The Short Version
I'm a corporate attorney with 25 years of practice, bar admissions in four states and two countries, and three tours as General Counsel of public companies. I've built legal departments from scratch, managed teams of more than 30 people across three departments, and negotiated transactions on both sides of the U.S.–Canada border.
Today I'm a partner at Scale LLP, a national law firm of 80+ attorneys founded by former tech company General Counsels. My office is on Bridge Street in Granbury, Texas — and my clients are everywhere from Hood County to Toronto.
The Longer Version
I didn't start in Granbury. My early career was built in corporate law — the kind of work that puts you in conference rooms where the stakes are high and the details matter. I learned quickly that the lawyers clients trust most aren't the ones with the most credentials on the wall. They're the ones who understand the business behind the legal question.
That insight shaped everything that followed.
The GC Years
I served as General Counsel three times — at three different companies, in three different industries, across two countries. Each time, I built the legal department from zero. Not inherited a team. Not stepped into an existing structure. Started with a blank page, a mandate from the board, and the job of making it work.
Those years taught me things you can't learn in outside practice. When you're the GC, you don't get to give advice and walk away. You live with the consequences. You sit in the board meetings. You manage the people. You own the risk. And you learn to think about law the way a CEO thinks about it — as one input into a business decision, not the whole decision.
I managed three departments and more than 30 people. I navigated SEC filings, public company disclosure obligations, equity compensation plans, and the daily reality of keeping a publicly traded company on the right side of the line. I did it on behalf of companies listed on both the NYSE and the TSX.
Two Countries
I'm dual-licensed in the United States and Canada — admitted to practice on both sides of the border. That's not common, and it matters more than most people think.
Cross-border transactions aren't just regular deals with a passport stamp. They involve two securities frameworks, two tax systems, two sets of governance expectations, and a translation layer between them that most attorneys don't have. I've guided companies through U.S. public listings via de-SPAC transactions, managed dual-listing processes on the TSX and NYSE, built governance frameworks that satisfy both Canadian and American regulators, and advised boards that sit across two jurisdictions.
When a deal crosses the border, I don't need to bring in a second firm for the other side. I am the other side.
Why Granbury
People ask me this. The answer is simple.
I spent years in boardrooms in large cities working on transactions that most attorneys in small markets never see. And in those years, I watched business owners outside major metros get underserved. They had two options: hire a Dallas or Houston firm that charged $800 an hour and treated them as a small file, or work with a local attorney who was excellent at formation documents and real estate closings but didn't have the depth for sophisticated transactions.
I wanted to be the third option — the attorney who brings boardroom experience to business owners who deserve it, without the overhead, the hierarchy, or the associate churn that comes with big-firm practice.
Granbury is home. My office is on the town square. My clients range from local businesses with five employees to public companies with operations across North America. The work is the same caliber it was when I sat in the GC chair. The address is just better.
What I Believe
Business owners outside major metros deserve the same caliber of counsel that companies in Manhattan and San Francisco take for granted. Not a watered-down version. Not "good enough for a small market." The same depth, the same rigor, the same strategic thinking — delivered by someone who has been on the inside, who has sat in the chair, and who chose to make this experience accessible.
That's what I'm building here. And it's why I chose Granbury.