“He read our partnership agreement out loud with us, one paragraph at a time, and asked what we each meant by it. Two of those paragraphs changed before we signed.”
Renata O.Co-owner, a frame shop in East Nashville
Business law in Nashville
Counsel for the business you mean to keep
Desmond Ellery forms companies, writes and reviews contracts, and handles the purchase or sale of a business for owners across Middle Tennessee. One lawyer, from the first call to the closing table.
Your lawyer
One lawyer, who knows the whole file
Before law school I kept the books for a dozen family businesses on Nolensville Pike. I learned what a bad lease costs in March and what a vague partnership agreement costs in year six.
Now I'm the lawyer I wished those owners had: one person who answers the phone, reads every page, and tells you in plain words what you're signing. I don't hand your matter to an associate, because there isn't one.
Desmond Ellery
Attorney, Ellery Law
How I work
Plain terms, kept in writing
Every matter starts with a conversation about the business, not the paperwork: who owns it, who runs it, what you want it to look like in five years. The documents follow from that.
Before any work begins you get a letter that says what I'll do, what I won't, and what it will cost. If the scope changes, the letter changes first.
A contract is a record of what two people agreed to on a good day, so they can still agree on a bad one.
You'll get drafts with the changes marked and a short note on each one. When something is a judgment call, I'll say so, and tell you which way I'd lean and why.
Practice
What I do, and do often
Three kinds of work, done for the same kind of client: the owner who signs the checks.
- 01
Forming a company
Entity choice, operating agreements and the first filings, set up so the company holds.
Formation in detail - 02
Contracts
Customer, vendor, lease and employment agreements, written or reviewed line by line.
Contracts in detail - 03
Buying and selling a business
Letters of intent, diligence, purchase agreements and the closing, for buyer or seller.
Sales and purchases in detail
From clients
In their words
“We sold the bakery to Luis and Pam, who had run the counter for nine years. Desmond kept both sides calm and the lender happy, and the closing took one morning.”
Walter B.Former owner, a bakery in Germantown
“I sent him a supplier contract on a Tuesday. By Thursday I had it back with four changes marked and a note saying which ones were worth pushing for.”
Keisha M.Owner, a catering company
Sample client words. Each client's matter is different, and what happened in one doesn't predict another.
Start with a conversation
Tell me what you're forming, signing or selling. The first consultation is thirty minutes, and by the end of it you'll know whether you need a lawyer for this and what the work would cost.