Yes, he is. Michael is a licensed attorney. He practiced business law and commercial litigation for 25 years in Florida and Pennsylvania before he retired from practicing law in 2020 to begin a career in surface pattern design (visit www.michaelsheridandesigns.com).

In early 2022, he pivoted and started Michael T. Sheridan, Esquire, LLC, to help you set a solid legal foundation for your online business with templates and education designed to help you handle the legal issues facing creative entrepreneurs.

No, it is not. Michael no longer practices law. He sells digital contract templates and forms and provide a wide range of legal education and support services to his customers.

In 2021, Michael completed Bonnie Christine’s Immersion course in surface pattern design. Michael also participated in Bonnie Christine’s 2021 Immersion Mentorship program. Then, in 2022, Michael participated in Bonnie Christine’s Immersion 2022 course as an alumnus. Michael has also taken various surface pattern design courses and entrepreneur classes, including courses by Bärbel Dressler (Repertoire), Genna Blackburn, Stacie Bloomfield, and more. Michael is an active member in Bärbel Dressler’s Evolution community and in Xhico’s Multi Colored Minds community. Michael’s design portfolio can be found at his design website at www.michaelsheridandesigns.com.

Michael was born in Wisconsin, has lived in Kansas, Missouri, Florida, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey, and he currently lives in Marion, Iowa.

No. Michael does not practice law and cannot represent you. He recommends that you find a lawyer in your local community to handle your legal matters for you.

Yes, Michael has affiliates who help promote his business. He’d love to partner with you to help creatives “legalize” their businesses. If you are interested in being part of Michael’s affiliate group, please email michael@michaelsheridanesquire.com for application details.

Yes. Michael personally drafted the forms and templates on this website. In addition, Michael’s forms and templates have been scrutinized and peer reviewed by independent lawyers not affiliated with Michael Sheridan, Esquire, LLC.

That depends. Do you wish to protect your business and create healthy and trusting relationships with your clients? Do you want/need to get paid? Are you worried about what may happen if things go wrong? If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, then, yes, you need a contract.

Of course you can, but you shouldn’t. Sites like legalzoom, rocketlawyer, and the like offer broad, generic forms which only meet the bare minimum legal requirements. That’s like having the space shuttle built by the lowest bidder—a recipe for disaster. Such forms are designed to be generic enough to be enforceable in most jurisdictions. They are not comprehensive or complete, by any means.These forms are not industry-specific and almost certainly were not drafted by a lawyer turned creative entrepreneur. And it is doubtful whether they have been peer-reviewed. Sure, these forms may be cheaper, but sometimes you (don’t) get what you pay for.

Yes, you can. First, all of Michael’s forms and templates are attorney-drafted and peer reviewed, which means that you’re getting all of their expertise for a fraction of what it would cost to employ them to create a custom contract document. Second, Michael brings 25+ years of experience with business law to his forms and templates. No other template-seller on the internet has that much experience.Third, Michael is an experienced surface pattern designer and entrepreneur, and he understands your business. Fourth, though it is impossible to remove all legalese from a form or contract document, Michael worked hard to remove confusing legal jargon from his forms and templates so that they are much easier to understand and complete. Finally, all of Michael’s forms come with his personal support and dedicated customer service.

Yes, they will. Michael’s forms are drafted to be enforceable and valid throughout the 50 states and Canada. However, Michael advises that once you have completed the template form, you should have it reviewed by a local attorney in your jurisdiction. A local attorney review of a well-drafted, peer-reviewed template form is much less expensive than having that local lawyer create the contract from scratch.

Upon completing your purchase, you will automatically receive an email containing the contract form in PDF and Word format, along with written instructions in Word format on exactly how to fill in the blanks and complete the form.

Simply email Michael within 14 days and request a refund.Your payment will be refunded, no questions asked.

Michael has a 14-day, no questions asked return policy.If, for any reason, you are not satisfied with your purchase, within 14 days after your purchase, simply email Michael at michael@michaelsheridanesquire.com, requesting a refund and your payment will be refunded promptly.

No. In addition to violating our Terms of Use, it injures our business if you share any form or template purchased from us.

Of course you can, but it is not necessary. The completed template form is a reflection of your business and should also reflect your branding. The final result need not be a sterile and stiff looking document.It should align with your personality and embody the business relationship between the parties, however that may look to you. But the form is complete “as is” and does not require modification or customization to be legally binding.

Unfortunately, there is no way for us to provide a complete sample of our forms and templates without giving away the product of our hard work, research, and extensive experience. The product descriptions generally describe what the template is used for and the terms and conditions it addresses. If you have specific questions about any of our templates and contracts, please email michael@michaelsheridanesquire.com for additional answers and information about our templates.

Yes. Usually twice per year, Michael conducts a site-wide sale of his forms and templates.In addition, all template bundles reflect a significant discount. Individual or ala carte templates are not regularly discounted.

Michael’s forms and templates are attorney-drafted and peer reviewed, which means that you’re getting all their expertise for a fraction of what it would cost to employ them to create a custom contract document. Michael also brings 25+ years of experience with business law to his forms and templates. No other internet seller has that much experience. Michael also is an experienced surface pattern designer and entrepreneur, and he understands your creative business. In addition, Michael has worked hard to remove confusing legal jargon from his forms and templates so that they are much easier to understand and complete. Finally, all of Michael’s forms come with his personal support and dedicated customer service.

No. Unfortunately, Michael does not offer payment plans and does not accept installment payments at this time.

How can you NOT afford these forms? Michael understands that in the beginning of any business, start-up costs can be high, leaving little, if any, extra investment cash laying around to spend on legalizing the business. However, ignoring this critical aspect of developing your business or failing to lay the proper legal foundation for your business can lead to tragic results which could cripple, if not completely destroy, your business. If you are serious about your business, and you want your business to succeed and prosper, then the cost to legalize it is a small price to pay to accomplish these important objectives. Compared to hiring a lawyer at upwards of $350 per hour to legalize your business, the cost of Michael’s forms and templates is much more reasonable and a much better dollar-for-dollar investment.For a relatively small, one time cost, you get all of Michael’s 25 years of legal experience packed into his easy-to-understand-and-complete forms and templates.

Generally, the majority of Michael’s templates can be completed in about 15 minutes.

Yes. Michael would love to appear in person for your event, course, community, mastermind, etc. Michael makes appearances in various creative and educational courses such as Rebecca Woolbright's "Manufacture: Awesome" course. If you are interested in having Michael speak to your students, participants, community, and/or mastermind group on a legal topic, please email Michael at michael@michaelsheridanesquire.com.

Besides managing his own legal education blog on this website, Michael also is the 2023 legal blogger for "Sketch, Design, Repeat" blog. In addition, Michael is a regular contributor to "Surface Design News" and has contributed to "Pattern Observer." If you need specialized legal educational materials prepared for your course, community, mastermind, etc., please email Michael at michael@michaelsheridanesquire.com.