Business Lawyers for Pennsylvania, West Virginia & Ohio
Starting a company is easy. Building one that can survive growth, ownership changes, acquisitions, contracts, disputes, risk, and eventually an exit is harder.
The Skeen Firm provides practical business counsel designed around what owners are actually trying to accomplish, from formation and governance through transactions, risk management, disputes, succession, and exit.
The Best Legal Answer Is Not Always the Best Business Answer
Business owners do not operate in a law-school hypothetical. Decisions involve money, customers, employees, timing, relationships, opportunity, and risk.
Legal advice has to account for all of it.
Our business practice is built around helping owners make informed decisions before a manageable problem becomes an expensive one. That can mean structuring an acquisition, improving an operating agreement, negotiating a difficult contract, addressing a developing dispute, or simply having counsel available when something does not look right.
We want to understand what you are trying to accomplish first. Then we determine how the law can help you accomplish it.
- Contracts and commercial agreements
- LLCs and business formation
- Operating and shareholder agreements
- Buying and selling businesses
- Owner and partner transitions
- Risk management and outside counsel
- Business disputes and pre-litigation strategy
- Business succession and exit planning
Legal Counsel From Formation Through Exit
We work with closely held companies, entrepreneurs, buyers, sellers, and business owners on transactions, governance, contracts, growth, risk, disputes, and ownership transitions.
Business Formation
LLCs, corporations, entity selection, organizational documents, ownership structure, and the agreements needed to turn an entity filing into an actual business structure.
Operating & Shareholder Agreements
Agreements addressing ownership, management, voting, distributions, transfers, buyouts, death, disability, deadlock, and owner departures.
Contracts
Drafting, reviewing, and negotiating commercial agreements with a focus on obligations, leverage, risk allocation, payment, termination, and enforcement.
Business Acquisitions
Buyer and seller representation involving letters of intent, due diligence, purchase agreements, financing coordination, closing, and post-closing obligations.
Outside General Counsel
Ongoing legal guidance for businesses that need counsel available without building an internal legal department.
Risk Management
Identifying legal weaknesses before they become disputes, including contracts, ownership documentation, payment practices, recurring operational risks, and accumulated legal debt.
Joint Ventures & Strategic Deals
Structuring collaborations, partnerships, joint ventures, investment arrangements, and other commercial relationships.
Ownership Transitions
Buyouts, member departures, equity transfers, succession planning, and negotiated separation of business owners.
Exit & Succession Planning
Preparing businesses and owners for sale, family succession, management transition, retirement, or other long-term ownership changes.
Build. Buy. Grow. Protect. Resolve. Exit.
Legal needs change as a business changes. The goal is to solve today's problem without creating tomorrow's.
Build
Choose the structure, define ownership, document expectations, and create a foundation capable of supporting growth.
Buy
Evaluate acquisitions, conduct diligence, allocate risk, negotiate terms, and close the transaction.
Grow
Improve contracts, add owners, build relationships, expand, and develop legal systems that support the next stage.
Protect
Identify legal debt, manage risk, document decisions, and protect cash flow, leverage, and enterprise value.
Resolve
Address disputes early when possible and litigate strategically when negotiation no longer solves the problem.
Exit
Sell, transfer, transition, or wind down the business with the end goal considered before the transaction begins.
Has Your Business Outgrown Its Legal Infrastructure?
Contracts get old. Ownership changes. Handshake arrangements become important relationships. Acquisitions close. The company grows, while the legal systems underneath it may remain largely unchanged.
We call the accumulated gap legal debt. These resources are designed to help owners understand the problem, audit the company, identify areas worth a closer look, and determine which issues actually deserve attention.
What Is Legal Debt?
Learn how outdated contracts, ownership documents, informal arrangements, and unfinished legal work can accumulate as a business changes.
Understand Legal Debt → AuditThe Legal Debt Audit
Work through 15 questions every growing business should be able to answer about ownership, contracts, governance, operations, and future readiness.
Read the 15 Questions → Free ToolBusiness Legal Debt Scorecard
Answer 20 questions and instantly see which areas of your company's legal infrastructure may deserve the closest look.
Take the Free Scorecard → Get a Roadmap30-Day Business Legal Assessment
Move from possible issues to practical priorities with a structured legal assessment designed to identify what matters, what can wait, and what may simply be monitored.
Learn About the $750 Assessment →Start With the Free Business Legal Debt Scorecard
The Scorecard reviews ownership, governance, contracts, commercial relationships, operations, recurring problems, growth, succession, and exit readiness. There is no email gate, and the result is available immediately.
A score is not a legal-risk diagnosis. It is a practical way to identify where the next conversation may need to begin.
You Don't Need an In-House Lawyer to Have a Business Lawyer
Many growing businesses reach a point where legal questions occur too frequently to treat every issue as a one-off emergency, but hiring full-time internal counsel makes little economic sense.
Business Solutions Counsel™ is designed to fill that gap: ongoing access to legal advice that becomes more useful as counsel learns the company, its owners, contracts, objectives, and recurring risks.
Outside Counsel Can Help With:
The Purchase Price Is Only Part of the Deal
A business acquisition can transfer assets, liabilities, employees, contracts, customer relationships, real estate, intellectual property, debt, and years of undiscovered problems.
Good deal counsel looks beyond getting documents signed. The objective is understanding what you are buying or selling, allocating risk appropriately, and making sure the transaction works after closing.
Letters of Intent
Structure major deal terms before full documentation begins.
Due Diligence
Review material legal and business risks before closing.
Purchase Agreements
Document price, assets, liabilities, representations, risk allocation, and remedies.
Financing
Coordinate lender, SBA, seller-financing, and closing requirements.
Closing
Bring documentation, financing, consents, transfers, and deliverables together.
Post-Closing
Address transition obligations, earn-outs, indemnification, integration, and disputes.
Prevent Problems. Resolve the Ones You Can't.
Good Legal Systems Preserve Options
Good contracts, clear ownership documents, careful transactions, disciplined recordkeeping, and early intervention can reduce the chance that a disagreement becomes expensive litigation.
When something starts going wrong, getting counsel involved early can preserve leverage and create more options than waiting until positions harden.
Business Counsel and Business Litigation Under One Roof
Some problems cannot be negotiated away. When contracts are breached, owners turn against each other, payments stop, acquisitions unravel, or misconduct causes substantial loss, litigation may become necessary.
Our litigation practice handles commercial disputes with the same focus on business economics, leverage, and practical outcomes.
Business Lawyers Serving Pennsylvania, West Virginia & Ohio
Pennsylvania Business Lawyers
Business formation, contracts, acquisitions, governance, outside counsel, ownership transitions, and commercial legal services throughout Western Pennsylvania.
Our regional focus includes Washington, Butler, Beaver, Allegheny, and surrounding counties.
West Virginia Business Lawyers
Business counsel for owners and companies throughout Northern West Virginia and other qualifying locations, including formation, transactions, contracts, acquisitions, governance, and succession.
Ohio Business Lawyers
Qualifying Ohio business matters involving commercial agreements, ownership issues, acquisitions, transactions, and related business counsel depending on jurisdiction and scope.
Better Decisions Start With Better Information
Start with the issue you are facing, then move into the resource, tool, or service that best matches the next decision.
Business Law FAQs
What does a business lawyer do?
A business lawyer helps owners and companies address formation, ownership, contracts, transactions, acquisitions, governance, risk, disputes, succession, and other legal issues involved in operating and growing a business.
What is legal debt?
Legal debt is a term we use to describe outdated contracts, unresolved ownership issues, informal arrangements, incomplete documentation, and other legal systems that may not have kept pace with changes in the business.
What is the Business Legal Debt Scorecard?
The Business Legal Debt Scorecard is a free educational tool that asks 20 questions across ownership, governance, contracts, operations, growth, succession, and exit readiness. It is a screening tool, not a legal-risk diagnosis.
When should a growing business hire a lawyer?
Common trigger points include adding an owner, signing a major contract, borrowing substantial money, buying another company, selling equity, entering a new market, experiencing a serious dispute, or preparing for succession or sale.
What is outside general counsel?
Outside general counsel provides ongoing legal guidance to a business without the company employing a full-time in-house lawyer. Over time, counsel can develop familiarity with the company's operations, ownership, contracts, objectives, and recurring risks.
Can you help me buy or sell a business?
Yes. The firm handles qualifying buy-side and sell-side transactions involving letters of intent, due diligence, purchase agreements, financing coordination, closing, and post-closing matters.
Can you help if my business partner and I are separating?
Depending on the circumstances, an owner separation may involve governing documents, valuation, ownership transfers, releases, payment terms, restrictive covenants, negotiated separation, or business litigation if the dispute has already escalated.
Does every business with legal debt need ongoing counsel?
No. Some businesses may need only one or two discrete projects. Others may benefit from a legal roadmap or periodic review. Businesses with recurring legal needs may eventually find an outside general counsel relationship more useful.
Build the Business. Protect What You're Building.
Whether you are starting a company, buying one, negotiating an important contract, dealing with ownership issues, trying to identify legal debt, resolving a dispute, or planning an eventual exit, start with a conversation about what you are trying to accomplish.
Attorney Advertising. This page is provided for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Viewing this page, using any linked educational tool, or contacting The Skeen Firm does not create an attorney-client relationship. Representation, scope, fees, and availability depend on the specific matter, jurisdiction, conflicts review, attorney availability, and execution of a written engagement agreement.