Thomas R. Baker, J.D.

Tommy’s business law practice encompasses a broad range of complex business transactions, including tax planning, mergers, acquisitions, and reorganizations, debt, equity, and lease financing, entity formation and governance, software licensing, employment agreements, benefit plans, purchasing agreements, safety programs, and real estate investment, leasing, and management. Tommy has served as general counsel to private equity funds and their portfolio companies, to family offices, and to other clients in a broad range of industries. His unique background, including his years as a certified public accountant with a Big 4 accounting firm, distinctly qualifies Tommy to advise founders, owners, and senior management on a host of legal, strategic, operational, financial and organizational matters. Tommy especially enjoys partnering with founders and owners to plan and execute their exits after building and sustaining a successful business. In this regard, Tommy has experience in helping founders to identify successors or potential buyers, and in the case of the latter, running the sale and auction processes, from testing the waters, negotiating and closing the purchase and sale agreement, to delivering on post-closing integration strategies and processes. Tommy’s representative experience includes: served as general counsel for an oil and gas focused holding company with a portfolio of oil and gas service companies and real estate holdings; general counsel for a private equity firm focused on investments in technology-enabled services and software companies. Tommy has represented a publicly traded company in obtaining its NYSE listing; an Oklahoma City-based investor group in the acquisition of an NBA franchise and on the organization’s sponsorship, marketing, sales, and media matters; small brewers in a range of matters including the sale of their distribution rights and negotiation of their distribution agreements; represented both issuers and investors in private equity and debt investments; sales and acquisitions of unimproved and improved real property, including negotiation and documentation of purchase and sale agreements; title and survey diligence; regulatory compliance; and land use issues; landlords and tenants in all aspects of commercial leasing transactions; and charter schools in all aspects of charter school laws. Tommy is a fan of the Ken Adam’s Manual of Style for Contract Drafting, a Member of both the Oklahoma and Michigan Bar Associations, a holder of the Series 65 Uniform Investment Adviser License, an inactive Certified Public Accountant, the former Board Chairman of ASTEC Charter Schools, and a former Board member of Sharing Tree OK.

Contact thomas