LLC & Entity Formation
Texas LLCs, S-Corps, C-Corps, and series LLCs structured for tax efficiency, asset protection, and clean cap tables.
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Austin · Business Law · Since 2011
Counsel that grows with your business.
Sterling & Hayes Legal is an Austin-based law firm built for small businesses, startups, and founders. We translate complex business law into clear decisions — so you can stop guessing and start scaling.
14+Years in Texas
620+SMBs Advised
$1.2BDeals Supported
5.0★Client Rating
Top-Rated Austin Firm
Texas Bar · Avvo 10/10 · Super Lawyers
Trusted by Austin's growing companies
Riverbend Coffee Co.
Northloop Robotics
Maple & Vine Hospitality
Atlas Freight
Hill Country Cellars
Citron Health
Our Approach
We are the lawyers founders actually want to call.
Most small businesses hire a law firm twice: once at formation, and once when something goes wrong. We believe that's a broken model. We embed with our clients as a working business partner — flat-rate scopes, plain-English advice, and the same lawyers on the phone every time.
Predictable, fixed-fee scopes
Know exactly what something costs before we start. No surprise bills.
Direct partner access
You work with senior attorneys, not a rotating bench of associates.
Founder-speed turnaround
Most contract reviews returned within 48 hours. Yes, really.
What We Do
Full-stack legal counsel for the lifecycle of your business.
From the day you form your entity to the day you exit — we are the outside general counsel that growing businesses lean on for clear, commercial, founder-friendly advice.
Contracts & Agreements
MSAs, SaaS terms, vendor agreements, NDAs, partnerships — drafted, reviewed, and negotiated to protect your downside.
Learn more →Employment Law
Offer letters, handbooks, contractor agreements, equity grants, separations — full lifecycle employer compliance.
Learn more →Intellectual Property
IP audits, licensing, assignment agreements, trade-secret protection, and disputes — your IP is the business.
Learn more →Trademarks
USPTO clearance, filing, prosecution, and policing. Lock down your brand before someone else does.
Learn more →Regulatory Compliance
Privacy, consumer protection, advertising, industry-specific compliance — stay clean as you scale into new markets.
Learn more →M&A & Exits
Buy-side and sell-side counsel for SMB acquisitions, asset deals, and founder exits — diligence to closing.
Learn more →Business Litigation
Contract disputes, partnership disputes, IP and employment claims — strategic resolution, in or out of court.
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Outside General Counsel
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Fractional GC programs
A predictable monthly retainer that gives you a senior business lawyer on call — without the in-house headcount.
Industries We Serve
Deep bench experience across the verticals driving Austin's economy.
We work across many sectors, but these three are where most of our small business clients live — and where we move fastest.
Technology & SaaS Startups
SAFEs, priced rounds, equity, IP assignments, SaaS terms, AI/data privacy — everything tech founders need to ship.
For tech founders →Restaurants & Hospitality
Leases, liquor licensing, franchise structures, vendor and labor compliance — protecting hospitality margins.
For operators →E-Commerce & Retail
Terms of service, FTC compliance, returns & payment disputes, trademark protection, platform issues.
For e-commerce →
Selected Work
All case studies
Real outcomes for real Austin businesses.
SaaS · Acquisition
Sell-side counsel for a $42M SaaS exit.
We led diligence response, drafted reps & warranties, and closed an asset deal for an Austin DevTools company in 11 weeks.
$42MDeal Value
11 wksLOI to Close
0Post-Close Claims
Hospitality · Franchise
Multi-unit franchise structure for an Austin restaurant group.
Designed a holding-company structure, FDD, and unit-level operating agreements to support 7-unit expansion.
7Locations
3 statesFootprint
$1.8MTax Savings
E-Commerce · Trademark
Brand rescue for a DTC home-goods seller hit with a takedown.
Reversed an Amazon takedown, registered the federal trademark, and reclaimed listing control inside of 19 days.
19 daysListing Restored
$0Settlement
1Federal Reg.
620+
Small businesses advised since 2011
$1.2B
In closed transactions supported
96%
Client retention year over year
48hr
Typical contract turnaround
What Clients Say
The kind of relationship most lawyers don't offer.
Sterling & Hayes is the rare firm that picks up the phone and gives you a real answer. They closed our Series A in record time and saved us from a cap-table mistake that would have haunted us for years.
I've worked with three Austin firms over the past decade. Margaret and her team are the first who actually understand how a restaurant group operates. They make the legal part feel boring — in the best way.
We had an Amazon takedown that could have killed Q4. Sterling & Hayes had us back live in 19 days and registered our federal trademark on top of it. Flat fee. No drama.
Insights
All insights
Practical reading for Texas founders.
Guide · 7 min read
LLC vs. S-Corp in Texas: which one actually saves you money?
A no-jargon comparison of the two structures Texas founders ask about most — including the franchise-tax wrinkle most don't see coming.
Guide · 9 min read
Five founders-agreement mistakes that destroy startups before product-market fit.
Most co-founder fallouts trace back to language that was missing from the founding documents. Fix these before you have to litigate.
Ready to put a real business lawyer in your corner?
Schedule a 30-minute consultation. No pitch, no pressure — just a clear conversation about what you need and how (or whether) we can help.