Private Placement Memoranda: The Role that Lawyers Play

ign="center">investors to believe in your business ideas and for
There are numerous legal concerns in the creation ofyou to raise the capital. They won’t be able
a private placement memorandum (PPM) and it isto comment with expertise on your business
definitely recommended that a lawyer review thestrategy and your techniques as a salesperson and
document at some point. However, there are bothpresenter.
pros and cons to retaining a lawyer’sCon: Payment Up Front
services to draft the entire document in the firstFurthermore, lawyers will require payment for the
place.PPM at the time it is created, well before capital has
Pro: Deep Legal Expertisebeen raised. This payment can be anywhere from
Assuming you have chosen a lawyer well (remember,$50,000 to $200,000 or more and it can take six to
not all lawyers are perfect) you will get correcttwelve months to raise money from a private
advice on how to meet both federal and stateplacement. The cash paid out for a lawyer to draft
regulations, while reducing your business’sthe PPM may be sorely missed during this time.
legal liability in a private placement offering. TheCon: Need for Separate Brokerage Services
lawyer should be able to relate every aspect of theTo carefully and legally sell your shares to private
document to these needs, making sure that noinvestors and institutions, your company will have to
misleading words or disclosures are made which canraise funds itself or have to contract a licensed
increase the chance of fraud claims down the road.broker-dealer after the PPM is finished. By using a
Con: Business Expertisebroker whose firm can write the PPM as well (with
However, while the lawyer is busy crafting the PPMlegal review) you can save a great deal of money
to protect your legal interests, they are not tendingand ensure that the document is written by a
to the business requirements of the document. Theylong-term partner whose financial success is tied to
will not be able to say how likely it will be foryours.