Grellas Shah

Specialties

We are Silicon Valley business and corporate attorneys with a specialty in early-​stage tech startups.

Our roots lie with small businesses and we welcome them as clients.

Our three major practice areas consist of startup business law, small business law, and commercial litigation.

We help form companies — fund them — sell or merge or acquire them — sell their assets — do their corporate work, employment work, contracts, leases, and standard terms — licensing, trademark, and IP work (not patent filings) — founder and equity incentive structures — commercial deals of all types. We also do litigation: business — corporate — contract — fraud — trade secret — unfair competition — employment — business break-​ups (including corporate and partnership dissolution actions) — commercial litigation generally.

Our clients consists of startup entrepreneurs, small business owners, and individuals (executives, shareholders, partners, consultants, etc.) who have commercial dealings with businesses.

History

Established in 1984.

Since 1984, we have helped small to mid-​sized businesses, startups, entrepreneurs, and executives — several thousand in all.

See our website at www​.grel​las​.com for a sample list of current and former clients.

Our startup business law practice occupies a unique niche in Silicon Valley. For over two decades, our law firm has represented early-​stage startup business clients that sought to bypass the one-​size-​fits-​all representation of the large law firms. Our focus has always been on founders, not VCs, and we have long been the law firm of choice for founders in the Valley. We respect VCs but we do not represent them or hold interests in them that can potentially conflict with those of our client companies.

We began operations at Greylands Business Park (now eBay Park) in central San Jose but have been in Cupertino since 2003. We serve clients located throughout Silicon Valley, the Bay Area, and all of California, as well as international clients seeking to do business in the Valley.

Meet the Business Owner

George G.

Business Owner

I am legal counsel, strategic adviser, and head of boutique firm specializing in Silicon Valley startups, focusing primarily on independent-​minded entrepreneurs with early-​stage startup companies.

I handle startup matters from company formation to exit: founder deals, equity incentives, ISOs, NQOs, restricted stock, IP protection, technology licensing/​distribution, strategic alliances, OEM deals, seed, bridge and preferred stock funding, employment matters, trade secret issues, and M&A.

I have been working with startups and small businesses almost exclusively for over two decades and have represented many successful companies, entrepreneurs, and executives within the startup field.

Education: U.C. Santa Cruz, B.A. (highest honors), 1974; Santa Clara Univ. School of Law, J.D. (magna cum laude), 1978

Work history: Founder and managing partner, Grellas & Associates, 1984-​present; Associate Attorney, Bingham McCutchen, 1980 – 84; Federal clerkship, U.S. Dist. Ct. (N.D. Cal.), 1979.