Founder Empathy
Both partners have run businesses. We know what it feels like to make payroll on Friday. Our advice is calibrated for operators, not law-review editors.
We built the firm we wished existed for small business owners.
Sterling & Hayes Legal is an Austin, Texas business law firm founded in 2011. We exist for the founder closing her first office lease at midnight, the SaaS CEO trying to read a Series A term sheet, and the restaurant operator opening location number three. Real counsel, plain English, fixed-fee scopes.
Our Origin
Two Big Law refugees, one Austin coffee shop, a stack of yellow legal pads.
In 2011, Margaret Sterling and David Hayes were each three offices down from each other at large Texas firms, watching the same pattern repeat: a brilliant founder would call asking a simple business question and get back a 40-page memo, an associate they had never met, and a bill that would have funded a marketing hire.
They opened Sterling & Hayes above a coffee shop on Congress Avenue with two clients and one rule: senior attorneys would handle the work, fixed-fee scopes would replace the meter, and every email would be returned the same business day. Fourteen years later, the rule has not changed — only the address has.
What We Believe
Four principles that shape every engagement.
We are not the firm for everyone. If these four ideas resonate, we are probably the firm for you.
Plain English
If we cannot explain a clause to your operations manager in two sentences, the clause has not been finished yet. We deliver answers, not jargon.
Fixed-Fee First
We scope before we start. You know what something costs before the work begins. The hourly clock is reserved for true litigation, never for advice.
Long-Term Partnership
Ninety-six percent of our clients are still with us year over year. We are not transactional. We invest in your growth because we are still here when it pays off.
By The Numbers
Fourteen years. Six hundred clients. One philosophy.
620+
Small businesses advised since 2011
$1.2B
In transactions supported
96%
Client retention year over year
14+
Years serving Texas business owners
Meet The Team
Senior lawyers who answer their own phones.
There are no associates hiding behind the partners at Sterling & Hayes. The lawyer you meet at the first consultation is the lawyer who drafts your operating agreement, negotiates your lease, and picks up when you call at 9 p.m. before a board meeting.
Our partners spent the first decade of their careers at firms where the only people billing fewer than 2,000 hours a year were the receptionists. They left to build something else.
Meet Our Attorneys
Sterling & Hayes Partners
Community & Pro Bono
We have a stake in this city.
Austin gave us our practice. We give a portion of it back every year — to the founders and nonprofits keeping Central Texas livable.
Texas Accountants & Lawyers for the Arts
Our team takes on at least twelve TALA matters each year — entity formation, IP licensing, and contract review for working Texas artists and small arts organizations.
UT Austin McCombs Entrepreneurship Clinic
Partners teach a recurring workshop on founder agreements, equity, and early-stage IP for student-founded ventures at the McCombs School of Business.
East Austin Small Business Coalition
Margaret sits on the legal advisory board of an East Austin coalition supporting minority-owned brick-and-mortar businesses navigating commercial leases and licensing.
Let's see if we are the right firm for your business.
Schedule a 30-minute consultation. No pitch, no pressure — just a clear conversation about what you need and how we can help.