If your company has done well and is ready to go public, then it is vitally important that you hire an IPO attorney. An IPO attorney is useful for many reasons, but first and foremost, an IPO attorney can help you manage your private placement offerings in a way that will not get you into trouble with the SEC. Last year alone, 80 people were brought up on charges for insider trading and the SEC enforcement branch collected $4.1 billion dollars in fines.
The good news is, IPOs are growing as well, and a good IPO attorney can help you with the following aspects of the process:
1. A corporate lawyer with IPO experience can help you find the right investment bank. This is an important part of the process because the investment bank will act as the intermediary between your company and its stock. It’s the middle man in a game of telephone, and a lawyer who knows the ins and outs of corporate law will make sure that whatever bank you choose, no messages or money gets garbled on the line.
2. SEC registration and the cooling off time. Once you and the right bank come to an arrangement, a good corporate lawyer will walk you through the registration process with the SEC and make sure all of your paperwork is in compliance so that you can avoid the above-mentioned legal trouble.
3.Writing the red herring. An IPO attorney can also help you write that all-important debut document that announces the condition of your company to the world and helps create buzz for your impending offering. This document needs to contain detailed financial information about your enterprise and basically everything except the date of offering and the price, which is still to be determined. A good red herring can go a long way in a successful IPO, so make sure you hire a lawyer who knows what they’re doing!
4. Negotiating the price. Once the SEC gives you the go-ahead, you need to sit back down with the investment bank and hammer out a price. This is usually a hard nosed negotiation involving multiple factors including the market price, your company’s prospects, and your anticipated demographic, so if negotiations are your weak point, find an IPO lawyer who can fill this skill gap for you.
5. Selling the securities. This part may seem obvious but a good lawyer, preferably one with some experience in a securities law firm, will stick with you throughout the selling process and make sure everything goes as smoothly as possible.
You’re successful. More than that, you’re on the cusp of a certain kind of success only very few people get to see in their lifetime. Don’t let hubris be your downfall. Hire an IPO lawyer today.