Est. 2013 · Boston, Massachusetts
Estate planning and small business law in Boston
Harbor & Quill is a Boston firm for estate planning, small business formation, employment law, and contracts. We write in English, quote a scope, and will tell you when you do not need a lawyer yet.
How Harbor & Quill works
Estate planning is wills, trusts, powers of attorney, and the conversation about who raises the kids. We do Massachusetts documents that match a condo in Cambridge as well as a house on the Cape. Beneficiaries on the 401(k) get checked, because that is where the money actually is.
Small business work is entity choice, operating agreements, contractor vs employee, and the contract you were about to sign because the other side's PDF looked official. Employment counsel is handbooks, separations, and the email you should not send. Personal injury and family law we refer — we stay in the lanes we practice.
Clients arrive from FindLaw and Nolo articles, or from a friend who used LegalZoom and then inherited a mess. We are a firm: intake, engagement letter, and a human who answers. Avvo stars are not a strategy.
What we actually do
Estate planning
Wills, revocable trusts, health-care proxies, and beneficiary reviews. Massachusetts-focused.
Small business law
Formation, operating agreements, founder splits, and the first commercial lease redline.
Employment counsel
Handbooks, offer letters, and separations. Advice for companies that do not have an in-house lawyer.
Contracts
Vendor MSAs, NDAs that are not a novel, and the statement of work that prevents the fight.
Dispute triage
A paid hour to tell you if this is a letter, a lawsuit, or a walk-away. Then we do the letter or refer.
Referrals
Personal injury, immigration, and family law to firms we would use. We do not keep a file we cannot staff.
Guides from the studio
These are the pieces we keep on the homepage because they are the questions people ask in the first meeting.
- 01
Do you need a trust or is a will enough in Massachusetts?
Probate, kids, and the condo vs the brokerage account.
- 02
Beneficiary designations will beat your will
The 401(k) and life insurance check we run in every estate meeting.
- 03
LLC vs S-corp: a lawyer's version, not a TikTok's
When we send you to a CPA instead of pretending.
- 04
Contractor vs employee: the test Massachusetts actually uses
Before you 'save' on payroll taxes.
- 05
What to do with a 12-page NDA before you sign
The five clauses that matter and the rest that is fog.
- 06
Employment handbook: the policies we insist on, the ones we cut
At-will, leave, and social media without a novel.
- 07
When a demand letter is cheaper than your pride
A triage hour that has saved more than it has cost.
- 08
How to fire a vendor without lighting the relationship on fire
Notice, cure, and the email we will write for you.
The landscape we work in
Harbor & Quill is not these publications — we read them, send clients to them, and sit in the same niche. If you already follow this beat, you already know the names.
- FindLawconsumer legal explainers clients quote in the first email
- NoloDIY legal publishing we respect — and the line where DIY should stop
- Avvothe marketplace we do not chase; we still answer the same questions
- Justiacase and statute access we use like everyone else
- Law.comprofession coverage for how firms actually operate
- ABA Journalethics and practice writing we still assign to associates
From people we work with
Trusts, health-care proxies, and they made us update the 401(k). That last part was the whole point.
Operating agreement in plain English. Four founders, one document, nobody sulking.
They told me not to sue. Wrote a letter. The invoice got paid. That is the firm I wanted.
Visit or write
Harbor & Quill LLP · Boston, Massachusetts. Studio visits by appointment. For press, partnerships, or a first conversation, use the studio desk — this site is the public face of the practice, not a marketplace.