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Austin · Travis, Williamson & Hays Counties

Business counsel with the price
on the table.

Formation, contracts, leases, real estate, and ongoing counsel — each one a flat fee, quoted before we begin. And when a deal goes wrong, a litigator who has spent twenty years in disputes tells you plainly where you stand. No hourly meter, no surprise invoice.

Book a Free 20-Minute Call Call (512) 643-5185
from $1,500
LLC formation
from $750
Contract drafting & review
from $1,500/mo
Outside General Counsel
Why flat fee, for a business

An hourly lawyer is a cost you can't budget. We fixed that.

When your lawyer bills by the hour, every call, email, and quick question runs a meter you can't see — so you stop calling, and problems you should have raised early become expensive later. A flat fee removes the meter. You call when you need to, and the price was settled before the work began.

The number, upfront

Flat-fee business services.

Every matter is scoped on a free 20-minute call and quoted as a flat number before any work begins. If your situation is more complex than the starting price covers, you'll know exactly what it costs — before, not after.

Formation

LLC Formation

from $1,500
Not a filing service — counsel. The state paperwork is the easy part; what matters is the operating agreement that decides what happens when partners disagree, someone wants out, or someone dies.
  • Certificate of formation, filed
  • Operating agreement tailored to your ownership
  • EIN & banking resolution
  • A sit-down to walk through how to run the thing
Book a free 20-minute call →
Contracts

Contract Drafting & Review

from $750
Vendor agreements, service contracts, NDAs, partnership and buy-sell agreements — drafted from scratch or reviewed before you sign. If you own a business with partners, a buy-sell agreement is estate planning for the business itself.
  • Full redline
  • Plain-English risk memo — what to push back on
  • A call to walk through it
Book a free 20-minute call →

See contract services →

Leases

Commercial Lease Review

from $950
A commercial lease binds both sides for years at real money. Whether you're the landlord drafting it or the tenant about to sign it, every term deserves a careful read before it's final.
  • Full review of every term
  • Risk memo with the specific changes to request
  • Drafting or negotiation scoped separately
Book a free 20-minute call →
Real Estate

Real Estate Transactions

from $1,500
Purchase and sale agreements, closing documents, deeds, and 1031 exchange support — for buyers and sellers of commercial and investment property.
  • Document drafting or full review with proposed revisions
  • 1031 exchange documents & intermediary coordination
  • Guidance through closing
Book a free 20-minute call →
Ongoing counsel

Outside General Counsel — from $1,500 a month.

A flat-fee subscription puts an experienced attorney on your team for the day-to-day questions that growing businesses ask: contract review, quick strategy calls, hiring decisions, vendor agreements, and the shifts that matter.

Core
$1,500/mo

Up to 5 hours a month for contract review, quick questions, and strategy calls. Best for: existing clients and startups with manageable complexity.

Growth
$2,500/mo

Up to 10 hours. Everything in Core, plus active project work and deeper vendor negotiation. Best for: fast-growing companies and more complex arrangements.

Partner
$4,500/mo

Up to 15 hours and priority scheduling. Everything in Growth, plus involvement in major deals and ongoing strategic advising. Best for: complex businesses and those going through transitions.

All tiers are month-to-month after three months. Overage hours billed at a discounted rate, never as a surprise.

When deals go wrong

Flat-fee dispute assessment by someone who has tried both sides.

Twenty years of litigation teaches you to read a dispute before you enter it. The way to win a case is to know before you start whether you should fight. Most firms do this assessment too — they just bill it hourly after you've signed on and decided, so you never see it as a line item. We price it upfront.

Step one

Dispute Evaluation

$1,250
Credited toward a demand letter or representation if you proceed
Here's the honest part: most firms do this work too — they just bill it by the hour after you've signed on, so you never see it as a line item. We price it upfront instead. You get a litigator's read on your situation before you decide anything.
  • Full review of your contract, correspondence, and the relevant paper trail
  • A written assessment of whether you have a viable claim, and how strong it is
  • A realistic view of what the dispute is likely worth
  • Your options laid out plainly — demand letter, negotiation, suit, or walking away — with the trade-offs of each
  • A recommended path, and what the next step would cost
  • A call to walk through all of it
Book a free 20-minute call →
Step two

Demand Letter

from $750
Complexity taken into account
A demand letter drafted by a litigator who has spent twenty years on the other side of them. It states the facts, the legal basis, and exactly what you're asking for — and it carries the weight of a firm prepared to follow through.
  • The claim assessed, if you haven't done an evaluation (or credited if you have)
  • A letter on firm letterhead: the facts, the legal basis, and the specific remedy demanded
  • Certified delivery with proof of receipt
  • One round of revisions before it goes out
  • Handling the initial response it generates — scope defined with you upfront
Book a free 20-minute call →

If the matter needs to become litigation, we'll scope that with you directly after the evaluation — no surprises, no open meter.

Specifically chasing an unpaid invoice or open account? Debt collection is its own flat-fee service — statutory demands at $1,500 per debtor, sworn account suits, and a free collectability screen first. See our collections process →

Who you'll work with

A litigator's judgment, applied to the deals and disputes that run a business.

Patrick Hotze, Founder, Ridgeline Legal

Patrick Hotze

Founder & Attorney, Ridgeline Legal, PLLC

Before founding Ridgeline, Patrick spent two decades in complex litigation, co-founding a practice that recovered more than $200 million for clients across mass tort, pharmaceutical liability, and industrial accident matters. Past results don't guarantee future outcomes — but twenty years of litigating disputes teaches you exactly where contracts break and how the other side thinks.

Every matter is handled and reviewed by Patrick personally — the same judgment, whether it's an operating agreement or a demand letter.

Past results do not guarantee future outcomes. Licensed in Texas and Washington, D.C.

Questions

Straight answers, before you call.

Do you really charge flat fees for business work?+

Yes. Formation, contracts, lease review, and real estate transactions are all quoted as a flat number before any work begins — published right on this page. If your matter is more complex than the starting price covers, we tell you the flat cost of that before doing it, never after.

What is a Dispute Evaluation, and why does it cost money?+

It's a flat-fee assessment of a business dispute: we review your contract and paper trail, tell you whether you have a viable claim and what it's likely worth, and lay out your options and their costs. Most firms do this same work — they just bill it hourly after you've signed on, so you never see it as a line item. We price it upfront, and it's credited toward a demand letter or representation if you proceed.

How much does a demand letter cost?+

From $750, with the complexity of your matter taken into account. It's drafted on firm letterhead, states the facts and legal basis, and specifies exactly what you're asking for. If you've already done a Dispute Evaluation, that fee is credited.

What is Outside General Counsel?+

A flat monthly arrangement that puts an experienced attorney on your team without putting one on your payroll — for the day-to-day contract review, quick questions, and strategic decisions a growing business needs. Tiers run from $1,500 to $4,500 a month, month-to-month after the first three months.

What areas do you serve?+

Travis, Williamson, and Hays counties for business, real estate, and dispute matters, from our office in West Lake Hills.

Twenty minutes tells you what your business actually needs.

Free, no obligation. You'll know the flat fee and the path before you hang up.

Book a Free 20-Minute Call
Prefer to talk now? Call (512) 643-5185