Joshua Massingill, Attorney at Law, PLLC

Focus and practice areas

The firm works across three linked areas of law: business matters, estate planning, and probate. It is based in Austin, Texas, opened in 2015, and lists six attorneys today. Its clients include entrepreneurs, small businesses, professional practices, families, and individuals. That mix lets a single office help a business owner form a company and, years later, plan how to pass it on.

Many matters run on flat fees. That sets a price at the start, so a client knows the cost of a will or an entity filing before the work begins. As a reviewer, I read flat pricing as a useful signal for buyers who want predictability on routine legal work, where the scope is clear from the outset.

What the business side covers

The business practice begins with entity formation. The firm sets up LLCs, corporations, and professional entities, and it handles healthcare practice formation for clinical owners. It also drafts and reviews contracts, a step that shapes how partners, vendors, and employees deal with each other once a company is running.

These services tend to cluster around the same clients. A founder who forms an LLC often needs an operating agreement next, then a trademark filing once the brand takes shape. Handling those steps in one place keeps the terms consistent as the company grows and adds people.

Trademarks and business transfers

Trademark work at the federal level runs through the United States Patent and Trademark Office, where an application moves through examination and a publication period before it registers. Business sales and purchases usually involve a purchase agreement, a review of the assets or shares changing hands, and a closing. The firm names both among its regular services, which suits owners thinking about growth or an eventual exit.

Estate planning and probate work

On the estate side, the firm prepares wills, trusts, durable and medical powers of attorney, guardianship nominations, and living wills. These documents set out who makes medical and financial decisions and who inherits, which matters for families with young children, real property, or a business to hand down.

Probate services include independent administrations, muniments of title, affidavits of heirship, small estate affidavits, and ancillary probate. In Texas, an independent administration lets an executor settle an estate with limited court oversight, which can shorten the timeline. A muniment of title is a shorter route used when an estate has no unpaid debts apart from those secured by real property. An affidavit of heirship records the legal heirs when someone dies without a will. A small estate affidavit can transfer a modest estate without a full administration, and ancillary probate applies when the person owned property in Texas while living in another state. Chad Harlow, a Partner, handles estate planning and probate for central Texas families.

How the team is built

The firm lists six attorneys, and their backgrounds spread across business, litigation, and estate matters. Joshua Massingill is the Principal and founder, and he has managed the firm for more than a decade. A native Texan, he graduated from Pepperdine University School of Law and the Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution.

His work outside private practice is unusually specific for a small firm. He served as Legislative Counsel to a United States Representative in Washington, D.C., and worked in the Texas Senate on regulatory and policy matters. He spent six years on the Texas State Bar Law Practice Management Committee and has acted as general counsel to the Texas Chiropractic Association.

The other attorneys fill out the practice. Aimee Tafreshi is Managing Counsel for litigation, and Kevin Green is a Senior Attorney and trial lawyer with a background in commercial litigation and international law. Raymond Galasso is a business attorney, executive advisor, and general counsel with over 28 years of international, federal, and state legal experience. Katherine M. Wyatt works in corporate law and litigation.

Litigation and dispute resolution

Three of the attorneys carry litigation backgrounds, which gives the firm a courtroom side alongside its transactional and estate work. Aimee Tafreshi leads that work as Managing Counsel for litigation. Kevin Green brings commercial litigation and international law, and Katherine M. Wyatt pairs corporate law with litigation.

The founder's training points the same direction. The Straus Institute, where Joshua Massingill studied, centers on dispute resolution, the field that covers negotiation, mediation, and arbitration. For a business client, that background can help when a contract dispute moves toward negotiation or mediation.

Who the firm serves and where

The firm works from two Austin offices, one in the northwest of the city and one in the south that runs by appointment. Its stated service area covers Austin, Travis County, Williamson County, Round Rock, Cedar Park, and the surrounding parts of Central Texas.

Its size fits the work. The firm reports one to ten employees, which places it among small practices where clients tend to deal directly with the attorney on their file. In my opinion, that scale suits the areas it covers, since business formation, estate planning, and probate reward steady contact with a named lawyer. Buyers can also follow the firm through its Facebook and LinkedIn pages.