Business & Personal Counsel
I've sat on your side of the table.
Thirty years of business law, and decades of them running the companies rather than advising them from outside. I'm Chris Mastrangelo. I help business owners make the decisions they won't have to unwind later, and I help people with their personal legal matters too.
Admitted in Massachusetts and Virginia.
What the operator years actually covered
- 30+Years practicing law
- 350+Employees managed
- $130M+Annual revenue overseen
- 20+States operated in
- 5+Countries operated in
Figures describe roles held as an operating executive, not results obtained for clients.
Why it matters
I have been the client I am now advising
I spent years in private practice at McDermott Will & Schulte LLP before leaving to co-found an e-commerce retailer. In the beginning I performed every role the company needed: general counsel, human resources, clothing buyer, customer service, and at times the person who cleaned the office. It grew to over $130 million in annual revenue and more than $1 billion in total sales across decades.
After that I spent several years as General Counsel and Director of Real Estate for a multi-state self-care company, then moved to Miami and started a real estate title company that I grew and sold to Real REMAX Group, Inc. I ran that business as its CEO until early 2025. I am now back at my law firm practicing full-time.
That history is the reason I can tell you which half of your problem is a legal question and which half is a business decision. It's also why I will sometimes tell you that a piece of work is not worth paying me for.
Practice areas
Where the work usually starts
Some of this work has a page of its own. The rest is set out in full on the practice-area page, because it is real work and not a footnote.
Business is the focus, and personal matters are welcome too: an estate matter, a house purchase, or a general attorney to call first.
Business formation & corporate maintenance
The paperwork that decides who owns what, who decides what, and what happens when one of you wants out.
Contracts & employment matters
The agreements the business signs once it exists, and the terms on which it hires the first people who are not founders.
Debt & equity financing
Notes, SAFEs, priced rounds and credit facilities, and the cap table that has to still reconcile after every one of them.
Buying & selling a business
The transaction that reads every decision the company has made since formation, and prices the ones nobody wrote down.
He's told me, more than once, not to pay him for something I could handle myself. That's the part people miss.
First conversation
Tell me what you are trying to get done
The first conversation is free and takes as long as it takes — an hour if that's what you need. If I'm not the right person for it, I'll tell you who is.