Advised and assisted numerous clients with the formation of new business entities and the restructuring of existing businesses, including preparation of critical internal and external contracts
Guided clients through mergers and acquisitions (including buying and selling businesses) in a wide variety of industries, including retail stores, industrial services, consulting services, software development, and SaaS providers, with values ranging from less than $100,000 to over $20,000,000
Represented clients in the negotiation and drafting of real property and asset purchase agreements for a wide variety of businesses and industries, including online education providers, software developers, restaurants, hotel franchises, apartment buildings, newspaper publishers, bowling alleys, petroleum energy distributors, convenience stores, and others
Served as securities counsel for private placements and associated federal and state securities filings (Regulation D and blue sky) related to capital formation, including a multi-round $53,000,000 private equity financing
Drafted employment agreements, independent contractor agreements, confidentiality and non-disclosure agreements (NDAs), and other restrictive covenants for employers and business owners
Advised clients regarding franchise agreements
Negotiated and drafted commercial leases, office sharing agreements, and parking lot license agreements for numerous clients, including leases for restaurants, medical and dental practices, and fitness facilities
Intellectual Property and Technology
Drafted and negotiated a wide range of licenses and agreements related to intellectual property, technology, and e-commerce, including software development agreements, copyright, trademark, patent, and trade secret licenses, joint venture agreements, and strategic alliances
Advised clients regarding a full spectrum of software licensing agreements and strategies, including:
fully negotiated commercial software license agreements,
software support and maintenance agreements,
clickwrap licenses and other online contracts,
software as a service (SaaS) agreements,
cloud services agreements,
open source licensing (including parallel OSS and commercial licensing models),
end user license agreements (EULAs), and
beta tester agreements
Drafted website terms of use, privacy policies, acceptable use policies, and EULAs for numerous websites and mobile apps (including iOS apps and Android apps), including both interactive and non-interactive websites, online stores, Internet-based communication services, data analytics services, subscription-based online training platforms, and websites for professional service providers, businesses, and individuals
Represented clients in the negotiation and drafting of intellectual property license agreements, including IP agreements with Fortune 500 and multinational corporations
Filed numerous federal, state, and international trademark registration applications and represented clients in trademark opposition and cancellation proceedings before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO)
Filed numerous responses to USPTO Office Actions to overcome initial refusals to register trademarks, including refusals on the basis that the mark creates a likelihood of confusion with another business's trademark or on the basis that the mark is "merely descriptive"
Assisted and advised clients with the protection of their intellectual property rights against infringement by third parties and the resolution of IP disputes, including:
Sending trademark and copyright infringement cease and desist demand letters,
Sending DMCA takedown notices,
Assisting with the removal of infringing content from Facebook and other social media platforms,
Assisting with the removal of infringing products from Amazon, Etsy, and other online shopping platforms, and
Negotiating settlement agreements
Guided clients regarding responding to third party IP infringement claims, including:
Responding to copyright and trademark infringement cease and desist letters,
Sending DMCA counter notifications,
Assisting with the restoration of content wrongly removed from Facebook and other social media platforms, and
Assisting with the restoration of product listings wrongly removed from Amazon, Etsy, Shopify, Wish, and other online shopping platforms
Represented clients in intellectual property infringement lawsuits
Cybersecurity and Data Privacy
Advised clients regarding data security and privacy issues, including:
incident response planning,
information governance,
policies and procedures (including incident response plans, written information security programs, information security policies, and disaster recovery plans),
data privacy best practices and privacy by design,
cybersecurity best practices,
security incident response, and
data breach obligations and liability
Guided clients through the data breach notification process, including compliance with the patchwork of state and federal data breach laws
Advised clients regarding compliance with a wide range of data privacy and data security laws and regulations, including state and federal laws and the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework (and the former EU-U.S. Privacy Shield)
Other Experience
Danville Circuit Court, Judicial Law Clerk to Hon. Joseph W. Milam, Jr. and David A. Melesco, 2009 – 2010
Cerner Corporation, Software Engineer, 2004 – 2006
Webography Designs, Web Developer, Consultant, Owner, 2002 – 2006