Our Partner Network

There is work that Hamilton & Merchant does not do in-house — bankruptcy filings, litigation, tax defense before the IRS or state, forensic accounting, SBA workouts, full corporate turnaround with a Chief Restructuring Officer (CRO). That work requires licenses we do not hold or specialties we have deliberately not built, because the right answer is not to dilute our practice across every adjacent service. The right answer is to maintain a vetted network of partners we have worked with for years, bring them in when a case needs them, and stay in the room with you throughout.

The partner network is how a Hamilton & Merchant engagement covers the full waterfront of what a distressed business may actually need, without anyone being handed off to a stranger and forgotten. You are never bounced. You are introduced, the partner is briefed, and we remain the through-line on the relationship from the first conversation to the final closeout.

The six categories the network covers

Each category exists because a category of engagement requires it, not because the category sounded good in marketing. Every partner-network introduction happens because the case file said it had to.

• Bankruptcy counsel (Chapter 7, Chapter 11, Subchapter V). When the right answer is a court-supervised reorganization or wind-down, we bring in bankruptcy counsel from the start of the conversation, not at the end. Subchapter V — the small-business reorganization track — is a particularly underused tool, and several of our network partners specialize in it.
• Restructuring & litigation counsel. Covenant disputes, lender forbearance negotiation, MCA confession-of-judgment defense, vendor disputes, employment exposure in a reshape, lease defaults with PG exposure. Anything with legal teeth lives with counsel from day one, not when the lawsuit lands.
• Tax defense (IRS & state). Offers in compromise, installment agreements, currently-not-collectible status, penalty abatement, payroll tax cases, sales tax cases. Tax debt behaves nothing like private debt; the partners we use have the credentials to actually represent you before the IRS, which is enrolled-agent or CPA or tax-attorney territory.
• Forensic accounting. When the books need to be reconstructed before any turnaround or restructure can run on accurate numbers. Frequently necessary, often unpleasant, always worth doing carefully.
• Chief Restructuring Officer (CRO). For full corporate turnarounds — see Corporate Turnaround — the CRO provides senior day-to-day operating leadership of the cash and capital tracks, usually taking an interim CFO title for the duration of the engagement.
• SBA workout specialists. SBA loans (7(a), 504) follow a completely different workout architecture than private credit. The OIC process is its own beast, with specific SOP requirements and specific procedural traps. Network partners in this category have run dozens of SBA workouts and know the regional processing centers cold.

Licensed work happens in licensed venues

The federal courthouse is where Chapter 7, Chapter 11, and Subchapter V actually live. Tax court is where IRS disputes are escalated. State court is where most commercial litigation runs. None of those venues are where a consulting firm operates, and that is the entire reason the partner network exists. We do the consulting work. Licensed partners handle the venue work. Both halves of the picture get done well, by people credentialed to do them.

Photo: Kidfly182 · CC BY 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

How a partner introduction actually works

The introduction protocol, step by step

1. Step 1 · Case-file brief

   Before any introduction, we brief the candidate partner in writing on the case. The brief is detailed enough that the partner walks into the introduction call with a real working understanding of the file, not a cold start.

2. Step 2 · Engagement-letter review with the owner

   The partner's engagement letter is shared with the owner before the introduction. We review it together. We flag anything unusual. The owner signs it directly with the partner, not through us.

3. Step 3 · Three-way introduction call

   The first call with the partner is three-way: owner, partner, and us. The partner asks the questions they need to ask. We fill in context where useful. The owner gets to read the partner before committing.

4. Step 4 · We remain in the room

   Every consequential meeting that follows includes us. Strategy sessions, lender calls, court-prep sessions, settlement conversations. We are not the lawyer. We are the through-line that makes sure the owner is not navigating the licensed work alone.

5. Step 5 · Closeout, jointly

   The partner engagement closes with a joint memo. What was done, what the file looks like now, what the maintenance posture is going forward. The owner walks away with one document, not two.

We have spent a decade building this network. It is small on purpose. Every partner in it shares our basic conviction that honesty with the client is not optional. — Spencer Holt

Why we do not charge a referral fee

The standard practice in the consulting-and-referral space is for the coordinating firm to mark up partner fees, or to receive an undisclosed back-end referral fee from the partner. We do neither. Partner fees are paid directly to the partner, on the partner's published rates, with no Hamilton & Merchant markup. We do receive a coordination fee from the client for our role in managing the partner engagement — and that fee is disclosed in writing before any work begins. The reason for this structure is simple: it removes any possibility that our partner recommendation is influenced by referral economics. The recommendation is based on client fit. Period.

That clarity is the entire point of the partner-network model as we run it. The owner gets the specialist the case actually needs, at the specialist's actual rate, with our coordination on a separately-disclosed fee. Everyone knows what everyone is being paid. There are no surprises six months in.

What the partner network is not

The right specialist for the right venue

Different specialists are right for different venues. Tax defense is a different practice than commercial litigation, and both are different practices than bankruptcy filing. The network covers each venue with specialists who actually practice in that venue regularly, not generalists who occasionally take a case there. The fit matters enormously to outcomes, and that fit is what we are coordinating.

Photo: Michael Barera · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

What you walk away with

• An introduction to a vetted specialist in the right category for your case file, briefed in advance.
• A reviewed engagement letter with the partner, with anything unusual flagged before you sign.
• Our continued presence on every consequential meeting throughout the partner engagement.
• A joint closeout memo at the end of the engagement, in plain English.
• Direct contact information for the partner for follow-up questions after closeout.

Common questions