Practice Areas
Technology and E-Commerce
Businesses that stake their futures on cutting edge technologies have the same needs as any other business - they require assistance in creating workable business structures, resolving disputes, planning and executing transactions, estate and tax planning, and so on.
But they also have specialized needs involving, for example, intellectual property and trade secrets protection, licensing issues, the retention of employees, raising capital and financing growth, and compliance with a legislative, regulatory, and judicial landscape that seems to changes on almost a daily basis, particularly in the e-commerce and Internet contexts.
And therein lies the challenge in providing these enterprises with the legal services they need. Many firms represent these enterprises by assigning lawyers who do nothing but focus on technology or e-commerce issues. But those lawyers, having only a narrow field of vision, cannot spot and resolve the broader needs these clients must face. Other firms attempt to represent these clients through business generalists, but they cannot appreciate the specific and unique issues that these companies confront.
We take a different, “hub and spokes” approach. Our attorneys have a broad range of business experience, and we can comprehend both the general and unique issues that arise among our technology and e-commerce clients. At the same time, we maintain relationships with a network of outside attorneys who have very narrow areas of expertise we can access as required. In the same way a qualified internist spots medical issues and refers his patients to the appropriate medical specialist, we monitor the varying needs of our technology and e-commerce clients and, when needed, we link them with the precise specialist they need for the precise problem they have. We then supervise the relationship to make sure all goes as it should.
If the client needs a software design or bio-medical engineering intellectual property specialist, we know who to contact. If the client needs a tax specialist dealing with foreign e-commerce issues, we know who to contact. The process allows us to see the big picture, develop an efficient and tailored plan, bring the required resources to bear, and supervise the loose ends until the plan is fully implemented.
