- Business TransactionsElkins, PLC offers a full menu of business representation services to our clients. Our corporate clientele consists of publicly held companies, state and local governmental bodies, as well as locally owned, closely held businesses. Our representation of these clients includes corporate finance and securities work, corporate organizations and reorganizations, mergers, acquisitions, major commercial financing transactions, banking, bankruptcy and general contract work. Our Team is experienced in the offering of securities, as well as in the areas of real estate partnership syndications, commercial development and venture capital, vessel and bond financings. Tax planning related to all of these activities is an integral part of our practice. We are also experienced in international tax transactions involving foreign ownership of real estate, investments in U.S. businesses and international commercial transactions.
- Limited Liability Companies
- Intellectual Property
- Unfair CompetitionElkins, PLC advises clients on the creation, maintenance and enforcement of the intellectual property rights of our clients, on a state, national and international basis. Our Team provides assistance in the selection and use of trademarks and copyrights, and handles registration procedures before state trademark offices, and in the United States Patent and Trademark Office and U.S. Copyright office and in the prosecution of foreign trademarks. Where trademark and copyright protection is unavailable, we advise clients on methods to protect trade secrets, know-how and other proprietary information ranging from customer lists to manufacturing processes. We also provide counsel on issues concerning misappropriation, unfair competition, covenants not to compete, confidentiality and non-solicitation agreements.
- Workers Compensation
- Real Estate LitigationElkins, PLC provides advocacy and business-focused counsel to manage risks and resolve business and commercial disputes of any size. No matter the forum (state or federal court, state or federal agency, or mediation or arbitration panel), we work side-by-side with each client to set goals, develop cost-effective plans to implement them and work effectively to achieve those goals. We find that a measured, analytical business based approach to litigation that relies on motion practice to narrow or eliminate issues brings our clients better, more cost-efficient results. Our Team litigates in many diverse areas including Construction, Bankruptcy, Commercial and Business, General Civil, Intellectual Property, Life, Health, Disability and ERISA, Probate, Real Estate Litigation, Tax, both State and Federal; and Securities and Corporate.
- Construction LitigationElkins, PLC sits at the forefront of legal representation in real estate projects at the local, state and national levels. Our real estate practice spans the development of residential, mixed-use, commercial and resort properties, acquisition, disposition, financing and leasing of real estate projects. We represent developers, investors and lenders in secured and unsecured financing transactions, including construction, permanent and mezzanine financing. Our Team’s understanding of the legal, tax and financing considerations unique to real estate development allows us to advise clients from initial inception to exit, including structuring of financing, treatment of tax considerations, compliance with local, state and federal laws, land use and zoning compliance and variations, construction law and leasing matters. Our wealth of experience and resources allows our team to get the most complex transactions structured, documented and closed in a timely and efficient manner.
- Easement
- Land Use and ZoningElkins, PLC understands the complexities associated with development of property including local zoning, planning and other land use considerations. Our Team assists clients in obtaining necessary zoning, planning and variance approvals by working with local government jurisdictions and agencies. We work with clients to process zoning change requests, waivers, and re-subdivisions to address specific project needs.
- Personal InjuryIn a case of first impression, the firm successfully sued the defendant in a personal injury case to recover litigation proceeds that the defendant had paid over to the plaintiff and her attorney after having been timely provided with notice that any recovery by the plaintiff and her attorney had been assigned to the firm’s client, a champerty lender, which had loaned money to the plaintiff and her attorney in connection with the prosecution of the underlying litigation.
- Estate PlanningElkins, PLC has extended its dispute resolution framework to include mediation. Utilizing its experience in resolving commercial disputes, including those arising in Construction, Bankruptcy, Commercial and Business, General Civil, Intellectual Property, Life, Health, Disability and ERISA, Probate, Real Estate Litigation, Tax, both State and Federal; and Securities and Corporate arenas, Elkins, PLC assists private parties in reaching mutually agreed resolutions to ongoing matters, saving both the aggravation and expense of litigation and/or arbitration. Mediator
- WillsElkins, PLC assists clients with a variety of personal planning for individuals, families and fiduciaries including the preparation of wills and trusts, health care and financial decision making, planning for disabled family members, asset protection planning, gifting programs, charitable giving, long-term care planning, retirement planning, business succession planning and marital property agreements. Our Team develops valuable strategies for individuals, as well as for multi-generational and complex holdings. We negotiate and structure corporate, real estate, partnership and other types of business transactions, including family partnerships and limited liability companies as part of the overall estate planning process. We also advise fiduciaries and beneficiaries of estates and trusts in negotiating settlements of family disputes and provide advice on valuation and tax issues in gift and estate matters. We represent succession representatives and heirs in the litigation process, as well as estates and donors in audits and litigation with the IRS.
- Trusts
- Probate
- BankruptcyElkins, PLC provides its clients sound and economically reasoned advice in all aspects of the bankruptcy, from filing the initial petitions through assisting companies and individuals emerging from bankruptcy. Our Team represents creditors, debtors and other persons interested in the outcome of both large and small commercial bankruptcy matters. We also represent our clients in adversary proceedings in bankruptcy court applying both federal bankruptcy law and state substantive law.
- ForeclosureThe firm successfully fought an attempt by Whitney National Bank to have the Recorder of Mortgages of Orleans Parish remove a Notice of Lis Pendens (pending litigation) that had been filed by the firm’s client against property which Whitney claimed to own as a result of a “friendly foreclosure,” to which the firm’s client, the then owner of the property, had agreed. Subsequent actions led to a dispute over the true owner of the property, which led to the filing of the notice of lis pendens. In a case of first impression, the firm successfully defeated Whitney’s claim that the lis pendens violated federal law precluding any pre-judgment attachment against a national banking association or its property.
- Tax LawElkins, PLC provides comprehensive services to clients involved with the development and restoration of historic properties, including structuring of financing, negotiations with tax credit investors, real estate and tax issues involved in the acquisition, construction, placement in service, operation and exit strategies for historic projects. Our Team has more than thirty years of experience in representing owners, developers, investors and lenders on projects throughout the U.S. that rely upon Federal and State Historic Rehabilitation Tax Credits as an integral part of their financing structure, equating to billions of dollars of development. We are widely recognized for our work with Historic Rehabilitation Tax Credits.