Data Use & Compliance

We provide legal advice regarding compliance with privacy laws, including HIPAA, GLBA, FRCA, FERPA, COPPA, and FTC Acts; FAR, DFAR, and SEC regulations; CCPA, NY DFS requirements, and other state and local regulations; GDPR and other international requirements.

Notices & Policies

We plan and prepare privacy notices and privacy policies regarding data collection, use, protection, disclosure and retention online and in the real world.

We also assist organizations with preparing record management policies, written information security programs and incident response plans, focusing on information and the entire technology infrastructures that supports operations, and tailoring our advice to clients' geographies and particular industries, including healthcare, financial, background screening, energy, and professional services, among others.

Mapping & Assessments

We help organizations preparerecords of processing and data maps to discover and document where their data is, how and to whom it flows, and how it is processed and protected. We also leverage privacy impact and risk assessments, “privacy by design” and “data protection by default” to launch new systems, products, services and platforms, along with upgrades and enhancements, identifying and mitigating associated privacy, security and data protection risks.

Cyber-Security

We help clients work with qualified cyber-experts to assess their cybersecurity under HITRUST, NIST, SOC2 and other frameworks -- identifying gaps, taking corrective action, and maintaining continual training, exercises, and awareness of cyber-risks.

Vendor Management

We assist organizations with vendor management and contracting to control their data and ensure that vendors will protect it appropriately and in accordance with privacy laws, like the GDPR and the CCPA.

DSARs

We provide counsel regarding data subject access requests (DSARs) to ensure that organizations have analyzed their obligations under applicable laws and have a strategy and process for responding to DSARs.

Emerging Privacy Issues

We help clients prepare for emerging privacy issues, including new/evolving state privacy laws; emerging uses of geolocation and biometric data; new HR best-practices and ethical employee supervision; new requirements for bots; and behavior surveillance.

Technology & Content Licenses

We advise our clients on incoming and out-going software (proprietary and open-source), IP-specific, Content, and hybrid/complex arrangements.

Services Agreements

We provide counsel on Master Service Agreements with SOWs, Maintenance and Support, Representations and Warranties, Training, Service Level Agreements, Terms of Use/Service/Sale, Indemnity and liability caps, and Termination and Transition Plans.

We also assist clients with implementation of cloud services, including Software as a Service (SaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)and Big Data.

Technology & IP Development

We provide advice regarding development and outsourcing agreements which provide for IP creation, allocation and de-allocation, specifications, acceptance criteria, and other issues, working with universities, contractors, and customers.

Data Use Restrictions

We provide counsel on data development, license, and use agreements, including restricted use of retail sales data.

Personnel Agreements

We prepare and advise on short-and long-term engagements for employees and contractors; work-for-hire certificates with contingent assignments; and Confidentiality or Non-Disclosure Agreements for people and businesses in personal service and business combination settings.

Distribution Agreements

We provide counsel on agreements permitting or restricting resale or sub-licensing under controlled conditions.

Trade Secrets & Confidential Information

We draw on decades of experience to help clients identify, develop, prioritize, secure, monetize, and enforce their trade secrets and confidential information.

Copyrights & Creative Works

We analyze and advise on all stages of copyright issues, from creation to clearance to use, ownership assignments and “work for hire” agreements, licenses, registration and renewal, and enforcement.

Trademarks, Service Marks & URLs

We draw on decades of experience to advise clients on brand and mark ownership, clearance, use, registration, maintenance, and protection, including extraordinary remedies.

Patent transactions

We assist clients with patent licensing and related transactions, drawing on our extensive network of patent prosecutors and litigators for patent analysis, registration, and enforcement.

IP Development & Allocation

We help clients identify and protect value which they are contracting for, bringing to, or jointly developing in projects, and help them allocate it wisely.

Rights of Publicity

We advise clients on endorsements, “influencer” agreements, photo or location releases, agency agreements, safety/security surveillance, and use under state statute, common law, or FTC regulation.

Publishing & Entertaining

We assist in negotiating music synchronization rights, performance-rights organization licenses, publishing rights, and agency agreements, including “reality TV show” appearances.

Websites, Apps & Portals

We help organizations manage liabilities associated with their online operations, providing comprehensive privacy counsel, and preparing online terms and conditions.

Platform Immunity

We advise on the scope of legal immunities offerred under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act.

Smart Cities & IoT

We help organizations, including governmental entities, navigate privacy and cybersecurity issues associated with smart-city projects and the Internet of Things, so that they understand exactly what they are contracting for and embed privacy and data-protection-by-design into those projects.

Robotic Process Automation

We help our corporate clients ensure that their RPA vendors deliver reliable bots by performing due diligence on those vendors and negotiating the contracts. We also assist clients in complying with new “bot disclosure” acts.

Lanham Act § 43(a)

We assist clients build adequate substantiation for their claims (especially implied claims), under the FTC’s “Prior Substantiation Rule.”

Clearance of Advertisements

We help clients “clear” advertisements and commercials before they run, aligning express and implied claims to Section 43(a) and FTC guidance, “hot words” regulations, intellectual property rights, rights of publicity, required disclosures, and more.

Influencers and Endorsements

We help clients comply with the many subtle requirements for using “influencers” and making endorsements in advertising.

Marketing Practices

We help clients make their way through the maze of regulations that govern marketing practices, including those related to “contests, sweepstakes and giveaways,” cause-related marketing, product disclosures, CAN-SPAM Act, Do Not Call, product labelling, “Made in USA,” “Green,” COPPA, and more. We also assist clients with lawful and ethical digital marketing practices, and especially the use of cookies.

Board & Merger Support

We help boards meet their duty to oversee privacy and cyber risks in connection with business operations by educating them on privacy laws, and advising on best practices, like creating board-level privacy committees, privacy programs, and reporting structures.

We also provide limited representation in mergers and acquisitions, including ensure that data rooms have adequate protections, addressing data protection and privacy due diligence through review privacy programs, policies, and data protection provisions of contracts.

Support for Law Firms

We serve other law firms for their own needs and/or as outside specialty counsel for their clients under their direction.

Complex Transactions

We draw on our unusually wide range of experience for use in unusual, complex situations that cut across specialties.

Outside General Counsel

We act as a “fractional general counsel” to small or middle-market businesses, some of whom we have represented for decades and over generations.

Competition

We provide extensive counseling and advice regarding fair and unfair competition in the following regards:

• trade secret protection and misappropriation
• breach of fiduciary duty
• non-competition and non-solicitation covenants
• tortious interference with contract or business relationship
• fair and false advertising under Section 43(a)
• TCPA (Anti-SLAPP)
• defamation and commercial disparagement
• negligent misrepresentation
• “idea” protection and common-law misappropriation
• time-sensitive information (“hot news”)
• Computer Fraud and Abuse Act and “cybertorts”
• Deceptive Trade Practices Act (DTPA)
• FTC Act and Regulations
• Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO)

FTC & Trade Regulation

We help clients navigate a wide range of FTC and state trade regulations that apply to specific industries.