Hollywood General Counsel

The most valuable thing a business lawyer does is often invisible: the lawsuit that never gets filed. A well-drafted operating agreement, a lease reviewed before signing, and a partner dispute addressed while it is still a disagreement all keep a company out of court. The Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team provides Hollywood general counsel services to business owners, investors, and family companies in Hollywood and across Broward County and Palm Beach County, backed by a litigation practice that handles the disputes when prevention fails.

Outside general counsel is an arrangement, not a single task. Instead of hiring an in-house attorney, a Hollywood business gets a lawyer who knows its contracts, its ownership structure, and its habits, and who can answer the question on Tuesday morning that would otherwise sit unasked for months. In our general counsel program, the firm also serves as the company’s registered agent, so legal notices and service of process reach people who recognize them for what they are.

What separates a general counsel who is also a litigator from one who only drafts is perspective. A lawyer who has spent decades in courtrooms reads a contract looking for the sentence that will be argued over later, and writes the deal to avoid that argument.

Why Choose the Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team as Your Outside General Counsel

The Andrew M. Andrew M. Schwartz has spent 37 years in litigation, with a career built around complex contract disputes, business divorces, and conflicts among partners, LLC members, and shareholders. He has practiced in Florida since being admitted to The Florida Bar in 1989, after earning his undergraduate degree from Emory University in 1986 and his law degree from the University of Miami in 1989. The firm serves clients in Hollywood, Fort Lauderdale, Boca Raton, West Palm Beach, and throughout Broward and Palm Beach Counties, along with clients from New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut who own businesses or real estate in South Florida.

Sundeep Nath, Senior Counsel, is a Northwestern-trained litigator with years of experience in business and real estate cases in state and federal courts. The firm practices as a true legal team, meaning everyone working on a matter knows the file, so a client who calls with a question does not have to re-explain the company’s history. A strict 24 hour return call policy applies whenever the attorneys are in court or otherwise unavailable, and scheduled conference calls are arranged at times that suit everyone involved.

The firm’s trial record shows why that litigation experience matters to a general counsel client. After a five-day bench trial in Broward County Circuit Court, the court entered a 32-page final judgment awarding the firm’s client specific performance of a commercial real estate contract. Clients also tend to find that Andrew Schwartz matches his approach to the situation. In his own words, most clients want a lawyer who uses finesse when finesse will do and who favors a cost-effective solution over legal fees that outrun common sense.

What an Outside General Counsel Handles for a Hollywood Business

• Operating, Partnership, and Shareholder Agreements: The document that governs how owners vote, how profits are split, and how someone exits is the one most often written badly. Buyout formulas, deadlock provisions, and expulsion rights decide whether a later falling-out is a negotiation or a lawsuit.
• Commercial Leases: Hollywood restaurants, retail shops, medical offices, and service businesses live or die by lease terms. Review before signing covers personal guaranties, renewal options, repair obligations, and default and termination mechanics.
• Purchase and Sale Contracts: Business acquisitions, asset sales, and real estate contracts all benefit from a lawyer who has seen how these agreements fail at closing. The firm handles both the transactions and the failed-closing litigation.
• Vendor, Customer, and Construction Agreements: Payment terms, termination rights, and indemnity clauses in everyday contracts are where disputes over money start.
• Registered Agent and Corporate Compliance: Through the general counsel program, the firm receives the company’s official notices and helps keep corporate housekeeping current, so a missed filing does not become a problem later.
• Family Business Governance: Siblings, parents and children, and in-laws sharing ownership face questions about control, compensation, and succession. Written agreements settled while relationships are good protect both the company and the family.
• Early-Stage Dispute Management: A demand letter, a threatened claim, or a partner who suddenly stops answering questions is better handled by counsel who already knows the company than by someone starting from scratch.

How General Counsel Relationships Typically Unfold

Most engagements begin with a review, not a crisis. The lawyer collects the formation documents, the operating or shareholder agreement, the major leases and contracts, and a plain account of who owns what and who makes decisions. That review usually surfaces gaps: an operating agreement that never addressed a deadlock, a lease signed with a personal guaranty nobody remembers, a registered agent address that is out of date.

From there the relationship settles into rhythm. Some clients call weekly with contract questions; others go quiet for months and then need help fast. Because the firm already knows the file, it can respond quickly when a dispute arrives, including when the situation calls for emergency relief. The firm is experienced in obtaining temporary and permanent injunctions to stop assets from being moved or spent while a dispute is pending, and a lawyer who already understands the company can move on that kind of request without a learning curve.

When a dispute does reach the formal stage, the general counsel relationship becomes the foundation for the litigation. The attorneys are experienced in mediation and arbitration as well as courtroom litigation, and the goal is the resolution that serves the client’s objectives and budget rather than a longer case for its own sake.

Why Written Agreements Decide Florida Business Disputes

The law gives business owners some backstop remedies, but they are blunt instruments compared with a well-drafted agreement. For a Florida LLC, a circuit court can order dissolution when managers or members are deadlocked and irreparable injury to the company is threatened or occurring, when assets are being misappropriated or wasted, when controlling members are acting illegally or fraudulently, or when it is not reasonably practicable to carry on the business under the articles and operating agreement. In those proceedings the court may appoint a receiver or custodian after a hearing, or order a purchase of the petitioning member’s interest.

The statute also gives deference to what the owners agreed in advance. If an operating agreement has a deadlock sale provision that is initiated before the court finds deadlock grounds, that contractual mechanism applies in place of a judicial dissolution order. The same logic runs through the corporate statutes: a shareholder who files for judicial dissolution keeps the right to invoke an available deadlock sale provision in a compliant shareholder agreement, and the corporation or other shareholders can elect to buy out a petitioning shareholder at fair value, with the court entering an order if the parties agree on value and terms within 60 days of the first election.

The practical lesson is that owners who negotiate exit terms in advance control the outcome, while owners who rely on the statute leave it to a judge. A general counsel relationship is where that drafting happens.

Contract deadlines matter too. A claim founded on a written instrument has a five-year limitations period, while an oral or implied contract claim has four years. An action for specific performance carries a one-year period, a point that surprises business owners who assume they have as long as for a damages claim. These periods are one reason a company benefits from having counsel who reviews problems early rather than late.

What to Do When a Business Problem Is Developing in Hollywood

Start by pulling together the documents that govern the relationship: the articles of organization or incorporation, the operating or shareholder agreement, any amendments, the relevant contracts or leases, and records showing money in and out. If the concern is a partner or manager, gather bank statements, distribution records, and communications that show what was agreed and what happened. Do not alter, delete, or reorganize records, and do not confront a partner in writing before you understand your position.

Next, talk to counsel before acting. A decision that feels reasonable, such as withholding a payment, changing a lock, or removing someone from an account, can create a claim against you. If funds or property appear to be at risk of disappearing, say so immediately, because emergency injunctive relief depends on speed and a clear record.

Where a lawsuit is necessary, venue depends on the dispute. Business and real estate cases involving Hollywood generally proceed in the Circuit Court of the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit in and for Broward County, and the South Regional Courthouse sits in Hollywood. Larger business matters, including certain entity dissolution cases, may be handled in the Seventeenth Circuit’s complex business division, which a case can be filed into only through the procedure set out in the circuit’s administrative order. Disputes involving Palm Beach County parties or property go to the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit. Cases with federal jurisdiction go to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, which covers both counties. Amounts in controversy above the county court ceiling belong in circuit court, and county courts handle the smaller claims.

The most common mistake is waiting. Owners tolerate a partner’s behavior for a year, keep contributing capital, and then discover that the delay has complicated their claims or let assets move. A call to general counsel at the first sign of trouble costs far less than litigation after the damage is done.

Real Estate Questions That Land on a General Counsel’s Desk

Many Hollywood businesses are inseparable from property. Co-owners who can no longer agree may need a partition action, which Florida handles in chancery and which can end in dividing the land or, if division would prejudice the owners, a court-ordered sale with proceeds split by interest. Inherited property held among relatives is subject to special rules under Florida’s Uniform Partition of Heirs Property Act, which can change how the court approaches a sale. Title clouds, competing ownership claims, and fraudulent conveyances can be resolved through a quiet title action, where the plaintiff generally must trace title back at least seven years unless the court orders otherwise.

Landlord and tenant disputes also arise constantly for commercial owners. For residential tenancies, Florida’s statute sets short notice periods, such as three days for unpaid rent excluding weekends and court holidays, and seven days for curable lease violations, and accepting partial rent without following the statute’s requirements can complicate a later eviction filing. Commercial leases are governed more by their own terms, which is another reason to have counsel review them first.

Hollywood General Counsel FAQs

What does outside general counsel mean?

It means a law firm acts as your company’s ongoing legal advisor without being on payroll. You get regular access to advice on contracts, compliance, and operations, and the lawyer learns your business over time instead of meeting it for the first time during a crisis.

How is outside general counsel different from hiring a lawyer only when there is a problem?

A lawyer hired in a crisis starts by learning your documents and history while the clock runs. Counsel who already knows the company can spot issues early, draft agreements that avoid disputes, and respond faster when one arrives.

Does the firm serve as our registered agent?

Yes. Through the general counsel program, the firm serves as the company’s registered agent and helps with the contract, compliance, and operational questions that arise in the ordinary course of business.

Do we need a general counsel if we only have a small company?

Small companies often benefit most, because one bad contract or an ownership dispute can threaten the whole business. The right level of involvement is a conversation about your contracts, your owners, and how much legal exposure you carry.

What should an operating agreement include to prevent partner disputes?

At minimum: how decisions are made and by whom, how profits and capital contributions are handled, what happens on a deadlock, and how an owner can be bought out or removed. A deadlock sale provision can displace a court-ordered dissolution, so it is worth drafting carefully.

Can a general counsel help if my partner is taking company money?

Yes. Possible claims include breach of fiduciary duty, an accounting, and recovery of funds, and a court can issue injunctive relief to stop assets from being moved or spent while the dispute is pending. Speed and documentation matter.

How long do I have to sue over a breach of a written contract in Florida?

Five years for a claim founded on a written instrument. Oral and implied contract claims have four years, and a specific performance action has one year, so the type of claim matters.

Is my business better off with a deadlock sale clause or relying on judicial dissolution?

A properly drafted deadlock sale clause usually gives owners more control, because a timely initiated contractual buyout applies instead of a judicial dissolution order. Judicial dissolution leaves the result to the court and can include a receiver, which many owners want to avoid.

Which court would hear a business dispute involving a Hollywood company?

Typically the Circuit Court of the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit in and for Broward County, with county court handling smaller claims. Some business cases qualify for the circuit’s complex business division, and federal claims go to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

Can you work with my company if the owners live in New York or New Jersey?

Yes. The firm regularly represents clients from New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut with South Florida business or real estate interests, handles local court appearances, and keeps clients informed so they do not need to travel for every proceeding.

Does every business dispute end up in court?

No. Many are resolved through negotiation, mediation, or arbitration, and the firm’s attorneys are experienced in all of them. The approach is chosen to match your goals and budget.

Do you work with other attorneys on referred matters?

Yes. A significant part of the firm’s practice comes from other lawyers, including out of state counsel whose clients have Florida disputes. The firm keeps referring counsel informed and respects their relationship with the client.

Serving Hollywood Business Clients Across Broward and Palm Beach Counties

Our general counsel and business litigation work starts in Hollywood and extends through Broward County, including Fort Lauderdale, Hallandale Beach, Pembroke Pines, Miramar, Dania Beach, Davie, Plantation, Sunrise, Weston, Cooper City, Pompano Beach, Deerfield Beach, Coral Springs, and Parkland. We also serve businesses and property owners throughout Palm Beach County, from Boca Raton and Delray Beach to Boynton Beach, West Palm Beach, Palm Beach Gardens, and Royal Palm Beach.

Many of our clients are owners from the New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut area who hold South Florida companies or real estate, and we serve them from first consultation through any local court proceedings. Whether the need is a standing relationship for contract and compliance questions or a partner dispute that has already escalated, the firm brings the same file-aware, team-based approach across the region.

Talk With a Hollywood General Counsel Attorney Before a Problem Becomes a Lawsuit

If you are looking for a Hollywood general counsel attorney who understands both the paperwork that prevents disputes and the courtroom work that resolves them, the Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team can discuss how an outside general counsel arrangement would fit your business. Call to schedule a consultation, and bring your operating agreement, major contracts, and any correspondence that worries you.

The sooner a lawyer who knows litigation reviews your company’s documents, the more options you will have. Call the Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team today.