Laura L. Weselmann
(253) 284-4416
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Practice: Laura is one of five partners and a founding member of Harlowe & Falk LLP. Her work with clients focuses on business transactions, taxation and employment law, including review, advice, recommendations and drafting regarding the following, which is not an exclusive list:

Entity choice for business and real property owners:
        Corporations (C or S corporation for federal tax purposes), including reviewing and
           drafting shareholder agreements (also called buy sell agreements)
        Nonprofit corporations, including assisting with federal tax exempt applications (e.g., IRS
           Form 1023 related to IRC 501(c)(3))
        Limited liability companies (disregarded entity, partnership or corporation for federal tax  
           purposes), including reviewing and drafting operating agreements (also called limited liability
           company agreements or member agreements)
        Partnerships and limited liability partnerships, including reviewing and drafting partnerships
           agreements.
        Professional service entities, including professional limited liability companies and
           professional service corporations
        Entity formation, documentation and maintenance
        Entity dissolution

Business operations:
        Routine business contracts, including employment, contractor, vendor and licensing
           agreements
        Restrictive covenant agreements (e.g., noncompetition, nonsolicitation, nondisparagement 
           and/or confidentiality agreements)
        Employee termination/separation, including drafting employee separation and release
           agreements
        Deferred compensation arrangements, including review for compliance with Internal Revenue
           Code ("IRC") requirements
        Day-to-day general employer-side employment law advice as situations arise
        Employee handbooks, guides and policies based on each client's specific needs
        Protection of intellectual property rights, including state trade secrets, trade names and and
           trademarks, and federal trademarks and copyrights
        State and local licensing
        Business succession planning

State and federal tax assistance:  
        Tax implications associated with entity structure and transactions, whether big or small or
           small and whether related to state sales/use tax, business and occupation (B&O) tax or
           real estate excise tax, or federal tax

Mergers and acquisitions assistance: 
        Stock (unit/securities) and asset purchase and sale transactions
        Tax structuring of, and risk allocation related to, purchase and sale transactions
        Real and personal property transfers related to the transactions

Other commercial transactions:
        Commercial real estate transfers, leases and joint-tenancy relationships along with setup of
           homeowners' associations
        Borrowing relationships, including promissory notes, security agreements, UCC filings and
           deed of trust recording along with lender-required opinion letters (and the review of loan      
           documentation related thereto)

For clarity, whenever state law referenced above, Laura is licensed only in Washington State, so her
advice and counsel relate only to Washington State law and requirements.

Education: Laura received her B.A. in Economics from the University of Iowa; her J.D. from the University of Iowa College of Law; and her L.L.M. in Taxation from the University of Washington College of Law. During law school at the University of Iowa, Laura was the Senior Symposium Editor for the Journal of Gender, Race & Justice.

Affiliations, Publications and Honors: Laura is a Member of the Tacoma-Pierce County Bar Association and the Washington State Bar Association, participating in the Business, Tax and Employment Law Sections of the Washington State Bar Association. She is a member of the Washington Women Lawyers, actively involved in the Pierce County Chapter of Washington Women Lawyers, including serving several years as Secretary of the Chapter. Laura has been an active member of the Board and finance committee of the Safe Streets Campaign, a local nonprofit organization whose mission is to empower individuals, families, youth, neighborhoods and organizations to create safe neighborhoods. Washington Law & Politics has designated Laura as a "Rising Star", and she was named one of the Business Examiner's 40 Under Forty in 2007, which recognizes outstanding South Sound business and community leaders under the age of 40. Laura co-authored "Transcending Traditional Notions of Mothering: The Need for Critical Race Feminist Praxis" with Adrien Katherine Wing, which was published in the University of Iowa College of Law Journal of Gender, Race & Justice.