About

About the Firm – Hollister Legal Services, PLLC – Business and Legal Consultant:

Hollister Legal Services, PLLC (“HLS” or “Firm”) offers its client base attentive, comprehensive high quality business and legal consultant services in business, tax, immigration and other practice areas.  The Firm is distinguished by its expertise in finance, corporate, tax, technology and immigration skill sets.  HLS’ principal mission is to deliver winning solutions for its client base.

HLS’ business and legal consultant services clients can expect to receive value added insights, expertise, responsiveness, and integrity.  HLS works closely with its clients to understand the dynamics of each client’s business, industry, and goals.  The Firm offers its business and legal consultant services with the mindset of building long term relationships with clients by delivering stellar results.

Intellectual wherewithal and an overzealous drive to have HLS’ business and legal consultant clients successfully overcome their issues characterize each legal matter HLS works on for clients.  The Firm applies these directives to every matter – from the complex to the routine – to ensure the best outcomes for its clients.

Practice Areas:

• Corporate and Transactional

The corporate and transactional practice of Hollister Legal Services, PLLC (“HLS” or “Firm”) is committed to providing its clients with cost-effective practical advice designed to add value to a clients’ business.  HLS’ business and legal consultant services provides input suitable to handle all aspects of HLS’ clients’ corporate, organizational, financial and transactional needs.  HLS’ approach allows HLS to serve its clients’ general, as well as specific, business and legal requirements, ranging from business and strategic planning, formation, operation, expansion/acquisition, exit strategy issues and day to day business operations transactions.  Whether HLS’ clients require assistance with a complex acquisition agreement, or creative advice on finding alternative solutions to a service agreement impasse, the Firm is prepared to respond with innovative solutions today’s business arena requires.

• Corporate

HLS’ business and legal consultant services attentively works with clients to convert their business ideas into practical realities.  Whether assisting clients in selecting the right business entity to form, planning and structuring their business entity, creating a business plan to seek funding for a start-up venture, acquisition or merger, or assisting clients in restructuring parent and subsidiary ownership structures, the Firm gives practical business and legal advice for all phases of a business entity’s life cycle.

New Business; Start-Up; Dissolution.  The Firm’s business and legal consultant services counsels clients on the numerous complex issues surrounding creation of new business entities, including structuring and creating the entity, advising clients of tax benefits from choosing one legal entity versus another legal entity, providing capital for the entity and beginning business operations, with a view to ongoing business issues and exit strategies.  HLS also advises clients on the dissolution of a business entity when it is no longer needed.

Business Evaluation; Market Identification.  HLS assists clients in determining business equity and entity value, as well as identifying likely suitors for acquisition of the business or its assets, evaluating whether a company should consider an acquisition or a merger, and identifying alternative strategies to sustain and grow owner assets.

Capitalization.  The Firm counsels clients on methods for diversifying and/or increasing the capital available to a company’s existing business or for new and other activities, and to owners to ensure the liquidity of ownership interests by increasing the amount of company debt and/or modifying the current equity base.

Governing Body; Owner Issues.  HLS’ business and legal consultant services advises clients on compensation issues and drafts compensation agreements for partners, shareholders, members, directors, officers or key management, as well as advises on matters of required notice, minutes, etc. of meetings.  The Firm also counsels business owners on how to address conflicting or divergent interests to ensure liquidity for company equity, to preserve owner relations, and to provide for the orderly transition of control for the business and its owners.

• Transactional

The Firm has significant experience in handling a broad spectrum of transactions.  HLS generally assists clients from the earliest stages of their transactions by evaluating and developing various strategies for achieving their business objectives and structuring the business deals that follow.  HLS also handles all aspects of the transaction process from the initial discussions, letters of intent and deal financing, to negotiating the agreement, performing due diligence and closing the deal.  The Firm has the experience to assist clients with numerous transactions, including complex corporate restructuring transactions, merger and acquisition agreements, developing and interpreting enterprise services agreements, negotiating and structuring joint ventures, preparing master agreements, lease agreements, mezzanine financing agreements, licensing agreements, and marketing agreements across a variety of industries.

e-Commerce; Privacy.  HLS negotiates, drafts and advises its clients on software, multimedia, trademark, licensing, marketing, terms of service, and privacy rules, as well as other e-commerce agreements.

Financing.  The Firm negotiates bank, venture capital and vendor financing on behalf of clients and prepares disclosure documents.

Mergers and Acquisitions.  HLS assists clients with mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, leveraged buyouts, spin-offs, recapitalizations and other corporate restructurings and joint ventures.

Operational Matters.  HLS’ business and legal consultant services negotiates and drafts a wide range of agreements related to the daily business of its clients, such as: customer-specific service arrangements, master service agreements, leases, contracts for goods and services, employment, consulting and severance agreements, confidentiality and non-disclosure agreements, requests for proposal, and license and sponsorship agreements in all fields of business.

• Tax

The tax practice of Hollister Legal Services, PLLC (“HLS” or “Firm”) encompasses federal, state and local tax law in the context of structuring transactions and business enterprises, tax planning and consulting and representing individual and business clients in tax litigation.  HLS advises and represents clients in the following areas:

Federal Individual Taxation: HLS’ business and legal consultant services provides expert advice and counsel to both individuals and privately held corporations regarding all aspects of U.S. taxation, including alternative minimum taxes, passive activity limitations, intricate capital gains issues, foreign earned income exclusion calculations, incentive stock options and at-risk limitations

Corporate/Partnership/LLC Taxation:  The Firm’s business and legal consultant services works closely with clients on diverse and complex issues involving classification of business entity, company agreement, corporate transactions, mergers and acquisitions, partnership taxation, loss limitation rules, disguised sales and built-in gains issues, allocation and disposition of partnership/LLC interests and tax impact of legal entity dissolution.

State and Local Taxation: HLS zealously represents clients in matters involving location income and Texas property tax protest issues.

Litigation and Dispute Resolution: The Firm can represent clients in tax audit and dispute resolution proceedings regarding all types of individual and corporate federal taxes before the IRS and tax court and other federal trial and appellate courts.

• Immigration.

Hollister Legal Services, PLLC (“HLS” or “Firm”) works with companies and multinational corporations to develop and streamline their immigration programs and help them to secure each foreign national’s legal right to work in the United States of America.  The Firm provides the following three (3) core immigration related services to its client base: (i) non-immigrant visas; (ii) immigrant visas; and (iii) immigration compliance.

Non-immigrant Visas.

Temporary Business or Pleasure Visas (B-1/B-2):  The Firm helps foreign citizens generally enter the U.S. for 1 to 6 months period through a B-1 business visa or a B-2 tourist visa.  HLS helps U.S. and foreign employers prepare the necessary documentation to qualify foreign citizen travelers for issuance of multiple entry B-1/B-2 visas.

Visa Waiver Program:  HLS prepares supporting letters and other applicable documents to help foreign citizen business and tourist travelers from qualified countries enter the U.S. for 90 days or less without a B-1/B-2 visa under the “Visa Waiver Program.”

L-1A/L-1B Intracompany Transferee Visas:  HLS attentively helps beneficiaries of this non-immigrant visa prepare the necessary documentation to transfer managers, executives and employees with “specialized knowledge” to the U.S. for up to three years, with the option of extending their L-1 visa in two-year increments (the maximum period of stay is seven years for managers and executives and five years for persons with specialized knowledge).  The Firm also helps clients with over $25 million or more than 1,000 employees to apply for a “blanket L petition,” which saves significant time and expense in transferring personnel from overseas under an L-1 visa.

E-1/E-2 Treaty Trader/Treaty Investor Visas:  The Firm works closely with those clients from qualified countries owning a more than a 50% equity interest of a U.S. subsidiary with which the U.S. has a treaty on international trade and investment on employing foreign citizen workers with the same nationality as the owners of the company to enable the foreign citizen workers to obtain E-1/E-2 visas.

TN-1/TN-2 Visas for Professionals from Canada and Mexico:  HLS provides expert advice to U.S. employers hiring Canadian and Mexican professionals using the TN visa category under North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). TN visas are issued for up to one year at a time, and they can be renewed annually.

H-1B Specialty Occupation; H-2B Workers (Seasonal Workers):  The Firm attentively advises employers and individuals concerning the requirements for H-1B petitions, including: (i) online filing of the labor condition application with the U.S. Department of Labor; (ii) H-1B portability for individuals already in H-1B status changing employers; (iii) posting H-1B hiring notices at the employment facilities; and (iv) maintaining an H-1B public access file for each H-1B worker.  HLS also works closely with employers and visa beneficiaries in obtaining H-2B visas for seasonal workers.

P Visas for Athletes, Entertainers and Dependents:  HLS is readily available to assist internationally recognized athletes, entertainers and their dependents in obtaining P visas.  The 4 types of P visas the Firm can help process are: (i) P-1 visa for an athlete or athletic team member or entertainment group member; (ii) P-2 visa for exchange program artists and entertainers; (iii) P-3 visas for culturally unique artists and entertainers; and (iv) P-4 visas for dependents of athletes and entertainers.

O-1 Extraordinary Ability Individuals:  HLS works closely with O-1 visa applicants possessing extraordinary ability in the sciences, arts, education, business or athletics by helping the applicant build a case showing the extraordinary ability demonstrated through sustained national or international acclaim.

J-1/F-1 Visas:  The Firm counsels prospective J-1/F-1 visa applicants seeking to come to the U.S. in order to attend an academic program as a full time student.  HLS also works closely with those F-1 visa holders entitled to engage in practical training in their field of study.  There are two common types of practical training: (i) curricular practical training; and (ii) optional practical training.

Other Assorted Non-immigrant Visas:  The Firm’s business and legal consultant services also regularly assists clients on issues relating to other nonimmigrant visas for temporary employment in the United States, such as H-3 visas for foreign trainees coming to the United States to receive training that is not available in their home country.

Immigrant Visas

EB-1Green Card (Outstanding Researchers, Multinational Executives and Extraordinary Aliens):  HLS’ business and legal consultant services works closely with its clients to help qualifying foreign citizens obtain employment-based green cards on the basis of the foreign citizen’s extraordinary ability, being an outstanding professor and researcher, or being a multinational executives.

EB-2 Green Card (Professionals with Advanced Degrees and Exceptional Ability Persons):  The Firm attentively helps prepare documents for foreign citizens with exceptional ability and professional workers who have a master’s or higher degree or a bachelor’s degree plus five years of progressive experience after obtaining their bachelor’s degree.

EB-3 Green Card (Professionals and Skilled Workers):  HLS’ business and legal consultant services diligently works with foreign citizens who qualify for EB-3 based green cards.  The Firm spends extensive time with prospective EB-3 green card candidates on passing the stringent labor certification requirements imposed by the U.S. Department of Labor.  The labor certification process involves advertising the job to U.S. workers over a period of six months in a manner that is normal to the company and its industry.

Immediate Relatives:  The Firm’ business and legal consultant services assists spouses, children under the age of 21 or even parents of green card holders and U.S. citizens.  Applying for a spouse involves extensive paperwork and careful structuring of the petition.

U.S. Citizenship:  HLS works closely with clients who wish to apply for U.S. citizenship.  HLS attentively helps its clients build strong cases when the facts enable HLS to do so.

Immigration Compliance

H-1B Public Access Files:  The Firm advises employers of H-1B workers on how to post a notice at the time of hiring a foreign citizen as a worker and how to maintain a public access file until one year beyond the validity of the H 1B petition (or one year after termination of employment, if sooner).

I-9 Employment Verification:  HLS’ business and legal consultant services can work closely with clients to design and implement an I-9 employment verification system to verify work eligibility of all workers and to keep related records, including the I-9 Employment Eligibility Verification Form.  Failure to fully comply with these regulations can result in employer sanctions.

Immigration Issues Arising From Mergers and Acquisitions.  The Firm offers clients insights on immigration consequences from mergers and acquisition transactions.

• Other Practice Areas

Hollister Legal Services, PLLC offers business and legal consultant services to its clients in other select practice areas, such as civil and criminal litigation and anti-trust.  The decision of whether to pursue engagements with clients in other practice areas is decided on a case by case basis.

Contact

General Information or Website Assistance

• Email HLS at info@hollisterlegal.com;
• Office Address: 4501 Shoal Creek Blvd.

Austin, TX 78756

• Phone:  (512) 970-1644
• Fax:  Pending.

Attorneys

• Use HLS Attorney Search

• Drill Down Pg. – Pg. 2 of Attorney Search.

• Two different search methodologies:
  1. Find by Name – Underneath this title have a data entry field where a name can be typed.  Under the data entry field have a hot button to take the Site user to the attorney’s bio and contact information.
  2. Full List of Attorneys and Professionals – Have hot button to take a viewer to full attorney list.
     • Once hot button pushed, then user will be taken to a 3^rd pg. with list of individuals based on a 3 column format: (i) Name; (ii) title; and (iii) office.

Buck Hollister Biography:

Mr. Hollister has a broad spectrum of domestic and international experience to draw upon when advising clients in the corporate, transactional, tax, immigration and other practice areas offered by Hollister Legal Services, PLLC.  Mr. Hollister’s extensive business and legal skill set enables him to quickly understand the client’s business pain issues and find cost effective solutions.  This ability enables Mr. Hollister to approach client issues from both a business and legal consultant standpoint.  This legal/business skill set combo saves clients time in that the clients do not need to take additional time to explain basic business concepts and terminology.  Mr. Hollister’s business/legal combination enables him to better execute on client transactional matters more efficiently and effectively.

Significant Accomplishments:

• Played instrumental role designing client’s venture capital structure and successful launch of operations.  Client to date made several strategic investments and formed critical commercial relationships conducive to its parent company’s next generation technology needs.

• Educated foreign client’s executive management on the financial and legal steps to successfully execute merger and acquisition (“M&A”) transactions.  Efforts overcame client’s reluctance to execute M&A transactions and TEL now actively seeks M&A targets.

• Team leader in structuring a software company’s software licensing business model.  Efforts enabled the software company to license its software portfolio and achieve positive operating margins.

• Educated foreign client’s managers on patent assignments, royalty payment issues and licensing IP rights.  Initiative enabled the foreign client to commence generating license and royalty revenues.

• Re-engineered a client’s immigration process basing the processing format on a peer-to-peer hosted IT platform.  Efforts reduced the client’s annual direct and indirect costs nearly 60%.

• Work experience at both spectrums of company life cycle and with diverse international cultures (startup vs. mature and established global corporate environments).  Experience enables better project results and knowledge of how to create a closely knit team work environment.

• Gained invaluable insights as a plaintiff’s attorney on how to structure M&A transactions and corporate governance techniques to use for minimizing shareholder class-action litigation.

• Assumed critical role on investment team acquiring company’s assets from chapter 11 bankruptcy estate and successful relaunch of the client’s commercial operations.

Education

Temple University, Philadelphia, PA

Juris Doctor/Master in Business Administration – Finance (May, 1998)

• Recipient of Dean’s Certificate of Excellence in the MBA Program.

University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI.

Bachelor of Business Administration (December 1994)

Majors: Accounting; Finance; Risk Manage.; Marketing; Specialization – International Business

• Achieved Dean’s List status

Certifications

• Bar certified in Texas, New York, California, New Jersey, and the District of Columbia.
• Texas CPA.

Privacy Policy:

Effective Date of Current Policy: August 1, 2008

Introduction

This Privacy Policy describes the personally identifiable information Hollister Legal Services, PLLC (“HLS” or “Firm”) collects in the United States through the HLS website located at www.hollisterlegal.com (the “Site”) and how HLS’ business and legal consultant services uses that information.  By submitting data on the HLS Site, the visitor is providing explicit consent to transborder transmission of data collected on the Site for the fulfillment of their voluntary requests.  Please note that this Privacy Policy applies solely to the Firm’s online information-gathering and dissemination practices in connection with the Site, and does not apply to any of HLS’ practices conducted offline or outside the United States of America. If you have any questions or comments about this Privacy Policy or the Firm’s practices regarding your personally identifiable information, please contact HLS at info@hollisterlegalservices.com.

The Information HLS Collects

HLS collects two types of information about users of its Site:

(1) Non-personally identifiable information: HLS may use cookies to collect non-personally identifiable information in connection with the Site.  HLS’ web pages may incorporate tracking technologies, such as “web beacons”, “pixel tags”, or similar tracking technologies (collectively, “Tracking Technologies”) that allow HLS or its agents to track the actions of users of our Site.  Tracking Technologies are used to collect non-personally identifiable information, such as the IP address of the computer you are using and the name of your internet service provider, the type of operating system and browser software that you use, the website address, if any, from which you linked directly to the Firm’s Site, the date and time you access HLS’ Site, the website address, if any, to which you travel from HLS’ Site, and other similar traffic-related information.  HLS may aggregate data collected from other users and your information to help the Firm improve its Site and the services that HLS provides through its Site.  The Firm does not use such data in any way to create or maintain a personal profile of you or collect personally identifiable information from you.

(2) Personally identifiable information: In general, you do not have to provide HLS with your personally identifiable information to use this Site.  However, certain services to which you may subscribe through this Site (e.g., HLS email messages, legal updates and “events”) may require you to provide personally identifiable information, such as your name, physical address, and email address.  HLS uses such personally identifiable information to respond to your inquiries and to send you publications or newsletters you request.  You may also receive other mailings relating to HLS seminars or events that HLS thinks may be of interest to you.  If you decide at any time that you no longer wish to receive mailings from the Firm, please refer to the paragraph below headed “Changing or Deleting Personal Information”.

If you contact HLS by email through the Site, HLS may keep a record of your contact information and correspondence, and the Firm reserves the right to use your email address, and any information that you provide to HLS in your message, to respond thereto.  In addition, on rare occasions, HLS may send by email important administrative information regarding the Site or services to users who have provided the Firm with their email addresses; because this information may be important to your use of the Site, it is not possible to “opt out” of receiving these emails.

The Firm’s Site is not directed to children under thirteen (13) years of age, and HLS does not knowingly collect personally identifiable information from such children.  If you are younger than thirteen, please do not provide any personally identifiable information while using the Site.

How HLS Uses the Information The Firm Gathers

Generally, HLS’ business and legal consultant services will not disclose personally identifiable information the Firm collects through your use of the Site to unaffiliated third parties.  HLS reserves the right, however, to provide such information to Firm employees, contractors, agents, and designees to enable them to perform certain Site-related services (e.g., web hosting, improve Site-related services and features, or maintenance services) on HLS’ behalf.  The Firm also reserves the right to disclose such information to any third party if HLS believes is required to do so for any or all of the following reasons: (i) to comply with legal processes or governmental requests; (ii) legislative or common law; (iii) to prevent, investigate, detect, or prosecute criminal offenses or attacks on the technical integrity of the Site or HLS’ network; and/or (iv) to protect the rights, property, or safety of the Firm and its affiliates, their partners, and employees, the users of the Site, or the public in general.

Changing or Deleting Personal Information

If you no longer wish to receive materials from HLS, or you would like to change your personal information, or if or want your personal information removed from HLS’ database, please contact HLS at info@hollisterlegal.com.  Alternatively, when you receive materials from the Firm by email or other communications you can make use of the “opt out” provision in such communications so that HLS knows you no longer wish to receive such materials from HLS.

Security

HLS seeks to adopt commercially reasonable security measures consistent with legal industry practice to assist in protecting against the loss, misuse, and alteration of personally identifiable information which is under the Firm’s control.  Unfortunately, no system of transmitting data over the Internet or security system for that matter, can be guaranteed to be 100% secure.  Therefore, while HLS undertakes commercially reasonable efforts to protect your personally identifiable information, the Firm cannot guarantee any information provided to HLS or to any third party through or in connection with the Site, the security of HLS servers or the means by which information is transmitted between your computer and HLS servers.  You provide all such information entirely at your own risk.

Revisions to Privacy Policy

The Internet and the benefits it offers are evolving rapidly; therefore, HLS therefore reserves the right to update and revise this Privacy Policy at any time.  You can determine if this Privacy Policy has been revised since your last visit by referring to the “Effective Date of Current Policy” date at the top of this page. Your use of the Firm Site constitutes your acceptance of the terms of the Privacy Policy as amended or revised by HLS, and you should therefore review this Privacy Policy regularly to ensure your awareness of its terms.

Change of Control Transfers

The Firm reserves the right to transfer any and all information that HLS collects from users, or that HLS otherwise collects in connection with the Site, including, without limitation, to unaffiliated third parties or third parties (i.e., other legal entities of HLS), in the event of a sale or transfer of assets or of any portion of the Firm’s business.

Links to Other Sites

The Firm’s Site may contain links to other websites.  Please be aware that HLS is not and cannot be responsible for the privacy practices of such other websites and that this Privacy Policy applies solely to the information which the Firm collects through this Site.  Therefore, you should read the privacy statements of all the destination websites which you visit.