Practice Areas
Business Organizations
The form of business chosen for a business entity potentially affects every aspect of its operations. Our firm assists our clients in formation and business planning in deciding whether they want to operate as a closely held business, limited liability company, partnership, or corporation. We advise our clients about directors? and officers? liability, dissolution, franchising, reorganization, trade association membership and activity, joint ventures, mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, business successions, shareholder?s agreements, and shareholders? rights.
Contracts
From negotiations to drafting to final review, each stage of contract development is crucial to obtaining the goals of the parties. Our lawyers understand the nuances of language and apply them to our clients? advantage. From nuances contracts to individual agreements, they have the experience to help our clients memorialize their transactions and eliminate any potential problems.
Corporate Law As attorneys and advisors, we help our business clients to deal with the various legal implications of their corporate activities. We represent clients in a wide array of traditional and creative financing and business transactions. Among the transactional matters we handle are banking and lending, corporate finance, franchising, joint ventures and strategic alliances, and mergers and acquisitions. Our clients are in a variety of industries and include publicly- traded companies, local privately-owned businesses, executives, and commercial and savings banks.
Workers? Compensation
Employers and insurers must rely on counsel who are thoroughly familiar with this extremely complex and changing area of law. Representation is provided statewide and the lawyers work closely with employers and insurers to manage claims and avoid litigation.
Family/Divorce Law
We help our client with a full range of Family Law issues on the trial and appellate level. We provide representation for:
- Divorce
- Child Custody, Visitation and Support
- Adoption
- Alimony and Spousal Maintenance
- Modification of Previous Orders and Awards
- Prenuptial/Premarital Agreements
- Paternity
- Restraining and Protective Orders.
We believe that all of these matters should be handled quickly, painlessly, and economically.
Motor Vehicle Accidents
Serious car and other motor vehicle accidents require the guidance of an experienced attorney. We work with physicians and other health care providers to assess and review all the short and long-term medical aspects of each case. Our detailed understanding of Alabama?s automobile, insurance and liability laws means we understand the various theories of liability that enable victims to collect from the parties who caused them harm.
Bankruptcy
We represent individuals and commercial clients in bankruptcy proceedings. At the core of our nation?s bankruptcy laws is the notion that honest, financially strapped citizens should be given the opportunity for a ?fresh start? in life. Bankruptcy holds out a promise to thedebtor of a ?new opportunity in life and a clear field for future effort, unhampered by the pressure and discouragement of pre-existing debt. At the same time, creditors should receive fair treatment of their loans during bankruptcy proceedings. We bring experience, skill, and creativity to the highly complex area of bankruptcy law. Our firm has the capacity and flexibility to handle every type of bankruptcy proceeding. We represent both debtors and creditors in the following matters:
- Chapter 7 liquidations
- Chapter 11 reorganizations
- Foreclosures
- Evictions
- Repossessions and replevins
- Judgment avoidance
- Workouts and debt restructuring
- Security interests
- Pre-packages plans
- Preference litigation
Civil Litigation and Appeals
We provide legal representation for individuals and business clients within the practice areas of business litigation, employment law, insurance defense, professional liability, probate litigation and many other areas of defense.
Business Law
We provide a wide variety of services to our business clients from assisting in selecting the type of organizational entity under which to operate, preparation of agreements, sale and purchase of businesses, and tax planning.
Business and Commercial Law including Litigation and Appeals
We provide a wide variety of services to our business clients from assisting in selecting the type of organizational entity under which to operate, preparation of agreements, sale and purchase of businesses, obtaining financing and funding for business operations, negotiating real estate and software contracts, advising on employee relations policy, and dissolution. We are also highly experienced in business and commercial litigation on a state and federal level.
Education Law
Our atorneys advise and represent boards of education in cases involving student issues, Sec. 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, Fair Dismissal Act and Teacher Tenure (Teacher Accountability) Act. Attorney R. Kent Henslee is General Counsel for the Gadsden Board of Education and represents numerous other boards in education related litigation.
Employment Law
Employment law covers a complex network of laws that controls how employers must treat employees, former employees, and applicants for employment. We have significant experience in interpreting and construing state and federal statutes and case law in areas such as employment discrimination, sexual harassment, wrongful discharge including retaliatory discharge, employment contracts, age discrimination, the Americans With Disabilities Act, the Family Medical Leave Act, the Fair Labor Standards Act, wage and hour, and successfully representing employers in Northeast Alabama.
Our goal is to provide sound, practical and proactive legal advice in order to assist our clients in avoiding litigation and other adversarial proceedings. We encourage the use of, and have successfully utilized facilitative mediation and arbitration to minimize the time and expense related to resolving employment disputes. We listen to each client?s unique concerns and focus on solving employment-related issues before they become costly disputes.
Estate Planning
Our firm handles a variety of estate planning matters, including planning for the distribution of an individual?s property at his or her death and taking into account wills, taxes, insurance, property, and trusts so as to gain the maximum benefit of all laws, while, at the same time, carrying out the person?s wishes.
Immigration & Naturalization Law
We represent clients before the Immigration and Naturalization Service and provide guidance in matters relating to immigration and naturalization, visas, citizenship, asylum, employment, and deportation. We have extensive experience in interpretation and compliance with the Immigration Reform and Control Act and the Immigration and Naturalization Act.
Social Security Disability (SSDI)
We represent individuals who have become disabled because of a serious illness or injury and denied their Social Security disability benefits. Denial of these disability insurance claims creates a severe hardship on individuals who have worked all their life and now, because they can no longer perform their current job or any other job in the workplace, have their everyday existence threatened by the denial of their Social Security disability benefits.
The process of appealing Social Security disability claims is very time consuming and presents numerous problems for individuals seeking disability benefits. Understanding the rules and regulations regarding the Social Security Administration's system of filing and obtaining approval for disability insurance benefits can be frustrating, overwhelming and confusing.
We provide expert representation to clients seeking Social Security Disability benefits and to clients whose benefit claims have been denied by the Social Security Administration.
Insurance Defense Law
We regularly defend clients in insurance covered and coverage disputes, including complex multi-carrier litigation of additional insured and insurer obligations. The firm represents insureds, insurers and self-insureds, in the analysis, negotiation and defense of covered and potentially covered claims including defect claims, and major casualty losses. We have an extensive practice in representing carriers in a multitude of other complex coverage matters. These include claims arising out of Comprehensive General Liability policies, life and disability insurance, title insurance policies, homeowners? policies, professional liability and directors? and officers' coverage. The firm also appears frequently in both state and federal court on behalf of its clients on cases relating to these and other classes of insurance.
Labor Law
We have a well-established reputation for successfully defending employers against union and employee initiated lawsuits and unfair labor practice charges, for litigating to halt unlawful picketing, secondary boycotts and labor violence, and for representing employers at the collective bargaining table, before the NLRB and in arbitration. We represent privately held businesses, local and national corporations, healthcare facilities, non-profit institutions, and governmental employers before state and federal courts and administrative agencies across the country.
Municipal Law
We represent municipalities in a wide-range of issues including: municipal ordinances, police officer liability, sewer and environmental issues, contract negotiation, employment law, civil service board and real estate development.
Personal Injury
Our firm represents both plaintiffs and defendants in personal injury litigation ranging from medical malpractice, products liability, premises injuries, motor vehicle accidents, and nursing home negligence.
Probate & Estate Administration
We handle all aspects of Probate and Estate Administration for estates. Probate is the legal process by which a person's will is allowed by the Probate Court. The provisions of the will dictate how the individual's debts are paid and assets are distributed upon death. Estate Administration includes the probate process as well as non-probate transfers of the deceased's assets, such as life insurance, annuities, qualified plans, and trust assets and compliance with applicable estate tax requirements. We assist the personal representative of the estate in the gathering, valuation, accounting and distribution of the decedent's assets. We prepare federal and state estate tax returns as well as the appropriate documents in order to release liens on a decedent's real estate. It is our responsibility to assure that all steps are properly taken in order to carry out the decedent's intent in accordance with the law.
Products Liability
We have a great deal of experience representing manufacturers in the volatile and ever-changing area of products liability. The firm offers the considerable collective knowledge of its lawyers in the legal and evidentiary issues that surround products cases, especially the crucial area of expert testimony.
Real Estate Law
Our firm performs real estate transactional work for a number of mortgage lenders, title companies, builders, real estate brokers, and private individuals. We assist with the purchase and sale of real estate, including negotiating and drafting purchase agreements and other documents, ensuring good title, and closings. Our experienced attorneys also assist our clients with the legal aspects of financing, re-financing, and foreclosures, including those associated with the purchase and/or sale of a business.
Tax Planning and Law
Our firm represents individuals and commercial clients in matters with tax implications, identifying and addressing state and federal tax issues, structuring transactions in such a way as to minimize taxes and avoid inherent tax problems.