Legal Question in Business Law in California

Well that depends entirely on exactly what services you will be providing. There is no way to answer your question without a detailed review of the services. For example, you can't provide accounting services without being a CPA, anymore than you can provide legal services without being licensed by the State Bar. You can't sell securities without the relevant SEC licenses. It all depends on what you will actually do.

First, licenses of the types you've listed are generally held by individuals, rather than by the firm. This makes them qualitatively different than the licenses your firm is acquiring.

Second, I agree with Mr. McCormick that lack of individuals with particular professional licenses will be a limiting factor in the scope of services your new business will be able to offer. However, I'd hesitate to say that not having a CPA on board would prevent you from providing all "accounting services." Just look in the Yellow Pages and see all the bookkeeping services listed without any mention that anyone there is a CPA.

I recommend that you consider forming associations with individuals holding the various professional licenses you mentioned. You don't need to make them co-owners of your new LLC, nor do you need to make them full-time employees -- but when client assignments in those specialties come up, you can bring them in to supervise the work.

I'd also recommend that the co-founders of the business start and maintain an internal policy manual in which (among other things appropriate for a company policy manual) you devote at least a half page to each of the professional license categories, discussing what your company and its principals cannot do for clients because no one there has the particular license in question. You can probably dig the essential limitations out of the Web sites for those particular professions on line. Make sure the info you're reviewing is California specific unless there is only a federal license for a particular profession.

Doing a little research for the foregoing step would also help you identify professional licenses, the lack of which would be inhibiting on attracting and retaining well-paying clients. This in turn would suggest people you might want to affiliate with the firm. It might also suggest licenses the two of you might want to study for and take the exams.

Finally, be careful that your print and on-line material doesn't say or suggest that your firm or its principals hold licenses they don't have.