Jim G. McLaughlin

Jim is a Shareholder in the Corporate and Business Transactions Practice. He also leads the Energy & Natural Resources and the Family Business practices.

Jim has broad corporate and transactional experience. He regularly assists clients with business acquisitions, divestitures, and structuring joint ventures across a wide range of industries and involving both domestic and international corporations. He is frequently engaged to assist in venture capital transactions. Jim also regularly provides outside general counsel services to companies, helping them address the various legal and business issues in their governance and daily operations.

In the energy and natural resources sector, Jim works extensively with oil and gas companies and mining companies on various matters, including mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, equity investments, development projects, energy tax credit transactions, divestitures, and other business activities. He has also handled significant matters related to timber and wood product companies, including the Greenfield development of a wood pellet project and tax credit transactions related to biomass energy generation.

Jim has been very involved with the Alabama Law Institute (ALI) and its various drafting committees tasked with drafting and revising laws governing various types of entities, particularly ones related to limited liability companies, limited partnerships, and corporations. He frequently lectures on various topics relating to business entities, with an emphasis on issues associated with limited liability companies.

Jim is listed in The Best Lawyers in America© for Corporate Law, Mergers & Acquisitions Law, and Tax Law and was distinguished as the Best Lawyers 2019 "Lawyer of the Year" in Mergers & Acquisitions. He is also listed in Super Lawyers for Business/Corporate. He holds an AV-Preeminent® rating in Martindale-Hubbell.

Community & Professional

• American Bar Association
• Alabama State Bar Association
• Alabama Law Institute
  • Business Entities Standing Committee (2014-Present)
  • Limited Liability Company Act Drafting Committee (2009-2014)
  • Limited Partnership Act Drafting Committee (2004-2009)
  • Alabama Limited Liability Company Drafting Committee (1996-1997)
• Federal Tax Clinic, Board Member
• Birmingham Volunteer Lawyers Program, Board of Directors

• Represented a company listed on the London Stock Exchange in numerous upstream and midstream transactions involving the purchase of approximately 60,000 wells and thousands of miles of pipeline in the Appalachian Basin
• Represented investor in structuring joint ventures related to real estate projects involving commercial office buildings, multi-family projects and retail developments throughout the United States
• Represented coal mine operator in sale of controlling interest in underground mine to publicly traded company based in Australia and private company based in Singapore
• Assisted company in obtaining state and local tax incentives in connection with development of a new underground coal mine in Alabama
• Represented private owners in sale of car rental franchises to publicly traded company
• Represented publicly traded company in its sale of a coal terminal and associated properties located in Mobile, Alabama
• Represented global mining-focused private equity fund in due diligence of coal company with underground and surface mines
• Represented publicly traded corporation in its acquisition of active underground coal mine and related coal reserves from a subsidiary of a global energy company
• Represented timber company in all aspects associated with its development of a wood pellet facility
• Represented international investor in connection with its acquisition of Segway Inc. and its subsequent divestiture of the company to a private venture-capital firm
• Assisted coal company in obtaining state and local tax incentives in connection with expansion of underground and surface mining operations in Alabama
• Represents developer of medical office buildings throughout the U.S. in connection with its joint ventures associated with the development of various real estate projects
• Represented group of private lumber mills in Texas, Tennessee, Mississippi and Alabama in sale of interests in joint venture that generated tax credits from the production and sale of biomass gases to a publicly traded financial institution
• Represented private lumber mills in Georgia and Florida in a sale of interests in joint venture that generated tax credits from the production and sale of biomass gases to a publicly traded financial institution
• Represented private lumber mill in North Carolina in sale of interests in joint venture that generated tax credits from the production and sale of biomass gases to a publicly traded financial institution
• Represented the developer in negotiating and structuring a joint venture related to the assemblage, acquisition, development and financing of a yacht club and marina in Key West, Florida that included mega yacht and large yacht slips, dry docks, boat engine repair and other marina support facilities, a hotel and boardwalk retail
• Represented private company in the sale of interests in four refined coal facilities located in Illinois, California, and Indiana to a subsidiary of a publicly traded insurance company
• Represented a corporation in the sale of substantially all of its assets including its active surface mining operations and large tracts of coal reserves
• Assisted in negotiations and preparation of numerous long term coal sales agreement involving both domestic and international sales
• Assisted with the preparation and negotiation of agreements for the placement of synthetic fuel facilities at an operating coal mine and foundry coke producer facility
• Represented hospital in structuring a joint venture with a private company related to hospice operations
• Represented a hospital in connection with a joint venture with a national home health care organization

Recognition

• Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business, Corporate/Commercial
• The Best Lawyers in America© for Corporate Law, Mergers and Acquisitions Law, Tax Law, and Timber Law (2009 - present)
• Best Lawyers® "Lawyer of the Year" in the areas of Mergers and Acquisitions Law (2019), Tax Law (2023)
• Founding Fellow, American College of LLC and Partnership Attorneys (2020)
• Mid-South Super Lawyers for Business/Corporate Law
• Martindale-Hubbell AV® Preeminent Rating