M&A, tax, outside general counsel, and estate & family advisory for closely held Texas businesses and the families behind them — and a distinct appellate & white-collar practice for litigants and the trial counsel who refer them.
For an owner, the business and the estate are the same balance sheet. A sale changes the estate plan; a succession plan changes the deal structure; a tax election on one side moves the result on the other. Because BNJ Legal runs M&A, tax, outside general counsel, and estate & family advisory under one roof, those decisions are made together — not handed between a corporate firm, a tax advisor, and a separate estate lawyer who never speak.
You're selling the company, buying a competitor, or taking on an investor. We run buy- and sell-side deals into nine figures — letter of intent, due diligence, purchase agreement, working-capital and earnout mechanics, and closing — with the tax structure built in from the first draft, not bolted on at signing.
You need a transaction or entity structured for the lowest defensible tax, or you're facing the IRS or the Texas Comptroller. Two partners hold LL.M.s in Taxation. We handle entity selection, partnership and profits-interest structuring, §453 and §1202 planning, executive compensation, audits, and appeals.
You have legal work every month but don't need a full-time GC. We serve as your outside general counsel — commercial contracts, governance, employment, vendor and customer agreements, and the day-to-day questions — on a relationship basis, with senior attention and predictable involvement.
Your planning has outgrown a basic will. We design multigenerational wealth transfer, gift- and estate-tax strategy, trust and entity structures, and — where a business is involved — a succession plan that fits the personal estate plan. Renee Jolley is Board Certified in Estate Planning and Probate Law by TBLS.
You're transitioning the company to family, partners, or management. We coordinate buy-sell agreements, ownership and voting structures, GST-aware transfers, and the tax and estate moves that have to happen before a binding deal, so the transition and the family plan close cleanly together.
You're starting, reorganizing, or cleaning up a multi-entity structure. We handle formation, operating agreements, partnership capitalization, profits interests, and out-of-state-to-Texas conversions — structured for how the business will actually grow and eventually transfer.
Not sure which of these fits your situation? Tell us briefly what you need and we'll point you in the right direction.
Separate from the firm's transactional and estate work, Jason Niehaus maintains an appellate and white-collar practice — civil and criminal appeals, white-collar defense, and amicus advocacy in the Texas appellate courts, the Fifth Circuit, and the U.S. Supreme Court, for litigants and the trial lawyers who refer them.
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