CORPORATE AND FINANCE

The Firm handles a broad range of commercial transactions, including negotiations of purchases and sales of assets, dispositions of assets, workout plans, due diligence, foreclosure, creditors’ bankruptcy presentation and business litigation. The Firm represents a number of corporations, as well as government entities in all types of commercial transactions. Hollowell Foster & Herring, PCs municipal finance practice includes representation of insurers, underwriters, finance institutions and business entities on tax-exempt issues of varying kinds, including housing, healthcare facilities and private industry.

Over the past five years, the Firm has participated in over 100 tax-exempt issues involving an aggregate principal amount of over $5 billion. The Firm served variously as bond counsel, underwriter’s counsel, issuer’s counsel and borrower’s counsel on numerous bond issues. Such transactions have included direct and conduit financing, public bonds, refinancing and variable rate demands and credit enhancement features.

COMMERCIAL AND TRANSACTIONAL PRACTICE GROUP

The Firm’s transactions practice is led by Stanley E. Foster, a lawyer with over thirty (40) years of experience in commercial transactions. Mr. Foster has been named “Super Lawyer” four times by Atlanta Magazine. The Firm advises clients on an array of corporate, real estate and development transactions. The Firm is capable of serving client needs from the simplest to the most complex transactions.

The Firm has represented a number of major corporations, public sector entities, and private non-profit institutions on contract and commercial law matters. These clients include: Coca-Cola Enterprises, Inc., Morris Brown College, Clark Atlanta University, Emory University, Fulton County, the State of Georgia and the Atlanta Public Schools. In addition, we represent lending institutions, corporations, community development associations, governmental agencies, individuals and developers on commercial real estate and development matters. These clients include: Bank of America, Wachovia, Branch Banking and Trust, Capitol City Bank & Trust, Historic District Development Corporation, Community Redevelopment Loan and Investment Fund, Inc., Atlanta Neighborhood Development Partnership, Anchor Partners, and H. J. Russell & Company.

The Firm strives to work closely with its clients to understand their business needs, to exchange information that improves productivity and efficiency and to achieve the Client’s objectives at the least possible cost.

GENERAL LITIGATION

The Firm represents clients in federal and state court in connection with disputes that result in litigation. The matters for which the Firm has been responsible include personal injury, private torts, creditor claims, contract and business disputes, real property title and boundary line disputes, corporate and non-corporate governance disputes, partnership dissolutions, and, for our church clients, disputes involving church property.

Our lawyers also represent clients in alternative dispute resolution forums, including arbitration and mediation.

NON-PROFIT CORPORATIONS

Non-profit corporations and similar entities must comply with a complex set of statutes and tax rules that must be followed if favorable and legal operation under the law is to be achieved. For religious organizations, the legal landscape is even more daunting because such organizations also operate in a legal environment made even more complex by religious custom, doctrine and church discipline.

The Firm’s lawyers are adept at advising religious and non-profit organizations regarding the unique legal issues that such organizations encounter. The Firm has represented religious organizations in commercial transactions, real estate development projects, and with respect to church governance issues, including litigating several church schism matters. The Firm has assisted many churches, large and small, with campus expansion projects, real estate acquisitions and commercial lending matters. The Firm has provided advice with regard to tax-exempt status and advice and counsel to boards of trustees and/or directors.

Representative clients include: the 6th Episcopal Districts of the A.M.E. and C.M.E. connectional churches, Big Bethel A.M.E. Church, St. Paul A.M.E. Church, Antioch A.M.E. Church, New Life Missionary Baptist Church, Ben Hill United Methodist Church, Sterling Chapel United Methodist Church, Radcliffe Presbyterian Church, Emmanuel Temple Holiness Church, St. John AME of Fairburn, Georgia, Wheat Street Baptist Church, Cornerstone Baptist Church, New Bethel AME of Lithonia, Springfield Baptist Church, and New Birth Missionary Baptist Church of Lithonia.

The Firm has assisted these clients with internal governance issues, economic development projects, seniors housing, mixed use development projects, and entity formation and tax-exempt compliance.

COMMERCIAL AND TRANSACTIONAL LAW AND COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE AND DEVELOPMENT GROUP

The Firm’s transactions practice is led by Stanley E. Foster, a lawyer with over forty (40) years of experience in commercial transactions. Mr. Foster has been named “Super Lawyer” four times by Atlanta Magazine. The Firm advises clients on an array of corporate, real estate and development transactions. The Firm is capable of serving client needs from the simplest to the most complex transactions.

The Firm has represented a number of major corporations, public sector entities, and private non-profit institutions on contract and commercial law matters. These clients include: Coca-Cola Enterprises, Inc., Morris Brown College, Clark Atlanta University, Emory University, Fulton County, the State of Georgia and the Atlanta Public Schools. In addition, we represent lending institutions, corporations, community development associations, governmental agencies, individuals and developers on commercial real estate and development matters. These clients include: Bank of America, Wachovia, Branch Banking and Trust, Capitol City Bank & Trust, Historic District Development Corporation, Community Redevelopment Loan and Investment Fund, Inc., Atlanta Neighborhood Development Partnership, Anchor Partners, and H. J. Russell & Company.

The Firm strives to work closely with its clients to understand their business needs, to exchange information that improves productivity and efficiency and to achieve the Client’s objectives at the least possible cost.

EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY LAW

It is no overstatement to say that the Firm is deeply rooted in anti-discrimination law. One of its founding partners, the late Donald Lee Hollowell, was a renowned civil rights attorney, respected and honored nationally. His life and legal career were spent advocating for equality and confronting employment discrimination; indeed, discrimination in every form. Building on Mr. Hollowell’s legacy, the Firm has developed a reputation for excellence and has gained extensive experience advising federal and state agencies, private employers and individuals on employment law and employment discrimination matters. The Firm is one of the oldest minority law firms in the Southeast and for most of its 40+ year history, has counseled clients on the enforcement of anti-discrimination laws affecting the workplace.

Almost four decades later… the legacy continues. In 2005, the Firm decided that a major part of its practice area would be devoted to providing EEO Services to federal agencies. From 2005 to 2009, the Firm provided EEO Services to federal agencies as a subcontractor. In 2009, the Firm applied for and was granted a GSA contract and, since becoming a GSA Schedule Contract Holder, the Firm has served as a Prime Contractor on small, medium-sized to large, and very large, complex projects. In each case, the projects were successfully completed and the Firm’s clients uniformly rated its services as Exceptional. Such clients included the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, the United States Department of Commerce, United States Department of the Navy, the Federal Aviation Administration, the United States Department of Transportation, the United States Social Security Administration and many others.

Hollowell, Foster & Herring collaborates with federal agencies to facilitate thorough and efficient resolution of pre-complaint matters as well as formal complaints of discrimination, as required by law, thereby ensuring EEO compliance. Hollowell, Foster & Herring, P.C., provides all necessary reasonable accommodations to affiants with visual and/or hearing impairments. All EEO Services adhere to all standards set forth in EEOC Management Directive 110 and that are submitted within appropriate periods.

Services Overview:

• Letters of Acceptance and Dismissal
• EEO Counseling
• Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR)
• EEO Investigations
• Final Agency Decisions
• Case Assembly
• Position Statements
• Misconduct Investigations
• Training and Education

Services Overview:

• Racial Discrimination
• Age Discrimination
• Gender Discrimination
• Disability Discrimination
• National Origin Discrimination
• Religious Discriminationv
• Pregnancy Discrimination
• Harassment
• Retaliation

OUR CLIENTS

The Firm has represented the following organizations and businesses:

• Coca-Cola Enterprises, Inc.
• Morris Brown College
• Clark Atlanta University
• Emory University
• Fulton County
• The State of Georgia
• Atlanta Public Schools
• Bank of America
• Wachovia
• Branch Banking and Trust
• Capitol City Bank & Trustv
• Historic District Development Corporation
• Community Redevelopment Loan and Investment Fund, Inc.
• Atlanta Neighborhood Development Partnership
• Anchor Partners
• H. J. Russell & Company

PROPERTY TAX APPEALS

Don’t Pay More Than Your Fair Share in Property Taxes Every piece of Real Estate in Georgia is taxed at the County level every year. Georgia uses an ad valorem system to determine the amount of property tax that each piece of real estate is charged. Ad Valorem is latin for according to value, so the amount of your property tax bill is a function of the value of the real estate. When you appeal a property tax bill, you are appealing the value of the property that the County has placed on your property. We have developed systems to effectively appeal property tax bills in Fulton County, DeKalb County, Gwinnett County, and Cobb County.

Scope of Services

• File appeal with County Tax Assessor’s Office
• Evaluate your property tax bill to ensure you are getting all available exemptions
• Prepare a Market Analysis of your property for the taxable year in question
• Negotiate with County Appraisers
• Representation at Board of Equalization Hearing
• Appraisal of your property – optional, additional fees apply

O.C.G.A. § 48-5-299(c) – The 3 Year Freeze Rule

Because of this law, many savvy property owners file a tax appeal every 4 years. The decision of an appeal is “frozen” for 3 years. While most properties in each County have the same deadline, some of them have different deadlines than others. PLEASE DOUBLE CHECK THE UPPER RIGHT HAND CORNER OF YOUR NOTICE OF TAX ASSESSMENT TO VERIFY THE DEADLINE FOR YOUR PROPERTY.

Deadline – TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE

Each County is required to provide a Notice of Tax Assessment every year to each property owner. Georgia law gives property owners 45 days from receipt of this Assessment to file an appeal.