Services
GENERAL COUNSEL SERVICES
At the core of our mission to help businesses succeed are the general counsel services we provide to small and mid-size companies that typically do not have an internal legal department. Our goal is to provide ongoing proactive and high-quality legal services that are typically available only to larger companies. MADE Law’s general counsel services allow us to tailor our expertise to the needs of your business, and could include:
• Developing and executing business and key partner strategic plans
• Conducting enterprise and/or departmental risk assessments
• Providing advice on employment laws, rules, and regulations
• Drafting and implementing a compliance program with supporting policies and procedures
• Litigation management to reduce your legal expense
• Corporate legal matters
• Strategies and issues involving mergers and acquisitions
• Consulting on business processes
• Advising on technology support for operations and administrative departments to work more efficiently
• Working with internal departments such as legal, human resources, risk, compliance, internal audit, vendor management, real estate, customer support, training in the context of any of the above or in connection with a specific legal matter
EMPLOYMENT
MADE Law drafts and implements Employee Handbooks for our clients. We create a virtual portal for our clients in which less experienced HR Managers can comply with HR legal requirements by operating within the portal. We provide hands-on legal advice and are available to answer questions whenever necessary. We assist with training managers on how to create a business culture of compliance, while also focusing on upholding the internal culture of the business.
MADE Law also can help with a variety of other issues impacting the employer/employee relationship which include:
• Employment Investigations
• Lawsuits in Federal And State Courts
• Federal And State Regulatory Matters
• Wrongful Discharge
• Harassment
• Discrimination
• Disability
• Wage And Hour
• FMLA
• Whistleblower
• Confidentiality and Trade Secrets And
• Non-Competition
INVESTIGATIONS
We conduct investigations involving employment issues, whistleblower claims and fraud. We understand how disruptive investigations can be on your business, so we work discreetly and efficiently in an effort to minimize the investigation’s impact on staff and operations. After the investigation is completed, we work with executive management, human resources, and/or the legal department to develop and implement any necessary corrective actions based on the investigative findings to avoid any similar problems in the future.
One of the biggest threat to companies is fraud. MADE Law conducts independent fraud investigations involving potential criminal and civil violations by company officers, employees, and/or third-party vendors or service providers. To the extent needed, we have a national network of private investigators, forensic accountants, and forensic computer experts ready to assist.
RISK MANAGEMENT
MADE provides strategic business advice to avoid risk which has also assisted our clients in staying ahead of the competition. We start by performing a business risk audit to identify behavior that could cause a company to fail. At the same time, we work with our clients to structure effective solutions that meet their business goals. We work as a team with our clients to make their businesses successful while engaging in best practices.
WE ARE ABLE TO…
• Conduct enterprise and departmental risk assessments
• Create departments such as legal, risk, compliance, internal audit, vendor management, customer support, training
• Write and implement corporate and departmental strategic plans
• Advise on laws, rules, and regulations and implement them in an operational context
• Write and implement policies and procedures; and
• Provide technical support for business and administrative departments to work more efficiently
COMPLIANCE / REGULATORY
Compliance has always been a word feared by companies. MADE has a unique ability to understand and digest onerous laws and regulations and to assist companies in adopting them as a part of their operations. We have worked with our clients to seamlessly implement legal and regulatory compliance and simplify them as the new way to do things. We have written and implemented policies and procedures and worked with every level of employee to understand and adopt them. This approach has made our clients stand out amongst their competition and has provided them with an advantage in their industry. MADE has assisted with responding to regulatory audits and avoiding serious liability. We help our clients take a proactive approach and not put their companies at risk by being on the defensive and paying out large penalties or settlements.
IN-HOUSE LEGAL
Whether your business has an in-house lawyer or not, we can help you establish or significantly enhance an internal function to manage legal matters. We are able to develop a cost-effective system of matter management, budgeting, tracking, and staffing that will reduce your total legal spending. MADE Law can set up a pre-approved network of outside counsel across the state or across the country, develop outside counsel billing guidelines, and work with outside counsel in employing cost-effective litigation strategies. We also work with accounting departments to establish appropriate reserves for pending litigation.
Mediation
We at MADE have together had over half a century of years of experience in handling business legal disputes before and during litigation. Throughout our tenure at multiple publicly-traded and privately-held companies, we have seen virtually every type of legal dispute that could face a business. We have managed litigation, arbitrations/mediations, and governmental regulatory actions and audits throughout the United States. As a result we are highly qualified to work with both parties involved in a business dispute in a fair and impartial manner to resolve major issues and come to an agreement. We understand the immense toll that these types of proceedings take on the business and how to clearly explain these types of costs and risks to parties in the context of a mediation. We have experience in resolving cases ranging from small disputes to multi-million dollar “bet-the-business” litigation, and have been able to achieve mutually satisfactory resolution in complex situations in which parties were so far apart that it seemed they could never reach an agreement.
REAL ESTATE
MADE advises, negotiates, and draft agreements on every aspect of residential and commercial real estate transactions. We walk our clients through every step of the transaction and explain the complex legal documentation in a way that our clients understand. MADE offers services in the following contexts:
• Form legal entities to purchase commercial real estate
• Work with buyers of commercial or residential real estate in reviewing legal documents and negotiating with the seller, reviewing documents from the title company, and understanding financing documents
• Work with sellers of commercial or residential real estate in reviewing legal documents, negotiating with buyers, and reviewing title and financing documents
• Assist investors in developing partnerships in real estate investments
• Assist property owners in drafting and negotiating lease agreements
• Assist businesses in understanding the nuances of leasing property and review and negotiate lease agreements and terms
Corporate / Governance
We are lawyers MADE for business. With our extensive and varied experience in this realm and our network of legal experts, MADE Law has the knowledge and resources to advise on virtually every legal area important for corporations, LLCs and other business entitles. including:
• Appropriate legal entity structure based on potential liability, tax and other key considerations
• Good governance practices relevant to operating the business and/or working with the Board of Directors
• Legal and regulatory compliance programs and issues
• Strategic alliances, partnerships and other key business arrangements
• Agreements for the purchase or sale of businesses, shareholders, executive compensation and other important contracts
Whether we do all the work ourselves or engage and then manage one of the experts in our network to do a portion of the work, our objective is to provide clients a complete, cost effective solution. Additional specific corporate services we provide include business litigation and management, information technology agreements, real estate leases and other transactions, intellectual property, restructuring / bankruptcy, securities, commercial financing, all employment-related issues and matters, employee benefits and executive compensation, and privacy.