Jeremiah Baba Pagano
Attorney

Jeremiah Baba Pagano, Esq. LLM

Attorney

Jeremiah Baba Pagano, Esq., LL.M., CEPA serves as an Attorney at Jacko Law Group, PC (“JLG”) where he supports the critical needs of our clients every day. His knowledge and experience, not only, enhances our ability to provide counsel that aligns with our clients’ transactional needs, but also their overall corporate objectives and strategy for long-term success. Mr. Pagano’s practice was founded on his tax experience, and his ability and foresight to align clients to position their businesses for growth.

As a solutions-led attorney, Mr. Pagano counsels JLG clients on their regulatory, corporate, and tax matters, including analyzing, evaluating, and ensuring compliance processes in the review of all tax and financial documents, analyzing tax consequences for mergers and acquisitions, drafting contracts and agreements, and more. His experience has built the foundation for his passion to strategically advocate for clients and their businesses, to position them to thrive.

Mr. Pagano brings a wealth of experience in investment adviser, broker-dealer, and fund regulatory compliance matters, internal control development, transition services, and operational risk management. His knowledge within the financial services industry allows him to address the needs of his clients, allowing them to mitigate risk and grow to their full potential. Mr. Pagano advises both firms and individuals on their legal and regulatory risks. Counseling his clients on how to mitigate risk while aligning their strategic business practices is a staple in his practice area. Mr. Pagano additionally interfaces with the various state and federal regulatory agencies on behalf of his clients, fiercely advocating for their professional interests. He is also a frequent commentator on securities regulation and investment-related matters.

When developing a Corporate Counsel practice, Mr. Pagano assesses the needs of the business as a genuine trusted partner. Throughout the years, he has provided counsel at various phases of a business, including formation, growth, and final transition and/or sale. Clients leverage his insight when finding methods to enhance their organizations and drafting of corporate documents, including complex shareholder agreements. While serving our clients, the JLG team collaborates with Mr. Pagano when devising plans and strategy – as he has a holistic approach to assessment, including risk mitigation, corporate restructuring, and management transitions.

Mr. Pagano’s clients have also relied on his counsel when navigating the intricacies of Mergers and/or Acquisitions (“M&A”). His continued experience in corporate law allows for strategic planning when it comes to the M&A process. From reviewing sensitive material like NDAs, term sheets, and purchase agreements, Mr. Pagano advocates for JLG’s clients and their best interests. Leveraging his business acumen, Mr. Pagano also assesses the impacts when it comes to his practices, providing ample counsel for transition considerations, such as employment and vendor arrangements. Over time, his ability to steer clients and create their custom timeframe and business strategy is one of many benefits and values he brings to the JLG team.

To complement Mr. Pagano’s M&A experience he also is a Certified Exit Planning Advisor (CEPA), which has proven to be invaluable to JLG clients as they grow their businesses and plan for the future. Understanding the strategy and path necessary for clients’ goals and long-term objectives, from inception, is one of his many talents within his legal practice. With this designation, he continuously advocates for clients' interests in a multitude of phases of their business, including formation, merger, acquisition, transition, and succession. As an exit planning adviser, he strives to effectively engage business owners and help them build more valuable companies, stronger personal financial plans, and align their personal goals. From formation to succession, he has been able to construct specific strategies for achieving 3, 5, and 10 years - and beyond, navigating significant changes when consolidating businesses with confidence and success.

Throughout his career, Mr. Pagano has focused his practice on tax law, managing matters with the Internal Revenue Service, the United States Tax Court, and the California tax authorities. Mr. Pagano uses his tax acumen to strategically plan and advise clients on the tax effects of a variety of corporate transactions, including taxable and tax-free reorganizations, mergers, sales, and acquisitions. He counsels clients on a variety of subjects, including tax-free reorganizations, tax-efficient return of capital to owners, Qualified Small Business Stock, and various state pass-through entity taxes. Mr. Pagano also drafts tax portions of Operating and Shareholder Agreements for businesses in different industries.

Mr. Pagano is also an industry thought leader, as he has been featured in a handful of publications, including Barron’s Advisor and the National Society of Compliance Professional’s (NSCP) Newsletter. By leveraging his knowledge and experience in tax and other service areas, he has been able to leave an impression on numerous industries, including finance and corporate securities.

Prior to joining JLG, Mr. Pagano served as an Attorney Advisor for the U.S. Small Business Administration, where he coordinated numerous efforts and community works, such as the $16 Billion Shuttered Venue Operators Grant (SVOG) emergency relief program. Similarly, Mr. Pagano has served as in-house counsel to a 501(c)(3) public charity. Before that, Mr. Pagano gained valuable experience with a number of firms and organizations, such as the University of San Diego Federal Tax Clinic, Eaker Pérez Law, and Higgs, Fletcher, & Mack LLP. Prior to law school, Mr. Pagano followed his entrepreneurial spirit, founding and running his own business in the telecommunications industry. This specific background allows Mr. Pagano to connect with his clients on a deeper level than many other legal professionals. Ultimately, his professional background helped develop his legal acumen, nimble approach to service, and determination, further attesting to his talent and how strong of an asset he is to the JLG team.

In his free time, Mr. Pagano prefers to use his talents to give back to the community. Currently, he volunteers as a Helpline Volunteer with Savvy Ladies, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that brings financial planning education to women. The goal of Savvy Ladies is to ensure that women have a trusted and reliable resource to get educated about their financial lives and encourage women to build and preserve economic security. The intended outcome is to decrease the number of women who fall prey to financial abuse and exploitation and increase the number of women who understand the importance of educating themselves.

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Practices :
Tax LawDrafting & Execution of Contracts & AgreementsBusiness FormationCorporate & Securities Law
Seven Questions to Answer for Proper Exit Planning
Blog Breakaway & Transition Succession Planning Counsel Transition & Breakaway Services
April 27, 2023

As a business owner there are seven key questions you must consider before you sell or transition your business. The overall goal of these questions is to uncover what is important to you in your long-term succession or exit plan. Engaging experienced counsel to work with your exit planning professionals can ensure that you have the opportunity to address these seven paramount questions.

These questions are:

 

1. Who are the people that matter most to you?

Every business owner has people in their lives that matter to them. Whether it is family, friends, or employees, a business owner as they begin planning to sell or transition their business should take care to consider the impact and how to provide for the people that matter most.

 

2. What activities do you want to do?

As you begin to plan to sell or transition your business and formalize your exit strategy it is important to look at what you want your life to look like in the future. Without the long hours of running your business what activities do you want to fill your day? And how do these activities impact your exit strategy’s financial planning? Depending on the financial resources your post-sale lifestyle may need you may have a new benchmark for how much you need to sell your business for or how aggressively you need to.

 

3.What do you want your legacy to be?

As a business owner your leadership and decisions have created an identity for the business. Upon your exit you will want to consider what is the lasting legacy you will leave. Whether your legacy is continued on with your children taking control of the enterprise, you choose to transition your business to the key employees, or you sell to an unrelated 3rd party, how you leave your business can seal your legacy just as much as the years you spent building the business.

 

4. What are your main concerns?

As you plan your exit strategy it is important to work with legal counsel to identify and create a series of steps to take to address those concerns and mitigate risk and liability upon your exit from the business.

 

5. What is the one thing that keeps you up at night?

Again, knowing what keeps you up at night will help guide you to your major concerns and what elements of your life are most important to you. Once you have an in-depth understanding of the items that are most important to you, you can work with your legal counsel and exit planning professionals to ensure that your exit strategy adequately addresses these areas.

 

6. How do you plan to achieve your life’s vision?

Business owners often do not have an answer. The mere fact that you may first respond to this question with “Hmm, that is a good question, I don’t know” only highlights the need for you to engage exit planning professionals, including legal counsel. A business owner’s largest asset is likely their business and thus knowing how to maximize its value upon your exit will be key to ensuring that you can achieve your life’s vision.

 

7. What is my wealth gap?

The Wealth Gap is all about expectations versus reality. At its core, the wealth gap is the gap between your current net worth and the hypothetical net worth you will need to provide for yourself, your family, and your charitable intentions. The only way to reduce your wealth gap is to maximize the value of your business with a well-planned exit strategy.

 

The legal team here at Jacko Law Group, PC (“JLG”) is experienced in advising business owners through the sale and transition of their businesses. Further, JLG with their Certified Exit Planning Advisor, is able to provide support and coordination among all your professionals to ensure that you have a complete Exit Plan that seeks to maximize the value of your business upon its sale or transition and provide for the financial needs of you and your family.

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