Lawyers for Tech Companies, Startups & Entreprenuers
Legal & Business Advising
We understand startups and the technology industry, and we’re experienced in the challenges that entrepreneurs face throughout every step of building a company from the ground up.
Our attorneys are highly skilled at addressing specific legal needs. More often, however, founders and entrepreneurs are looking for guidance. That’s why we deliver strategies that combine legal services and business advising. We’ll explore your needs and recommend the course of action that will best guide your business growth, protect your intellectual property and reduce your liability.
Our Services for Tech Companies & Startups:
- Business Formation & Operating Agreements
- Intellectual Property (IP) Protection: Domestic & International
- Venture Capital Funding
- Employment Law & HR Liability Training
- Stock Option Plans & ESOP
- Sales Commission Contracts & Pay Structure
- Business Contracts, Real Estate Leases & Contract Negotiations
- Litigation, Employment Disputes & IP Infringement
- Sales, Mergers & Exit Strategies
Active in Tech Community
We are active participants in the tech community in Washington, DC, Baltimore and Northern Virginia. We’ve supported, hosted or participated in many local tech events and groups, including DC Tech Breakfast, Tech in Motion, DC Week, DC Tech Meetup, DC Association for Computing Machinery and many others.
Expert Presentations for Events
Our attorneys and advisors enjoy sharing the knowledge they’ve developed by serving clients. We regularly participate in presentations, panel discussions, conferences and webinars for local, regional and national organizations. We’re always looking for opportunities to share our experience in business organization, growth, intellectual property, licensing, employment law, litigation and more.
For groups large or small, we are interested in presenting to you. Contact us with information about your event and the topics you would want us to discuss.
Contracts for Tech Companies & Startups
We are experts at writing and negotiating business contracts. Contracts are the most frequent legal matter that a business deals with. Our legal team has strategies to help tech companies and startups protect their ideas, intellectual property and trade secrets from competitors and employee theft.
Our firm will review major sales contracts and negotiate deals on your behalf. We negotiate commercial real estate leases and sales. As your business grows, you may rely on our employment lawyers to understand how to protect your business in all types of business and employment contracts.
Our Business Contract Experience:
- Buy & Sell Agreements
- Real Estate Transactions
- Commercial Leases
- Joint Ventures
- Investor Agreements
- Non-Disclosure Agreements
- Mergers, Sales & Strategic Partnerships
- Partnership & Operating Agreements
- Licensing: Intellectual Property (IP) & Copyrights
IP Protection, Trademarks & Copyright Licensing
Our lawyers are highly skilled in handling all intellectual property matters, including applications for IP protection; defending against infringement; copyright licensing; and technology transfer and sale.
Trademarks
We help make trademarks easy. Trademarks are essential to maintaining a brand’s value. When creating a business plan, or a marketing plan for a new product, you should include a budget for a law firm to correctly manage the often complex and tedious process of trademark applications.
Copyrights & Copyright Licensing
We will assist your business in licensing works to third parties for any purpose. As litigators, our firm is available to defend any creative work in copyright infringement disputes.
Intellectual Property Audit
Businesses of all sizes – especially fast-growth tech companies – often undervalue themselves because management doesn’t know the true value of its intellectual property.
Our lawyers are adept at conducting extensive intellectual property audits that identify IP assets managed by every department in a company, while compiling databases of licensed assets, trade secrets and protective contracts, including non-compete and non-disclosure agreements signed by employees, vendors and prospective investors.
After an audit, a company will have a clear picture of its IP assets, licensing agreements, and list of the parties who know about its competitive technology secrets.
HR Training: Employment Liability Reduction
While advising clients in employment law disputes, we discovered that startups and tech companies might benefit from training their managers in handling common employment matters. We believe that adequate training would significantly reduce a company’s exposure financial liability in employment disputes.
In the fast-paced, and often aggressive, environment of startups, entrepreneurs and developers often overlook the complex web of local, state and federal rules that easily put businesses on the wrong side of employment law.
Growth may happen fast, and it’s important that every manager understands how to handle employment matters. Your current staff are likely the people who you will promote to manage entire departments as your revenue or funding grows, so it’s essential that they understand that handling routine employment matters incorrectly can lead to expensive employment lawsuits.
Key Features of Employment Liability Training:
- Reducing Financial Liability
- Appropriate Termination Process
- Correct Disciplinary Procedures
- Employee Reviews & Incentives
- Documentation & Record Keeping Policies
- Understanding Workplace Discrimination
- Responding to Pregnancy & Health Disclosures
- Handling Compensation Disputes
Employment Contracts & Severance Negotiation
We represent businesses in negotiating many types of employment and non-disclosure contracts. We will work with you to create agreements for management, technical and sales employees that protect your company from liability while securing its intellectual property.
Salesperson Agreements & Pay Structure
Many tech and software companies in business-to-business and government sales compensate salespeople with commission pay.
Salesperson agreements are unique and require specialized knowledge of employment law and commission pay structures. Our lawyers have significant experience in working with commission salesperson contracts, and our firm will recommend pay structures and create agreements that fit your company’s needs.
Unpaid Sales Commission Disputes
Employers often find themselves in disputes with salespeople over unpaid commissions. We have experience in handling disputes through negotiation and litigation. In fact, our lawyers were on the winning side of one of the largest sales commission judgements in Washington, DC, history. We’ve been asked to speak numerous times to professional groups and other lawyers about our experience in handling sales commission cases.
Read Our Presentation About Unpaid Commissions:
Commission Pay for Employees: Structuring Agreements and Defending Claims Absent a Contract.
Severance Agreement Negotiation & Employment Disputes
Layoffs, staff reductions and terminations are necessary management decisions. When it’s time to separate from an employee, we will review your liability exposure and the reasons for the separation; recommend severance packages; and create severance agreements. We will also negotiate severance packages on your behalf to secure the best terms. Severance packages nearly always require the employee to sign non-compete and non-disclosure agreements.
When an employee retains an attorney in an employment dispute, we will represent your company in defending your rights. Our employment law team has extensive experience in handling employment disputes through settlement negotiations and, when necessary, litigation.
Our Employment Contract Experience:
- Non-Compete Agreements
- Non-Disclosure Agreements
- Salesperson Commission & Compensation
- Executive Compensation
- Work-For-Hire Agreements
- Independent Contractors & Consultant Agreements
- Developer Agreements