General Counsel Services
Whether you manage a smaller, entrepreneurial business or a substantial corporation, you will often need access to legal counsel. Issues will arise without warning, and if your company does not have in-house general counsel, you are at a substantial disadvantage to larger competitors who do.
Your important legal issues are currently being resolved without legal advice (as you hope you got it right), or else you find yourself paying high hourly rates to outside counsel. That can be frustrating and expensive.
We understand many organizations do not have enough legal work and revenues to justify retaining a high quality in-house legal team, which is why we offer general counsel services to companies operating in the greater New York City metropolitan area. For a flat monthly rate, our clients have access to our experienced team of attorneys, as needed, for legal insight and advice. As your outside general counsel, we help you to anticipate and address potential legal challenges that could harm your business, as well as to assist you in taking full advantage of business opportunities as they arise.
We can help you with…
- Employment issues, such as confidentiality agreements, restrictive covenants, hiring and terminations
- Compliance with federal, state, and local laws and regulations
- Debt collection
- Commercial contracts and leases, including drafting, review and negotiation
- Patent and intellectual property issues, including licensing and trademark matters
- Litigation management
- Referrals to attorneys in areas in which we do not practice, i.e., criminal law
- Real estate and commercial leasing
- Corporate governance
- Disputes among company stakeholders
- Human Resources Counseling
Each of our attorneys has at least 25 years of experience helping companies of all sizes succeed in New Jersey and in the New York City Metropolitan area. We welcome the opportunity to discuss how we can become part of your team.
How Do You Know If These Apply to You?
If you are uncertain which of these (or if any of these) issues match your situation, we can help you make that determination. We have defined the various issues below, and would be pleased to schedule a discussion to help you decide the best next step. We never charge a fee for an initial interview.
Between employment contracts, confidentiality issues, fair labor standards, compliance with federal and state discrimination laws, and more—there are many legal issues affecting how you must manage employees, and it is important to handle all of them correctly.
Our employment attorneys have extensive experience drafting employment contracts, non-competes and severance agreements. We also have counseled dozens of companies regarding hiring and termination of employees. We can help your company, too.
Hiring and terminating employees is fraught with potential issues that could make your company liable for damages, penalties, and negative publicity. As an employer, you are subject not only to federal and state statutes and regulations, but are increasing required to comply with directives issued by cities and counties.
These statutes and regulations include “ban the box,” which prevent employers, in most cases, from making hiring decisions based upon a job candidate’s criminal history. Other regulations prevent employers from asking job applicants for information like their salary history. In fact, some regulations prevent you from informing job candidates that they will be subject to background checks, even if that is a true statement.
We have extensive experience counseling employers on these issues and representing them before administrative agencies such as the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the New York State Human Rights Commission, the New York City Human Rights Commission, the New Jersey Department of Labor, and the Philadelphia Human Relations Commission.
Part of operating a business inevitably includes facing unpaid debts. The debt collection process, however, is far from simple—it requires compliance with both state and federal laws and regulations.
That’s where we can help. We have successfully recovered outstanding debts on behalf of dozens of large and small companies, including lending institutions. We can do the same for you.
Well drafted contracts are necessary for the smooth operation of your business, but standard form contracts may not provide the protection you need to protect your interests or to withstand a challenging lawsuit. We have extensive experience in drafting commercial contracts, and can help you prepare contracts suited for your individual business and budget.
Intellectual property matters include protection of trade secrets, as well as copyright, patent and trademark protections. This area of the law of the law is highly specialized.
The professional staff of The Basil Law Group includes a member of the patent bar and practices before the Patent and Trademark Office in Washington. He also is experienced in all facets of trade secret, patent, copyright, and trademark disputes and applications.
Whatever your Intellectual Property issue may be, such as theft of trade secrets, patent infringement claims, copyright or trademark disputes, or the need to register your patent, trademark, or copyrighted material, we can guide you through the process of protecting your commercial interests.
While your company may be headquartered in New York or New Jersey, it could be sued in Florida, California or any other state depending on the allegations in the lawsuit. And while we would be pleased to represent you in such matters, your litigation counsel may be selected by your insurers over your objections.
In cases like this, we can manage litigation for you both locally and nationally, even in matters that our attorneys are not litigation counsel. We can review and supervise proceedings to make certain your company is defended by capable and experienced counsel at a reasonable cost.
If you need legal counsel or representation in an area in which we do not practice, we are happy to provide a referral from our extensive network. Some of the areas where this might be necessary include family law, criminal law, trusts and estates, and certain personal injury cases.
Many businesses—perhaps yours included—have legal issues involving real estate, such as leasing property, sub-leasing, and contracts to purchase property.
We have substantial experience counseling clients in real estate issues, including drafting and negotiation of commercial leases, subleases and contracts to purchase property in New York and New Jersey.
Proper corporate governance is designed to prevent conflicts of interests between shareholders and upper management, and to assure the smooth operation of the company’s business. It is a system of policies, practices and rules used to direct the directors and officers regarding the operation and control of a company. When handled appropriately, it helps ensure ethical, legal management and the longevity of the company.
If your company is instituting or needs guidance about corporate governance policies, we can help.
Business ventures require trust in one’s partners. Unfortunately, that can often devolve into a dysfunctional situation in which the owners of the company disagree on the management and direction of the company. They may even begin to accuse their formerly trusted partners of theft and other breaches of duties to the company.
Handling these matters well requires an understanding of the applicable law as well as the emotional and financial strains that come with them. Our attorneys have represented shareholders, including members of LLCs, in various internal disputes, both before and during litigation. These difficult matters are rarely resolved quickly or easily, but we can guide you toward your best outcome.