Austin Light Email and Phone Number

Austin's practice focuses on developing comprehensive, individually tailored estate plans to minimize estate, gift, and generation-skipping transfer taxes and provide an efficient and effective means for transferring wealth. Austin is skilled in navigating family and other relationship dynamics to develop strategic, successful estate plans that address both economic and non-economic concerns with a dedication to understanding the special needs of clients and their families.Austin is experienced in guiding clients in planning for the management of assets and personal care in the event of death or disability through the use of foundational estate planning documents, such as wills, revocable living trusts, durable powers of attorney, medical powers of attorney, advanced directives (or living wills), and declarations of guardians.Austin also drafts and counsels clients on establishing and maintaining sophisticated trusts, including irrevocable life insurance trusts (ILITs), spousal lifetime access trusts (SLATs), grantor retained annuity trusts (GRATs), beneficiary defective inheritor trusts (BDITs or 678 trusts), charitable lead trusts (CLTs), and charitable remainder trusts (CRTs). Austin’s clients frequently own unique assets, such as closely held business interests, digital assets, equity compensation, venture capital and private equity investments, real estate, and qualified retirement plans, and Austin is experienced in counseling clients on optimally integrating such assets into their estate and financial planningAustin also advises business owners on tax minimization, business succession at death or retirement, best practices, valuation discounts, and creditor, liability, and asset protection. Austin expertise includes entity formations, reorganizations, acquisitions, and dispositions for family owned and operating business entities, including limited partnerships, corporations, and limited liability companies.

Executive Compensation and Benefits attorney. Austin’s practice focused primarily on executive compensation and benefits, including structuring, drafting and implementing a variety of compensation-related plans and arrangements, including employment agreements, omnibus equity incentive plans, change in control and severance agreements, and named executive officer pay packages. Austin's practice involved advising clients on a variety of executive compensation and benefits issues, such as tax and securities law, corporate governance, periodic and event-driven SEC disclosure, and employee-related issues in mergers and acquisitions and private equity transactions.

Represented low-income families in their housing-related legal problems. Many clients are single parents and many are disabled. The primary focus is helping clients (1) avoid homelessness, and (2) gain access to affordable housing. Thus, Clinic work often involves representing clients in threatened evictions; in denials of public housing, subsidized housing, and Section 8 housing; and in other aspects of landlord-tenant law. Some opportunity also exists for real-estate-related work on behalf of individuals and community-based nonprofit groups. Students interview clients, investigate cases, research issues, negotiate with opposing parties, draft pleadings and discovery, and represent clients in administrative hearings and in court. Court appearances may be limited due to students successfully settling their cases. The Clinic is based at Texas RioGrande Legal Aid.

Worked in the Mergers and Acquisitions and Private Equity group. Drafted assorted documents for several varieties of transactions.

Worked in Capital Markets, Mergers and Acquisitions, Tax, and Executive Compensation and Benefits groups. Researched several aspects of corporate, securities, and tax law. Drafted and edited a variety of documents across practice groups.

Honed legal research and writing skills while working on court documents such as study memos, petition summaries, and judicial opinions.

Acquired advanced and cost-effective legal research skills, assisted other law students with legal research, and acted as a representative for Thomson Reuters.

Drafted a variety of operative documents for private equity transactions, corporate reorganizations, estate planning and trust creation, tax avoidance, and other transactions. Learned contract drafting, business organization, and trust and estate planning skills. Developed legal research and writing skills by drafting memoranda in several transactional areas.

Managed personnel by directing workflow and fleet management. Performed general accounting and money management through managing client invoice delivery.

Managed $1,000,000 university endowment as a student-operated investment portfolio. Learned asset allocation and valuation.