1. How are you different than a law firm?
We have created an “outsourced general counsel” model. The idea behind it is simple. We offer our company clients a variety of in-house legal services from experienced attorneys in a manner that fits their budget and improves the level of legal service delivery to the client. We are not a total replacement of the company’s outside law firm–instead, we do most of the work in-house at a far lower cost than variable hourly-rate firms.
For background, and to understand the context in which we built our practice, view the recent New York Times video report Law Firms Under Pressure, and read the recent Wall Street Journal article ‘Billable Hour’ Under Attack and the New York Times articles Big Law Steps Into Uncertain Times, Billable Hours Giving Ground at Law Firms, and With the Downturn, It’s Time to Rethink the Legal Profession.
We’ve gained invaluable experience at some of the country’s largest and most prestigious law firms, and we’ve served as General Counsel for publicly-traded and privately-held companies. Due to our wide-ranging corporate and transactional experience, we are able to efficiently handle a broad variety of matters.
Best of all, from a businessperson’s point-of-view, we always approach legal issues from a business perspective as a result of our in-house experience.
2. What does it mean to approach legal issues from
“a business perspective?”
Our clients have a dedicated attorney who understands their business from the inside out, and knows how to work with businessmen and women on achieving result-oriented outcomes. We offer flexible billing programs, including fixed-fee monthly engagements, for clients who want to limit their exposure to legal fees and be able to budget accurately. Because our model is streamlined with very limited overhead, the cost of our legal services is much lower than traditional firms. Please read the following actual cost/benefit analysis where our company client’s overall legal spend was cut by over half. Not only is this accomplished without sacrificing quality, but because we are on-site, embedded in the company and working alongside management, we deliver legal service at a level that surpasses what outside law firms are capable of.
3. Can you describe your practice areas?
We provide a full array of corporate and transactional legal services to companies in a variety of industries, including manufacturing, technology, and financing companies, personal service and consulting firms, not-for-profit organizations, and individuals. Our firm provides advice with respect to material contract negotiations, capital markets transactions, securities offerings and securities regulation, mergers and acquisitions, executive employment, joint ventures, bank lending and bank regulation, leasing and project finance, structured finance, asset-based finance, and investment management.
4. What does your mergers and acquisitions practice consist of?
The M&A practice involves the representation of participants of all sizes in virtually all capacities, public and private: purchasers, sellers, lenders, financial advisors, investment banking firms, boards of directors, and special board committees.
5. And the firm’s venture capital practice?
We represent emerging private companies seeking venture capital, and advise companies on their initial and subsequent financing rounds. We are also active on behalf of private equity investors and angel groups that provide related equity and debt financing to portfolio companies.
6. Do you have experience advising boards of directors on issues such as corporate governance?
Yes. Our practice provides advice regarding the governance of public companies (and venture-backed private companies) and the responsibilities of their directors and senior management.
This includes:
- advice to boards of directors and to committees of boards of directors regarding governance and compliance matters;
- establishment or modification of governance documents to comply with current requirements and best practices;
- establishment and documentation of disclosure controls and procedures pursuant to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act;
- structuring executive compensation plans to meet new legislative and regulatory requirements;
- conducting internal investigations by companies, boards of directors and audit committees; and
- responding to informal and formal SEC investigations.
