Our in-house legal roots inspire us to provide more than just legal advice and documentation for business transactions and problems. As technology lawyers, we use technologies to provide business-to-business communications in support of our legal services. This modern communications approach highlights legal, commercial and “relationship” issues for immediate resolution, accelerates decision-making, enhances the value of our traditional legal services and provides “artifacts” as tools for ongoing benefits of our legal advice.
Web-based Document Conferencing
We offer web-based presentation, analysis and discussion of documents online. Using web-based technologies, we enable our clients to hire us from anywhere in the world and to provide instant meetings to clients and their counterparties anywhere in the world. This accommodates business schedules, achieves instant resolution of issues and reduces travel costs where face-to-face meetings are not cost-effective or feasible due to busy travel schedules.
Visual Graphics for Business Models and Process Workflows
Complexity pervades business relationships and business functions. We can simplify this complexity with graphics. We develop custom-tailored one-page Visio® templates for business models and process workflows. Such charts:
- Planning and Negotiations: help clients and their counterparties visualize business models, work streams, extended supply chains, contingent business participants and legal and compliance risks, thereby distilling business and legal issues for strategy and negotiation.
- Quality Control – Relationship Views: enable clients to visualize weak links in a supply chain, or strong points in their regular SWOT analysis and the value of a proposed business relationship in that framework.
- Quality Control – Documentation: provide a framework for comparing the “final” documents to the targeted business model, before finalization and signature.
- Synthesis: refresh a team’s recollection of the deal structure and details as signed.
- Archive: create a permanent archive of the deal and the relationship.
- Knowledge Management: serve as lasting artifacts for knowledge management, training and sustainability, and build training tools for future managers.
- Renewal: enable rapid identification of structural issues for renegotiation or rebidding as the relationship matures.
Presentations to Management
Many transactions require Board approval or senior management review. We often assist in-house teams in reviewing their presentations to management, or in providing deal summaries that highlight the key drivers and challenges that were addressed during the course of deal structuring, negotiation and documentation.
Behind-the-Scenes Support
We are willing to serve as “second chair” when in-house counsel do not want an outside lawyer to participate directly. We do not expect to dictate how a client wishes to use our services.
Training, Coaching and E-Learning
Our extensive experience in business process management, IT transactions, enterprise governance and supply chain management provides the basis for our support to clients in customized training and program development to implement robust procurement practices.
We also provide advice and coaching on teaming agreements in marketing, joint ventures and sales.
We understand the cost-effectiveness of e-learning platforms. Through such platforms, we can offer alternatives to straight one-on-one legal advice.
- Commercial Contracts
Purchasing executives find value in developing repeatable processes with ongoing improvements. We provide online and in-person training to clients’ sourcing and procurement personnel on purchasing agreements, supply chain agreements, software licensing and maintenance and support agreements and master services agreements. This support runs the gamut from customized checklists (which can be self-administered) by clients to in-person presentations and program development.
We provide counseling on a wide range of related commercial matters. We assist clients in developing forms for RFI’s or RFP’s, commercial and confidentiality agreements, purchase orders, and agreements and master services agreements. We help clients structure vendor/contract management programs.
- Technology Contracts
CIO’s and IT directors appreciate the importance of disciplined management of licensing and technology developed in-house. We offer in-house training to business managers, software architects and private equity investors (for themselves and their portfolio companies) on IT and IP auditing for ownership, exploitation, in-licensing, out-licensing and joint development of software and software-based business services.
- Governance, Risk Management, Compliance (GRC)
GRC issues permeate business operations. We assist law departments, CIO’s, CFO’s, business executives and key employees in understanding how program management, IT governance and sourcing governance can enable effective compliance with their regulatory environment. We help clients structure their GRC functions across the supply chain and the value chain.