Business Law
We provide a variety of counseling, drafting, review and planning services for businesses. Our BizCare™ services provide a range of entity monitoring, basic entity documentation and filing to more in-depth business succession planning, legal audit, and entity compliance services.
We also have experience in technology contracts, intellectual property licensing, trademark and copyright filing and entertainment law contracts.
Transactions : Transactional law includes a variety of contracts, sales relationships, licensing, international trade and general commercial law. We draft, review and negotiate all types of agreements. Please look at the specific types or areas of law to see the variety of agreements we can help you with.
Entities : Entity selection in Florida now includes limited liability companies and limited liability partnerships, in addition to the more traditional corporations, trusts and general and limited partnerships. A recent change in the law now removes some important impediments to the use of a limited liability company in Florida .
Corporate Counsel : What does a corporate counsel do? Well, corporate counsel will provide advice to the entity on a variety of legal issues that arise for the business. Many of these are listed in this site. But counsel should also have some knowledge about the running of a business and maybe even about the business' industry.
Dispute Resolution : Mr. Caswell previously served as a Certified Circuit Court Mediator and a Mediator for the Florida Bar's Computer Mediation Project and the Sarasota Board of Realtors Mediator Panel. The firm does not engage in litigation (but may be involved in litigation support), but instead focuses on solving problems outside of the court room. Obviously there are some situations where litigation is inevitable, but more often, negotiated or mediated settlements are less financially and emotionally draining, and are reached more quickly than trials and judicial decisions.
Compliance : Do your executives and employees know what actions could result in criminal liability for the officers of business entity? Written policies are the first step towards providing some protection from such liability. Education and compliance with those policies are the second step. If you are a growing company, you need to get those policies in place now.
Technology / Computer / Cyberlaw : We can assist in all areas of computer, internet, multimedia, and online legal issues. Have you considered who owns your website and its content, who controls access, national and international domain name protection, etc.? Do you know how to minimize your exposure for statements made by employees over computer networks? Are you "spamming" in violation of applicable industry and/or government guidelines? Have you protected trade secrets, or satisfied any requirements for non-disclosure of information and the privacy of customers? As a former Programmer and Systems Analyst, we are familiar with system development procedures and operations, which gives us insight into development contracts and licensing issues.
Legal Audits : One way that we can assist you in identifying and addressing your legal needs is by "auditing" your company. In the same way that Accountants look at and review your financial records, we can review your contracts, intellectual property and entity policies and records and then advise you of the status of such documentation and provide suggestions for additional protections you should consider incorporating. These audits give us the ability to get to know your business in more detail so we can give you more specific legal advice.
Intellectual Property : The patent, copyright and trademark activities of the firm involve initial advice to clients about obtaining and filing for protection, application filing and prosecution (not for patents), and exploitation and licensing. We also initiate and review patent, copyright and trademark searches. Intellectual property also involves confidential information, trade secrets, and we can advise you as the employer about protection of these important property rights. We are not registered patent attorneys or agents, but we co-counsel with them on a regular basis.
Immigration : We can assist in all matters of work visas, permanent residence, naturalization, citizenship, and real estate, employment, and business and investment planning. Are you getting I-9s from all employees? Do you have to report on each new hire? Do you need an I-9 audit to review your I-9 compliance and set up your monitoring system?
Securities Law : Do you know that when you use other people's money in your business, you are required to comply with the applicable securities laws of the United States, Florida and any other state in which you are soliciting those funds? And that failure to comply with those laws can not only lead to the requirement that you give those funds back at any time, but also possible civil and criminal liability?
Entertainment : We have served as counsel to independent film production companies and negotiated life story rights agreements, as well as represented record labels and talent. We can also advise you about creative rights and protections and negotiate agreements for the publishing, production or other exploitation of creative works and rights. We limit our representation in this area to established companies and talent. We do NOT shop songs, demo recordings, screenplays, treatments, trailers, etc.
Employment : All businesses, with or without employees, must consider employment issues. Have your employment contracts, applications and policies been reviewed lately? Do you have policies in place for privacy issues, email, intellectual property protection or harassment and discrimination prevention? The Supreme Court recently established standards for employers regarding sexual harassment policies. Do you need to undertake any investigations or compliance review to comply with those policies?
