Overview
The retail industry is experiencing significant disruption and transformation as consumers’ preferences and behaviors evolve with the increasing prevalence of technology and globalization.
The more than 50 lawyers in our Retail, Restaurant, & Consumer Industry Group are passionate about this industry and continually find ways to stay abreast of emerging trends and their impact on our clients’ businesses – whether advising landlords on the changing definition of acceptable uses for their properties from medical clinics to microbreweries or counseling retailers on data privacy laws as they implement their omnichannel strategies.
Chambers USA says that our team is “super business-minded and commercial, hyper-responsive, but also detail-oriented and thoughtful.” Our clients appreciate that we “have a tremendous amount of experience in retail” and give advice on all matters “from store redevelopment to IP.”
Our seasoned lawyers collaborate efficiently and seamlessly across practices and offices to give our clients sophisticated, well-rounded advice to address the complex issues facing retail companies, property developers, investors, and operators. Our clients also benefit from the experience of former in-house lawyers for retail and restaurant companies and former General Counsel for other companies, as well as former government officials, a licensed environmental engineer and other cross-trained professionals on the Goulston & Storrs team.
We work on some of the most high-profile and complex retail development projects in the United States, including, with increasing frequency, those that are urban, transit-oriented, and mixed-use, from inception to completion. Our clients appreciate our true team approach, which translates to carefully structured joint ventures and acquisitions that take into account the multi-year lifecycle of these assets through financing, permitting, construction, stabilization, and eventual exit.
We also advise retailers, restaurateurs, and providers of consumer goods and services (including operators of entertainment venues); suppliers doing business with enterprises in the retail, restaurant, and consumer industries; and many foreign enterprises and investors who are actively looking to participate in this segment of the U.S. market. We have particular experience counseling international retailers on their U.S. launch strategy from basic entity formation and employment laws to negotiating the leases for their first brick-and-mortar locations and protecting their brands. Our international expertise is supplemented by our membership in two transnational consortia of law firms, enabling us to provide our clients with local knowledge and advice wherever they do business around the globe.
We counsel and advocate for our clients in the following areas:
- Acquisitions, dispositions and mergers
- Bankruptcy matters, including workouts, restructurings, and acquiring assets out of bankruptcy
- Capital markets access and related transactions
- Data privacy
- E-commerce
- Employment law and executive compensation issues
- Environmental matters, including everything from indoor air issues to toxic and hazardous waste cleanup
- Financing, including all types of complex and creative financing
- Intellectual property, including copyrights, trademarks and trade secrets
- Joint ventures and other complex collaborations
- Leasing
- Licensing
- Litigation and dispute resolution
- Permitting, zoning and development
- Real estate matters and transactions of all kinds
- Tax matters of all kinds
In addition to providing legal advice, we monitor industry trends and provide our perspective through our blog, the Retail Law Advisor, and our active involvement in organizations such as the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) – including holding leadership positions in planning committees for major ICSC conferences.
To learn more about the latest trends in this industry, please subscribe to our Retail Law Advisor blog.