Fueling growth in the South
Burr & Forman has been a driving force for economic development in the Southeast since the early 1990’s. Lee Thuston was Alabama Counsel for the negotiations that brought Mercedes-Benz to Alabama in 1993. Since that time, we have represented new economic development projects and expansions that have brought over $12 billion of capital investment and the creation of more than 12,000 new jobs to the Southeast.
We have an established multidisciplinary team of lawyers dedicated to the start-up of economic development projects. Practice areas of our economic development team include:
Site Selection
We have extensive experience assisting clients with multi-state and intra-state site evaluation and location. We maintain close working relationships with professional site consultants and are a natural compliment to their services.
Incentive Negotiation
One of the strengths the practice group is our hands-on experience with negotiating incentives packages for economic development clients. One benefit is that when we negotiate an incentives package our loyalties are not compromised given that we represent the prospective business not the state or local governments or utilities. We have been company counsel on a large number of the significant incentives packages negotiated in the Southeast.
Incentive Implementation
An often-overlooked but critical part of an economic development project is the incentive implementation process. A significant amount of time is often required to ensure that the incentives offered by the state and local governments and utilities are delivered in a satisfactory manner that meets the company’s schedule.
Choice of Entity and Tax Structure
Our business and tax lawyers provide guidance to the start-up company for issues relating to choice of business entity, corporate governance and tax structures.
Construction
Our construction group assists economic development clients start-to-finish with their construction needs. This involves negotiating project manager/general contractor agreements, overseeing the bidding process, negotiation of contractor packages, and resolving change order and pay request disputes.
Real Estate
Our real estate lawyers have extensive experience in working through title, survey, and other due diligence issues which impact the automotive industry, including negotiating easements and other agreements with railroads, leases and licenses with on-site and off-site automotive suppliers and warehouses, and lease-purchase agreements with governmental entities.
Environmental Permitting
Our environmental group advises and assists clients on matters relating to permit requirements and related regulatory compliance. This involves identification of environmental regulatory issues, identification of relevant sequence of permits where applicable, negotiation with regulatory officials as to content and timing of permits, and advice on compliance with related regulatory obligations. Where necessary we represent clients in any challenges by third parties to environmental permits. We also frequently assist clients in identifying consultants and coordinating and reviewing their work to assure that it meets local environmental requirements and time limits.
Infrastructure Contract Negotiation
We have extensive experience negotiating infrastructure contracts with the providers of electricity, natural gas, water and sewer and telecommunications services.
Government Relations
While we do not represent any state and local governments, we have established a solid working relationship with them over the years. We often act as a conduit between our clients and state and local governments.