Texas Business Lawyers

How a Texas Business Lawyer Can Provide Strategic Planning for Businesses or Individuals, or Successfully Defend In Business Partner Disputes.

Business Transactions: Understanding Texas Business and Corporate Law

Ever since it was reported that Elon Musk moved his cutting-edge automobile manufacturing company Tesla, Inc. to Austin, Texas—the spotlight shone on the incentives and opportunity that abound in the state of Texas for entrepreneurs to do business.

Inherent in the myriad forms of business entities are inevitable conflicts occurring amid business transactions, when business deals fail, or partners want out.

When millions of dollars are at stake dealing with assets and real estate, and potentially unlimited liability for those responsible at the main street office, having a skilled Texas business lawyer on your side ensure against unwanted losses of profit, minimize liability for the company on debts, and can point out various tax benefits different types of business forms offer and bring to light legal issues dealing with wills and trust matters upon business partners’ deaths or the end of the business.

To learn more about the various forms of businesses and business disputes for a partner or corporate shareholders including how to defend against them, it is spending a moment to read further.

Texas Corporate Law: What are Common Business Issues under the Commerce Code?

Any individual residing in one of Texas’ bustling municipalities, such as San Antonio, Dallas or Houston, can form a business in Texas. Once formed, according to the Texas Secretary of State, the individual must decide what form of business he or she wishes to create.

Commonly, there are several forms:

General partnership
Limited partnerships
Corporations
Non-profit corporations
Professional corporations
Limited Liability Company; and
Start-up
Cooperative Associations

Once created, the business will be subject to several state and federal laws and regulations that form the essence of business and corporate law in the state of Texas. They include:

According to Texas A&M’s School of Law’s law school corporate law faqs blurb, business lawyers in Texas are architects of the way the economy works by doing these main things:

“Engineering” of the legal system and legal research to make amendments to it.
Creating mergers and business entities, potentially to organize a profitable real estate investment trust.
Drafting contracts that accomplish certain business objectives.

Likely, as a small business owner seeking to form a business, without a training from a Texas law school, or having performed legal research at your local law library, you may not be aware of the various benefits associated with a particular form of business that only a savvy Texas business attorney may be. Then, there are business dealings that a newly formed business would require review by a such a Texas lawyer who can anticipate prospectively how disputes would affect the legal rights of his or her client, not to mention factors including the local or including Wall Street. Last, new business owners may not be aware of the liability that he or she exposes himself to, necessitating a lawyer trained at the most selected Texas law school, versed in Texas corporate law regularly consult and confide in as you would a friend or family member.

In particular, there are state laws governing various forms of businesses. For instance, if an individual owns a “for-profit” company, then their business is subject to the Texas Business Corporation Act, in so far as the owner has complied with the formalities that corporations have to abide by. Texas Business Organizations Code Section 21.002.

According to Chron.com, if, however, the owner does not wish to run a business for-profit, then there is an entirely different law governing that individual’s business, or also known as the Texas Non-Profit Corporation Act Section 22.501.

With the help of a skilled Texas business lawyer knowledgeable about the nuances and strategic advantages of corporate law, handling contracts and managing the dispute resolution process—you have better a position in the economy of market volatility, as any competent highly-rated Texas business lawyer would be aware of the effect of immediate concerns affecting the business’ current assets, but of future concerns: such as, tax, antitrust, and probate matters that dovetail with other practice areas. In effect, hiring a business lawyer in Texas is akin to hiring a tax, probate, and business lawyer all in one.

What are the Procedures for Asserting or Defending a Business-Related Claim in Texas?

Very commonly you may wonder how to start a business and may be opposed to going to law school first. Practically, the leading and concise online legal resource of Nolo.com provides individuals with a basic understanding of how to do this. However, beyond simply forming a corporation or other business association, the question commonly becomes what are a partners’ rights or remedies considering unexpected act by another partner, or down tick in the market that makes the business’ profits take a toll? In that case, there are, based on the form of the business created ways a court would resolve the conflict based on whether the formalities are observed.

Texas has adopted its own version of the Uniform Partnership Act, referred to also as the Texas Uniform Partnership Act, based on a nationally recognized collection of general principles considered to be good authority. Codified in the Business Organizations Code, it sets forth basic rights and responsibilities of each businessperson in a partnership. For instance, there are basic rules in Texas that generally apply to all business formats. Some examples of basic rights partners in a business have are:

A right of every partner to inspect the books of the partnership without unreasonable restriction.
Remove a duty of loyalty owed to the partnership.
Eliminate or contract away the duty of care to the partnership.
Eliminate the obligation of good faith owed to the partnership by each partner.
Restrict in any way the power to withdraw from the partnership.
A right of repayment upon dissolution of the partnership according to each partner’s contribution.
An equal right to manage the business by each partner.
A right to name partners to be “junior,” “senior,” “managing” or “non-managing.” Sections 18(1), 18(2), Texas Business Organizations Code 152.002.

For partners in a business seeking to resolve disputes relating to these basic rights created and clarified in the Texas Business Organizations code, a skilled Texas business lawyer can practice law to achieve the desired outcome based on the application of corporate law to the your particular case.

For instance, a partner may complain of unilateral decisions that harm the interests of the partnership and create liability to other partners. In such cases, you may have the matter resolved through quick and affordable arbitration or a more lengthy lawsuit that the lawyer may consider preferrable.

For instance, partners may bring their dispute to the attention of the national dispute resolution body, the American Arbitration Association, which is tasked with handling hundreds of thousands of claims filed by US and foreign business partners without court involvement.

Common Defenses Helpful in Business Dispute Claims

According to the Woodlands-based Texas corporate law firm Voss Law Firm, business disputes involving contracts form the bread and butter of many disputes with common theories to defend against one partner’s overreaching or fraud. For instance, in a contractual dispute where one partner is claiming that a contract should not be upheld, it can be discharged if any of the following defenses apply:

Fraud—when one partner takes advantage of another by hiding information that he or she knows to be true making the contract misleading.

Duress—when a partner or third-party threatens a partner to entering a contract by using harassment or illegal threats.

Impracticability—when such as an event takes places that makes it almost impossible or certainly difficult for the partner to perform under the contract that was not reasonable to foresee when the contract was made.

Mistakes—when one party enters a contract based on mistaken, or the wrong information, and either both parties were mistaken, or the other had reason to know of the mistaken party’s lack of the right information.

Texas statutes of limitations—when a party waits longer than 4 years, or a lesser number of years before bringing a lawsuit on a contract.

Based on a high-profile Houston corporate law firm DAIC, there are certain overarching categories of business lawsuits:

Contracts
Labor law
Employment law
Bankruptcy
Income tax
Trusts and estates
Intellectual property

For instance, it is fairly common for employers and employees—whether government (agencies and organizations such as hospitals providing health care) or private individuals (private health care providers, for instance)—to have disputes about their rights and duties in an employment contract requiring the expert legal counsel in Texas in the practice areas such as commercial and corporate law. Typically, such disputes can be resolved by a business lawyer’s drafting of a contract to favor the employer; however, it is imperative that the contract is not so overly one-sided and unfair to the weaker bargaining partner, that the contract will be considered void as being “unconscionable.”

In more abstract, intangible matters such as those involving copyrights, trademarks and other intellectual property, business lawyers can help aggressively protect you right to a business name or product design and punish anyone who violates that protected property right. However, often there could be other factors to consider that you may not be aware including the benevolent and innocent use of such information through the “fair use doctrine.”

Texas business law requires a skilled advocate who can accurately assess your needs, understand the governing law that will operate in your favor, and propose solutions that not only work at achieving a settlement of the dispute, but plan for near and distant tax and probate consequences that you may not be aware of.

Legal Advice: What is the Value of a Texas Business Lawyer to a Client During a Dispute?

As many lawyers in Texas have valuable services to offer at high prices, there are some concerns likely how much a business lawyer is worth to your claim. Based on the nuances of business law in Texas, drafting contracts effectively, bringing suit on matters to enforce business rights—are undoubtedly priceless in terms of even given the fairly high average rate of business lawyers who can charge between reportedly $130 to $450 per hour, per Clio.com’s most up to date statistics.

Based on the skill and experience of the Texas business death lawyer handling a business or partner’s case, a client can recover greater amounts if the lawyer stays up to date with the everchanging landscape of not only business, tax, and probate law, including the many nuances and subtleties involved in an area that is typically not thought to be considered common knowledge to a layperson.

Without having a valued and trusted legal advocate, a businessperson may end up needlessly being exposed to risk and liability for actions that he or she is not responsible for, or else lose out on money owed to the business rightfully based on failing to prosecute violations by other businesses not following the law.

What is the Importance of Hiring a Skilled Texas Business Lawyer?

Due there being hundreds, if not millions of business transactions occurring daily between consumers and businesses, and businesses and other businesses, it is important to have a skilled lawyer who can distinguish him or herself from others in the field. Whereas a many business lawyers may be generally knowledgeable about how to represent a given business client or individual partner, particularly skilled and remarkably talented business attorneys, will be intimately familiar with the most recent decisions in business, government, banking, tax, and probate law that affect how much of a recovery you are eligible to receive.

Many top-rated law firms specialize in these cases, including Ajamie LLP, among others in the Dallas, Austin area and surrounding areas. Notably, the San Antonio-based firm The Weaver Law Firm, Clausewitz Reyes, also based in San Antonio, is likely to offer a free initial consultation to help strategize your best course of action during a time of panic and stress.

For such a Texas law firm competent in Texas business law, a good business lawyer in Texas will be a specialist will ask you, the client, questions to maximize the value of your case or minimize liability in exploring your legal options—whether you are a small business person or a very large corporation with greater assets at stake, necessitating novel legal arguments and arguments for fundamentally changing the law to benefit you.

In any case, you should be prepared to create a narrative of facts detailing everything that you remembered before, during and after the incident leading up to the dispute, including keeping meticulous records of expenses made during the litigation, or in the case of the responsible partner, the costs to defend.

As a business partner defending against a claim of mismanagement or fraud, where one’s reputation, a fitness for being a responsible businessperson is in jeopardy, it is also imperative to share any business insurance company policy maintained and investigate other potential actors responsible for the wrongful act, to have your attorney test the strength and validity of the rival claims.

Forming an Attorney-Client Relationship: Call a Houston Business Lawyer Today to Discuss Your Case and Odds of Prevailing on a Business Claim!

Whether you are a pursuing or defending against a business claim, having the right attorney on your side can navigate the vast and ever-changing landscape of business law, caps on recovery and evolving case precedent. The attorney-client relationship forms upon consultation when you consider hiring the attorney. Once formed, this relationship helps prepare the client to bring a winning case to receive compensation where there is clearly established liability and avoid liability for debts and obligations such as when there is a dearth of evidence to support such claims.

Whether you are looking for a Texas business lawyer in Forth Worth, San Antonio, Austin, Dallas or the surrounding areas, Lawsuit.org will help you pinpoint the right one by offering a free consultation to obtain the just results that a business or a shareholder is entitled to.