Administrative Law
Pakis Giotes represents clients in all aspects of federal and state regulation, including administrative appeals and litigation before the courts. We are well versed in the requirements of the Administrative Procedure Act, which deals with administrative hearings and adjudication, administrative investigations, administrative officers and agents, administrative rulemaking, licensing, and regulatory enforcement.
Banking
Pakis Giotes has experience in advising and representing both national and state banks in various aspects of the banking business. The firm has engaged in drafting credit agreements, loan documentation, real-estate and personal-property security agreements, mortgages, deeds of trust, pledge agreements, guaranty agreements, and financing statements. The firm has also done a great deal of collection work, including workouts, civil litigation, and bankruptcy claims, and litigation, including lift-stay motions, valuation questions, and secured transactions. In addition, the firm has been involved in evaluating federal banking guidelines and regulations in their applications to existing or contemplated banking transactions.
Business and Commercial Law
Pakis Giotes provides our business clients with a wide variety of services, which include assistance in selecting the type of organizational entity to operate under, forming entities, preparing all types of related contracts and agreements, documenting the sale and purchase of businesses, and obtaining financing and funding for business operations.
The form of business chosen for a business entity potentially affects every aspect of its operations. Our lawyers assist our clients in formation and business planning and in deciding whether they want to operate as a joint venture, general or limited partnership, limited liability company, corporation, or other type of entity. We advise our clients about directors' and officers' liability, partners' and shareholders' relationships and rights, and trade association memberships and activities, as well as acquisition, merger, reorganization, business succession, divestiture, and dissolution. Additionally, our attorneys have more than 100 years of combined experience in handling both transactional and litigation matters in this area of law.
Collection, Lien Rights, and Bankruptcy
Pakis Giotes provides a broad range of legal services to creditors. We represent secured and unsecured creditors in all phases of collection and bankruptcy proceedings, including the filing and foreclosure of mechanics' and materialmen's liens and real and personal property foreclosures. Similarly, Pakis Giotes is experienced in filing and collecting bond claims in state and federal construction projects. In all instances, we safeguard the rights of creditors to appear and be heard as to all matters that affect their interests and ensure that those creditors achieve the maximum distribution that is allowed by law.
Estate Planning
Pakis Giotes assists clients in arranging their affairs to preserve and protect family wealth and in accomplishing their lifetime goals so that a smooth transfer of their assets results after death. We can use an estate plan to minimize the impact of federal and state transfer taxes on family assets. We can also assist our clients in planning with regard to closely held businesses, life insurance, and retirement benefits. We utilize family limited partnerships, life-insurance trusts, and other techniques such as generation-skipping trusts to pass property over several generations at reduced transfer-tax costs. We work with businesses in arranging buy-sell agreements and in planning for management and ownership succession. Each estate plan or business plan is tailored to meet the individual needs of a client, and we have the ability to draft the documents necessary to implement those plans.
Family Law
As part of being a full-service law firm, Pakis Giotes has several lawyers who are disciplined in family-law matters. Specifically, the firm handles pre-marital agreements; divorce and property cases; child-custody, support, and visitation matters; adoption; and other family-law legal matters. With an understanding that most family-law matters are emotionally charged, the lawyers at Pakis Giotes first attempt to resolve such issues short of litigation. However, if litigation is necessary, our lawyers pursue their clients' best interests through trial and appeal with the same zealous advocacy that is applied in other litigation matters.
Labor and Employment Law
Pakis Giotes has several lawyers with the knowledge and experience to represent both employers and employees in a wide variety of labor and employment issues. Our employment-related services extend from comprehensive employment counseling to extensive litigation and trial work in both federal and state courts. As litigators, the firm maintains a unique balance by representing both plaintiffs and defendants. This practice allows our firm to possess an understanding and perspective of the issues faced by employers, employees, and the attorneys representing them. Representing both sides of the bar results in the ultimate ability to provide better legal representation to our clients.
While we take pride in our litigation and trial performance, we understand that an employer's primary objective is to avoid litigation. To that end, Pakis Giotes takes great effort to counsel and assist in the implementation of fair employment practices and policies that reduce the likelihood of employment disputes. Our areas of practice include counseling about, prosecuting, and defending claims brought under Title VII, the Texas Commission on Human Rights Act, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, ERISA, the Texas Workers Compensation Act, the Family Medical Leave Act, the Fair Labors Standards Act, and other common-law causes of action such as breach of contract and wrongful termination.
The firm also has extensive experience in responding to labor organization efforts, picketing, and representation and decertification elections and in filing and responding to unfair labor practice charges before the National Labor Relations Board. The firm has advised and participated in negotiating collective bargaining agreements and drafting language to be included in such agreements. Furthermore, the firm offers our expertise in evaluating and responding to grievance and arbitration proceedings and in bringing these cases to arbitration.
Litigation and Appeals
Pakis Giotes represents clients who are or might become involved in a lawsuit or appeal as a result of a dispute in such areas as personal injury, employment claims, contract disputes, family law, and complex commercial matters. We also offer representation and advice about preventing and settling disputes
We represent plaintiffs and defendants in a wide variety of disputes in both state and federal courts. We have recovered significant (over $1,000,000) settlements and judgments in Central Texas court cases and have successfully defended our clients in numerous, hotly contested disputes as well. The firm has five full-time trial lawyers with decades of experience and success. This experience is backed by the firm's extensive resources, which enable Pakis Giotes to achieve the best results for our clients.
Mediation and Arbitration
In addition to representing our clients as advocates in alternative dispute resolution proceedings, several attorneys at Pakis Giotes also serve as mediation and arbitration neutrals. Michael G. Cosby, Fred M. Johnson, Jr., and Jim Hering are certified mediators, and Minor L. Helm is a certified arbitrator. These and other lawyers of the firm are capable of serving as third-party neutrals in all types of cases appropriate for alternative dispute resolution. Our availability and fee schedules are flexible, depending on the type of dispute, the number of parties involved, and the estimated time requirements.
Municipal Law
Pakis Giotes has lawyers, who based upon their experience and qualifications, are capable of serving clients in this specialized are of law. One of our lawyers serves as City Attorney to separate Central Texas communities. Another lawyer is currently in his fourth term as Mayor of a Central Texas community. The lawyers practicing in this area regularly advise clients in the areas of labor and employment law, public finance law, environmental law, the Open Meetings Act, the Open Records Act, annexation and zoning, litigation avoidance, and representation at trial. Pakis Giotes is also available to assist other attorneys in specialized projects in the area of municipal law.
Personal Injury
Pakis Giotes is a law firm with the resources, demeanor, and qualifications to handle personal injury cases ranging from complex product-liability matters to the routine car accident. The litigation attorneys at Pakis Giotes have numerous years of experience and have tried many personal-injury lawsuits in Central Texas and other surrounding counties. Such suits have resulted in settlements and jury verdicts in excess of $1,000,000. The firm's experience is backed by our financial capabilities that allow us to pursue all avenues in an effort to ensure that the client receives superior representation and, ultimately, the maximum recovery of damages. Most personal-injury cases are handled as a contingent-fee matter, whereby the client is not charged for any of the attorney's services unless positive results are obtained. However, depending on the risks and the facts of each case, this fee arrangement is flexible and may be modified to suit the client's best interest.
Probate and Estate Administration
Pakis Giotes specializes in probate and estate administration. Probate is the legal process by which a person's debts are paid and assets are distributed upon her or his death. Lawyers refer to the entity that owns the deceased's assets until those assets are distributed as an "estate." Estate administration includes the probate process as well as non-probate transfers of the deceased's assets.
State laws and procedures vary greatly; so it is important to consult a firm with expertise in this area of the law to ensure that a deceased person's assets are distributed correctly with the least expense and most tax savings. Pakis Giotes is fortunate to have lawyers who are Board Certified in this specialized area of law.
Real Estate
Pakis Giotes represents both businesses and individuals in all proceedings and transactions that deal with real property--land and the structures attached to it--including purchases, sales, construction, condemnation, mortgages, foreclosures, leases, zoning, title examinations, title actions, closings, and management.
Stockholders' Rights
Pakis Giotes aids in the advancement of stockholders', members', and partners' rights with companies and other stockholders, members, and partners. We often negotiate and document relationships among entity owners and, when desired, the severance of those relationships. Stockholder derivative actions are sometimes necessary, but efforts are typically suggested and made to achieve negotiated or mediated solutions to such disputes.
Taxation
Pakis Giotes represents individuals, businesses, partnerships, corporations, and other entities in matters with tax implications by identifying and addressing state and federal tax issues and structuring transactions in such a way as to minimize taxes and avoid inherent tax problems. Taxes affect everyone. Wage earners, retired persons, small business owners, company executives, partners in investment ventures, and personal investors, as well as those trying to save for a child's education or who are nearing the end of life, are significantly affected by taxes. In representing our clients, Pakis Giotes assists in identifying and addressing various tax-related issues, such as:
- Personal income taxes
- Planning for business sales and acquisitions
- Establishing new businesses
- Restructuring existing business
- Planning transactions between business owners
- Planning real-estate transactions
- Executive compensation planning
- Deferred compensation planning
- Retirement planning
- Planning involving wills, estates, gifts, and trusts
- Charitable planning
- Year end tax planning
Trust Law
Pakis Giotes provides first-class representation of trustees, other fiduciaries, and beneficiaries in connection with all aspects of the administration of trusts. We analyze the use of trusts to minimize the impact of income, estate, and generation-skipping transfer taxes. We represent both beneficiaries and trustees in litigation involving trusts. We ensure that a beneficiary receives the benefits to which he or she is entitled, and in cases where we represent trustees, ensure that the trustee is afforded the protection to which the trustee is granted by law and the trust instrument.
Trust law can be very complex, and we assist our clients in working through trust issues so that a trust is handled and administered in accordance with the law and its purposes. We have unique expertise in specialized areas of trust and estate litigation and have assisted clients as well as consulted with other firms regarding these matters. We have represented beneficiaries of trusts in litigation against trustees for breach of the trustee's duties to the beneficiary. We have also defended trustees, both corporate and individual, in such litigation.
