Edward S. “Doc” Merrill’s practice emphasizes corporate and real estate matters. In his career Doc has acquired and sold every conceivable type of real property. He is also experienced with work-out transactions from both the debtor and creditor sides and is comfortable with complex structuring requirements arising from the finance, contractual, tax (including California property tax) or accounting aspects of a particular transaction. Doc focuses on non-corporate entities such as partnerships, limited liability companies, limited partnerships, limited liability partnerships and business trusts. He has negotiated and formed project-specific ventures, primarily as limited liability companies, for the development and construction of dozens of projects, including housing and mixed-use projects involving two or three major builders. Many of these projects have public/private components.

Doc has also structured and formed many development ventures between builders and financial institutions. He has planned entity structures for a number of companies, including one of the largest private developers in the United States, to maximize organization efficiency while achieving risk minimization, maximizing tax advantages, retaining appropriate accounting treatment, providing executive incentives and achieving other focused goals. He is involved with the restructuring of some of the largest real estate development projects in California.

Doc has worked on a number of strategic alliances in the real estate and technology arenas. He has experience negotiating construction contracting and managing mid-course corrections, primarily for major hospital projects. Doc has participated on state and national panels on structuring partnership agreements and limited liability company operating agreements. In addition, he co-chaired an ABA working group that developed a model Registered Limited Liability Partnership Statute based upon the Revised Uniform Partnership Act.