Business, Corporate & International Law Blog

New York PLLC (Professional LLC): A Complete Guide

A PLLC (professional limited liability company) is a type of new entity formed to practice a licensed profession. Regular limited liability companies (LLCs) and corporations can’t do this in New York. Creating a New York PLLC is an excellent choice for your practice. It has the best parts of an LLC, but with fewer restrictions than the other typical choice, which is to form a professional corporation (PC).

Starting a PLLC is a complex process. It can take several months, even if you make no mistakes. We’ve set up hundreds of PLLCs for New York professionals, and prepared this guide, hoping it will be helpful to you.
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How to Start a Nonprofit Organization in New York

So you want to start a nonprofit in New York? Here is a step-by-step guide to forming a New York nonprofit organization

Welcome to our guide to starting a New York nonprofit organization. The purpose of this blog post is to provide a general overview about how to start a nonprofit organization under New York and federal (United States) law. There are many different types of nonprofit that you can form. These include 501(c)(3) charitable, educational or religious organizations, 501(c)(4) community welfare organizations, 501(c)(6) chambers of commerce, 501(c)(7) social clubs, 501(c)(10) lodge system fraternities and sororities and 527 political action committees, amongst others. If you are interested specifically in forming a New York 501(c)(3), it may be helpful please see our comprehensive guide to starting a New York 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, which also includes free forms prepared by our firm for you to do so.
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501(c)(3) Nonprofit Types: Public Charity & Private Foundation Classification

501(c)(3)s are not all the same - what's your nonprofit's foundation classification

While most starting out in the nonprofit community are aware what 501(c)(3) means, many are unaware that there are different classifications, or types, of 501(c)(3) nonprofits. Specifically, there are two main 501(c)(3) nonprofit types: public charity or private foundation, each of which with their own subclassifications. In practice, the classification and subclassification of a 501(c)(3) is known as its “foundation status.”

Determining the foundation status of an organization is important because the type of a 501(c)(3) nonprofit dictates what a nonprofit can do, cannot do and must do. In general, being classified as a private foundation is less tax advantageous than being classified as a public charity. The purpose of this blog post is to provide an overview of the different foundation statuses available to a nonprofit.
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Nonprofit, NGO & 501(c)(3) – What’s the Difference?

Nonprofit, NGO & 501(c)(3) - What is the Difference?

“Nonprofit” or “Nonprofit Organization (NPO),” “Non-Governmental-Organization (NGO)” and 501(c)(3) are terms often used, in the United States, informally to describe the same thing: an organization exempt from taxation under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code (i.e. “501(c)(3)” organization). However, each of these terms actually has a different and specific meaning. In short, an “NGO” is a subset of a nonprofit, not every nonprofit or NGO is a 501(c)(3), and all 501(c)(3)s are nonprofits.
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How Many Directors are Needed on a 501(c)(3) Nonprofit Board?

We are often asked how many directors a nonprofit needs. The answer really depends on a variety of factors including where the nonprofit was incorporated, whether the nonprofit is a 501(c)(3) or other 501(c) organization, what kind of 501(c)(3) the nonprofit will be, and the identities of the directors. This blog post will answer many of the frequently asked questions about the composition of nonprofit and 501(c)(3) boards of directors.
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How to Start a New York 501(c)(3) Nonprofit NGO

Here is our comprehensive guide to starting a 501(c)(3) nonprofit NGO in New York. The path to 501(c)(3) can be overwhelming, involving review at both the federal (U.S.) and state levels. We hope this guide will be of help to you in navigating the complexities involved in the state process — incorporating a nonprofit NGO under New York law — and the federal process — being recognized as exempt from federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code (the U.S. tax law).
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Understanding the Most Favored Nation Clause

Your Most Favored Nation can Help or Hurt You. Learn about Most Favored Nation (MFN) clauses and how to use one for your business.

The “Most Favored Nation” or “MFN” clause, in business parlance, most often refers to a risk mitigating technique whereby a contracting party is guaranteed to get the best deal available, now and in the future. What it means is “we’ll enter into this deal now, but if I give a better deal to someone else, you’ll get the same deal.” Today’s post will discuss the application and crafting of a “Most Favored Nation” clause.
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How to Form a New York LLC

New York LLC? Here is how you can Create One. We've put together a NY LLC formation guide, complete with free forms, for the DIYer.

Creating a New York Limited Liability Company (LLC) can be a challenge. This post explains step by step how to form an LLC under New York law. It is meant to assist those who want to form a New York LLC without a lawyer, accountant or online document preparation company, and provides the basic legal forms to do so.

While getting the appropriate legal support from a lawyer is always recommended, having a lawyer, accountant or online company help you form a NY LLC is not always necessary. Online companies essentially charge a few hundred dollars to help you fill out a form with your own input, plus a few hundred more for filing fees. Lawyers charge somewhat more, but are able to give legal advice and craft your New York LLC documents to your specific needs. However, cash is often tight for an entrepreneur embarking on a new enterprise, and some choose to go with an online company to save on cost. We understand and want to provide you the basic tools to form a NY LLC as cheaply as possible — by doing it yourself!
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Strengthening Copyright: Registration & Notice

Like Many Things in America, Copyright Protection can be Supersized. Learn how to upgrade U.S. copyright protection through copyright notices and registration.

The last post, “How do I get Copyright Protection?,” gave an overview of what is copyright, what can be copyrighted, and how you can obtain copyright protection in the United States and internationally. Most significantly, we discussed how you get copyright protection automatically for copyrightable stuff, and that copyright registration and copyright notices (e.g., using the © symbol) are not necessary to obtain copyright protection, but do confer benefits.

Today, as promised, we will discuss copyright notices and registration further. Specifically, this post will explain

  1. Why copyright notices and registrations are not necessary,
  2. What the benefits of using a copyright notice are,
  3. How to use a copyright notice,
  4. What the benefits copyright registration are, and
  5. How to perform copyright registration.
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