Most applicants for SBIC licenses from the U.S. Small Business Administration find the licensure process to be extremely intimidating. The federal SBIC regulations are very lengthy and quite complicated. The application package (including the legal kit) that the SBA sends to prospective applicants contains various forms, sets of guidelines and instructions, model legal opinions and proposed Annexes to be appended to the SBIC's limited partnership agreement.

Semmes' track record of successfully guiding license applicants through the process is exemplary. In fact, not a single one of our clients which has filed a license application with the SBA has failed to secure a license. Our Small Business Investment Company Practice is headed by R. Michael Haynes and Christopher R. West. Mr. West has been in private practice for 30 years and has an extensive background in commercial lending and representing venture capital firms. Mr. Haynes is a former General Counsel of NASBIC and currently serves as the editor of NASBIC ("Guide to the SBIC Regulations"). Mr. Haynes, who is located in our Washington office, was formerly Chief Counsel of the U.S. Senate Small Business Committee with direct oversight over the SBIC program.

We break the licensing process down into its component parts for our clients. At the outset, we provide each of our clients with a single, coherent, relatively concise manual containing a master checklist of all of the things that have to be done, decisions that have to be made, documents that have to be completed and submittals that have to be filed in the course of the license application process. Then, each step along the way, we provide our clients with all of the necessary forms and other required documents and work closely with them to present their plans to the SBA in a focused and compelling fashion.

Because of our experience and the sophistication of our document generation software, we are prepared to complete licensure projects on a fixed fee basis. Our fees are considerably lower than the fees charged by other attorneys practicing in this field.

We consistently go the extra mile to put our clients on the road to successful licensure.