Thomas L. Bird

Tom is a trusted advisor and outside general counsel, guiding closely held companies to success through astute business planning, financial strategy, and business succession planning.

Tom is an experienced business attorney who serves as outside general counsel to privately owned business and their owners. He empowers business owners to achieve success through strategic guidance and collaborative problem-solving. Listening actively to understand his clients' specific challenges and strategic needs enables him to focus on their big picture rather than isolated transactions. This mindset helps him select the right Fredrikson attorneys skilled in relevant areas to serve on the client’s legal team, including tax planning, mergers and acquisitions, real estate, trusts and estates, compensation and benefits, employment and labor, bank and finance, and business litigation.

Tom has guided clients through choice of entity in business formation, counseling them on the various legal structures available to them, including S corporations, family limited partnerships and limited liability companies. His experience includes negotiating and drafting purchase and sale agreements, shareholder buy-sell agreements and implementing business succession plans. He is committed to presenting information from multiple sources and helping business owners not only consider the alternatives but also arrive at a strategy that best aligns with their specific circumstances, objectives, personality and risk tolerance.

As senior leadership prepares to shift ownership, Tom develops strategies to maintain or dispose of business interests effectively, ensuring smooth transitions and maintaining business continuity. Throughout, he prioritizes the healthy functioning of family members or other owners, knowing that dissension among principals is harmful to the business. In family businesses, he supports parents in selecting a successor and structuring fair compensation among family members. He also advises on the sale to co-owners, key employees, ESOPs or third parties, and provides a legal framework for an orderly transition of the business in a tax-efficient manner.

Tom’s passion for business law stems from his own entrepreneurial journey. Before joining Fredrikson, he was the president of his own law firm, advising closely held business owners on a range of legal and financial matters. This experience, combined with his tenure as Director of Business Succession and Estate Planning at a Fortune 500 company, equips him to provide holistic and strategic legal counsel.

• Serving as outside general counsel for businesses of all sizes to address their legal needs without incurring the expense of a full-time, in-house attorney.
• Working with clients in structuring entities and transactions to achieve their objectives.
• Representing closely held businesses in the purchase or sale of their business.
• Negotiating and drafting merger and acquisition documents.
• Advising privately held corporations on succession planning for the transfer of their business to successive generations of owners and managers.
• Working with teams of advisors to facilitate the orderly transfer of family businesses in a tax-efficient manner.
• Representing family businesses in the negotiation and implementation of buy-sell agreements.
• Representing business and shareholders in resolving disputes.
• Drafting formation documents for corporations, partnerships, and limited liability companies.
• Representing clients selling their business to an ESOP, providing for business succession and employee ownership.
• Advising individuals and their companies in complex tax planning strategies.
• Designing estate plans for business owners and coordinating implementation with their business planning.

Education

• Boston University School of Law, LL.M., Tax, 1983
• University of South Dakota School of Law, J.D., 1980
• University of South Dakota, B.S., 1977

Admissions

• Minnesota, 1987
• South Dakota, 1980

Professional Activities

• American Bar Association
• Minnesota Bar Association
• Hennepin County Bar Association
• Boston University Journal of Tax Law, Member and Editorial Board, 1983
• South Dakota Law Review, Member and Editor 1979-1980