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Harbor Legal LLP

Practice area I

Business & Corporate

Counsel for companies from first hire to final sale. Formation, financing, contracts, governance, acquisitions and disputes for owner-managed companies, growth-stage businesses and family enterprises.

What we do

Entity formation and structuring
Choosing between an LLC, S corporation or C corporation, drafting operating agreements and shareholder agreements, and setting up the equity plan that will still make sense in five years.
Commercial contracts
Customer and supplier agreements, distribution and licensing terms, master services agreements and the standard terms your team signs every week.
Mergers and acquisitions
Buy-side and sell-side transactions from letter of intent through closing, including due diligence, purchase agreements and post-closing adjustments.
Financing and investment
Bank facilities, convertible notes, preferred equity rounds and shareholder loans, negotiated with an eye on control as well as price.
Business disputes
Partner and shareholder disagreements, breach of contract claims, restrictive covenants and negotiated exits that keep the company standing.

How a matter proceeds

  1. Step 1

    Scoping call

    A thirty minute conversation with a partner to understand the business, the deadline and what a good outcome looks like.

  2. Step 2

    Fixed-fee proposal

    For defined work such as formations and standard agreements we quote a fee in writing before we begin.

  3. Step 3

    Drafting and negotiation

    One named lawyer holds the file. Drafts are explained in plain language before they go to the other side.

  4. Step 4

    Completion and follow-through

    We close the loose ends: filings, minute books, signed originals and a short note of what to diarise.

Fees

Fixed fees for formations and standard agreements. Time-based with a written budget for transactions and disputes.

Questions we are asked

Do we need a lawyer to form an LLC?

Filing the paperwork is straightforward. What a lawyer adds is the operating agreement: who decides what, how members exit, and what happens on a deadlock. Those clauses matter most when relationships are under strain.

How long does a small acquisition take?

For a private company purchase with cooperative parties, three to five months from signed letter of intent to closing is common. Regulatory approvals, financing and the quality of the target's records move that timeline.

Can you act for us on a fixed fee?

Yes, for defined work. Open-ended matters such as negotiations and disputes are billed on time with an agreed budget that we report against monthly.

The team

Portrait of Margaret Ellison, a smiling woman with short silver hair and dark-rimmed glasses

Margaret Ellison

Managing Partner

Black and white studio portrait of Gerald Halloran, an older man in a dark suit and patterned tie

Gerald Halloran

Senior Partner

Portrait of Rohan Mehta, a man with dark hair and glasses in a grey jacket standing in a glass-walled corridor

Rohan Mehta

Partner

Recent results

Business & Corporate

Transaction · 2025

$46 million

Sale of a regional logistics company

Acted for the founders in the sale of a family-owned freight business to a strategic buyer. Negotiated a reduced escrow and a shorter warranty period, and secured retention agreements for twelve key staff.

Business & Corporate

Settlement · 2024

$3.2 million buy-out

Shareholder dispute in a professional services firm

Acted for a minority shareholder excluded from management. Settled by a buy-out at an independently valued price, together with agreed confidentiality terms.

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