Outside General Counsel

Outside General Counsel

Freeman’s outside general counsel program offers sophisticated legal counsel on demand—counsel that is tailored to our clients’ individual needs.

• Freeman has been recognized as a “Tier 1” law firm for tax law by Best Lawyers® and U.S. News & World Report.
• We maintain attorneys licensed across multiple jurisdictions, providing unique perspective and insights.
• Our attorneys are experienced in unique and complex transactions, including advising and closing a $345 billion private equity transaction and advising on a $245 billion cross-border divestiture involving private and publicly traded companies.

Outside General Counsel Overview

Most businesses—including nonprofit organizations—rely on outside counsel for legal services.  While some employ in-house counsel, many do not maintain permanent in-house counsel, often for budgetary and other reasons.  At Freeman, we recognize that these businesses nonetheless have complex legal needs and face sophisticated challenges—legal challenges and regulatory risks that require dedicated counsel.

Even companies that employ in-house counsel find that their business and decision-makers need the expertise of outside counsel from time to time, such as for tax counsel or litigating and defending the cases that count.

The attorneys at Freeman Law have a long history of providing what some clients affectionately refer to as “consigliere” legal counsel, primarily because we take deep pride in demonstrating that each client’s needs are the most important, right now.  We work diligently to understand our client’s legal and tax circumstances and to provide timely legal advice.

Freeman’s Outside General Counsel Program

Freeman Law meets our clients’ needs through our Outside General Counsel Program—a program that offers a unique opportunity and arrangement: a team of attorneys available to provide sophisticated legal counsel at a predictable cost. The firm’s Outside General Counsel Program provides a customized, structured arrangement that delivers sophisticated legal services at a fraction of the big-firm hourly rate.

Among the general services available through our Outside General Counsel Program, we provide the following:

• Entity formation, including corporate, LLC, and other entity structures
• Maintenance of corporate governing documents
• Operating and shareholder agreements
• Partnership and joint venture agreements
• Lease review
• Contract review
• Transactional services, including drafting and negotiation

Our legal team also provides a range of more complex legal and transactional know-how, including:

• Stock options and executive compensation
• Corporate restructuring
• Mergers & acquisitions
• Entity reorganizations and amendments
• Counseling regarding fiduciary duties and strategic considerations
• Buy/Sell agreements
• Regulatory compliance

Finally, clients facing the threat of litigation often rely on us to resolve sophisticated business disputes, including trying their disputes to judges, juries, and arbitrators. Because litigation can represent an existential threat, we are committed to delivering world-class counsel in the courtroom using bold, tactical, state-of-the-art approaches to litigation. Clients in our Outside General Counsel Program enjoy our ability to provide legal counsel with respect to:

• Litigation and arbitration management, including risk assessment and strategic counseling
• Contract and other business disputes
• Risk management

World-Class Tax Counsel

Freeman Law provides experienced tax and business counsel, helping our clients achieve their organizational goals in a tax-efficient manner.  We are known for providing creative and innovative solutions to the most complex tax problems.  We boast a history of world-class legal representation and maintain a particular focus in complex tax matters—a focus that has garnered national and international recognition:

• Freeman tax attorneys have been named to U.S. News and World Report’s Best Lawyers in America list and recognized by Chambers & Partners as among the leading tax attorneys in the United States.
• Our attorneys include former IRS trial attorneys; former clerks to the Chief Judge of the United States Tax Court; tax law professors; dual-credentialed CPAs, including the former chairman to the Texas Society of CPAs; and attorneys with advanced LL.M. tax law degrees from the most prestigious tax programs in the nation.
• One third of our attorneys are law professors at tier one law schools, teaching tax law.

The “general” legal counsel relationship—consigliere-ship—that we build with our clients is designed to provide top-tier, responsive counsel that is tailored to our clients’ individual needs. We gain a deep understanding of our client’s culture, common legal needs, risk aversion, governance, and business goals. From that foundation, we become a vital and cost-savings resource for our clients’ many internal and external business decisions and objectives, including complex financial transactions, difficult employment matters, risk mitigation, and other.

By engaging (and utilizing) Freeman as outside general counsel and on an as-needed basis, the business and its individual leaders are making a conscious decision to exercise common law and statutory standards of care to mitigate the potential for organizational and personal liability. That business decision to engage competent counsel will also increase the likelihood that the business will advance its objectives while remaining within the guardrails established by state and federal law, binding internal governing documents, and contractual and common law obligations owed to third parties and the public at large.

Committed Corporate Counsel

Small-, mid-, and large-sized businesses and other entities trust Freeman’s experienced counsel for business and tax structuring advice, trusting our hands-on approach to structure, negotiate, and document their most important deals.  We advise across the life cycle of a business:  from its inception, through its operations, and even its eventual disposition or sale.  We have deliberately cultivated a diverse client base, including domestic and cross-border companies—a major contributor to our firm’s already extensive knowledge base.

At Freeman Law, we are changing the way that clients do business. Our experienced tax counsel and business law advisors regularly guide our clients through complex domestic and international transactions, as well as oversee corporate governance. Our attorneys assist with our client’s day-to-day and most critical transactions, including drafting contractual agreements, purchase and sale agreements, and other documents. We provide the legal guidance and tools to achieve their liability protection goals and regulatory compliance, including unique experience with Bank Secrecy Act compliance, money transmission and currency reporting; anti-money laundering and know-your-customer compliance; and other regulatory regimes.

Bold Solutions for a Bold World

Because clients today face challenges like never before, they need—more than ever—counsel and insights that position them to respond to rapidly changing environments. Our attorneys are thought leaders and they are practical. And with our depth of accounting and business experience, we speak the “language” of business—all in a way that moves the ball forward, not back. With our adaptive tax and business counsel, Freeman Law’s Outside General Counsel Program is there to help change the way that clients do business.

Organizations interested in establishing a general counsel representation engagement with Freeman Law should contact us here. We will work to understand you needs and establish an attorney-client relationship that advances your needs and business objectives.