Gardere Launches Legal Incubator to Provide Counsel for Emerging Businesses
Gardere Wynne Sewell LLP, an AmLaw 200 firm, announces the launch of Gardere Catalyst, a legal incubator initiative that provides early-stage, high-growth potential startups with strategic guidance and legal counsel.
The program includes participation from lawyers across multiple specialty areas, including intellectual property, labor and employment, tax and corporate, and provides startups access to seasoned legal counsel at a price that is scaled based on growth, the firm said in a news release.
The release continues:
“We believe that offering qualified emerging companies an opportunity to hire a premier, full-service law firm with experienced counsel is critical to help entrepreneurs attract the right investors, strategic partners and employees,” said Holland N. O’Neil, chair of the board of directors at Gardere. “We have purposefully tied our success to our clients’ success. We see ourselves as an extension of the client’s team, and we want everyone to be focused on the same goal. Having a program specifically built for emerging businesses was a strategic decision for the firm to grow trusted partnerships that drive innovation.”
Gardere Catalyst’s legal services include:
Formation of the company – serves as the foundation to raise capital, protect IP, build a staff and employ innovative long-term equity incentive programs
IP – filing trademarks/provisional patents and drafting licensing agreements, privacy policies and terms of use
Employment / Executive Compensation – such as offer letters, non-competition agreements and confidentiality protections, proprietary information and invention assignment agreement (PIIA) and equity plans
Tax – tax guidance
Financing – convertible notes, simple agreements for equity (SAFEs), and other seed-stage investments
The program was founded by the co-chairs of the venture capital (VC) and emerging business practice group, Adam Hull, Rick Jordan, Glenn Singleton, as well as Majorie Winters.