— About

An operator who happens to be a lawyer.

JD, LL.M. in Tax, founded a federal taxpayer clinic — then spent a decade running restaurants, music venues, and real estate developments. Now back at the bar.

The training

I went to the University of Memphis Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law, where I served on Law Review and published in the Tennessee Bar Journal. After the JD I stacked an LL.M. in Taxation at the University of Washington because the tax side of small business kept being the part that surprised the people I'd grown up around.

Out of school, I served as founding director of the federally funded Low Income Taxpayer Clinic at Memphis Area Legal Services — building a practice from a grant proposal into an actual clinic representing low-income filers in front of the IRS. I ran a private practice on the side in estate planning, trusts, probate, and tax law.

Taylor C. Berger at his desk in Oxford, Mississippi — — At the desk. Oxford, MS.

The 2012 pivot

In 2012 I stopped practicing and started building. Over the next decade I helped develop and operate Railgarten, Loflin Yard, Bounty on Broad, Rec Room, and Young Avenue Sound recording studio — some of the bigger hospitality and entertainment concepts to come out of Memphis in the last fifteen years.

Payroll, partnerships, leases, regulators, employees, lenders, cash flow. Construction overruns, liquor-license boards, partner disputes, tax structuring, HR disasters, the whole catalog.

I lived the risks my clients face.

The return

During and after the pandemic I moved back into integrated practice. Commercial real estate brokerage and development, short-term rental management, contracting, and Young Avenue Sound remain ongoing operating businesses on the operator side. On the professional side, TCB Law handles the legal work; TCB Consulting handles non-legal strategy and operations. The two are deliberately, clearly separate — different engagement letters, different scopes, different rules. The legal practice is the legal practice.

How I practice

Flat fee whenever it fits. Published prices. Honest about what I do and don't do. Long-form guides on the site because the work isn't actually secret. If you can DIY your simple matter after reading what I've written, that's a good outcome — you'll come back when something genuinely complicated lands on you, and you'll send your friends.

What I do

Business law & operations. LLC formation, operating agreements, commercial leases, trademark, monthly counsel subscription.
Immigration. Asylum, cancellation of removal, family-based petitions. Regular at the Memphis Immigration Court. Spanish-speaking clients welcome.
Estate & tax. Wills, POAs, healthcare directives, revocable living trusts, basic tax planning. The Tax LLM matters here.
Family law (uncontested only). Divorce, custody agreements, child-support orders, name changes — Mississippi only, flat-fee.
DUI defense. Mississippi DUI 1st offense, flat $1,500.
Plaintiff personal injury. Contingency starting at 25%.

Credentials

J.D., University of Memphis Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law (Law Review)
LL.M., Taxation, University of Washington School of Law
Mississippi Bar #103232 (active)
EOIR ID SS717630 (registered for practice before the Executive Office for Immigration Review)
Member, Mississippi Bar Association
Founding Director, Low Income Taxpayer Clinic, Memphis Area Legal Services
Published, Tennessee Bar Journal
Languages — English, conversational Spanish

— Writing

I also write — about parenting, place, business, and the strange experience of building things and losing them. Read here →

Taylor Berger helped create Railgarten, Loflin Yard, Rec Room, and Tennessee Brewery Untapped in Memphis. He currently splits his time between Memphis and Oxford, where he practices law and writes.

— Next step

Want the long version on a call?

Twenty minutes, no clock. Tell me what's going on and I'll tell you whether I'm the right person for it.

Email Taylor →