Business & Hospitality Law for People Building Something in New York
Every business in this city started with someone deciding to risk it. A first lease signed with a held breath. A first employee. A first contract read at midnight with a dictionary of terms nobody teaches you.
Danny Grace PLLC exists for the people making that decision — especially, though not only, the immigrant founders who are building a company and learning a legal system at the same time. Our founder did exactly that: arrived from Ireland, learned the rules from the outside, and built this firm in the same city where our clients build theirs.
We translate New York business law into decisions you can make with confidence, because someone translated for us once, too.
What We Handle
- Formation and structure. LLC, corporation, partnership, or professional entity — chosen for your actual situation: taxes, investors, licenses, visas, and what you're building toward. Filed correctly, with the operating agreement or bylaws that most online formations skip and most disputes trace back to.
- Founder and partner agreements. Who owns what, who decides what, what happens when someone leaves, dies, or wants out. The unglamorous conversation at the start that prevents the expensive one later. If you have a co-founder and a handshake, this is your most urgent page.
- Contracts. Customer agreements, vendor terms, service agreements, NDAs, commission structures — drafted and negotiated in plain language wherever the law allows, because a contract your team can't understand is a contract your team can't follow.
- Buying and selling a business. Due diligence, purchase agreements, and closings for small-business acquisitions — including licensed businesses, where the liquor license transfer and the lease assignment are half the deal.
- The full hospitality stack. Restaurants and bars are our signature industry: entity, commercial lease, liquor license, employment compliance, and the visa questions that come with an international kitchen. One firm, one file, one strategy — the cross-stack counsel no single-practice firm can offer.
- Ongoing counsel. The call-us-first relationship: the lease renewal, the difficult termination, the contract that looks wrong, the letter that arrived today. Small businesses don't need a legal department; they need a number that answers.
- When disputes come. Demand letters, negotiation, and — when it's warranted — litigation with a team that knows the New York courts from the inside.
Built for the Immigrant Founder
Here is the situation we understand better than almost any firm in this city: you are building an American business while navigating an American visa, signing an American lease, and hiring under American employment law — and every one of those systems assumes you grew up here.
Our practice was designed for exactly this. The entity choice that supports rather than complicates your immigration posture. The ownership structure that works if a co-founder is abroad. The compliance setup that protects a founder who can't afford a legal misstep on the record.
We know both sides — of the border, of the table, of the system — because our founder has personally stood on all of them.
Our Business & Hospitality Services
Counsel That Built Something Too
- A founder advising founders. Danny Grace didn't inherit a practice — he built one. Limerick-born, University of Limerick School of Law, admitted to the New York bar in 2011, he founded Danny Grace PLLC in 2012 as an immigrant entrepreneur in the most demanding market in the country. Every piece of advice on this page comes from someone who has signed his own lease, made his own first hire, and met his own payroll. Selected to Super Lawyers each year, 2022 through 2026.
- Dispute-tested drafting. Managing Attorney Douglas Mace spent eight years inside Kings County Civil Court as a law clerk, watching business relationships end up in front of judges — almost always because of what a contract didn't say. Our agreements are drafted by people who have seen exactly how they get attacked.
- The connected practice. Business law here doesn't stop at the entity. Immigration, real estate, employment, licensing, and estates under one roof at 225 Broadway — because your business doesn't experience its legal problems one practice area at a time.
What Founders Actually Get
A Founder Advising Founders
This firm was built by an immigrant entrepreneur in a genuinely demanding market.
The Documents Filings Skip
The operating agreement and tax analysis that determine whether an entity protects you.
Dispute-Tested Drafting
Agreements written by people who have seen exactly how they get attacked.
Structure That Fits the Rest
An entity choice that supports rather than complicates your license, your lease, and your own visa.
A Number That Answers
Small businesses don't need a legal department; they need counsel that picks up the phone.
Why New York Founders Build With Us
Built for the Immigrant Founder
Learning a legal system and building a company at the same time is our origin story.
Practical, Not Theoretical
Advice from an attorney who has met a payroll and signed a lease, not only read about them.
The Hospitality Stack
Entity, lease, liquor license, employment, and visas as one file rather than five referrals.
Ready If It Turns
Demand letters, negotiation, and litigation from a team that knows the New York courts inside out.
A New York business practice built by a founder, for founders.
At Danny Grace PLLC, every piece of advice comes from someone who has signed his own lease, made his own first hire, and met his own payroll. We handle formation, agreements, and the call-us-first questions with the practicality that only comes from having been there.
Our Mission
To advise every business with the same diligence we would give our own venture.
Our Standard
Documents that do their job, plain language, and counsel that answers the phone.
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Helping New York Founders Build and Protect Companies on Solid Legal Ground
Plain-English Map
Bring the idea, the lease, or the handshake deal. We'll map it out.
Before, Not After
The unglamorous conversation now prevents the expensive one later.
One Connected Firm
Immigration, real estate, employment, and licensing advised alongside the company itself.
Frequently Asked Questions
LLC or corporation — which should I choose?
For most small New York businesses, an LLC offers flexibility and simpler taxes; corporations fit companies raising investment or issuing stock options. Visa strategy, licensing, and partners can change the answer — which is why it's a conversation, not a checkbox.
Can I form my company myself online?
You can file the paperwork online. What the filing services don't provide is the operating agreement, the tax election analysis, and the structure that fits your license or visa — the parts that determine whether the entity actually protects you.
I'm not a U.S. citizen. Can I own a business in New York?
Generally yes — ownership is open to foreign nationals. Working in your own business is where immigration law enters, and structuring around that question early is one of our core specialties.
My co-founder and I are 50/50 with nothing in writing. How bad is that?
It's the single most common — and most dangerous — small-business arrangement we see. A deadlock with no written tiebreaker can paralyze a company. Fixing it now is a document; fixing it later is a lawsuit.
What should be in place before I hire my first employee?
Payroll registration, wage notices, workers' comp and disability coverage, an offer letter, and a basic policy set — New York is exacting about employment paperwork from employee number one. Our employment practice sets this up as a package.
Do you handle trademark or IP?
We handle the contract side — licensing, work-for-hire, confidentiality — and coordinate with specialist IP counsel for registrations when needed. We'd rather connect you to the right expert than dabble.
What does buying an existing business involve?
Due diligence on finances, contracts, and liabilities; a purchase agreement allocating risk; landlord consent on the lease; and — for licensed businesses — the license transfer, which has its own government timeline. Budget for the process, not just the price.
How do I take on an investor without losing my company?
Through documents that define exactly what the money buys: equity terms, decision rights, information rights, exit expectations. Never take investment on a handshake, even — especially — from family.
What does ongoing counsel cost?
Formations and standard contracts are typically flat-fee, quoted up front. Ongoing advice is hourly or by arrangement. You'll always know the structure before we start; founders have enough uncertainty.
When should a business call a lawyer?
Ideally, before signing anything you'd mind being held to. The pattern across every dispute Mr. Mace watched from inside the courthouse: the cheap moment to get advice was earlier.
How Can We Help?
