THE HIGHER THE STAKES, THE GREATER THE COMPLEXITY,
THE LARGER THE POWER DISPARITY / THE STRONGER WE SHINE.
Our Practice Areas
The following are practice areas that we consider to be our “areas of focus.” Unlike other law firms’ laundry lists that include everything they’ve ever worked on,
the following is a well curated sample of the legal areas where we have established a track record of excellence.
Business & Corporate
Shareholder disputes occur in companies large and small, public and private. B&L attorneys have experience in a wide array of matters involving owners disputing their rights and obligations, including derivative lawsuits by shareholders on behalf of the corporation, corporate takeovers involving control of the entity, and issues arising under shareholder agreements or other corporate documents. The proper handling of these disputes requires detailed knowledge of the law and corporate statutes governing the entity. It is also necessary to have lawyers with experience working with experts on business valuations and financial analysis of the company. But perhaps most importantly, these disputes require lawyers with an understanding of the motivations, emotions and sometimes personality conflicts underlying the disputes. Having handled these matters for decades, B&L attorneys have substantial experience and achieved a great deal of success handling complex business ownership disputes in large and small businesses, many of which are worth many tens of millions of dollars.
Sometimes owners no longer want to be in business with each other. They want a “business divorce” – a term we use because these cases are just as draining and emotionally charged as divorcing a spouse. B&L takes pride in representing clients in these very difficult situations because often times the issues involved are some of the most complicated and difficult to solve. For some law firms, these difficult cases are the kind to shy away from. But not B&L. We relish the challenge and that’s another reason why B&L is known as the “go to” firm for complex business matters. We have developed a niche representing professionals such as lawyers, doctors, and accountants in these “business divorce” matters. The chief reason is our no-nonsense, business approach combined with an appropriately aggressive strategy when necessary. We too are business people so we understand how to get to the bottom line. We also know when a former partner is looking for a fight and we are prepared to take on that challenge as well.
B&L has handled a variety of high-profile intellectual property cases against some of the largest companies in the country. We have handled intellectual property claims against Britney Spears, Sony BMG Music, Disney, Columbia Pictures, Netflix, and ESPN. We also handle claims for and against small and medium sized companies where, for example, former employees take an employer’s trade secrets or steal customers, or where competitors infringe trademarks or “falsely advertise” under the Federal Lanham Act. A company’s intellectual property is often the most valuable asset it owns and B&L fully appreciates how important these cases are to our clients.
Officers, General Partners, and Directors are the operators of a company and as such they owe fiduciary duties to the company and shareholders. Because these positions carry such a profound impact on the organization’s operations, it also carries potential liabilities. When state or federal authorities, shareholders, employees, customers or suppliers believe that a company is in the wrong, it is often the company’s officers or directors that are targeted in lawsuits. Officers may be subject to liability in securities fraud class actions, insider trading investigations, corporate governance disputes, claims for negligence or bad faith, and more. They may also be held liable for fiduciary failures. B&L attorneys have a great deal of experience with both defending and prosecuting these types of matters.
Non-Compete Agreements are the topic of a lot of our clients’ cases. We have experience representing both sides of these disputes — employers and departing employees — so we have a unique perspective and understanding of both sides of these types of issues. Our business clients spend a lot of resources training employees and they are interested in protecting their businesses from the possibility of an employee leaving, working for a competitor, and worse, taking customers. At the same time, employees look for mobility when an opportunity arises or where the employment has not lived up to years past. On both side of the issue, B&L attorneys have developed a ton of experience in this area. Often times these cases involve urgent circumstances and immediate injunction hearings to determine the enforceability of the agreement and preventing breaches. Our Attorneys thrive in this pressure packed atmosphere and we genuinely enjoy jumping in, rolling up our sleeves and getting our clients immediate relief.