“After taking business transactions apart in the courtroom for more than twenty years, clients (and opponents) began asking me to work on their transactions from the front and prevent the ten most common problems from ever occurring in the first place.”

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James Montgomery

I am the San Antonio business lawyer who works with people in buying and selling businesses, planning for the future, and to get out of financial trouble.

For the last thirty years, I have tried cases for plaintiffs and defendants in State and Federal courts from California to Texas to Delaware. I have been the advocate for individuals and small companies as well as companies in the Fortune 100.  Those litigation cases have ranged from representing thousands of homeowners for broken plastic pipe in their homes to oil royalty disputes to breach of confidentiality agreements.

After literally taking business transactions apart in the courtroom for years, clients (and opponents) began asking me to work on the transactions from the beginning to try to prevent the problems from ever occurring.  In that stance, I have helped buyers and sellers in the sales of businesses ranging from large retail stores and manufacturing facilities to insurance agencies.  I have helped clients buy multi-million dollar, multi-story office buildings and and negotiate commercial lease agreements.

I work to improve the way my clients do business if that fits their goals.  I help design corporate structures and business transactions to increase profit, minimize taxes, and  make sure that assets are protected from lawsuits.  Having filed many suits and obtain judgments, I have learned where the potholes will be.

My business advice programs are based on regular review and meetings in order to get to know the client’s business and plans in more depth than is possible in the normal “hire a lawyer only when in trouble”.  It will cost a lot more for me to get you out of trouble than it would cost to keep you out of trouble in the first place.

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I have been named a SuperLawyer in Texas and featured in Texas Monthly.

My lawyer peers have granted me “AV” which is Martindale Hubbell’s (rating agency) highest peer rating for lawyers.

I have presented papers and spoken to audiences that range from service clubs to the State Bar of Texas Continuing Legal Education seminars. I was recently named Individual Finalist, San Antonio Ethics In Business Award, 2009 by the San Antonio Business Journal.

If you have been following The Montgomery Letter, you have read the stories and advice about “firing yourself” from your business.

People usually laugh when they read that phrase because they are not really sure what I am asking them.

If you own a business, there are several ways to fire yourself and we are talking about freedom from the 60 to 70 hour weeks that many business owners find themselves doing EVERY week.  When I interview prospective client business owners, we go through a series of questions about their involvement in the business.  “If you take off a week, what will happen to the income of the business?”  “Two weeks” “Three weeks”, etc.

Firing yourself can be implementing systems so that you only have to work 20 hours per week and do quality control rather than being the technician who actually does all of the work.  The advantage here is that you keep good cashflow and the asset of your business.

Firing yourself can be preparing your business for sale or for transition to new management.

What “firing yourself” is really about is being able to have the time and the money to do the things that are important to you.

Let’s face it.  Most people start careers and businesses to make money every month so they can pay the bills every month.  Since the bills never stop, they continue with their careers and businesses.  We are fully trained by society that that path is the one everyone follows.

Then you reach retirement age and suddenly you are retired.  I was talking with a good friend at dinner the other night who mentioned that he now is facing mandatory retirement at a certain age.

So you are retired, now what do you do?

My point is simple.  You need a plan, a business plan if you will, for how you will obtain time and money freedom.  After all there is no rule that says that you are only allowed time and money freedom once you reach 55 or 60 or 67.

You cannot wait until then to have a plan anymore than you can suddenly decide you are going to sell your business in the next 60 days without making preparation.

Here is an interview with a financial planner who faced retirement and admits that she really can’t retire.

Read the story.

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