Stacey Garrett Koju

Overview

Stacey Garrett Koju concentrates her law practice in the areas of corporate transactions, labor and employment law, employment practices, healthcare, and higher education. Her practice includes business transactions and strategic legal advice, review and negotiation of complex contracts, commercial loans and leases, estimation and mitigation of risk, internal corporate governance, employment practices and immigration, charitable giving and deaccessioning, gift deviation and cy pres. She is a founding member of Bone McAllester Norton PLLC and chair of the firm’s Board of Directors.

Stacey says that founding the law firm is one of her most personally satisfying accomplishments . She is driven by her law partners and the firm’s staff who truly embody the firm’s motto, Law. Life. Passion. Stacey believes the energy of the firm’s attorneys and staff is the reason the firm forges extraordinary client relationships.

Practice Areas

Business and Corporate Law

The Business and Corporate Law attorneys of Bone McAllester Norton are a team of professionals with acknowledged expertise in assisting clients in the areas of acquisitions and dispositions of business interests and asset purchases, stock purchases and mergers.  Our corporate law practice helps businesses through their formation process, including entity selection and specific bylaw and operating agreement considerations, as well as through the winding down and dissolution process.

Our business lawyers have experience assisting corporate clients with board of director issues, annual shareholder meetings, proxy and quorum issues, preparation of minutes and resolutions and other corporate governance concerns.

We also assist businesses and corporations in avoiding litigation through careful drafting and negotiation of key contract provisions. We provide guidance with the details that distinguish and make legally valid a bill of sale, acquisition agreement, non-compete agreements, nondisclosure agreements, severance agreements, supplier agreements, vendor agreements and many others.

We have experience in the following areas:

• Entity selection
• Entity formation and dissolution
• Franchising
• Contract negotiation
• Regulatory and compliance issues
• Joint ventures
• Proxy solicitations and contests
• Securities offerings
• Shareholder and operating agreements
• Mergers and acquisitions
• Immigration

Education Law

Bone McAllester Norton’s Education Law attorneys understand the unique legal issues our public and private schools, colleges, and universities face today. Our attorneys advise educational institutions on legal matters impacting school operations on a day-to-day basis so that our clients can focus their time, attention, and effort on educating students. Through our comprehensive understanding of state and federal law, policies, and regulations, we provide clients with strategic, practical advice that is tailored to the educational setting. We have handled disputes in all federal and state courts and are well-versed in the substantive legal and procedural issues that arise in the context of education litigation, including administrative actions. It is our goal, of course, to keep our clients out of court, and thus we work with them in day-to-day decision-making, whether it involves employee and student training, policy development, discipline or terminations.

Our education law experience includes:

• School board and university policies and handbooks
• Employment of licensed and classified employees
• Executive Compensation (tenured, non-tenured, and government)
• Employee Contracts
• Faculty, employee and student discipline
• Faculty, employee and student rights
• Title IX compliance and investigations
• Bullying and Hazing investigations
• Special Education
• Disability Accommodation
• First Amendment issues
• Harassment & Discrimination
• Office of Civil Rights Complaints and Investigations
• Tort liability
• School Finance and Taxation
• Construction and Real Estate Holdings
• Charitable Giving
• Labor Relations
• Assistance with Accrediting Agencies and Reviews for Reaffirmation of Accreditation
• Board Governance
• Employee Benefits
• Training
• Vendor Agreements

Healthcare Law

Bone McAllester Norton’s attorneys provide both industry-specific and general business advice and assistance to clients in the healthcare industry. The firm’s healthcare practice focuses primarily on representing healthcare professionals, including physicians, dentists, chiropractors and nurse practitioners, as well as representing entrepreneurs whose companies provide healthcare-related goods and services. Our attorneys have a broad range of experience in assisting clients with their regulatory, operational, transactional and litigation matters.

Transactions and Regulatory Issues

Our healthcare lawyers assist healthcare providers and entrepreneurs with a variety of corporate and compliance issues which range from structuring complex financial transactions to helping clients navigate the regulatory landscape that pervades their day-to-day operations. Our services include advising and assisting our clients with:

• Development and financing of healthcare ventures
• Mergers and acquisition of healthcare businesses
• Managed care contracting
• Management or vendor contracts
• Preparing, implementing and maintaining compliance plans
• Training employees on compliance issues
• Certificates of need
• Certification and accreditation of individuals and facilities
• HIPAA and the HITECH Act
• Federal and state Anti–Kickback and Stark laws
• Corporate practice of medicine and fee-splitting issues

Non-Profits and Tax-Exempt Entities

Our Non-Profits and Tax-Exempt Entities practice group is comprised of attorneys who work with organizations that make a difference in the lives of those in our community, and includes understanding the increasingly complex and ever-changing laws affecting non-profit organizations, foundations and tax-exempt entities in the Middle Tennessee area. Lawyers in this group successfully assist non-profits in all phases of their operations, from formation and applying for tax-exempt status to mergers and dissolution. Our non-profit organization lawyers advise on key issues and guides in establishing a structure that meets operational and organizational needs.

We have represented hundreds of organizations, including schools, arts organizations, children’s programs, churches and rotaries.

We have experience in the following areas:

• Obtaining tax exempt status (501(c)3)
• Contracts and lease agreements
• Employment issues and labor relations
• Trademark
• Copyright protection
• Board governance
• Mergers and liquidations

Administrative and Regulatory Law Practice

Administrative law encompasses laws and legal principles governing the administration and regulation of government agencies, including those at the federal, state and local governmental levels. While our administrative lawyers represent a large number of clients before many agencies, the legal authority and constraints of these agencies depend in large part on the general principles of administrative law. This practice includes the representation of clients with issues related to the powers granted to these agencies, the validity and effect of rules and regulations adopted by these agencies and the relationship of these agencies to the client.

Some examples of the agencies before which we practice are:

Local governments:

• Zoning commissions
• Planning commissions
• Election commissions
• Housing authorities
• Historical commissions
• Procurement agencies
• Economic development agencies

State government:

• Medical professional licensing boards
• Environmental agencies
• Taxing authorities
• Agencies regulating employee benefits
• Bank regulatory agencies
• Historical commissions
• Procurement agencies
• Economic development agencies

Entrepreneurial and Emerging Business Law

Entrepreneurs deserve legal counsel that matches the enthusiasm of the new venture and also fits the budget. Our entrepreneurship law firm takes pride in providing exceptional legal counsel to entrepreneurs.

The Entrepreneurial and Emerging Business attorneys at Bone McAllester Norton have helped launch hundreds of small businesses. Our small business lawyers deliver a comprehensive legal strategy that addresses corporate, trademark, branding, Internet, employment and other issues likely to arise in the infancy of a new business, priced to minimize the fees spent at the critical start-up phase.

We regularly advise entrepreneurs in the following areas:

• Company formation
• Capital strategies
• Employment
• Trademark registrations
• Copyright protection
• Intellectual property
• Social media law
• Online reputation management
• Privacy issues
• Securities offerings and private placement memorandums
• Identifying and structuring the appropriate legal entity
• Shareholder and operating agreements
• Business contracts
• Angel and venture financing
• Mergers and acquisitions
• Immigration
• Litigation and dispute resolution

We also advise entrepreneurs with funding, from conventional loans to private offerings. For entrepreneurs using technology for marketing and brand development, we offer advice on social media law, user-generated content, app/software development, copyright laws, marketing to minors, advertising and soliciting, laws governing sweepstakes, privacy issues and collection and monetization of private online information.

Real Estate

Bone McAllester Norton’s Real Estate practice group represents a diverse set of real estate clients, including nationwide and regional companies, REITs, closely-held companies and individuals. Our real estate clients are involved in an array of ventures, from single-site acquisitions and dispositions to nationwide programmatic development projects and ongoing lease administration.

Civil Rights Law

Bone McAllester Norton’s Civil Rights Law attorneys offer a wide array of legal services to clients in Nashville and Sumner and Williamson counties. Services include lawsuits and investigations into labor and employment discrimination, housing and land use discrimination, and education discrimination including Title IX and Title VII, as well as compliance guidance and internal investigations.