Joel C. Farrar

Joel Farrar serves as outside general counsel for most clients. He is a business-focused attorney and consultant with particular specialties in negotiations, mergers and acquisitions (M&A), succession planning, financing and securities transactions, start-up law, and executive compensation planning. He is a shareholder with Foster Swift, where he has served as Secretary and Vice President, member of the firm's Executive Committee, and leader of its Business and Tax Practice Group.

In every engagement, Joel seeks to deeply understand his client's business and objectives and design solutions that drive growth. He regularly assists businesses with corporate governance, contract negotiation, dispute resolution, regulatory compliance, tax and succession planning, and solving other problems. Joel has helped many clients buy and sell businesses including preparing businesses to sell at top dollar, securing letters of intent, performing due diligence, negotiating transaction documents, closing the deal, and addressing post-closing integration.

Joel particularly enjoys helping entrepreneurs with start-up businesses and fundraising. He assists start-ups with formation and planning; raising capital through private placements of securities; growing talent including through creative uses of stock options, and other incentive programs; developing and commercializing products; establishing relationships with vendors, customers, and strategic partners; managing governance and investor relations; and navigating the many other opportunities and challenges before them.

Through his work with executive teams, Joel has also developed particular expertise in the area of executive compensation and nonqualified deferred compensation plans. Joel helps clients design competitive compensation programs that align leaders' incentives with the company’s and its owners' goals, including stock option plans, restricted stock plans, phantom stock plans, stock appreciation rights (SAR) plans, elective deferral and excess benefit plans, split dollar life insurance, retiree medical plans, and bonus programs.

Joel received his juris doctorate from Michigan State University College of Law summa cum laude and is a member of the State Bar of Michigan, the Ingham County Bar Association, and the American Bar Association.

• Business Planning and Operation: Business entity selection and formation, closely-held and family businesses, corporate governance, owner disputes, executive compensation, employment law, regulatory compliance, E-commerce, commercial transactions, information technology, international business transactions, joint ventures, business and succession planning, dissolution and winding up.
• Securities, Corporate Governance, Private and Public Finance: Private equity and venture capital transactions, securities reporting and compliance, debt and bond financing, investment adviser and broker-dealer regulation, tax credit financing, and government incentives, public-private partnerships.
• Mergers & Acquisitions: Mergers, stock transactions, asset purchases, joint ventures, tender offers, proxy contests and divisional transactions, employee benefits in mergers, acquisitions and divestitures.
• Employee Benefits: Executive compensation planning and agreements, for-profit and non-profit executive deferred compensation arrangements and plan funding, qualified benefit plan and trust design and administration, welfare benefit arrangements, fiduciary and regulatory compliance and reporting, IRS and DOL audits and appeals, plan mergers, spin-offs and transfers, plan termination.
• Tax and Succession Planning: Succession planning, domestic and international corporate tax, partnership/LLC tax, tax exempt and charitable organizations, state and local tax, tax credit financing and transactions, tax examinations, estate and gift tax and planning, lifetime gifting, wills, trusts and family LLCs.

Legal Affiliations:

• State Bar of Michigan
• Ingham County Bar Association

Industry & Professional Associations:

• Entrepreneur Institute of Mid-Michigan, Board of Directors
• Volunteer of the Year, 2015

Community Involvement:

• Mid-Michigan Travel Coalition (2018-present)
• The Arts Council of Greater Lansing, Board of Directors (2010-2012)