice because state governmental agencies show up when they discover a new business in their jurisdiction–tax, labor, etc.  (It’s actually worse if they don’t show up but their requirements apply nonetheless.)  The Corporation Secretary can help with these matters because it knows the business of its clients.  And finally, we have been doing a substantial amount of Internet research for our clients to examine and describe specific laws and regulations in various states.

While The Corporation Secretary does not provide legal services, we are sometimes asked for advice that involves the practice of law.  For this we use an affiliated law firm, The Law Offices of Roger D. Wiegley (www.wiegleylaw.com).   We know that our clients want quality legal services at a reasonable cost.  With that in mind, our law firm affiliate will undertake assignments for a fixed-fee, approved by the client in advance.