Wolfe, Tidwell & McCoy

Providing creative yet practical solutions since the 19th Century.

About Our Firm

Wolfe, Tidwell & McCoy traces its roots to the 19th century and is a successor firm to Henderson, Bryant & Wolfe. Out of this heritage comes a strong emphasis on trial practice in the insurance-defense, general-tort, and commercial trial-law areas.

These practice areas were broadened more than twenty years ago to include the representation of public entities both general and in litigation before courts and agencies. The firm’s broad client spectrum includes private businesses, governmental units, public officials, and high-technology interests, and our services range from local-counsel work for international firms to representation of farmers, ranchers, and business owners.

As General Counsel, every client’s goal is unique and drives our commitment to finding tailored solutions to the challenges posed in today’s complex legal landscape.

Still, our philosophy remains simple. We are committed to being accessible and responsive to our client's needs while providing creative yet practical and cost-effective solutions.

Practice Areas

Municipal and Governmental Law

One of the main purposes of a municipality is to govern local affairs, which includes zoning and the delivery of various services such as drinking water and police protection. “Municipal law” is a complex area of law created by the mixture of statutes, city ordinances, agency regulations, and other rules that govern what a municipality can do and how it can properly do it. Because municipalities have many and various responsibilities, the law in this area covers a vast range of issues and the unwary are often surprised by some isolated, but critical, rule which is all but hidden in some little-used corner of mostly unrelated law.

Government Litigation

Whether it is at the state or federal level, litigation against government agencies can be very different from litigation among private parties. Policy issues, special sovereignty-based defenses such as official or legislative immunity, unique government privileges, and other complex issues pose challenges to claimants, but also present valuable opportunities for governmental defendants during the course of the lawsuit.

Commercial Litigation

There are many types of disputes that can arise at any time with your business. Common examples include breach of contract, control disputes between partners, customer disputes, interference with business relationships, employment disputes, or even debt collection practices. Legal representation is essential to protecting your rights during these kinds of disputes and avoiding unnecessary court battles.

Local Counsel

The Partners in the firm have served as lead counsel throughout the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas and the Northern District of Texas and have gained insight into the various judges and venues. Out of this trial practice has grown a related practice of serving as “local counsel” for law firms from across the United States and assisting in the representation of businesses based both in the United States and abroad. This “local counsel” practice includes assisting in patent cases, commercial litigation, catastrophic injury and other complex cases. The firm provides assistance with local rules, filings and procedures, insight into local judges and juries and has run the spectrum from serving in a consulting role to conducting voir dire and being one of the lead trial attorneys. Local counsel cases are routinely handled in Sherman, Plano, Tyler, Marshall and Texarkana. Our experience with multiple cases, firms and litigation has taught us the importance of flexibility and the ability to mold into part of the team, at whatever level desired by the client and lead counsel.

Zoning and Land Use

Zoning and land use laws set the regulations and policies to achieve community goals and protect existing community resources while guiding and encouraging new development. These regulations affect new construction, most alterations, commercial occupancy changes, property line changes and most site development activity, including landscaping.

Eminent Domain

Various government entities have the inherent power to compel owners of real or personal property to transfer it to the government in exchange for fair and just compensation; this ability is also possessed by some private entities in certain industries. This condemnation process allows the government to use the property for a public purpose such as building roads, hospitals, schools, parks, or government buildings. However, one misstep in the eminent domain process can cause years of delay for a project and dramatically increase the costs of acquiring property.

Employment Law

Employment law covers a broad spectrum of investigations and claims including discrimination and harassment, wrongful termination, worker’s compensation, and wage and hour claims. Each of these various employment issues presents its own series of challenges and requires unique handling.

Insurance Defense

Insurance defense involves not only providing legal representation for insurance companies, but also to their insured clients. For insurance companies, the issues often include “bad faith” claims, breach of contract, or accusations of deceptive trade practices; for the insured, the issues commonly include accusations of professional negligence, responsibility for personal injury, scope of employment, or liability stemming from ownership of property.

Business Formation

When starting a business, you must make a critical decision at the outset: What type of entity is suitable for your business? This choice will not only affect your personal exposure to liability, but it will also have personal and business tax consequences. The appropriate entity for your business will be specific to the type of business you wish to start, or the business you would like to become if you are transitioning your organization to a new form.