COCO SOODEK is an American lawyer, business advisor, speaker, writer and entrepreneur. She is the author of the best-selling bible on business law for entrepreneurs, Birth to Buyout: Law for the Life Cycle of Your Business. Coco is an evangelist for small business, providing a unique set of services to support small business owners and entrepreneurs.
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BUSINESS LAWYER
Coco is a corporate lawyer with 26 years’ experience, creating companies and doing deals. She helps business people around the world identify risk and adopt strategies to manage it, negotiate and close deals, and manage all aspects of their businesses. Coco is oddly passionate about writing contracts that clearly map the business deal and reduce exposure to liability. She works in a wide range of industries including art, digital media, events, entertainment, advertising, healthcare, e-commerce, manufacturing, trucking, warehousing, renewable energy, hotel development, consumer products, apparel, restaurants, firearms and retail.
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Coco has also invented a legal specialty called “Business Marriage Counseling,” in which she works with business owners to create – or repair – their relationships, or, if necessary, to gently break their business apart.
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Coco is deeply committed to her life as a business lawyer. She founded Seasongood Law, Inc., to provide first class business law and legal counseling at an affordable price. Coco is passionate about helping her clients manage risk and make money. Before she founded Seasongood Law, Inc., Coco spent 18 years in Big Law, including as a partner at Bryan Cave LLP.
BUSINESS ADVISOR
Coco founded and leads Profit and Laws, Inc., a business advisory firm that coaches small business owners in starting and running their businesses, as well as big companies marketing to them. Profit and Laws, Inc. partners with experts in the fields of finance, economics, law, marketing, insurance, real estate, product development and general business services to empower entrepreneurs at all levels through incisive, empathetic coaching, immersive educational experiences and how-to guides for business. As a business advisor, Coco uses creativity, curiosity, sophistication and empathy to help clients reengineer their business strategies, enabling them to focus on what they love to do and to make money from it.
SPEAKER
Coco is frequently called on to speak to entrepreneurs on how to start, run and prosper from business. She produces the Birth to Buyout bootcamps, a series showing business people the laws and legal obligations they must understand. Coco provides bootcamps throughout the country, customizing the content to meet the needs and interests of the audience. In addition, Coco frequently speaks on the following topics:
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10 Reasons Why We Must Create Entrepreneurs
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15 Questions to Discover the Laws that Govern Your Business
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How to Work Out Your Deal with Your Partners and Investors
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How to Set Up A Company
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Getting the Rights
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How to Negotiate Your Contracts
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A variety of topics in business law
MEDIA
Coco hosted her own nationally syndicated radio show, Coco Soodek Live, on the Lifestyle Talk Radio Network, a terrestrial radio network reaching over 20 major markets. Coco covered a mix of business, entrepreneurship, politics and law, and helped numerous callers seeking guidance for their small businesses. She frequently appeared on the Fox News show, Justice with Jeanine Pirro, and other programs representing the liberal viewpoint.
WRITER
Coco wrote Birth to Buyout: Law for the Life Cycle of Your Business, the bestselling guide to business law for the entrepreneur. In Birth to Buyout, Coco wraps clear-eyed lessons on business law inside a fictional story about two emerging entrepreneurs named Hap and Hazard, and their corporate lawyer, Gravity.
SERVICE
Coco serves on a number of civic and philanthropic boards, including the Illinois Sports Facility Authority (appointed by Mayor Lightfoot), the EPA Community Advisory Group for the Kalamazoo River Superfund Site, the Midwest Board of the American Committee for the Weizmann Institute, a prominent scientific research institute in Israel, and on the board of the Katherine Soodek Foundation. Coco was named a “40 Under 40” in Crain’s Chicago Business. She is honored to be a Fellow to the American Bar Association. Coco was chosen to serve as an At-Large Delegate to the 2012 Democratic National Convention. She has been admitted to practice law in Illinois since 1997 immediately following her graduation from Northwestern University School of Law.