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Barbara Lamar
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Barbara Lamar
Barbara Lamar, PLLC
2600 McCullough Ave.
San Antonio, TX 78212
Phone: (210) 223-9389 | Fax: (866) 251-4923
http://www.tax-lawyer-texas.com
Friend & Advocate of Small Business for Over 20 Years.
Legal Topic
Business Law
Preferred New Clients
My favorite clients are closely held businesses with 1 to 25 employees. Start-ups are fun, but I also enjoy working with on-going businesses.
Sub-Categories
Business Formation & Dissolution
- Business Successions
- Buying & Selling
- Closely Held Businesses
- Corporations
- Directors' & Officers' Liability
- Franchising
- Joint Ventures
- Limited Liability Companies (LLCs)
- Mergers, Acquisitions & Divestitures
- Nonprofits & Tax-Exempt Corporations
- Partnerships
- Professional Corporations
- Audit Defense
- Corporate Income Taxes
- International Taxes
- IRS Disputes
- Negotiating Payments & Settlements
- Payroll Taxes
- Sales Taxes
- Tax Evasion Defense
- Tax Filing & Compliance
- Franchises
- International Taxation
Bar Admissions
TX, Nov 1987
Bar Number: 01434250
Other Court Admissions
All Texas courts; US Tax Court; Federal Court Western District of Texas; Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals
Association Memberships
State Bar of Texas; San Antonio Bar Association; Austin Bar Association
Continuing Education
I have taught at St. Edwards University, in Austin, Texas. I always exceed the required amount of continuing education hours for both my law and CPA licenses.
Papers and Publications
Oil and Gas Royalties as Personal Holding Company Income (Oil & Gas Tax Quarterly); Panterra Newsletter; Small Business Book of Lists, contributor
Example Cases
Our firm works with a network of other law and accounting firms to provide integrated legal, bookkeeping, accounting, and consulting services in all areas that a small business is likely to need.
If you become our client, we will take a personal interest in your business - we want to know more about your business and you, to help you plan, maximize profits, minimize risk, identify options, overcome obstacles, and maintain control of your personal life while achieving your business goals.
Depending on whose statistics you believe, 60% to 80% of small businesses fail before their fifth birthdays. We work hard to help our clients be among the businesses that make it past that fifth birthday and on, to be a source of personal fulfillment and financial independence for their owners.
Education
Degree:
J.D.
School:
University of Texas School of Law
City:
Austin
State:
TX
Year:
1986
Focus and Accomplishments:
Tax and Business Law
Degree:
M.B.A.
School:
University of Texas McCombs School of Business
City:
Austin
State:
TX
Year:
1982
Focus and Accomplishments:
Federal Taxation
Number of Attorneys
1
State Licensed In
Texas
Firm Focus and History
Our firm has been representing small businesses and their owners since 1987. We focus on closely held businesses and their owners. Our goal is to help our clients maximize their after tax profits, while staying out of trouble with the IRS. We can help if our clients have legal or tax problems, but we very much prefer to avoid problems in the first place. We like for our clients to understand their tax and legal issues and are happiest when our clients are closely involved with the work we do for them.
Previous Employment Summary
I began my business career as a CPA, working for Arthur Andersen. I decided that I preferred working with small businesses and left Arthur Andersen to start my own practice in 1984. I attended law school at the University of Texas at Austin while running my CPA practice out of my home. After graduating from law school and passing the bar exam in 1987, I moved to a "real" office. I have been working with closely held businesses for over 20 years now. I love my work and hope to continue doing it for at least another 20 years.
What is your opinion regarding clients educating themselves on legal issues?
I encourage clients to understand their legal and tax issues. I very much prefer working with clients who are well-informed and who are willing to stay closely involved in the work we do for them.
Are you willing to review documents prepared by clients?
I am always willing to review documents clients have prepared themselves. With contracts, I have found that a true meeting of the minds between the parties is far more valuable than having the document written in perfect "Legalese." Legal documents that only a lawyer can understand do a disservice to the client -- how can there be a meeting of the minds if no one understands what the thing says? I often give clients a checklist of items they need to discuss, and ask them to write the contract in their own words. After they have done this, I add the finishing touches.
Are you willing to coach clients who want to represent themselves?
Most of the time, my clients do not want to represent themselves. However, if they do, I am certainly willing to coach them.
Why did you decide to be a lawyer?
I already had a CPA firm serving closely held businesses and wanted to offer my clients a more complete range of services. I noticed that clients often did not seek legal help until they were in trouble, often really bad trouble. If their CPA is also their lawyer, they tend to call and ask for legal advice more readily than they would if they had to go out and find a lawyer.
What work experience and education helps you be a better lawyer?
Over 20 years of experience working with closely held businesses; running my own businesses starting with raising chickens and selling eggs when I was 12 years old (I did not grow up on a farm, and my parents did not sell farm products -- this was my own enterprise).
Why did you decide on your primary area of practice?
I have always been fascinated by entrepreneurship, and I learned how to do accounting at an early age. When I was a kid, my dad used to make me keep an accounting of how I spent my allowance. If the books weren't balanced, I didn't get my allowance. I never considered any kind of law other than business and tax.
What do you like best about your career?
Seeing all the different ways people think of to make money and working with some of the most wonderful people in the world.
Tell us about your law firm:
I have a very smart tax expert who helps with tax return preparation, a detail-oriented bookkeeper, and an office manager who keeps everything flowing smoothly. All of my clients deal directly with me at some point, but since our clients are mostly small businesses, there are budgets to think about. Our policy is to have each task performed by the lowest-priced and most qualified person.
What are your strengths and style?
My strengths are intelligence, optimism - I tend to say "Let's figure out a way to do it" rather than saying "You can't do that." I have experience, and I care about my clients' businesses as though they were my own. My style is informal, first-name, laid back, but at the same time hard-working.
Personal Interests:
Entrepreneurship, studying the effects of technology on business, gardening, hiking (both city streets and mountain trails), and raising chickens.
Office Manager/Assistant
Ceilia Keller
Fax
(866) 251-4923
Office Hours
Monday through Friday
9:00 am to 5:00 pm
Evenings and weekends by appointment.
Emergency After Hours
Yes
Foreign Languages
Spanish
Additional Offices
Information coming soon., TX
By Appointment Only
Information coming soon., TX
(512) 535-6892
Fixed-Price Services and Fees
Please see my website www.tax-lawyer-texas.com for a fee schedule. We offer flat fees for many services.
Hourly Rates
$250 for attorney
$60 for assistant
$60 for tax return preparer
$45 for bookkeeper (we provide accounting, tax, and bookkeeping services as well as legal services)
Free Initial Consultation?
Free if by phone. $50 if in person, but the initial consultation is free, and the $50 is applied to our first bill, if the client hires us. If the client does not hire us, we keep the $50.
Typical Retainer
No typical retainer
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Attorneys have passed a licensing check. Nolo has confirmed that every member attorney has a valid license and is in good standing with the applicable bar associations upon joining the directory.
Directory lawyers are required to notify Nolo immediately if they become the subject of any disciplinary action by any bar association.
