California Business and Tax Attorney
A boutique business and tax law firm in Los Angeles, providing integrated counsel across contracts, entity, M&A, tax, and trademark to founders, creators, family-owned enterprises, and high earners.
Get Started →What the California-specific framework actually means.
For California-resident operators, the legal infrastructure differs from the rest of the country in ways that matter. The home jurisdiction restricts non-competes to a narrow set of permitted situations, so employment and contractor restrictive covenants drafted under California law take a different shape than the same provisions in Florida or Texas. The community-property regime characterizes most income and assets earned during marriage as belonging equally to both spouses, which means business interests, equity, and intellectual property need a marital agreement to keep them on the separate-property side.
AB5 and the ABC test narrow the line between independent contractor and employee well below where federal law draws it. The Automatic Renewal Law produces statutory class-action exposure for subscription operators. Prop 13 and Prop 19 produce a base-year property-tax framework with specific exclusions for family transfers. The right of publicity survives the creator after death and remains enforceable for decades. These are California questions, and the answers control the outcome of substantive matters. The firm’s California-specific work runs through these frameworks directly.
Where the firm runs the California work.
LLC Formation & Operating Agreements
California LLCs filed under the home jurisdiction’s framework, with operating agreements that override the unfavorable statutory defaults, address spousal consent under community-property characterization, and hold up to acquirer diligence on a future sale.
Tax Strategy
California tax counsel for residents and businesses with California nexus. Multi-state residency planning, the Pass-Through Entity Tax election, the 1.5 percent franchise tax on S-corporations, and sales-tax nexus under the post-Wayfair rules.
Business Contracts
Contracts drafted under California governing law, calibrated to California’s distinctive non-compete framework, the consumer-protection statutes that govern California-resident counterparties, and the choice-of-law clauses that support enforcement in California courts.
Mergers & Acquisitions
California-resident sellers and buyers on transactions where the structural conversation includes AB5 contractor exposure, the home-jurisdiction non-compete framework, the sale-of-business covenant exception, and the California sales-tax and employment-tax overlay.
Prenuptial & Postnuptial Agreements
California marital agreements calibrated to the seven-day rule, the Pereira/Van Camp characterization framework for separate-property businesses, the heightened-duty regime for postnups, and the enforceability framework specific to California courts.
Trademark
Federal trademark applications through the USPTO under the Lanham Act, with the California-resident client’s brand strategy informed by California’s right-of-publicity framework, the trade-dress jurisprudence, and the home-state enforcement posture.
Startup Founder Counsel
California-based founders past the idea stage, with the LLC-to-Delaware-C-corporation conversion analysis, the controlling state-law carve-outs that govern employee invention assignment, and the California-specific qualified-small-business-stock posture.
Creator & Influencer Counsel
California-resident creators whose brand IP is subject to California’s right-of-publicity framework, whose contractor relationships fall under AB5, and whose California residency interacts with the multi-state apportionment of brand-deal income.
Where California law travels with the contract for clients anywhere.
Most operating contracts the firm drafts can be governed by California law regardless of where the client is located. California has a developed body of contract case law, a predictable enforcement environment, and a non-compete framework that tends to favor employees and contractors against overreaching restrictive covenants, which means out-of-state clients sometimes specifically choose California governing law for their employment and contractor agreements. The firm advises on whether California governing law is the right choice for the specific contract or whether a different state’s law fits better.
For federal work (USPTO trademark filings, IRS S-corporation elections, federal tax strategy memoranda, federal nonprofit recognition, the federal-tax side of M&A), the firm represents clients regardless of state of residence. The work is federal; the client’s state of residence is incidental.
Delina Yasmeh, Esq. is admitted to the State Bar of California (Bar No. 335680). The firm is based in Los Angeles, with most engagements run remotely and in-person meetings available in the Los Angeles, Orange County, and San Diego metros where the matter benefits from them. See Fees.
This page is general guidance, not legal advice on any specific matter. Reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Attorney-client relationships are formed only on a signed engagement agreement.
Send what’s in front of you.
The contract on the desk, the entity decision pending, the deal in motion, the trademark to file. The firm responds within one business day with a written proposal and a preliminary read. The first email is at no charge.
Get Started →