Corporate lawyers are really business lawyers that provide a broad range of legal services for startups and entrepreneurs.
Sometimes you hear the term, "corporate lawyer". What that really means is, "business lawyer". They can provide startup counseling, angel and venture capital financing, mergers and acquisitions, sell companies, form companies, review contracts, draft contracts and much more.
This is as opposed to a litigator. Litigators go to court. You're used to seeing them on TV. A corporate lawyer can go their entire career without going to court. Some corporate law attorneys do litigation but for the most part there's a distinction between a Corporate/business lawyer vs a litigator.
Brett A. Cenkus has 20+ years of experience in business law, finance, and entrepreneurship. Through Cenkus Law, PC, he provides advice and services for mergers & acquisitions (M&A), securities offerings, founders’ agreements, and other general business law issues.
Through Braaten Woods, LLC, Brett helps business owners in the lower middle market ($2MM - $25MM) position themselves for sale, find buyers, negotiate, and close M&A deals.
Brett also maintains merger-resources.com, a site packed with free articles, videos, checklists, deal diagrams, template contracts, and other tools to help pass M&A knowledge to others.
Brett regularly consults with entrepreneurs and invests his own capital as an angel investor.
From 2010-2013, Brett served as Chief Legal Counsel of a publicly-traded international oilfield services company. From 2001 to 2006, he and a partner founded and built Paragon Residential Mortgage. Bridge Investments acquired Paragon in 2006.
Brett holds a Juris Doctorate from Harvard Law School and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from Messiah College in Grantham, Pennsylvania.
Brett lives in Austin with his wife, Cathryn, and his daughter, Elle. He enjoys reading, squash, classic movies, great food and wine, and the New England Patriots.
