Most commonly known as the “We Buy Ugly Houses” company, Dallas-based HomeVestors of America Inc. is the largest professional house-buying franchise in the U.S., with more than 85,000 houses purchased since 1996. HomeVestors recruits, trains and supports its more than 1,000 independently owned and operated franchisees that specialize in building businesses based on buying, rehabbing, selling and holding residential properties.

Bonnie DePasse is HomeVestors' vice president and general counsel.

Legal Team

DePasse oversees a legal department with two attorneys — herself and a corporate counsel. HomeVestors also employs two paralegals, a legal assistant, two auditors and an individual who handles collections for certain franchisees.

“Anything we can basically do in-house we do in-house, but anything that starts getting too complex or involves questions we know we can't answer [we outsource],” she said.

Outside Counsel

DePasse said she turns to several firms: Locke Lord for franchise work and IT contracts; Kane Russell Coleman Logan for litigation and major contracts; Wilson Elser for help with trademark defense; and Klemchuk for help with both trademark defense and registration.

Daily Duties

In addition to running the legal department, DePasse said her responsibilities as GC also include: helping with human resources issues, as well as helping to manage the finance department and sitting on the finance committee; reviewing contracts; handling customer complaints; managing litigation and major corporate issues; reviewing trademark registration and defense work before outsourcing it; counseling the CEO on business decisions; and training new franchisees.

“It's all different every day. It's whatever walks in my door,” DePasse said.

Route to the Top

After graduating from SMU Dedman School of Law, DePasse worked for more than five years at boutique real-estate firm Harmon Law Firm, where her first client was HomeVestors. In 2003, the then-CEO/founder recruited her to HomeVestors as the company's first in-house lawyer. She was promoted to vice president in 2006 and to general counsel in 2012.

“It's been a really fun journey,” DePasse said. “That's not to say there haven't been some bad years. 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 were pretty rough, but we're back, and things are really good.”

Personal

DePasse said she enjoys cycling around Dallas' White Rock Lake, as well as live theater. For the past nine years, she has co-directed a show for students and alumni at Brookhaven College. DePasse also proudly said that in 2004, her then-16-year-old daughter, now a commercial artist in Nashville, Tennessee, designed and introduced HomeVestors' mascot UG, a caveman who has been buying and selling real estate for a million years.

Last Book

“The Laramie Project,” a 2000 play by Moisés Kaufman and members of the Tectonic Theater Project about the reaction to the 1998 hate-crime murder of gay University of Wyoming student Matthew Shepard near Laramie, Wyoming. DePasse co-directed the play last month at Brookhaven College.