Commercial Practices

The collective commercial practices provide legal expertise in the major disciplines of business practice, including antitrust and unfair competition, business litigation, construction, corporate, creditors’ rights and bankruptcy, employment and labor, intellectual property and real estate litigation.

The firm employs a unique multi-disciplinary team approach to assisting clients by folding transactional and litigation specialists into a cohesive group. Our cross-specialty teams provide legal representation that takes the big picture of our client’s business into account. We tailor our approach to respond to each client’s unique needs so that we provide creative, complete solutions and efficient service.

Antitrust and Unfair Competition

The antitrust and unfair competition lawyers represent regional, national and international companies in actions brought under federal law (e.g., Sections 1 and 2 of the Sherman Act, the Clayton Act, the Robinson-Patman Act, and RICO claims) and state antitrust and unfair competition laws (e.g., California’s Cartwright Act, Unfair Practices Act and Unfair Competition Law). Our domestic and international clients represent a variety of industries, including pharmaceutical, chemical, food ingredient, consumer product, energy, manufacturing, construction and insurance.

Business Litigation

Experienced lawyers represent Fortune 500 and regional clients in disputes involving unfair competition, breach of contract, trade secret, licensing, directors’ and officers’ liability, franchise and distributorship, RICO, secured transactions and equipment leasing, in federal and state civil and bankruptcy courts, at arbitration, and in administrative proceedings. Our attorneys have tried dozens of complex commercial cases to verdict and have represented clients in numerous appeals, often representing litigants who sustained unfavorable trial court results before turning to experienced attorneys.

In addition to their trial expertise, business litigators are adept at handling requests for TROs, preliminary injunctions, and regulatory matters. Attorneys regularly provides their  clients mediation and other alternative dispute resolution services as well, as appropriate to each situation.

Construction

For more than a quarter century, the Construction Practices Group, comprised of nationally recognized lawyers, has represented the entire spectrum of participants in construction projects and has handled construction matters of every type, large and small. Today, clients of the Construction Practices Group benefit from that experience in all aspects of the construction process.

Construction attorneys represent all levels of participants in the construction industry. Our clients include public and private owners; developers of commercial properties; design professionals; general contractors and subcontractors; sureties; equipment and material suppliers; and developers of residential projects, including single and multifamily construction.

Corporate

Corporate attorneys have significant experience representing multinational and domestic companies, from startups to small and midsized entities to Fortune 500 corporations. The firm’s expertise spans a diverse range of industries, including insurance, financial services, chemicals, pharmaceutical, biotech and other life sciences, food and beverage, hospitality, media, entertainment and sports, fashion, consumer products, energy, industrial manufacturing, real estate, and technology. Our corporate attorneys counsel clients on all facets of their business law needs from formation, corporate governance, and daily operations to transactional matters, often acting as outside general counsel to many of our clients. In addition to representing operating companies, we regularly represent angel, venture capital, and other investors in various industries.

Creditors’ Rights and Bankruptcy

Creditors’ rights and bankruptcy attorneys have extensive experience protecting creditors’ rights in litigation, workouts and bankruptcy. Whether the circumstances call for trial skills or deal-making expertise, we strive to maximize our clients’ debt recovery by identifying available assets and strategies for successful realization of claims. Our attorneys represent creditors in connection with complex preference matters, lifting the automatic stay, fraudulent transfer litigation, contested use of cash collateral, assumption and rejection of executory contracts and leases, discharge and dischargeability matters, claims litigation, and plan confirmation issues, among other matters. We also represent creditors committees, purchasers of Chapter 11 assets, clients looking to protect intellectual property rights in bankruptcy proceedings, and we offer expertise in Uniform Commercial Code, real estate and other commercial law issues.

Employment and Labor

Employment and labor attorneys represent public, private, domestic and multinational employers throughout the U.S. and abroad in virtually every area of workplace law. We have defended management in federal, state, and local administrative actions, jury and non-jury trials, and arbitrations, as well as appellate proceedings. We defend class action and other multiclaimant proceedings as well as individual actions involving employment discrimination, harassment, retaliation, ERISA, wage and hour, and unfair business competition claims. We represent clients in whistleblower litigation matters involving common law claims, OSHA and Sarbanes Oxley and assist clients in protecting trade secrets and other confidential information. We represent management before the National Labor Relations Board, and counsel clients on labor relations matters. Lawyers also offer employee benefits advice and transactional services as well as employment and labor law training and counseling.

Intellectual Property

The copyright, trademark, patent, trade secret and unfair competition attorneys of an intellectual property practice are experienced counselors and seasoned trial lawyers. We are adept in establishing, maintaining and enforcing our clients’ intellectual property rights, as well as defending our clients against the intellectual property claims of others. For all kinds of intellectual property, we provide both litigation and transactional services to organizations in a diverse range of industries, including entertainment, media, clothing and fashion, art, consumer products, computers, semiconductors, telecommunications, food and hospitality, fragrance and cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and publishing.

Real Estate Litigation

Real estate litigators handle title, land use, leasing, secured transactions and ownership matters in state and federal court, at arbitration and in administrative proceedings. In addition to our work as trial counsel, attorneys regularly provide mediation and other alternative dispute resolution services. Our clients include owners and developers, managers, secured interest holders and brokers—ranging from Fortune 500 companies to governmental entities to small business owners—involved in projects as diverse as office towers, shopping centers and other retail outlets, campus office spaces, industrial properties, ski resorts, residential subdivisions and maritime (pier) properties.