California Optometry Attorney Sebastian Gibson
California Optometry Attorney Sebastian Gibson, the Right Choice for Optometrists
With over 40 years of experience as a highly acclaimed attorney with law degrees in both California and in Great Britain and named as a Top Lawyer for the last 12 years in a row, California Optometry Attorney Sebastian Gibson is the lawyer to call to form your optometry practice or a free consultation for an overview of what is required to open a new practice and start a new endeavor.
Whether you’re in a beach city, the mountains, the desert or in wine country, in San Francisco, San Jose, Santa Rosa or San Luis Obispo, in Santa Barbara, San Diego or any of the great cities in between from Palm Springs to Orange County and Los Angeles we can be of assistance from our offices in Palm Desert and Newport Beach by email and by phone.
Each year more medical professionals throughout the state of California are turning to California Optometry Attorney Sebastian Gibson for help in setting up their California Optometry Practice or other medical professional corporations. We represent medical professionals from San Diego, Orange County and Los Angeles to San Luis Obispo, Anaheim and Bakersfield and everywhere in between.
When you call our office for assistance with opening an optometry practice, you’ll speak directly with California Optometry Attorney Sebastian Gibson. We’ll give you an overview of what’s required under California law and guidance from the California State Board of Optometry so you know exactly what’s required to be compliant and how to protect your optometry license as a California Licensed Optometrist. There’s no charge for this free consultation by phone. And don’t worry about needing to come to our office. We handle everything by emails and Priority Express Mail or FedEx to save you the need to come see us.
Our primary goal in assisting optometrists to set up their practice is to set up your practice within the guidelines of California State Board of Optometry guidance so your optometry license is not at risk. So whether you’re an optometrist in the Fresno, Palm Springs, Newport Beach, Irvine or Anaheim, Oakland, Long Beach or Stockton, you can count on Sebastian Gibson to provide you with the advice, guidance, contracts and assistance you need to start your new practice.
Whether you’re an Optometrist, Optician or Opthalmologist, California Optometry Lawyer Sebastian Gibson can help you understand what’s required under California law to help you become compliant with California State Board of Optometry guidance.
Additionally, California Optometry Attorney Sebastian Gibson can help you in choosing the name to use for your optometry practice and advise you as well should you wish to obtain a trademark as well as how to keep from choosing a name that someone else is using which could cause you to receive a cease and desist letter.
California Optometry Attorney Sebastian Gibson
California Optometry Attorney Sebastian Gibson has been named a Top Lawyer for the past 12 years by the prestigious Palm Springs Life Magazine. With law degrees in both California and in Great Britain, Sebastian Gibson has been called “brilliant” and “a legend.”
A graduate of UCLA (cum laude), the University of San Diego School of Law and Cardiff University in Wales (magna cum laude), and with law degrees in both California and Great Britain, California Optometry Attorney Sebastian Gibson has over 45 years of practice as an lawyer both in California and in London.
Today, one of the primary focus of his practice from offices in Newport Beach and Palm Desert is the representation of medical professionals, including optometrists and opticians wanting to open a new practice and/or interested in starting any other type of business.
Who Can Own An Optometry Corporation in California
California Business and Professions Code Section 3160 provides “An optometric corporation is a corporation that is authorized to render professional services, as described in Sections 13401 and 13401.5 of the Corporations Code, if that corporation and its shareholders, officers, directors, and employees rendering professional services who are physicians and surgeons, psychologists, registered nurses, optometrists, or podiatrists are in compliance with the Moscone-Knox Professional Corporation Act.”
The governmental agency referred to in the Moscone-Knox Professional Corporation Act is the California State Board of Optometry.
What Names Can Be Used for an Optometry Corporation
The name of an Optometry Corporation is restricted to the name or last name of the optometrist owner or of at least one of them if there is more than one, who is one or more of the present, prospective, or former shareholders, and one of the following designations denoting corporate existence: “Optometric Corporation,” “Optometry Corporation,” “Corporation,” “Professional Corporation,” “Prof. Corp.,” “Corp.,” “Incorporated,” “Inc.,” “Optometric Corp.,” “Optometry Corp.,” “Professional Optometric Corporation,” “Professional Optometry Corporation,” “Professional Optometric Corp.,” or “Professional Optometry Corp..”
The letters “Opt.D.” or “O.D.” or the word “optometrist” may be used in the corporate name providing that any person using such designation shall be the holder of a diploma from an accredited school of optometry. Examples of such usage are: “Doctor John Doe, O.D., Inc.” or “Dr. James Smith, O.D. and Dr. John Doe, O.D., Optometric Corporation.”
Optometry Corporation Shares
The shares of an optometry corporation may be issued only to a natural person licensed to practice optometry and may be transferred only to a natural person licensed to practice optometry or to the issuing corporation.
Where there are two or more shareholders in an optometry corporation and one of the shareholders dies or becomes a disqualified person, his/her shares shall be sold and transferred to a natural person licensed to practice optometry or to the issuing optometry corporation, on such terms as are agreed upon. Such sale or transfer shall not be later than six (6) months after any such death and not later than ninety (90) days after the date he/she became a disqualified person.
The share certificates of an optometry corporation shall contain either an appropriate legend setting forth this restriction or an appropriate legend stating that ownership and transfer of the shares are restricted and specifically referring to an identified section of the by-laws or articles of incorporation of the corporation wherein the restrictions are set forth.
Branch Offices
When any optometric corporation duly registered hereunder desires to have a branch office, it must, prior to the opening of any branch office, make application therefor to the Board of Optometry and receive permission in writing from the Board to have such branch office.
S Corp Elections
Speak with a knowledgeable Certified Public Accountant as to whether you should file for an S Corp Election with the IRS for your Professional Optometric Corporation. You have only 2 months and 15 days to apply without asking for relief from a late filing which may or may
not be granted.
Management Service Organizations (MSO’s)
You may also wish to form a Management Service Organization (MSO) to handle the administrative functions of your Optometry business. Keep in mind, however, that the MSO must not exercise any control over the practice of medicine by the Professional Optometry Corporation. Also keep in mind that any lay persons who own any part of the MSO may not receive any profits from the practice of medicine by the Professional Optometry Corporation. There can be no fee spitting with lay persons and violations can result in fines of up to $100,000 per violation and imprisonment.
Call For A Free Consultation with California Optometry Attorney Sebastian Gibson
When you call California Optometry Attorney Sebastian Gibson for a free consultation, we’ll provide you with an overview of the entire process and what’s required in order to be compliant with California law and the guidance and regulations of the California State Board of Optometry.
There’s no need for you to come to our office as today we handle all our matters by email and send documents either as pdf files attached to emails or if originals which need to be signed, by Priority Express Mail or FedEx.
Professional Optometry Corporations
Optometrists can only incorporate in California as Professional Optometric Corporations. Optometrists cannot practice optometry as an LLP or as an LLC.
California Professional Optometric Corporations must register with the Secretary of State and the California State Board of Optometry.
Under California law, a California Professional Optometric Corporation must have a licensed optometrist who owns at least 51% of the shares of the Corporation.
The other 49% of the shares of the Corporation who are permissible shareholders and directors of the Corporation include only licensed physicians and surgeons, licensed doctors of podiatric medicine licensed psychologists, registered nurses, licensed chiropractors, licensed acupuncturists and naturopathic doctors.
California Professional Optometry Corporations that have only one shareholder must have only one director, the shareholder. The single shareholder must also serve as the president and treasurer of the Corporation.
If the Corporation has two shareholders, it must have two directors, the shareholders. The two shareholders must fill the offices of the president, vice president, secretary, and treasurer.
Corporate Law for Optometrists
An optometrist may not work for a corporation or any other type of business entity which is owned or controlled or even operated by lay persons, non-physicians and thus non-optometrists.
Optometry medical care decisions must be made by a medical professional rather than a non-optometrist business professional more concerned about the bottom line than the health care needs of a patient. Unnecessary tests and procedures aimed at increasing profits are clearly improper and not in line with the aims of laws governing optometry.
California law does not prohibit the corporate practice of optometry.. However, the corporation or business entity must be owned and controlled by licensed health professionals.
Marketing and Protecting Your Optometry Practice
Choosing the right California Optometry Attorney is as important as choosing the right way to market and advertise your optometrist practice once it’s set up.
We can advise you how best to use marketing tools to safely and legally market your optometrist practice and how to protect your assets as well with insurance, an MSO (which is normally a LLC), a trademark search so your name isn’t infringing someone else’s trademark, and with carefully drafted corporate documents and agreements.
California Optometry Business Attorney Sebastian Gibson, The Right Choice
California Optometry Attorney Sebastian Gibson has over 45 years of experience as a lawyer both in London and in California. With offices in Palm Desert and Newport Beach, we represent Optometrists and Opticians throughout California from our two locations.
In addition, California Optometry Business Attorney Sebastian Gibson has been called “Brilliant” and “A Legend.” He’s been named a Top Lawyer for the past 12 years in a row by Palm Springs Life Magazine and is rated, “Superb,” their highest rating, by Avvo, which rates lawyers all over the country.
With law degrees in both California and Great Britain with degrees from UCLA (cum laude), the University of San Diego School of Law and Cardiff University in Wales (magna cum laude), California Optometry Business Attorney Sebastian Gibson has the knowledge and experience to assist Optometrists, Opticians and other medical professionals with the development, branding and trademark of their medical practice and to create the business structure and contracts in compliance with California law and California State Board of Optometry guidance.
Call California Optometry Attorney Sebastian Gibson Today For A Free Phone Consultation
When it matters most and you need a California Optometry Attorney, call California Optometry Attorney Sebastian Gibson at (760) 776-1810 to discuss how we can best assist you with your Optometry practice and protect you.
With offices in Palm Desert and Newport Beach, and by providing our services to optometrists throughout California by phone and email, we’re able to assist optometrists throughout California with their practices.
When you consider the time and costs you will need to spend to be in compliance, the corporate structures, documents, trademark protection and documentation of your medical services, you need to ensure all your efforts are not in vain.
At the Law Offices of California Optometry Attorney Sebastian Gibson, we provide legal advice, draft contracts and business agreements and provide the right corporate structures for optometrists, trademark and copyright protection and we can help you understand the differences in what is allowed to be performed by a California Optometric Corporation and a Medical Services Organization (MSO) which are part and parcel of an optometry practice.
California Optometry Attorney Sebastian Gibson offers California optometrists and opticians with more than 45 years of representing business and corporate clients and is ready today to assist you today in your endeavors to grow and prosper without legal worries.
Over 45 Years of Experience Helping Professionals and Corporations
When you work with California Optometry Attorney Sebastian Gibson, you’re working with an attorney who has been named a 2022 Top Lawyer in the prestigious Palm Springs Life Magazine year after year, now for 12 years in a row, and who’s been named a “Superb” Lawyer, their highest rating, by Avvo, which rates attorneys all across the country. California Optometry Attorney Sebastian Gibson is one of those rare attorneys with experience not only representing small and medium sized businesses in California, but a lawyer who has also represented multi-national corporations internationally as well while working in London.
With over 45 years of experience as a highly acclaimed attorney with law degrees in both California and in Great Britain and named as a Top Lawyer year after year, California Optometry Attorney Sebastian Gibson is the lawyer to call for your optometry practice.
California Optometry Attorney Sebastian Gibson Is There For You
California Optometry Attorney Sebastian Gibson has been chosen one of the Top Lawyers for the past 12 years by Palm Springs Life Magazine for good reason. The author of thousands of articles on the internet, Sebastian Gibson has also written for the Los Angeles and San Francisco Daily Journal newspapers and is a published book author with sales throughout the U.S.
With law degrees in both the U.S. and the U.K., California Optometry Attorney Sebastian Gibson has over 45 years of experience in California and in England.
Set Up A Consultation Today With California Optometry Attorney Sebastian Gibson
If you have legal questions of how to get your optometry practice off the ground in California and need a business lawyer to draft agreements or to set up your corporate structure, let us assist you and draft the agreements which will best serve your needs.
If you need assistance setting up your California optometry practice, you’ll want to take advantage of our expertise. Simply call the number at the top of this page and talk directly with California Optometry Attorney Sebastian Gibson.
With offices in California in Palm Desert and Newport Beach and years of experience in London, Attorney Sebastian Gibson can assist you with your optometry practice throughout California.
When it matters most and you need a California Optometry Attorney for your endeavor, call California Optometry Attorney Sebastian Gibson Sebastian Gibson at (760) 776-1810 to discuss how we can best assist you with your legal matters and protect your optometry practice.
